A SPECIALIST Ross-shire teacher is trading the comforts of a relaxed summer holiday for the challenges of an African country with strong links to Scotland.
Roger Bamfield, (49) a Dingwall-based advisory teacher with Highland Council's Autism Outreach Education Service, will be leaving Edinburgh on Friday June 29 to help improve education in the African country of Malawi.
He will live and work in a rural community without any running water or electricity and will work with staff handling classes with over 100 pupils and minimal resources. Roger, right, is going with teachers from around Scotland as part of the Global Teachers Programme (GTP), run by international agency Link Community Development (LCD). The programme provides Scottish teachers and headteachers with a challenging, rewarding and motivating professional and personal development experience.
The programme lasts 15 months and is centred around Roger's five-week placement in LCD's school improvement project in Malawi. LCD provides training and support before, during and after the placement in Malawi. The GTP and the Scotland-Malawi School Improvement Project is supported by the Scottish Executive Education Department.
Admitted Roger, "I usually spend the summer holiday taking things easy but I wanted to do something worthwhile this year. When I was offered the opportunity to take part in LCD's brilliant Global Teachers Programme living in and working with a Malawian community I had to take it up. It is a chance to give and also learn so much, both in Malawi and on my return to Scotland."
He is currently looking to raise £2,000 towards the cost of his placement in Malawi. Following the placement Roger plans to work in Highland to help raise awareness amongst children (including those with autism) of global development issues in Malawi. He hopes to help children form links so they can learn about each others' lives. Global citizenship is one of the key current developments in Scottish education. LCD is a charity which works to improve the quality of education in Africa and raise awareness of development issues in the Scotland. LCD believes education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty and their education development projects in Africa are run in partnership with the local departments of education.
People can find out more and support online at http://www.justgiving.com/highlandglobalteacher
To support Link Community Development in Scotland please phone 0131 343 6407 or email: scotland@lcd.org.uk. For more information about Link Community Development visit http://www.lcd.org.uk
Thursday, 3 May 2007
Group spearheads help for Malawians
Mphatso "Terry" Namwali has a message for the people of his native Malawi.
"We're still here. We still think about you, and God is over us all."
He and others of the First Presbyterian Church Malawi Association, South Bend, deliver that message by spearheading local efforts to help build and operate schools in Chibanzi, Malawi.
All the while, they try to help one another build successful new lives in this country. The group addresses issues such as housing, immigration and education.
Estimates are that 800 to 1,000 people from Malawi have settled in Michiana, says Phyllis Wezeman, director of Christian nurture for First Presbyterian. Many came to attend schools of higher learning and were followed by family and friends.
With about 50 Malawians currently members of First Presbyterian, the church is believed to be home to the largest Malawian contingent of any Presbyterian Church (USA) in the country, she says.
Namwali came to this country 19 years ago to attend Wooster College in Ohio, having been a national soccer star in Malawi. He settled in South Bend five years later, after visiting Michiana and liking what he saw.
The first person to attend First Presbyterian from Malawi, which is a heavily Presbyterian nation in southeastern Africa, he continued his family's tradition of being deeply involved with church.
"Church was like our second home," he says. He has served in a variety of positions at First Presbyterian, including as head of the Malawi association for a while and now as a deacon. He and his wife, Stella, hope their three children also learn the importance of contributing to society.
But life in the United States is not the association's only concern.
Malawi is one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world, according to the CIA Factbook. HIV/AIDS has taken a heavy toll.
The FPC Malawi Association, which includes members of First Presbyterian who are not Malawians, looked into how best to help the country.
"We were looking for something we could do for people back home -- knowing what's going on," explains Mercy Nyirenda, who came to the United States in 1999. "We have so many orphans because of the AIDS epidemic that is claiming young people who are leaving behind children with nobody to take care of them.
"We thought, 'Why can't we come up with something?'"
They found the greatest need was in the central region of the long, narrow nation that is slightly smaller than Pennsylvania. Chibanzi, a rural community without electricity or running water, became their focus.
The "Have a Heart for Chibanzi's Children" fundraiser is a great way to help, Nyirenda thinks.
"It means a lot because I know that they are needy. When you look at the money, the dollar against the Malawian currency, which is called kwacha, it may be nothing here but it is something there.
"A little will make a big difference," she says.
South Bend's support primarily has come in the form of money donated by individuals and churches, Wezeman says. Members of the Chibanzi Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in the Nkhoma Synod contribute the labor, even molding the bricks used to build two schools.
"This is not something that either of us could do on our own," Wezeman says. "This is a very cooperative effort."
First Presbyterian raised $13,000 in 2004 to build a four-room day nursery for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Most of the youngsters are orphans left in the care of siblings or elderly grandparents, Wezeman says.
Another $13,500 raised in 2005 went to begin construction of a primary school for children in kindergarten, first and second grades. For some, especially the girls, the second grade may be the highest level of schooling they'll finish.
But this year's "Have a Heart for Chibanzi's Children" really raised the bar. Seeking at least $300,000 in donations, it aims to add a kitchen (basically a room with space for a wood fire, Wezeman says) and a bathroom (not of the flushing variety, she adds). The fundraiser will fund continued construction of the primary school as well.
Meeting the educational and nutritional needs of 300 children at the nursery school/ orphan center and the primary school also is targeted, Wezeman says. Funds will go to food for breakfast, a snack and lunch Monday through Friday, uniforms at the primary school, workbooks, school supplies, and salaries for teachers, cooks and administrators.
Donations also will help dig wells and buy bicycles, she says. She notes that, rather than helping to meet needs in a variety of places, the Malawi Association will work toward bringing stability and self-sustainability to this one region.
Wezeman, accompanied by several other church members mostly paying their own way, went to Malawi in 2005 and 2006. She taught classes for the synod there, including instructing HIV/AIDS workers on creative approaches to educating people about the disease.
She and another small group plan to head to Malawi this summer, again to teach classes and/or help at Chibanzi.
She describes Malawi as the fourth poorest country in the world but with some of the richest people spiritually on earth.
"Their lives are rooted in the Bible, study and prayer and a commitment to putting God first in their life."
"We're still here. We still think about you, and God is over us all."
He and others of the First Presbyterian Church Malawi Association, South Bend, deliver that message by spearheading local efforts to help build and operate schools in Chibanzi, Malawi.
All the while, they try to help one another build successful new lives in this country. The group addresses issues such as housing, immigration and education.
Estimates are that 800 to 1,000 people from Malawi have settled in Michiana, says Phyllis Wezeman, director of Christian nurture for First Presbyterian. Many came to attend schools of higher learning and were followed by family and friends.
With about 50 Malawians currently members of First Presbyterian, the church is believed to be home to the largest Malawian contingent of any Presbyterian Church (USA) in the country, she says.
Namwali came to this country 19 years ago to attend Wooster College in Ohio, having been a national soccer star in Malawi. He settled in South Bend five years later, after visiting Michiana and liking what he saw.
The first person to attend First Presbyterian from Malawi, which is a heavily Presbyterian nation in southeastern Africa, he continued his family's tradition of being deeply involved with church.
"Church was like our second home," he says. He has served in a variety of positions at First Presbyterian, including as head of the Malawi association for a while and now as a deacon. He and his wife, Stella, hope their three children also learn the importance of contributing to society.
But life in the United States is not the association's only concern.
Malawi is one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world, according to the CIA Factbook. HIV/AIDS has taken a heavy toll.
The FPC Malawi Association, which includes members of First Presbyterian who are not Malawians, looked into how best to help the country.
"We were looking for something we could do for people back home -- knowing what's going on," explains Mercy Nyirenda, who came to the United States in 1999. "We have so many orphans because of the AIDS epidemic that is claiming young people who are leaving behind children with nobody to take care of them.
"We thought, 'Why can't we come up with something?'"
They found the greatest need was in the central region of the long, narrow nation that is slightly smaller than Pennsylvania. Chibanzi, a rural community without electricity or running water, became their focus.
The "Have a Heart for Chibanzi's Children" fundraiser is a great way to help, Nyirenda thinks.
"It means a lot because I know that they are needy. When you look at the money, the dollar against the Malawian currency, which is called kwacha, it may be nothing here but it is something there.
"A little will make a big difference," she says.
South Bend's support primarily has come in the form of money donated by individuals and churches, Wezeman says. Members of the Chibanzi Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in the Nkhoma Synod contribute the labor, even molding the bricks used to build two schools.
"This is not something that either of us could do on our own," Wezeman says. "This is a very cooperative effort."
First Presbyterian raised $13,000 in 2004 to build a four-room day nursery for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Most of the youngsters are orphans left in the care of siblings or elderly grandparents, Wezeman says.
Another $13,500 raised in 2005 went to begin construction of a primary school for children in kindergarten, first and second grades. For some, especially the girls, the second grade may be the highest level of schooling they'll finish.
But this year's "Have a Heart for Chibanzi's Children" really raised the bar. Seeking at least $300,000 in donations, it aims to add a kitchen (basically a room with space for a wood fire, Wezeman says) and a bathroom (not of the flushing variety, she adds). The fundraiser will fund continued construction of the primary school as well.
Meeting the educational and nutritional needs of 300 children at the nursery school/ orphan center and the primary school also is targeted, Wezeman says. Funds will go to food for breakfast, a snack and lunch Monday through Friday, uniforms at the primary school, workbooks, school supplies, and salaries for teachers, cooks and administrators.
Donations also will help dig wells and buy bicycles, she says. She notes that, rather than helping to meet needs in a variety of places, the Malawi Association will work toward bringing stability and self-sustainability to this one region.
Wezeman, accompanied by several other church members mostly paying their own way, went to Malawi in 2005 and 2006. She taught classes for the synod there, including instructing HIV/AIDS workers on creative approaches to educating people about the disease.
She and another small group plan to head to Malawi this summer, again to teach classes and/or help at Chibanzi.
She describes Malawi as the fourth poorest country in the world but with some of the richest people spiritually on earth.
"Their lives are rooted in the Bible, study and prayer and a commitment to putting God first in their life."
Buyers rap hike in cotton rates – trade standstill
Government ruled, last week, that the minimum price of cotton should not be less than K40 per kilogram, which is a considerable rise from last year’s price of K30.
The cotton buyers, however, are not accepting this price without a fight. Protesting this hike in price cotton consumers ceased all purchases from the farmers.
Justifying their side, the buyers are saying that the price is a little high since they also have to pay taxes.
Government has advised the farmers not to sell their produce at lower rates, bringing all trading to a standstill.
Meanwhile, cotton growers are hoping that the three sides reach a mutually beneficial compromise soon, so as to restore smooth dealings.
Administration said that it was aware of the current situation and is working out the possibilities.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Patrick Kabambe, told the media, “We are meeting within this week. I hear they (buyers) met yesterday. We need to hear why they have decided to stop buying cotton. There is no way we can reduce the price really. The prices were agreed by Cabinet; the issue may have to go back to Cabinet.”
The cotton buyers, however, are not accepting this price without a fight. Protesting this hike in price cotton consumers ceased all purchases from the farmers.
Justifying their side, the buyers are saying that the price is a little high since they also have to pay taxes.
Government has advised the farmers not to sell their produce at lower rates, bringing all trading to a standstill.
Meanwhile, cotton growers are hoping that the three sides reach a mutually beneficial compromise soon, so as to restore smooth dealings.
Administration said that it was aware of the current situation and is working out the possibilities.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Patrick Kabambe, told the media, “We are meeting within this week. I hear they (buyers) met yesterday. We need to hear why they have decided to stop buying cotton. There is no way we can reduce the price really. The prices were agreed by Cabinet; the issue may have to go back to Cabinet.”
Who Says We're In No Rush?
