JFK prof plans to export literacy to Africa

PLEASANT HILL — With AIDS threatening to wipe out the carriers of its oral tradition, Malawi is getting some help from the East Bay.

A John F. Kennedy University professor is organizing a trip to the African nation to teach women how to put their life stories on paper. Mary Tuchscherer pictures her group of Bay Area women planting the seeds and watching the idea grow.

"The ultimate purpose is to train Malawian women to do the work," the Lafayette resident said. "I envision writing circles of women throughout the country."

Malawi, with about 14 million people, has been hit especially hard by the AIDS crisis. Its median age is just under 17 years.

The disease has prevented many children from knowing anything about their mothers, said Tuchscherer, who teaches writing at JFK. While oral tradition is passed down among Malawian women, written literature is almost completely male-dominated, she said.

"The image I have is there's a fire in the middle of this circle, but it hasn't been lit," she said. "Someone has to light the flame to get it going."

Her flame was lit last year during a trip with JFK colleague and Malawi native Masankho Banda to the southern African nation, which snakes its way along Lake Nyasa and is surrounded on its southern end by Mozambique. Tuchscherer said she quickly noticed the lack of women's literature.

Banda, who came to the United States in 1987, is the son of a Malawian politician who
was jailed for 12 years after advocating democracy. The country has since become democratic and Banda said he was looking forward to returning to his home village of Tukombo with Tuchscherer's group next year.

"She actually spoke with the chief of our village," Banda said. "The chief was very enthusiastic and said he wanted to send his wife" to the writing workshops.

Banda's participation is important, said Mary Osirim, a Bryn Mawr College sociologist who studies African gender issues. A native voice can help avoid cultural tensions between Malawians and Americans, she said.

Although Tuchscherer's group will need to ensure they're listening to the wishes of the Malawian women, the project's goal is admirable, Osirim said.

"Folks are so bound up with dealing with the critical issues, such as poverty and disease, that this issue gets ignored," she said. "It's very important that we have African women's stories written down."

Tuchscherer also is planning a documentary on the project and is collecting textbooks, parenting and children's books and novels to donate to Malawian villagers. But the storytelling remains the key to next year's trip.

"Even here, women always say they're interested but 'I can't write,' and, 'I don't have a story to tell,'" she said. "Within one session, they realize they do have a story to tell.

"We just haven't been taught to value our stories."