You might think the pace of life in Toronto is hectic but we don’t even make the list when it comes to being the fastest rodents in the rat race.
According to a study of walking speeds in 32 world cities, Singaporeans covered 60 feet in a blistering 10.55 seconds while it took residents of New York a full 12 seconds. They may be the city that never sleeps, but they do so at relatively leisurely pace.
The only Canadian city to make the list was Ottawa, where the civil servants of our sleepy capital covered the distance in 13.72 seconds, good for 20th place in the rankings. The tortoises of the group were the people of Blantyre, Malawi who plodded along at about a foot per second, covering the distance in 31.60 seconds.
Of course anyone who has ever gotten off the southbound Yonge subway at the King station at 8:55 a.m. or been in the way of the Go Train crowd at Union could tell you that people in this city are a blur — and they do it without even looking up.
Though our evidence may be anecdotal, we're not the only ones in a hurry. Compared to a 1994 survey, the researchers discovered people were now walking 10 per cent faster.
"We just have this feeling that we should be producing and active all of the time," Richard Wiseman, a professor of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire told Reuters. "That is fuelled by the email, text, mobile phone culture. But there has to be an upper limit, because if this trend continues, we will arriving places before we have set off." Tell that to the next BlackBerry-wielding commuter who charges past you when the subway doors open.
According to a study of walking speeds in 32 world cities, Singaporeans covered 60 feet in a blistering 10.55 seconds while it took residents of New York a full 12 seconds. They may be the city that never sleeps, but they do so at relatively leisurely pace.
The only Canadian city to make the list was Ottawa, where the civil servants of our sleepy capital covered the distance in 13.72 seconds, good for 20th place in the rankings. The tortoises of the group were the people of Blantyre, Malawi who plodded along at about a foot per second, covering the distance in 31.60 seconds.
Of course anyone who has ever gotten off the southbound Yonge subway at the King station at 8:55 a.m. or been in the way of the Go Train crowd at Union could tell you that people in this city are a blur — and they do it without even looking up.
Though our evidence may be anecdotal, we're not the only ones in a hurry. Compared to a 1994 survey, the researchers discovered people were now walking 10 per cent faster.
"We just have this feeling that we should be producing and active all of the time," Richard Wiseman, a professor of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire told Reuters. "That is fuelled by the email, text, mobile phone culture. But there has to be an upper limit, because if this trend continues, we will arriving places before we have set off." Tell that to the next BlackBerry-wielding commuter who charges past you when the subway doors open.
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
Malawi: Floods DREF Bulletin No. MDRMW002 - Update no. 1
The Federation’s mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. It is the world’s largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in over 185 countries.
In Brief
Period covered by this update: 3 February 2007 to 26 April 2007.
History of this Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF)-funded operation:
- CHF 88,704 allocated from the Federation’s DREF on 2 February 2007 to respond to needs in this operation and to replenish disaster preparedness stocks distributed to the affected population.
- This operation was expected to be implemented for three months; a DREF Bulletin Final Report will be made available three months after the end of the operation.
This operation is aligned with the International Federation's Global Agenda, which sets out four broad goals to meet the Federation's mission to "improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity".
Global Agenda Goals:
- Reduce the numbers of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.
- Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.
- Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability.
- Reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion and promote respect for diversity and human dignity.
Background and current situation
In early 2007, Malawi experienced heavy rains which caused flooding in Chikwaka, Nsanje and Mangochi districts of Shire region. The floods caused extensive damage in the three districts:
- Chikwaka District experienced heavy rains as of 1 January 2007. Two deaths were reported and a total of 20,061 households were affected. 7,666 hectares of various crops (maize, sorghum, millet, cotton and rice) were destroyed, 917 houses collapsed and a significant number of chickens and goats was swept away.
- In Nsanje District, one death was reported and 1,351 households were affected. 475 houses collapsed and 1,804 hectares of crops were damaged.
- In Mangochi District, flooding was experienced on 13 February 2007. A total of 503 houses were destroyed, 2,143 families displaced, 50 hectares of maize and 32 hectares of rice destroyed and livestock (goats, cows, sheep and chicken) were swept away. Two bridges were washed away, rendering the district inaccessible. Most latrines in the flood affected areas collapsed and pose a health hazard due to a potential outbreak of waterborne diseases such as cholera. Prior to the floods, Malawi had experienced a cholera outbreak which started in August 2006 and recorded 142 cases, with two deaths. The areas flooded in the beginning of 2007 reported nine cholera cases between 5 and 11 February 2007. Furthermore, Mangochi District is prone to malaria and there are still fears of an outbreak since floodwaters in stagnant pools have presented ready breeding spots for mosquitoes.
In Brief
Period covered by this update: 3 February 2007 to 26 April 2007.
History of this Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF)-funded operation:
- CHF 88,704 allocated from the Federation’s DREF on 2 February 2007 to respond to needs in this operation and to replenish disaster preparedness stocks distributed to the affected population.
- This operation was expected to be implemented for three months; a DREF Bulletin Final Report will be made available three months after the end of the operation.
This operation is aligned with the International Federation's Global Agenda, which sets out four broad goals to meet the Federation's mission to "improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity".
Global Agenda Goals:
- Reduce the numbers of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.
- Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.
- Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability.
- Reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion and promote respect for diversity and human dignity.
Background and current situation
In early 2007, Malawi experienced heavy rains which caused flooding in Chikwaka, Nsanje and Mangochi districts of Shire region. The floods caused extensive damage in the three districts:
- Chikwaka District experienced heavy rains as of 1 January 2007. Two deaths were reported and a total of 20,061 households were affected. 7,666 hectares of various crops (maize, sorghum, millet, cotton and rice) were destroyed, 917 houses collapsed and a significant number of chickens and goats was swept away.
- In Nsanje District, one death was reported and 1,351 households were affected. 475 houses collapsed and 1,804 hectares of crops were damaged.
- In Mangochi District, flooding was experienced on 13 February 2007. A total of 503 houses were destroyed, 2,143 families displaced, 50 hectares of maize and 32 hectares of rice destroyed and livestock (goats, cows, sheep and chicken) were swept away. Two bridges were washed away, rendering the district inaccessible. Most latrines in the flood affected areas collapsed and pose a health hazard due to a potential outbreak of waterborne diseases such as cholera. Prior to the floods, Malawi had experienced a cholera outbreak which started in August 2006 and recorded 142 cases, with two deaths. The areas flooded in the beginning of 2007 reported nine cholera cases between 5 and 11 February 2007. Furthermore, Mangochi District is prone to malaria and there are still fears of an outbreak since floodwaters in stagnant pools have presented ready breeding spots for mosquitoes.
NI charity helps Malawi's poorest
One of Africa's poorest countries, with an average per capita income of about £80 a year, Malawi needs outside help to tackle HIV/Aids.
Northern Ireland's only independent development agency, War on Want NI (WOWNI), is doing what it can to help rebuild lives ravaged by the infection.
Near the southern city of Zomba, about 400 children are registered at the Songani orphan care centre.
They live at home with their carers, often elderly grandparents who have themselves few resources, but they come to the centre for food, clothes, and training.
WOWNI, along with Coleraine Borough Council and the public service union Nipsa, are funding this centre, which Kennedy Mpoya runs.
"We teach the children skills like tailoring or carpentry, so they'll have some chance to stand on their own feet as they grow up," he says.
WOWNI has an income of about £1m a year. It funds 15 Aids-related projects in Malawi, and chooses small scale partner projects which it can nourish through training as well as finance - the objective to make the projects eventually self-supporting.
Education forms another important part of WOWNI's work in raising awareness of HIV/Aids.
Mchenga is a remote northern mining village. The mines attract a transient community of workers and truckers.
Women who have already lost their men to Aids sell themselves to raise money for their families, completing the cycle of infection.
As part of a primary health scheme, WOWNI funds an outreach group which uses drama and music to bring home the message of avoiding HIV/Aids.
People are encouraged to take an HIV test, and reassured that even if they do carry the infection, it doesn't mean a death sentence.
One of the outreach workers, Irene Mhango, has been living with Aids for six years.
She has started a small grocery store with the help of WOWNI.
It provides her and half a dozen others, all PLWAs - people living with Aids - with a basic livelihood, and has also helped change local attitudes to the disease.
"This is what we do best," says WOWNI's director Linda McClelland, "giving the most disadvantaged groups a leg up, lifting them out of their poverty, and giving them a little power over their own lives."
Noel Thompson's reports will be screened on BBC Newsline on BBC1 on Wednesday and Friday at 1830 BST.
Northern Ireland's only independent development agency, War on Want NI (WOWNI), is doing what it can to help rebuild lives ravaged by the infection.
Near the southern city of Zomba, about 400 children are registered at the Songani orphan care centre.
They live at home with their carers, often elderly grandparents who have themselves few resources, but they come to the centre for food, clothes, and training.
WOWNI, along with Coleraine Borough Council and the public service union Nipsa, are funding this centre, which Kennedy Mpoya runs.
"We teach the children skills like tailoring or carpentry, so they'll have some chance to stand on their own feet as they grow up," he says.
WOWNI has an income of about £1m a year. It funds 15 Aids-related projects in Malawi, and chooses small scale partner projects which it can nourish through training as well as finance - the objective to make the projects eventually self-supporting.
Education forms another important part of WOWNI's work in raising awareness of HIV/Aids.
Mchenga is a remote northern mining village. The mines attract a transient community of workers and truckers.
Women who have already lost their men to Aids sell themselves to raise money for their families, completing the cycle of infection.
As part of a primary health scheme, WOWNI funds an outreach group which uses drama and music to bring home the message of avoiding HIV/Aids.
People are encouraged to take an HIV test, and reassured that even if they do carry the infection, it doesn't mean a death sentence.
One of the outreach workers, Irene Mhango, has been living with Aids for six years.
She has started a small grocery store with the help of WOWNI.
It provides her and half a dozen others, all PLWAs - people living with Aids - with a basic livelihood, and has also helped change local attitudes to the disease.
"This is what we do best," says WOWNI's director Linda McClelland, "giving the most disadvantaged groups a leg up, lifting them out of their poverty, and giving them a little power over their own lives."
Noel Thompson's reports will be screened on BBC Newsline on BBC1 on Wednesday and Friday at 1830 BST.
Malawi's wow factor
Madonna's adoption of an orphan from Malawi has put that Southern African country in the world's headlines. But the HIV/AIDS crisis there has created a million orphans, and Malawi has not got the resources to care for them.
On BBC 1's Newsline tonight Noel Thompson shows how Northern Ireland's independent development agency, War on Want NI, is spending money raised here to help people living and dying with HIV/Aids
Kathonie is barely 20 years old, and her life has been torn apart by the HIV/Aids epidemic which is rampaging through Malawi.
"We were six children, but my mother died from Aids, and then my father, " she says. "We were sent to stay with my stepfather and his wife, but they both died from Aids too, so we had no one to look after us. My brothers and sisters have been split up, and that's how I ended up in this orphanage."
Malawi is fighting a losing battle against HIV/Aids. Recent estimates say there are one and a half million people infected, and already a million children left without their parents. The disease has reduced life expectancy in Malawi by a decade in the last five years.
The infection is played out against a background of serious economic problems - average income is just £80 a year and there is little money available to fight the disease, or to care for the children left behind. HIV/Aids, says Maxwell Mphwina, WOWNI's Malawi operations manager, is devastating a generation. Children are being left to grandparents who have no resources themselves, and find themselves in desperate conditions.
War on Want NI is spending most of its limited development budget for Malawi on fighting the effects of HIV/Aids.
In the village of Mkundi, close to the shores of the lake which comprises half of Malawi's territory, Kathonie is one of about 50 children and young people at the orphan centre built with support from WOWNI. The children don't live here, but they come every day for substantial meals.
New buildings provide the shelter where the children can eat, play and learn skills like tailoring and carpentry, which will allow them to make a living as they get older.
None of this, says the founder of Mkundi Orphan Care, Lizzie Banda, would have been possible without War on Want NI.
"I started off in an open shack with no facilitie," she explains. " Now we have these buildings with sewing machines and wood-working tools, we can train the children, and also sell some of the things they make to raise money to make us self-sufficient and provide care for more children. The lives of these children are on the up!"
War on Want doesn't hand out money to anyone who asks for it. It works with 15 carefully chosen partners in Malawi, on Aids-related projects which it nurtures through training, education and financial support until they can stand on their own feet. Around half of WOWNI's one million pound income is earned through its chain of shops around Northern Ireland. It receives a quarter of a million from Irish Aid, the development arm of the Irish Foreign Affairs Ministry, the rest comes from donations. The director, Linda McClelland, rejects the suggestion that its budget is so small as to be negligible.
"Not at all. We are a small agency but there is a real niche for people like us. We work closely on the ground with people who would be too small for bigger agencies like Oxfam or Concern. We train them, build their ability and their confidence, and they in turn reach out to help other people."
That's what happened to Irene Mhango, in the town of Livingstonia, high on Malawi's northern plateau. She is HIV positive and is a member of theWOWNI-funded outreach group which takes the HIV/Aids message to a still fearful community. We went with her to the Mchenga coal mine, where the cycle of infection is remorseless. People die from HIV/Aids, poverty forces their women into prostitution with the transient population of miners and truckers, and the disease spreads further. In an effort to break that cycle WOWNI helps fund the Livingstonia area primary health care programme which teaches people about the dangers of infection and how to avoid it. Irene has been on effective anti-retroviral drugs for some years now. Her message to the several hundred people gathered for an Aids awareness session is that diagnosis does not mean your life is over. Indeed the quicker you're tested, the greater the chances of surviving the infection. Leading by example, Irene persuaded WOWNI to fund her with a few hundred pounds to start a shop with a number of other HIV/Aids sufferers. Now the Tiwengo grocery store is a going concern, its sign proudly proclaiming "Proprietors, PLWAs, People Living With Aids."
Irene's enterprise is changing attitudes to HIV/Aids, reducing the stigma and discrimination and making it easier for people to talk about the disease which has touched every town and village in the country.
HIV/Aids poses a huge challenge to Malawi. The government cannot fight it without help from other countries. In a small scale but effective fashion, War on Want Northern Ireland is making its contribution to halting the disease which is changing the face of Africa.
The first of Noel Thompson's two reports from Malawi is on Newsline tonight on BBC 1 Northern Ireland at 6.30pm. The second will be shown later this week
On BBC 1's Newsline tonight Noel Thompson shows how Northern Ireland's independent development agency, War on Want NI, is spending money raised here to help people living and dying with HIV/Aids
Kathonie is barely 20 years old, and her life has been torn apart by the HIV/Aids epidemic which is rampaging through Malawi.
"We were six children, but my mother died from Aids, and then my father, " she says. "We were sent to stay with my stepfather and his wife, but they both died from Aids too, so we had no one to look after us. My brothers and sisters have been split up, and that's how I ended up in this orphanage."
Malawi is fighting a losing battle against HIV/Aids. Recent estimates say there are one and a half million people infected, and already a million children left without their parents. The disease has reduced life expectancy in Malawi by a decade in the last five years.
The infection is played out against a background of serious economic problems - average income is just £80 a year and there is little money available to fight the disease, or to care for the children left behind. HIV/Aids, says Maxwell Mphwina, WOWNI's Malawi operations manager, is devastating a generation. Children are being left to grandparents who have no resources themselves, and find themselves in desperate conditions.
War on Want NI is spending most of its limited development budget for Malawi on fighting the effects of HIV/Aids.
In the village of Mkundi, close to the shores of the lake which comprises half of Malawi's territory, Kathonie is one of about 50 children and young people at the orphan centre built with support from WOWNI. The children don't live here, but they come every day for substantial meals.
New buildings provide the shelter where the children can eat, play and learn skills like tailoring and carpentry, which will allow them to make a living as they get older.
None of this, says the founder of Mkundi Orphan Care, Lizzie Banda, would have been possible without War on Want NI.
"I started off in an open shack with no facilitie," she explains. " Now we have these buildings with sewing machines and wood-working tools, we can train the children, and also sell some of the things they make to raise money to make us self-sufficient and provide care for more children. The lives of these children are on the up!"
War on Want doesn't hand out money to anyone who asks for it. It works with 15 carefully chosen partners in Malawi, on Aids-related projects which it nurtures through training, education and financial support until they can stand on their own feet. Around half of WOWNI's one million pound income is earned through its chain of shops around Northern Ireland. It receives a quarter of a million from Irish Aid, the development arm of the Irish Foreign Affairs Ministry, the rest comes from donations. The director, Linda McClelland, rejects the suggestion that its budget is so small as to be negligible.
"Not at all. We are a small agency but there is a real niche for people like us. We work closely on the ground with people who would be too small for bigger agencies like Oxfam or Concern. We train them, build their ability and their confidence, and they in turn reach out to help other people."
That's what happened to Irene Mhango, in the town of Livingstonia, high on Malawi's northern plateau. She is HIV positive and is a member of theWOWNI-funded outreach group which takes the HIV/Aids message to a still fearful community. We went with her to the Mchenga coal mine, where the cycle of infection is remorseless. People die from HIV/Aids, poverty forces their women into prostitution with the transient population of miners and truckers, and the disease spreads further. In an effort to break that cycle WOWNI helps fund the Livingstonia area primary health care programme which teaches people about the dangers of infection and how to avoid it. Irene has been on effective anti-retroviral drugs for some years now. Her message to the several hundred people gathered for an Aids awareness session is that diagnosis does not mean your life is over. Indeed the quicker you're tested, the greater the chances of surviving the infection. Leading by example, Irene persuaded WOWNI to fund her with a few hundred pounds to start a shop with a number of other HIV/Aids sufferers. Now the Tiwengo grocery store is a going concern, its sign proudly proclaiming "Proprietors, PLWAs, People Living With Aids."
Irene's enterprise is changing attitudes to HIV/Aids, reducing the stigma and discrimination and making it easier for people to talk about the disease which has touched every town and village in the country.
HIV/Aids poses a huge challenge to Malawi. The government cannot fight it without help from other countries. In a small scale but effective fashion, War on Want Northern Ireland is making its contribution to halting the disease which is changing the face of Africa.
The first of Noel Thompson's two reports from Malawi is on Newsline tonight on BBC 1 Northern Ireland at 6.30pm. The second will be shown later this week
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
Cdn journalist tells 28 stories of AIDS in Africa in powerful new book
There was a precise moment in 2002 when Canadian journalist Stephanie Nolen suddenly understood the catastrophic effect of AIDS in Africa.
"I was chatting with Lillian Chandawili, an HIV-positive 35-year-old widow who looks after her sister's orphaned children as well as her own, on the porch of her house in Nkhotakota, Malawi," recalls Nolen.
"As the villagers came by to greet 'the white stranger,' Lillian would quietly remark, 'He has it,' 'He lost his wife' or 'She lost her children.' I realized there was no one left in Nkhotakota to farm, trade or work in the city to earn money. Everyone who could have been working was either sick, nursing someone who was sick, or looking after orphans," Nolen says sadly.
"At that moment I saw beyond the numbers of deaths and infections on paper, and realized how HIV/AIDS had cut this place off at the knees."
The Republic of Malawi in southeastern Africa is one of sub-Saharan Africa's most densely populated countries. It is estimated that anywhere from 15 to 30 per cent of Malawi's 13 million people are HIV-positive. Average life expectancy is 43 years of age.
The devastation that AIDS has caused in Malawi has repeated itself in countless villages and cities across Africa. In "28: Stories of AIDS in Africa," Nolen takes the reader on an emotional journey through the continent as she tells the stories of 28 people fighting HIV/AIDS - one for each of the 28 million people living with the disease in Africa today.
The reader meets Cynthia Leshomo, Botswana's Miss HIV Stigma-Free; Andualem Ayalew, an Ethiopian soldier ostracized from the army after revealing he was HIV-positive; Lefa Khoele, a 12-year-old Lesotho boy with the disease desperately trying to pass Grade 3; and many others fighting for better access to drug treatments and trying to raise awareness of the disease. The stories are powerful, heartfelt and deeply human.
The people in "28," of course, tell a larger story. UNAIDS (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) has predicted that without increased international aid, there could be 90 million AIDS cases in Africa by 2025.
And yet, says Nolen, the response from the developed world to a continent that could have 18 million AIDS orphans by 2010 has been achingly slow.
Nolen, who grew up in Ottawa and Montreal, is The Globe and Mail's Africa correspondent but has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She now reports from her home in Johannesburg where she lives with her partner and their seven-month-old son.
She laments the dearth of media coverage on the epidemic.
"I would travel for weeks and never see another western reporter," she explains. "What's happening here without the spectacle that gets you on the evening news is the biggest story in the world. Why am I the only person out here?"
Why indeed?
"It's because they're black and poor and live in countries that are economically and politically marginal," says Nolen matter-of-factly.
"I was chatting with Lillian Chandawili, an HIV-positive 35-year-old widow who looks after her sister's orphaned children as well as her own, on the porch of her house in Nkhotakota, Malawi," recalls Nolen.
"As the villagers came by to greet 'the white stranger,' Lillian would quietly remark, 'He has it,' 'He lost his wife' or 'She lost her children.' I realized there was no one left in Nkhotakota to farm, trade or work in the city to earn money. Everyone who could have been working was either sick, nursing someone who was sick, or looking after orphans," Nolen says sadly.
"At that moment I saw beyond the numbers of deaths and infections on paper, and realized how HIV/AIDS had cut this place off at the knees."
The Republic of Malawi in southeastern Africa is one of sub-Saharan Africa's most densely populated countries. It is estimated that anywhere from 15 to 30 per cent of Malawi's 13 million people are HIV-positive. Average life expectancy is 43 years of age.
The devastation that AIDS has caused in Malawi has repeated itself in countless villages and cities across Africa. In "28: Stories of AIDS in Africa," Nolen takes the reader on an emotional journey through the continent as she tells the stories of 28 people fighting HIV/AIDS - one for each of the 28 million people living with the disease in Africa today.
The reader meets Cynthia Leshomo, Botswana's Miss HIV Stigma-Free; Andualem Ayalew, an Ethiopian soldier ostracized from the army after revealing he was HIV-positive; Lefa Khoele, a 12-year-old Lesotho boy with the disease desperately trying to pass Grade 3; and many others fighting for better access to drug treatments and trying to raise awareness of the disease. The stories are powerful, heartfelt and deeply human.
The people in "28," of course, tell a larger story. UNAIDS (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) has predicted that without increased international aid, there could be 90 million AIDS cases in Africa by 2025.
And yet, says Nolen, the response from the developed world to a continent that could have 18 million AIDS orphans by 2010 has been achingly slow.
Nolen, who grew up in Ottawa and Montreal, is The Globe and Mail's Africa correspondent but has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She now reports from her home in Johannesburg where she lives with her partner and their seven-month-old son.
She laments the dearth of media coverage on the epidemic.
"I would travel for weeks and never see another western reporter," she explains. "What's happening here without the spectacle that gets you on the evening news is the biggest story in the world. Why am I the only person out here?"
Why indeed?
"It's because they're black and poor and live in countries that are economically and politically marginal," says Nolen matter-of-factly.
The Material Girl and America's double standard
The time-tested practice of adoption too often gets a bad rap in the mainstream media. We hear horror stories of long-lost biological relatives fighting expensive legal battles to remove children from a happy adoptive home. Research also indicates, all too often, pregnant women facing unexpected pregnancies see adoption as a bad choice, viewing it as another name for abandonment. As a result, it stands to reason that a number of babies who could find life and love in an adoptive home are being unnecessarily aborted. Adoption is unfairly seen as an evil rather than as a good, and the news media unfortunately play a significant role in this disinformation campaign.
So, at first, I was pleasantly surprised at the positive reports on celebrity adoptions being reported in the news media. If a mega movie star such as Angelina Jolie could help put a positive spin on international adoption, more power to her. I thought even Madonna, who seemed to defy traditional family values, could get a pass for her efforts to give a child from a poor nation a good home.
Yet, a report in the Daily Mail newspaper makes me wonder about the ulterior motives of some of these celebrity adoptions. The report says Madonna is spending mega-bucks on orphanages in Malawi — a laudable action, until you read the fine print. Because it seems that Madonna's primary aim is actually to convert the kids to her adoptive religious faith, Kabbalah.
According to the Daily Mail, nearly half the population of Malawi is under the age of 14 and many of those children are orphans. As a result, it stands to reason that they may be searching for security — a search that might be taken advantage of by those who are pushing a certain form of ideology.
Again, it's marvelous that the Material Girl has the wherewithal to provide food, medical supplies, and books to the orphans of Malawi. And if she chooses to bring some of these children into her own home, so be it.
But, make no mistake, Madonna is an evangelist — and she should be treated as such. She is planning to tutor as many as 7,000 orphans in Malawi in Kabbalah principles, according to the Daily Mail report.
Here's where traditional journalism's double standard comes in: Madonna, whose Kabbalah beliefs are considered trendy, is seen as a humanitarian for her work with orphanages. I expect headlines reading, "Santa Madonna" any day now. She's even been called a kind of celebrity Mother Theresa.
In sharp contrast, if a star who was an avowed Christian began a similar outreach campaign to Malawi's orphans, she would be labeled a religious zealot. Anti-Christian bigotry in the media is not only tolerated — it's often celebrated, especially by what can euphemistically be described as the "celebrity left."
One noted practitioner of Kabbalah was quoted as saying that the majority of mentally ill people are not, in fact, mentally ill, but possessed by evil spirits and that "unseen extraterrestrial forces affect terrestrial affairs."
I rest my case.
So, at first, I was pleasantly surprised at the positive reports on celebrity adoptions being reported in the news media. If a mega movie star such as Angelina Jolie could help put a positive spin on international adoption, more power to her. I thought even Madonna, who seemed to defy traditional family values, could get a pass for her efforts to give a child from a poor nation a good home.
Yet, a report in the Daily Mail newspaper makes me wonder about the ulterior motives of some of these celebrity adoptions. The report says Madonna is spending mega-bucks on orphanages in Malawi — a laudable action, until you read the fine print. Because it seems that Madonna's primary aim is actually to convert the kids to her adoptive religious faith, Kabbalah.
According to the Daily Mail, nearly half the population of Malawi is under the age of 14 and many of those children are orphans. As a result, it stands to reason that they may be searching for security — a search that might be taken advantage of by those who are pushing a certain form of ideology.
Again, it's marvelous that the Material Girl has the wherewithal to provide food, medical supplies, and books to the orphans of Malawi. And if she chooses to bring some of these children into her own home, so be it.
But, make no mistake, Madonna is an evangelist — and she should be treated as such. She is planning to tutor as many as 7,000 orphans in Malawi in Kabbalah principles, according to the Daily Mail report.
Here's where traditional journalism's double standard comes in: Madonna, whose Kabbalah beliefs are considered trendy, is seen as a humanitarian for her work with orphanages. I expect headlines reading, "Santa Madonna" any day now. She's even been called a kind of celebrity Mother Theresa.
In sharp contrast, if a star who was an avowed Christian began a similar outreach campaign to Malawi's orphans, she would be labeled a religious zealot. Anti-Christian bigotry in the media is not only tolerated — it's often celebrated, especially by what can euphemistically be described as the "celebrity left."
One noted practitioner of Kabbalah was quoted as saying that the majority of mentally ill people are not, in fact, mentally ill, but possessed by evil spirits and that "unseen extraterrestrial forces affect terrestrial affairs."
I rest my case.
Monday, 30 April 2007
DELT teaches art of production in Africa
Equipped with vaccinations, medications and cultural awareness training two members of Memorial’s Distance Education and Learning Technologies (DELT) team landed in Malawi, Africa, in January. Kevin O’Leary, producer/director, and Mark Shallow, production technologist, travelled to Africa on a training mission as part of the Marine Institute’s (MI) $1.5 million Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security project.
The project represents a partnership between the Fisheries and Marine Institute and the Malawi College of Fisheries, the training entity of the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Mines, Natural Resources and Environment.
The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC-UPCD Branch) administers the partnership project with financial support ($1 million) largely contributed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The collaboration will help the Ministry of Mines, Natural Resources and Environment move closer to achieving its goal of environmental sustainability and resulting positive impact on the population of Malawi’s coastal communities.
In Malawi, fisheries supply about 75 per cent of the nation’s dietary animal protein and employ approximately 250,000 people in catching, processing and marketing. In the past decade, the total catch decreased from 70,000 tons per year to 45,000 tons largely because of over-exploitation and post-harvest loss.
“One of our goals is to work with the Malawi College of Fisheries (MCF) to expand its mandate and its capacity to deliver training in post harvest processing, thus reducing post-harvest losses,” explained Kelly Moret, International Project Officer, MI International.
“To do this involves awareness raising initiatives at all levels including mid-level fisheries officers down to the grassroots community level. Based on preliminary activities in the fishing villages the project team realized that one of the most effective methods for delivering training to large groups would be through video. Through funding provided by the African Development Bank, the Department of Fisheries had purchased two media production vehicles. Although the College had the equipment to broadcast training videos in the field the staff lacked the knowledge and skills to develop and produce training videos relevant to their local context and the villages’ specific training needs. Once we identified the training gaps for the College staff we called on the expertise of Kevin and Mark (DELT) to provide much needed video production and editing training.”
With this knowledge, it was down to business for the two DELT employees almost immediately upon arrival. With a thorough lesson plan prepared they had only two weeks to cover a lot of ground. Mr. O’Leary began the first week teaching his primary skill-set, video production.
“We started off very elementary with the functions of the camera and progressively moved through to program development. In fact, we tasked them with developing their own script for a short program. Quite appropriately they decided to make their college the focus of their task. The end result would be a short promotional video of the College Prospectus”
During the second week Mr. Shallow concentrated on digital editing.
“I began slowly with how to start the software and run a program then moved into capturing and digitizing footage. Then we actually put together the video they shot during the end of week one,” he explained.
“I gave technical advice about how to assemble the video and Kevin helped with the content and creative decisions. On the last day we premiered the video for the whole college. It was very exciting for all involved.”
Both Mr. O’Leary and Mr. Shallow agreed the language barrier caused only minor issues. Although the local language is Chichewa, Mark pointed out College staff spoke English very well and the hands-on aspect really helped with overcoming any barriers.
“It was quite clear whether or not they were grasping the material when we asked them to physically do what we were teaching.”
Mr. O’Leary described the MCF group as very enthusiastic to work with.
“They openly discussed topics, and gave each other positive feedback and assistance. I am confident that they will be able to carry on with the groundwork we have established, and grow from there.”
Mr. O’Leary and Mr. Shallow returned to Newfoundland and Labrador on Feb. 4, 2007. Exhausted and happy to be home, they both said it is something they would definitely do again.
“We have so many things in common,” Mr. O’Leary commented. “It is almost eerie to look at our province’s fishing history and the depletion of our fish stocks, and experience first-hand what the people in Malawi are going through right now,” said Mr. O’Leary.
“Their in-shore, small boat fishery is suffering so the government is building them bigger boats to go farther out on the lake. This path sounds familiar to anyone involved in the Newfoundland fishery. It is gratifying to be able to contribute to an effort to increase awareness and with the goal of ensuring environmental sustainability.”
Project manager Kelly Moret reports the video training was a definite highlight for the project as the College was able to produce a video which can be used not only to highlight the college’s capacity in fisheries extension but also video production. In response to the training Moret stated “Kevin and Mark did an exemplary job in what can only be described as a very challenging work environment.”
She added that she looks forward for future collaborations with DELT “there is incredible talent and expertise contained within the DELT unit, we look forward to future training and production opportunities with the Department.”
The project represents a partnership between the Fisheries and Marine Institute and the Malawi College of Fisheries, the training entity of the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Mines, Natural Resources and Environment.
The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC-UPCD Branch) administers the partnership project with financial support ($1 million) largely contributed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The collaboration will help the Ministry of Mines, Natural Resources and Environment move closer to achieving its goal of environmental sustainability and resulting positive impact on the population of Malawi’s coastal communities.
In Malawi, fisheries supply about 75 per cent of the nation’s dietary animal protein and employ approximately 250,000 people in catching, processing and marketing. In the past decade, the total catch decreased from 70,000 tons per year to 45,000 tons largely because of over-exploitation and post-harvest loss.
“One of our goals is to work with the Malawi College of Fisheries (MCF) to expand its mandate and its capacity to deliver training in post harvest processing, thus reducing post-harvest losses,” explained Kelly Moret, International Project Officer, MI International.
“To do this involves awareness raising initiatives at all levels including mid-level fisheries officers down to the grassroots community level. Based on preliminary activities in the fishing villages the project team realized that one of the most effective methods for delivering training to large groups would be through video. Through funding provided by the African Development Bank, the Department of Fisheries had purchased two media production vehicles. Although the College had the equipment to broadcast training videos in the field the staff lacked the knowledge and skills to develop and produce training videos relevant to their local context and the villages’ specific training needs. Once we identified the training gaps for the College staff we called on the expertise of Kevin and Mark (DELT) to provide much needed video production and editing training.”
With this knowledge, it was down to business for the two DELT employees almost immediately upon arrival. With a thorough lesson plan prepared they had only two weeks to cover a lot of ground. Mr. O’Leary began the first week teaching his primary skill-set, video production.
“We started off very elementary with the functions of the camera and progressively moved through to program development. In fact, we tasked them with developing their own script for a short program. Quite appropriately they decided to make their college the focus of their task. The end result would be a short promotional video of the College Prospectus”
During the second week Mr. Shallow concentrated on digital editing.
“I began slowly with how to start the software and run a program then moved into capturing and digitizing footage. Then we actually put together the video they shot during the end of week one,” he explained.
“I gave technical advice about how to assemble the video and Kevin helped with the content and creative decisions. On the last day we premiered the video for the whole college. It was very exciting for all involved.”
Both Mr. O’Leary and Mr. Shallow agreed the language barrier caused only minor issues. Although the local language is Chichewa, Mark pointed out College staff spoke English very well and the hands-on aspect really helped with overcoming any barriers.
“It was quite clear whether or not they were grasping the material when we asked them to physically do what we were teaching.”
Mr. O’Leary described the MCF group as very enthusiastic to work with.
“They openly discussed topics, and gave each other positive feedback and assistance. I am confident that they will be able to carry on with the groundwork we have established, and grow from there.”
Mr. O’Leary and Mr. Shallow returned to Newfoundland and Labrador on Feb. 4, 2007. Exhausted and happy to be home, they both said it is something they would definitely do again.
“We have so many things in common,” Mr. O’Leary commented. “It is almost eerie to look at our province’s fishing history and the depletion of our fish stocks, and experience first-hand what the people in Malawi are going through right now,” said Mr. O’Leary.
“Their in-shore, small boat fishery is suffering so the government is building them bigger boats to go farther out on the lake. This path sounds familiar to anyone involved in the Newfoundland fishery. It is gratifying to be able to contribute to an effort to increase awareness and with the goal of ensuring environmental sustainability.”
Project manager Kelly Moret reports the video training was a definite highlight for the project as the College was able to produce a video which can be used not only to highlight the college’s capacity in fisheries extension but also video production. In response to the training Moret stated “Kevin and Mark did an exemplary job in what can only be described as a very challenging work environment.”
She added that she looks forward for future collaborations with DELT “there is incredible talent and expertise contained within the DELT unit, we look forward to future training and production opportunities with the Department.”
Days like this...
Often the most precious moments in life are not those that cost a lot of money to see, or are surrounded by hype but rather the simple things are those that really take your breathe away.
I've played pool with a Masaii, drunk beer with corrupt police, been within meters of a wild lion, seen the largest mountain in Africa and sun bathed on the golden sands of Zanzibar... and although its been a journey of a lifetime none of these experiences would make it to my top ten moments in Africa. Why? Because i've learnt that it's the small, unique moments that really make you stop and think.. wow life is bloody awesome!
One afternoon after a marathon beach soccer game as I was retiring to my chalet, i was stopped by one of my favourite students and a fond fan of my vortex ball, Fastone. He was asking if i will come with him to Chisaseria. After several failed attempts to clarify what Chisaseria actually is i obliged anyway and we scheduled it for the following day.
Returning from my very early jog which is undertaken just as the sun reflects gloriously off the lake and makes it easy getting up at 6am when this view greets you dailythe local fishing villages beat their drums to alert the nearby villages that the men have returned triumphantly with their dug out canoes full of fish, i was stopped in my path by none other than Fastone. He exclaimed "Chisaseria, now?" Several more failed attempts to find out what i was getting myself into led to more confusion so I just accepted. Presuming we were heading to school, his house or to see his dog or something i drastically underestimated what the day ahead would bring.
After walking down the routine dirt track past the school and arrived at his aunties house i thought that wasn't too painful Chisaseria must mean aunties or home, and i would be back before i knew it. However when he came out of the modest mud brick house wearing a full buttoned up shirt and black pants i thought looks like this is just the beginning and concluded that we're off to church.
After walking several km's down the main lakeshore road which is one of the main motor ways in Malawi and sees almost a whopping 50 cars fly past a daily we veered off on a beaten track pass some sugarcane fishing village 200m from Mwaya.. Super i thought were finally here, as i was beat from my morning jog. ... but wrong again.
We walked on this dirt goat trail for over an hour passing countless mud brick homes, fields of cassava and women carrying anything from water to kilograms of rice on their heads. We crossed over a river on a precarious log bridge whereby you had to strategically jump over the large gaps between logs without having them turn under your feet as you land. although i love a good challenge i must say i was relieved to reach the other side in one piece.. however i felt a lot less athletic seeing these same women and their oversized loads do it with ease.
It was then that I realized that no other Mzungu would have walked the steps that I had today and seen this breathe taking scenery that well surpassed anything else I have ever seen. I smiled to myself and tried to soak it in all in. whooooo!!
Fastone was keen to keep going to escape the rain and we picked up the pace to a gentle cross country jog.. at this stage I was still oblivious as to where we were going which I chuckled to myself as I jogged thinking I’m an idiot. Eventually we slowed and walked up a hill to a small cluster of about five modest sized mud brick homes surrounded by crops. It was his father’s house where he grew up and he was honored to have a Mzungu come visit. His father was a well respected pastor and spent several years in South Africa so spoke fluent English. As we chatted in the living area small faces would pear round the corner with bright bulging eyes just starring at me. There were almost thirty kids in the family and many of the yournger ones had never seen a white person before. Their clothes we’re dirty and tattered, their feet were course from no shoes and more often than not their bodies would bare scars from working in the fields or skin infections… but nonetheless they were full of life and beaming with smiles.
Hospitality of the Malawian people is like not other.. and although they done have much they share whatever they do. Lunch was prepared which consisted of Maize Nsima and chicken. Nsima being the staple food of much of Africa which is dried and ground corn or cassava (poor mans Nsima) and cooked slowly into a paste with water. Being in the presence of a pastor and questioned on my religion I made the mistake of saying Anglican because that was my highschool’s. To pay for it I was asked to say grace which is something I was very unfamiliar doing. Chuckling at the situation I made it up as I went and thankfully seemed to be suffice. Father portioned out the chicken proudly and gave me what he considered the best bits. Me on the the hand couldn’t recognize the parts they lay on my plate before me.. one particular bit looked like some sort of internal organ or something horrid. It’s an honor to have a chicken killed for your meal so I dare not eat it despite how hideous it looked. I wrapped up the chicken portions in Nsima and gulped it down. The afternoon passed as did the rains just sitting outside swapping tales and waving to the giggling children. I left with a bag of sweet potatoes and a promise to return before I leave.
The day was like no other and through it all I couldn’t stop smiling at how everything had turned out and how fortunate I was to have seen such beautiful scenery and met such warm hearted people. Nothing glamorous or exciting but its days like this that are truly Special.
….. As the family are aware from a not so pleasant email mum received last weekend this is also the story that landed me in hospital the following day. Food poisoning the doctor’s diagnosis, hell was mine. Suspected of having malaria I was admitted to Nkhata Bay hospital in a terrible condition. To weak to take myself to the bathroom or wipe the vomit off my face I was in and out consciousness all night. Lying there in my underwear drenched in sweat I was in a terrible state.. with workman constantly walking past my window gorking at the Mzungu I really wished I was back home. Three drips later and vomiting up my entire stomach lining I was finally discharged from the dirty, smelly, loud hospital where countless people are simply lying there waiting to die. Definitely It was a place I never want to be again.
Thankfully I got better quite quickly and was walking around and eating within the week. It was humbling to have a constant flow of visitors from the neighboring village who had got word that I was sick and they came to see if I was o.k. Even Fastone’s father made the trek down the mountain to send his regards. I told him it was food poisoning but didn’t point the finger.
Now your not allowed to laugh or call me stupid but a couple of days ago on a routine shop by the side of the lakeshore road I purchased some mushrooms. As food here rarely changes I was excited to see something new to shove into my mouth. I whacked em in a stir fry omelet thing and being the pig that I am ended up eating my fellow volunteers portion. Lucky for her within hours I was at a friends house and excused myself outside as the mushrooms had started to take effect and I needed to vomit. Another day spent laying in the dirt outside a friends house looking like a stupid Mzungu puking up my guts. I tried to walk back to Mwaya to warn the other volunteers but made it a whole twenty meters before collapsing and vomiting more. Turns out that the mushrooms have to be cooked a special way involving hours of boiling to remove the poisons in them. Which would’ve been great to know. Asked whether I wanted to go the hospital I smiled and declared I’m fine as that’s the last place I wanted to be. Thankfully later that evening I had bought up my bright yellow stomach vile again which meant they were all out of me and I started to feel better. So there’s another lesson learnt the hard way.
As I reminisce on the good times here, the ones that tutoring on the beach.. doesnt get better immediately spring to mind don’t involve resorts, or alcohol, or planned tourist outings… they all share one similarity and that’s the people. Whether its tutoring the school children, playing soccer on the beach or just hanging out with new found friends it’s the beautiful Malawian people that have molded my fond memories of Africa. Something that I would have never experienced from the back of an overland truck!!
Thanks to everyone who keeps me informed of happenings back home.. and putting me in your thoughts. Can’t wait to see everyone again and hope your all well.
I've played pool with a Masaii, drunk beer with corrupt police, been within meters of a wild lion, seen the largest mountain in Africa and sun bathed on the golden sands of Zanzibar... and although its been a journey of a lifetime none of these experiences would make it to my top ten moments in Africa. Why? Because i've learnt that it's the small, unique moments that really make you stop and think.. wow life is bloody awesome!
One afternoon after a marathon beach soccer game as I was retiring to my chalet, i was stopped by one of my favourite students and a fond fan of my vortex ball, Fastone. He was asking if i will come with him to Chisaseria. After several failed attempts to clarify what Chisaseria actually is i obliged anyway and we scheduled it for the following day.
Returning from my very early jog which is undertaken just as the sun reflects gloriously off the lake and makes it easy getting up at 6am when this view greets you dailythe local fishing villages beat their drums to alert the nearby villages that the men have returned triumphantly with their dug out canoes full of fish, i was stopped in my path by none other than Fastone. He exclaimed "Chisaseria, now?" Several more failed attempts to find out what i was getting myself into led to more confusion so I just accepted. Presuming we were heading to school, his house or to see his dog or something i drastically underestimated what the day ahead would bring.
After walking down the routine dirt track past the school and arrived at his aunties house i thought that wasn't too painful Chisaseria must mean aunties or home, and i would be back before i knew it. However when he came out of the modest mud brick house wearing a full buttoned up shirt and black pants i thought looks like this is just the beginning and concluded that we're off to church.
After walking several km's down the main lakeshore road which is one of the main motor ways in Malawi and sees almost a whopping 50 cars fly past a daily we veered off on a beaten track pass some sugarcane fishing village 200m from Mwaya.. Super i thought were finally here, as i was beat from my morning jog. ... but wrong again.
We walked on this dirt goat trail for over an hour passing countless mud brick homes, fields of cassava and women carrying anything from water to kilograms of rice on their heads. We crossed over a river on a precarious log bridge whereby you had to strategically jump over the large gaps between logs without having them turn under your feet as you land. although i love a good challenge i must say i was relieved to reach the other side in one piece.. however i felt a lot less athletic seeing these same women and their oversized loads do it with ease.
It was then that I realized that no other Mzungu would have walked the steps that I had today and seen this breathe taking scenery that well surpassed anything else I have ever seen. I smiled to myself and tried to soak it in all in. whooooo!!
Fastone was keen to keep going to escape the rain and we picked up the pace to a gentle cross country jog.. at this stage I was still oblivious as to where we were going which I chuckled to myself as I jogged thinking I’m an idiot. Eventually we slowed and walked up a hill to a small cluster of about five modest sized mud brick homes surrounded by crops. It was his father’s house where he grew up and he was honored to have a Mzungu come visit. His father was a well respected pastor and spent several years in South Africa so spoke fluent English. As we chatted in the living area small faces would pear round the corner with bright bulging eyes just starring at me. There were almost thirty kids in the family and many of the yournger ones had never seen a white person before. Their clothes we’re dirty and tattered, their feet were course from no shoes and more often than not their bodies would bare scars from working in the fields or skin infections… but nonetheless they were full of life and beaming with smiles.
Hospitality of the Malawian people is like not other.. and although they done have much they share whatever they do. Lunch was prepared which consisted of Maize Nsima and chicken. Nsima being the staple food of much of Africa which is dried and ground corn or cassava (poor mans Nsima) and cooked slowly into a paste with water. Being in the presence of a pastor and questioned on my religion I made the mistake of saying Anglican because that was my highschool’s. To pay for it I was asked to say grace which is something I was very unfamiliar doing. Chuckling at the situation I made it up as I went and thankfully seemed to be suffice. Father portioned out the chicken proudly and gave me what he considered the best bits. Me on the the hand couldn’t recognize the parts they lay on my plate before me.. one particular bit looked like some sort of internal organ or something horrid. It’s an honor to have a chicken killed for your meal so I dare not eat it despite how hideous it looked. I wrapped up the chicken portions in Nsima and gulped it down. The afternoon passed as did the rains just sitting outside swapping tales and waving to the giggling children. I left with a bag of sweet potatoes and a promise to return before I leave.
The day was like no other and through it all I couldn’t stop smiling at how everything had turned out and how fortunate I was to have seen such beautiful scenery and met such warm hearted people. Nothing glamorous or exciting but its days like this that are truly Special.
….. As the family are aware from a not so pleasant email mum received last weekend this is also the story that landed me in hospital the following day. Food poisoning the doctor’s diagnosis, hell was mine. Suspected of having malaria I was admitted to Nkhata Bay hospital in a terrible condition. To weak to take myself to the bathroom or wipe the vomit off my face I was in and out consciousness all night. Lying there in my underwear drenched in sweat I was in a terrible state.. with workman constantly walking past my window gorking at the Mzungu I really wished I was back home. Three drips later and vomiting up my entire stomach lining I was finally discharged from the dirty, smelly, loud hospital where countless people are simply lying there waiting to die. Definitely It was a place I never want to be again.
Thankfully I got better quite quickly and was walking around and eating within the week. It was humbling to have a constant flow of visitors from the neighboring village who had got word that I was sick and they came to see if I was o.k. Even Fastone’s father made the trek down the mountain to send his regards. I told him it was food poisoning but didn’t point the finger.
Now your not allowed to laugh or call me stupid but a couple of days ago on a routine shop by the side of the lakeshore road I purchased some mushrooms. As food here rarely changes I was excited to see something new to shove into my mouth. I whacked em in a stir fry omelet thing and being the pig that I am ended up eating my fellow volunteers portion. Lucky for her within hours I was at a friends house and excused myself outside as the mushrooms had started to take effect and I needed to vomit. Another day spent laying in the dirt outside a friends house looking like a stupid Mzungu puking up my guts. I tried to walk back to Mwaya to warn the other volunteers but made it a whole twenty meters before collapsing and vomiting more. Turns out that the mushrooms have to be cooked a special way involving hours of boiling to remove the poisons in them. Which would’ve been great to know. Asked whether I wanted to go the hospital I smiled and declared I’m fine as that’s the last place I wanted to be. Thankfully later that evening I had bought up my bright yellow stomach vile again which meant they were all out of me and I started to feel better. So there’s another lesson learnt the hard way.
As I reminisce on the good times here, the ones that tutoring on the beach.. doesnt get better immediately spring to mind don’t involve resorts, or alcohol, or planned tourist outings… they all share one similarity and that’s the people. Whether its tutoring the school children, playing soccer on the beach or just hanging out with new found friends it’s the beautiful Malawian people that have molded my fond memories of Africa. Something that I would have never experienced from the back of an overland truck!!
Thanks to everyone who keeps me informed of happenings back home.. and putting me in your thoughts. Can’t wait to see everyone again and hope your all well.
From Ship to Shore!
I spent a lovely Easter on board the Ilala, Malawi’s luxury cruise liner!! Well something like that anyway. It is quite an old boat that sprints up and down the lake. It takes about a week to get from the top to the bottom, probably because of all the stops in between. We got on at one of the main ports by walking up the plank for a 5 hour trip to a really isolated village. To disembark the boat was slightly more traumatic!! They lowered the life boats (22 people max) and you literally had to throw yourself into them and hope you didn’t land in the water! We all made it (far more that 22 people!!) and were taken ashore.
Spent a lovely, peaceful time on the lake before making the return trip the next day. This time you had to pull yourself aboard (ok so there were a few steps to help you on your way) and the return leg began! The ship/boat is the only means of travel for some Malawians so the lower decks were very crowded with people, animals, food and even the occasional metal roofing!! Back on shore we stopped off at the woodcarvers where I spent the remainder of my last pennies on lovely items of wood!! My best buy was a tall carved old man hunter type creature!! No idea how I will get it all home, especially as I have only been here for a short while and foresee many more trips to the curios!! Note to all who have been to Ghana – the stuff here in Malawi is sooo much cheaper than that in Ghana, which I never thought could be possible. I guess this shows the economic development of the countries!!
Back in Rumphi, the wet season has apparently ended, just a few occasional showers and it is beginning to get windier. It is much cooler (and nicer) at the moment but soon we will be in the HOT, HOT dry season! Can’t wait! Back to my point, the sky at night is so clear that you can actually see the white of the Milky Way and honestly, the stars do twinkle at you – it is amazing, especially when the moon is hiding!!
Thought for the week!! Global Warming. Of so it is happening and to be honest it is the West or North (not sure what the correct development term is at the moment) that are causing most of it! You are seeing weather changes at the moment but, on the whole, your daily lives are not really being affected. People in Malawi, in fact most of Africa, rely on growing their own food to eat for the whole year in order to survive. In Malawi this means certain seasons. The end of the dry season sees the planting time and during the rainy season the maize grows. Too little rain and the harvest is poor, too much rain and the crops get ruined. They need an exact level of rain to get the optimum harvest. They have this down to a fine art and generally speaking this has worked in Africa for years. Already the affects of global warming are beginning to show, the rains in parts of Malawi have been very erratic. A few years ago there was a huge famine across Malawi as there had not been enough rain. I’m sure, year by year this will get worse. What then will then happen to a poor country like Malawi, who is only just surviving at the moment and that is with relatively good crops?
Just back from a trip to Zomba in the south of Malawi for an educational training thing. We were being oriented on the new curriculum which was quite interesting! Managed to visit a few of the sights of Malawi, especially some touristy places including a paper/craft making workshop, Dedza pottery workshop and store and a few wood carvers! Just as well we got our volunteer allowances this week!!!
MOVING DAY
After 3 months of living in Malawi, I am just about to move into my house. Before doing this I needed to collect my furniture from another volunteer’s house. We had arranged this in advance with the driver of the Matola (big truck) in our office, Justus (the volunteer) and my landlady. All was go for 2 o’clock.
By 2.00 Sue and I were in the office. Problem 1 – no driver or matloa. They were out all day on the salaries run! Problem 2 – No Justus (but he did turn up at quarter past 2). My boss decided that we could pop along to the local secondary school and ask to borrow their matola and driver. This we did. Unfortunately there was no fuel in the vehicle. I offered to pay for 5 liters of fuel. Sue had to drive the driver to the petrol station to get fuel! Next problem, after ciphering in the fuel, the van wouldn’t start – something to do with the starter motor, quite a frequent problem! So 5 men pushing the van down the hill and disappearing into the distance. Eventually they appear back with the van in working order! By this point it had started to rain – just a drizzle but still. Eventually got my stuff loaded up (not that there was much to load, somehow a lot of my stuff has been misplaced!!!!) and went to the new house. After some negotiating we managed to get the stuff in. The landlady wasn’t about but the house was open. Decided that we shouldn’t leave the stuff in the house without it being locked. So I had to wait for 2 hours for the land lady to appear! Going to Mzuzu this weekend to try and buy some stuff to put into my house!! Will let you know how I get on!
Hope all is well!!
Spent a lovely, peaceful time on the lake before making the return trip the next day. This time you had to pull yourself aboard (ok so there were a few steps to help you on your way) and the return leg began! The ship/boat is the only means of travel for some Malawians so the lower decks were very crowded with people, animals, food and even the occasional metal roofing!! Back on shore we stopped off at the woodcarvers where I spent the remainder of my last pennies on lovely items of wood!! My best buy was a tall carved old man hunter type creature!! No idea how I will get it all home, especially as I have only been here for a short while and foresee many more trips to the curios!! Note to all who have been to Ghana – the stuff here in Malawi is sooo much cheaper than that in Ghana, which I never thought could be possible. I guess this shows the economic development of the countries!!
Back in Rumphi, the wet season has apparently ended, just a few occasional showers and it is beginning to get windier. It is much cooler (and nicer) at the moment but soon we will be in the HOT, HOT dry season! Can’t wait! Back to my point, the sky at night is so clear that you can actually see the white of the Milky Way and honestly, the stars do twinkle at you – it is amazing, especially when the moon is hiding!!
Thought for the week!! Global Warming. Of so it is happening and to be honest it is the West or North (not sure what the correct development term is at the moment) that are causing most of it! You are seeing weather changes at the moment but, on the whole, your daily lives are not really being affected. People in Malawi, in fact most of Africa, rely on growing their own food to eat for the whole year in order to survive. In Malawi this means certain seasons. The end of the dry season sees the planting time and during the rainy season the maize grows. Too little rain and the harvest is poor, too much rain and the crops get ruined. They need an exact level of rain to get the optimum harvest. They have this down to a fine art and generally speaking this has worked in Africa for years. Already the affects of global warming are beginning to show, the rains in parts of Malawi have been very erratic. A few years ago there was a huge famine across Malawi as there had not been enough rain. I’m sure, year by year this will get worse. What then will then happen to a poor country like Malawi, who is only just surviving at the moment and that is with relatively good crops?
Just back from a trip to Zomba in the south of Malawi for an educational training thing. We were being oriented on the new curriculum which was quite interesting! Managed to visit a few of the sights of Malawi, especially some touristy places including a paper/craft making workshop, Dedza pottery workshop and store and a few wood carvers! Just as well we got our volunteer allowances this week!!!
MOVING DAY
After 3 months of living in Malawi, I am just about to move into my house. Before doing this I needed to collect my furniture from another volunteer’s house. We had arranged this in advance with the driver of the Matola (big truck) in our office, Justus (the volunteer) and my landlady. All was go for 2 o’clock.
By 2.00 Sue and I were in the office. Problem 1 – no driver or matloa. They were out all day on the salaries run! Problem 2 – No Justus (but he did turn up at quarter past 2). My boss decided that we could pop along to the local secondary school and ask to borrow their matola and driver. This we did. Unfortunately there was no fuel in the vehicle. I offered to pay for 5 liters of fuel. Sue had to drive the driver to the petrol station to get fuel! Next problem, after ciphering in the fuel, the van wouldn’t start – something to do with the starter motor, quite a frequent problem! So 5 men pushing the van down the hill and disappearing into the distance. Eventually they appear back with the van in working order! By this point it had started to rain – just a drizzle but still. Eventually got my stuff loaded up (not that there was much to load, somehow a lot of my stuff has been misplaced!!!!) and went to the new house. After some negotiating we managed to get the stuff in. The landlady wasn’t about but the house was open. Decided that we shouldn’t leave the stuff in the house without it being locked. So I had to wait for 2 hours for the land lady to appear! Going to Mzuzu this weekend to try and buy some stuff to put into my house!! Will let you know how I get on!
Hope all is well!!
BENEFIT CHICKEN BAR-B-QUE At the Union Masonic Lodge
The Masonic Lodge #31 in Union and the People's United Methodist Church (PUMC) of Union will hold a benefit supper on June 16 from 4 to 6 PM to raise funds for the “Little Field Home Orphanage” at Chigamba Village, Malawi, Africa.
Proceeds from this event will be used to purchase supplies (medical, school, food etc.) needed by the orphans during the Mission Trip to the orphanage in Malawi in July.
This benefit is being organized by Myrna Soule and the Mission Committee of PUMC, whose members expressed their hope for continued charity, "We feel it is important to remember these orphans on Fathers Day weekend. We appreciate the generous support we have received from the area residents to build a medical center for the orphanage. This is another opportunity for people to enjoy a good meal together while helping those who are so much in need."
Each chicken dinner will include: Chicken, Coleslaw, Chips, Roll, Pickle, Beverage, and Dessert Bar.
The barbecue will be held at the Union Masonic Lodge, located on Sennebec Road, north of Route 17 in Union. For more information on the benefit supper or about the Mission Trip to Malawi, call Myrna Soule at 785-4117.
Proceeds from this event will be used to purchase supplies (medical, school, food etc.) needed by the orphans during the Mission Trip to the orphanage in Malawi in July.
This benefit is being organized by Myrna Soule and the Mission Committee of PUMC, whose members expressed their hope for continued charity, "We feel it is important to remember these orphans on Fathers Day weekend. We appreciate the generous support we have received from the area residents to build a medical center for the orphanage. This is another opportunity for people to enjoy a good meal together while helping those who are so much in need."
Each chicken dinner will include: Chicken, Coleslaw, Chips, Roll, Pickle, Beverage, and Dessert Bar.
The barbecue will be held at the Union Masonic Lodge, located on Sennebec Road, north of Route 17 in Union. For more information on the benefit supper or about the Mission Trip to Malawi, call Myrna Soule at 785-4117.
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Museum preserves culture and Malawians
I met Aaron Mulawa and Mike Gondwe in Vancouver, British Columbia. We were delegates at the Interpreting World Heritage Conference. They are from Malawi. Aaron drew a map. His country is on the east side of Africa, and according to Mike, it is about the size of a large North American city such as Vancouver.
Attendees at the conference work at parks, zoos, historic sites, museums and designated World Heritage Sites around the world. Aaron and Mike are heritage interpreters at the Museums of Malawi. Like most museums, their museums display cultural collections, natural history exhibitions, artifacts and art.
In addition to preserving Malawi culture, the museums also are trying to change it. Tradition promotes multiple wives and large families. If a man dies, his wives and children are adopted by his brother, a practice that worked well for centuries. But today more than 14 percent of the population is infected with HIV/AIDs. The country has 550,000 AIDs-related orphans.
Mike says nonprofit organizations rarely reach remote villages, so the museums designed a program they take on the road. They assembled a troupe of performers for Gule Wamkulu, a ritual dance used for decades to teach Malawians morals and values. Through the dance, the museums help villagers embedded in traditional culture embrace new codes of conduct. Drummers and dancers embody animal and human spirits, which share messages of abstinence and single partners and challenge villagers to care for their orphans.
In Malawi, malaria kills even faster than AIDs. Museum singers and dancers visit schools to promote malaria prevention. They help children examine mosquitoes with a magnifying glass that a donor from Canada shipped to the museum. At the end of the lessons, children write poems about mosquito body parts, create dances that depict drying up puddles around their home, and perform skits that show malaria's symptoms and recommend medical treatment in town (even if the traditional healer tells them they are bewitched). Mosquito nets are given as prizes, and although the museum can afford to award only a few to each school, all the students celebrate in their success.
The Museums of Malawi depend on modest grants to fund their outreach projects, though there is not enough money for electricity in the museums. They have no phone, no Internet, and the computer doesn't work. There is no fuel for the museum car, so the museum staff walks to the villages on roads that are mostly nonexistent.
Heritage interpreters strive to educate and illuminate. In their highest cause, they produce change. At facilities around the world, interpretive programs are designed to meet challenges at their parks and nature centers. The Museums of Malawi are working to overcome challenges in their country. Mike and Aaron know it is a noble foundation to preserve culture in glass cases, but they are in a race to preserve their people.
Evelyn Kirkwood is director of the St. Joseph County Parks and Recreation Department in Indiana and host of "Outdoor Elements," broadcast at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays on WNIT Television.
Evie Kirkwood:
ekirkwood@sjcparks.org
Attendees at the conference work at parks, zoos, historic sites, museums and designated World Heritage Sites around the world. Aaron and Mike are heritage interpreters at the Museums of Malawi. Like most museums, their museums display cultural collections, natural history exhibitions, artifacts and art.
In addition to preserving Malawi culture, the museums also are trying to change it. Tradition promotes multiple wives and large families. If a man dies, his wives and children are adopted by his brother, a practice that worked well for centuries. But today more than 14 percent of the population is infected with HIV/AIDs. The country has 550,000 AIDs-related orphans.
Mike says nonprofit organizations rarely reach remote villages, so the museums designed a program they take on the road. They assembled a troupe of performers for Gule Wamkulu, a ritual dance used for decades to teach Malawians morals and values. Through the dance, the museums help villagers embedded in traditional culture embrace new codes of conduct. Drummers and dancers embody animal and human spirits, which share messages of abstinence and single partners and challenge villagers to care for their orphans.
In Malawi, malaria kills even faster than AIDs. Museum singers and dancers visit schools to promote malaria prevention. They help children examine mosquitoes with a magnifying glass that a donor from Canada shipped to the museum. At the end of the lessons, children write poems about mosquito body parts, create dances that depict drying up puddles around their home, and perform skits that show malaria's symptoms and recommend medical treatment in town (even if the traditional healer tells them they are bewitched). Mosquito nets are given as prizes, and although the museum can afford to award only a few to each school, all the students celebrate in their success.
The Museums of Malawi depend on modest grants to fund their outreach projects, though there is not enough money for electricity in the museums. They have no phone, no Internet, and the computer doesn't work. There is no fuel for the museum car, so the museum staff walks to the villages on roads that are mostly nonexistent.
Heritage interpreters strive to educate and illuminate. In their highest cause, they produce change. At facilities around the world, interpretive programs are designed to meet challenges at their parks and nature centers. The Museums of Malawi are working to overcome challenges in their country. Mike and Aaron know it is a noble foundation to preserve culture in glass cases, but they are in a race to preserve their people.
Evelyn Kirkwood is director of the St. Joseph County Parks and Recreation Department in Indiana and host of "Outdoor Elements," broadcast at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays on WNIT Television.
Evie Kirkwood:
ekirkwood@sjcparks.org
Saturday, 28 April 2007
MALAWI: Bumper harvest expected again this year
Farmers in Malawi are attributing the abundant harvest they are looking forward to - a total of 3.2 million metric tonnes of maize this year - to a combination of good rains and subsidised fertiliser, although there are still remaining pockets of vulnerability.
"What the government did - to reduce fertiliser [prices] to enable the poor buy cheap fertiliser - has increased food production. It is my sincere hope that government will continue implementing the programme, so that Malawi does not suffer from hunger any longer," said Amos Banda, a farmer on the outskirts of the capital, Lilongwe.
The government has also attributed the high maize production to subsidised fertiliser, which was sold to farmers at 950 kwacha [about US$6.50] per 50kg bag; in 2004 the price was around K4,000 [about US$27] per 50kg bag.
With a 22 percent increase over last year's production - 73 percent higher than the average for the last five years, according to government estimates - Malawi's agricultural sector seems to be recovering after a drought in 2005 left almost five million people in need of food aid.
Banda said that working hard "is the only solution to deal with persistent hunger in our households. We have had good rains in the past few years, but good rainfall without farm inputs and hard work cannot produce better crop yields."
Joana Kambale, another farmer, praised the government for reducing the cost of fertiliser but suggested that the most poverty-stricken people be given fertiliser free of charge.
"Some of us are keeping orphans, and to raise money to feed the children and buy fertiliser is not easy. However, I have to be thankful to government for the reduction, but free fertiliser to the poor would be helpful," she said.
Despite forecasts of a good harvest throughout the country, a maize shortage is expected in Karonga district, in the Northern part of Malawi, after a lack of rain in February.
Nevertheless, the farmers have proven resilient. "Although we may not harvest enough maize from this area, we still believe we can survive by growing winter crops. What most people would like, however, is the support from government. We need to irrigate our crops and we can only succeed if we have proper equipment," said Daniel Mwagomba, a farmer in Karonga.
An estimated 65 percent of Malawi's 12 million people live below the poverty line, so the vast majority cannot afford irrigation equipment. The government has said it would distribute about 400 treadle pumps - a simple and inexpensive human-powered pump - but farmers in most areas have not yet received them.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Binton Kuntsaira said there were no plans to discontinue the government's subsidy programme. "Due to high maize ... production last year, government has allowed traders to sell their crops outside Malawi. This year we expect more from our farmers, and this is what the government wants. People must be able to feed themselves."
"What the government did - to reduce fertiliser [prices] to enable the poor buy cheap fertiliser - has increased food production. It is my sincere hope that government will continue implementing the programme, so that Malawi does not suffer from hunger any longer," said Amos Banda, a farmer on the outskirts of the capital, Lilongwe.
The government has also attributed the high maize production to subsidised fertiliser, which was sold to farmers at 950 kwacha [about US$6.50] per 50kg bag; in 2004 the price was around K4,000 [about US$27] per 50kg bag.
With a 22 percent increase over last year's production - 73 percent higher than the average for the last five years, according to government estimates - Malawi's agricultural sector seems to be recovering after a drought in 2005 left almost five million people in need of food aid.
Banda said that working hard "is the only solution to deal with persistent hunger in our households. We have had good rains in the past few years, but good rainfall without farm inputs and hard work cannot produce better crop yields."
Joana Kambale, another farmer, praised the government for reducing the cost of fertiliser but suggested that the most poverty-stricken people be given fertiliser free of charge.
"Some of us are keeping orphans, and to raise money to feed the children and buy fertiliser is not easy. However, I have to be thankful to government for the reduction, but free fertiliser to the poor would be helpful," she said.
Despite forecasts of a good harvest throughout the country, a maize shortage is expected in Karonga district, in the Northern part of Malawi, after a lack of rain in February.
Nevertheless, the farmers have proven resilient. "Although we may not harvest enough maize from this area, we still believe we can survive by growing winter crops. What most people would like, however, is the support from government. We need to irrigate our crops and we can only succeed if we have proper equipment," said Daniel Mwagomba, a farmer in Karonga.
An estimated 65 percent of Malawi's 12 million people live below the poverty line, so the vast majority cannot afford irrigation equipment. The government has said it would distribute about 400 treadle pumps - a simple and inexpensive human-powered pump - but farmers in most areas have not yet received them.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Binton Kuntsaira said there were no plans to discontinue the government's subsidy programme. "Due to high maize ... production last year, government has allowed traders to sell their crops outside Malawi. This year we expect more from our farmers, and this is what the government wants. People must be able to feed themselves."
Confronting the Contradictions
The case against the IMF on education
In the world’s poorest countries many children have gone without quality education for far too long, and as a result, the human capital that these countries need to grow and develop sustainably is still in desperately short supply.
One reason is that the key ingredient to learning is missing: there are not enough trained teachers. Our research in Malawi, Mozambique and Sierra Leone shows that a major factor behind the chronic and severe shortage of teachers is that International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies have required many poor countries to freeze or curtail teacher recruitment.
The report recognises that wage bill ceilings are closely linked to wider economic policies imposed by the IMF - and suggests that it is time for us all to challenge an approach "which encourages nations to believe that there is just one truth, one concept of macroeconomic stability and that this is an on-off position, stable or unstable, on-track or off-track."
The report makes the following core recommendations:
The IMF should stop attaching specific policy conditions to their lending and surveillance programmes;
Any advice they give must provide a range of policy options to enable governments and other stakeholders – including parliaments and civil society – to make informed choices about macroeconomic policies, wage bills and the level of social spending;
Governments should place education and development goals at the centre of their macro-economic planning. They should develop long-term and costed education plans detailing the actual need for teachers and resources for training in order to provide quality learning for all;
Donors need to keep their promises by committing to close the annual US$15bn financing gap needed to achieve education for all with increased and predictable aid over the long term. There is an urgent need to front-load increases in aid to education and
Civil society organisations need to develop their own economic literacy so they can better scrutinise government budgets, increase the sensitivity of budgets to the needs of girls, poor people and other excluded groups, and engage in discussions about alternative macroeconomic policies.
In the world’s poorest countries many children have gone without quality education for far too long, and as a result, the human capital that these countries need to grow and develop sustainably is still in desperately short supply.
One reason is that the key ingredient to learning is missing: there are not enough trained teachers. Our research in Malawi, Mozambique and Sierra Leone shows that a major factor behind the chronic and severe shortage of teachers is that International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies have required many poor countries to freeze or curtail teacher recruitment.
The report recognises that wage bill ceilings are closely linked to wider economic policies imposed by the IMF - and suggests that it is time for us all to challenge an approach "which encourages nations to believe that there is just one truth, one concept of macroeconomic stability and that this is an on-off position, stable or unstable, on-track or off-track."
The report makes the following core recommendations:
The IMF should stop attaching specific policy conditions to their lending and surveillance programmes;
Any advice they give must provide a range of policy options to enable governments and other stakeholders – including parliaments and civil society – to make informed choices about macroeconomic policies, wage bills and the level of social spending;
Governments should place education and development goals at the centre of their macro-economic planning. They should develop long-term and costed education plans detailing the actual need for teachers and resources for training in order to provide quality learning for all;
Donors need to keep their promises by committing to close the annual US$15bn financing gap needed to achieve education for all with increased and predictable aid over the long term. There is an urgent need to front-load increases in aid to education and
Civil society organisations need to develop their own economic literacy so they can better scrutinise government budgets, increase the sensitivity of budgets to the needs of girls, poor people and other excluded groups, and engage in discussions about alternative macroeconomic policies.
Confronting the Contradictions
The IMF, wage bill caps and the case for teachers
A new report by ActionAid’s multi-country International Education Team and based on in-depth country case studies from Malawi, Mozambique and Sierra Leone, shows that a major factor behind the chronic and severe shortage of teachers is that International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies have required many poor countries to freeze or curtail teacher recruitment. The IMF may have varying degrees of influence in directly setting the wage bill ceilings. However, by insisting on overly restrictive macroeconomic policies that constrain government spending on wages, it is in part responsible for the persisting teacher shortage. In all three countries examined, the wage bill ceiling is too low to allow the government to hire the teachers they need to achieve the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 40:1 recommended by the Education for All – Fast-track Initiative (EFA-FTI). There is considerable evidence that the current ceilings compromise the quality of education in each of these countries. There is a growing contradiction between donors who are trying to “scale-up” aid and spending to train and hire enough teachers meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the IMF macroeconomic policies that are discouraging recipients from spending the new aid. This contradiction must by confronted by education advocates.
A new report by ActionAid’s multi-country International Education Team and based on in-depth country case studies from Malawi, Mozambique and Sierra Leone, shows that a major factor behind the chronic and severe shortage of teachers is that International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies have required many poor countries to freeze or curtail teacher recruitment. The IMF may have varying degrees of influence in directly setting the wage bill ceilings. However, by insisting on overly restrictive macroeconomic policies that constrain government spending on wages, it is in part responsible for the persisting teacher shortage. In all three countries examined, the wage bill ceiling is too low to allow the government to hire the teachers they need to achieve the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 40:1 recommended by the Education for All – Fast-track Initiative (EFA-FTI). There is considerable evidence that the current ceilings compromise the quality of education in each of these countries. There is a growing contradiction between donors who are trying to “scale-up” aid and spending to train and hire enough teachers meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the IMF macroeconomic policies that are discouraging recipients from spending the new aid. This contradiction must by confronted by education advocates.
Friday, 27 April 2007
MDC supporters flee to Malawi
HARARE - Scores of MDC supporters, harassed by police and Zanu (PF) elements, are fleeing to Malawi to seek political asylum.
The Zimbabwean heard that scores of party supporters have fled to Dzaleka refugee camp, run by the Jesuit priests of the Catholic Church, located outside Lilongwe. The refugee camp contains political refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and the Sudan.
There are an estimated 3,000 inmates at the camp, a former prison.
An MDC refugee at the centre told The Zimbabwean that he was trying to adjust to life at the camp after he fled Harare following indications that police were looking for him.
He called The Zimbabwean after reading a copy of the paper. The refugee, who cannot be named for security reasons said there were more and more refugees being admitted into the centre every day.
"The conditions here are bad and one has to put up one’s shelter. Each one of us receives a ration of 12kg rice, 1kg sugar, 100 grammes of salt, three tablets of soap, and 1kg of beans. They don’t supply blankets and I would very much want to return home, but I understand the political situation is still very tense," he said.
He said he could not go to SA and Botswana because those places was teeming with intelligence operatives.
"It was so tense and we escaped via Mozambique. My colleagues became jittery at Nyamapanda border post and were detained," he said.
"I made good my escape and was helped by an international truck driver who drove me into Malawi," he said.
But he is concerned about the safety of his wife and two children he left in Zimbabwe.
"Every day that passes I think of home," he said. "I desperately want to return home, but I fear for my life. I also fear that publication of your story will lead to harm for members of my family and that my hide-out will be discovered."
The Zimbabwean heard that scores of party supporters have fled to Dzaleka refugee camp, run by the Jesuit priests of the Catholic Church, located outside Lilongwe. The refugee camp contains political refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and the Sudan.
There are an estimated 3,000 inmates at the camp, a former prison.
An MDC refugee at the centre told The Zimbabwean that he was trying to adjust to life at the camp after he fled Harare following indications that police were looking for him.
He called The Zimbabwean after reading a copy of the paper. The refugee, who cannot be named for security reasons said there were more and more refugees being admitted into the centre every day.
"The conditions here are bad and one has to put up one’s shelter. Each one of us receives a ration of 12kg rice, 1kg sugar, 100 grammes of salt, three tablets of soap, and 1kg of beans. They don’t supply blankets and I would very much want to return home, but I understand the political situation is still very tense," he said.
He said he could not go to SA and Botswana because those places was teeming with intelligence operatives.
"It was so tense and we escaped via Mozambique. My colleagues became jittery at Nyamapanda border post and were detained," he said.
"I made good my escape and was helped by an international truck driver who drove me into Malawi," he said.
But he is concerned about the safety of his wife and two children he left in Zimbabwe.
"Every day that passes I think of home," he said. "I desperately want to return home, but I fear for my life. I also fear that publication of your story will lead to harm for members of my family and that my hide-out will be discovered."
Zimbabwe: Country Barters Sugar for Malawi Maize
AS food and foreign currency shortages intensify, government has devised a plan to barter sugar for maize with Malawi.
The strategy conceived by the Joint Operations Command (JOC) food taskforce -- which brings together the army, police, intelligence service and ministries of Agriculture and Industry -- came into force last month as government desperately tries to stave-off starvation.
The barter project has resulted in a countrywide shortage of sugar which is now only available on the informal market where it is fetching up to $20 000 a kg. The price of sugar is controlled by the state and a 2kg packet should cost $8 000. Price wars between government and producers have in the past created intermittent shortages but the latest stockouts are as a result of major exports to Malawi, industry sources said.
The Zimbabwe Independent this week heard that the sugar was being transported to Malawi in 30-tonne trucks which then came back into the country with maize.
While it is not clear how much sugar will be exported to Malawi, Zimbabwe is set to receive two tonnes of maize for every tone of sugar exported. A tonne of maize is fetching US$155 compared to US$348 for a tonne of sugar.
Sources at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) said a team made up of the taskforce and the parastatal's operations department officers has already shipped two consignments of sugar to Malawi, one in March and another two weeks ago in exchange for maize. The source said the group was in the process of putting together further sugar consignments to cover the huge grain deficit in the country.
"About 100 000 tonnes of maize have already been discussed and will be on their way to Zimbabwe once the shipment arrangements have been finalised," the source said. "However, considering that an estimated 400 000 tonnes are likely to be produced locally, that leaves a huge deficit that needs to be filled."
Zimbabwe requires 1,8 million tonnes of grain to bridge two farming seasons, excluding 500 000 tonnes for strategic reserves.Government is understood to be getting the sugar directly from the mills in Chiredzi.
Farmers in the area said it was possible for government to commandeer sugar ahead of any other customer and where they would send it is entirely up to them.
"Government often commandeers sugar which it buys at ridiculous prices," one farmer said. "Last year export consignments destined for Namibia had to be stopped to allow government to get 10 000 tonnes of sugar they required."
Malawi, swamped with surplus maize from two bumper harvests, said it was prepared to export 400 000 tonnes of the staple to cash-strapped Zimbabwe.
Nasinuku Saukila, general manager of the National Food Reserve Agency, recently said Malawi has had two years of bumper maize harvest and is in surplus of about 1,1 million tonnes. He was also quoted as saying that Zimbabwe has been shopping around for maize and they will be exporting 400 000 tonnes of maize following a demand from Zimbabwe.
Over the past six years government has resorted to barter trade in minerals, land and other natural resources with any country that has the potential to provide fuel. Recently government hatched a plan to use diamonds mined from Marange in exchange for fuel from Equatorial Guinea.
Controversy around the discovery and exploitation of diamonds in Marange where the government has kicked out the owners of the claim, a British company, African Consolidated Resources (ACR), is likely to scupper the fuel deal.
Government is said to have already received fuel worth US$24 million from Equatorial Guinea, which it is unable to pay for, and now wants to use part of the diamond loot to amortise the debt.
Similar barter trade facilities put in place by government previously collapsed as government failed to honour its promises on time.
The strategy conceived by the Joint Operations Command (JOC) food taskforce -- which brings together the army, police, intelligence service and ministries of Agriculture and Industry -- came into force last month as government desperately tries to stave-off starvation.
The barter project has resulted in a countrywide shortage of sugar which is now only available on the informal market where it is fetching up to $20 000 a kg. The price of sugar is controlled by the state and a 2kg packet should cost $8 000. Price wars between government and producers have in the past created intermittent shortages but the latest stockouts are as a result of major exports to Malawi, industry sources said.
The Zimbabwe Independent this week heard that the sugar was being transported to Malawi in 30-tonne trucks which then came back into the country with maize.
While it is not clear how much sugar will be exported to Malawi, Zimbabwe is set to receive two tonnes of maize for every tone of sugar exported. A tonne of maize is fetching US$155 compared to US$348 for a tonne of sugar.
Sources at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) said a team made up of the taskforce and the parastatal's operations department officers has already shipped two consignments of sugar to Malawi, one in March and another two weeks ago in exchange for maize. The source said the group was in the process of putting together further sugar consignments to cover the huge grain deficit in the country.
"About 100 000 tonnes of maize have already been discussed and will be on their way to Zimbabwe once the shipment arrangements have been finalised," the source said. "However, considering that an estimated 400 000 tonnes are likely to be produced locally, that leaves a huge deficit that needs to be filled."
Zimbabwe requires 1,8 million tonnes of grain to bridge two farming seasons, excluding 500 000 tonnes for strategic reserves.Government is understood to be getting the sugar directly from the mills in Chiredzi.
Farmers in the area said it was possible for government to commandeer sugar ahead of any other customer and where they would send it is entirely up to them.
"Government often commandeers sugar which it buys at ridiculous prices," one farmer said. "Last year export consignments destined for Namibia had to be stopped to allow government to get 10 000 tonnes of sugar they required."
Malawi, swamped with surplus maize from two bumper harvests, said it was prepared to export 400 000 tonnes of the staple to cash-strapped Zimbabwe.
Nasinuku Saukila, general manager of the National Food Reserve Agency, recently said Malawi has had two years of bumper maize harvest and is in surplus of about 1,1 million tonnes. He was also quoted as saying that Zimbabwe has been shopping around for maize and they will be exporting 400 000 tonnes of maize following a demand from Zimbabwe.
Over the past six years government has resorted to barter trade in minerals, land and other natural resources with any country that has the potential to provide fuel. Recently government hatched a plan to use diamonds mined from Marange in exchange for fuel from Equatorial Guinea.
Controversy around the discovery and exploitation of diamonds in Marange where the government has kicked out the owners of the claim, a British company, African Consolidated Resources (ACR), is likely to scupper the fuel deal.
Government is said to have already received fuel worth US$24 million from Equatorial Guinea, which it is unable to pay for, and now wants to use part of the diamond loot to amortise the debt.
Similar barter trade facilities put in place by government previously collapsed as government failed to honour its promises on time.
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