Well December is finally upon me and looking back it has gone by so quickly and all the things I have done are starting to blur together. It's extremely easy to lose track of time and when I do take the time to look back I find that weeks have past. I have not gone and done anymore exploring since my travel buddy Bonnie has unfortunately left me for Canada (who would imagine). However, since my parents will be joining me here in Malawi in just over 2 weeks time I am sure I will soon find myself back out and exploring this beautiful country soon.
Despite not having gone out in my personal time my work and being a WUSC volunteer as managed to keep me pretty busy. WUSC (World University Services of Canada) has been in Malawi for 30 years as of last month and as such there was a some what birthday party for them. Which would have been fine, except they wanted the Canadian volunteers to do a song or dance that represented Canadian culture....Yah, not so possible. So we decided to do a presentation on Canada's aboriginal populations. However, this caused a great deal of conflict amongst us volunteers. Despite being Canadian, not many of us knew all that much about our heritage, we couldn't even decide amongst ourselves whether the proper terminology is aboriginal populations or First Nations people. In the end we managed to put together a presentation that pleased both the Malawians present at the celebration as well as the Canadian representatives from WUSC -Ottawa. But I still find myself shocked at how little knowledge we as a population generally have concerning our history. We used our aboriginal history to beef up the Olympics but how many of us really know that much? Sorry, just a little side-note that wasn't really all that related to Malawi.
As many of you know (or may not know I suppose), World Aids Day was December 1st. In recognition of this day my work spent the week with communities conducting Open Days. These Open Days were conducted in rural communities in both Salima and Mangochi. Youth groups in these districts put on skits, sang and did some cultural dances that helped to raise awareness not only for HIV/AIDS but for gender equality and human rights. In each community I had drastically different experiences. Since my Chichewa is less then perfect I only understood about half of what was said during the days but each community was completely unique. For example, one of the communities was really into their music and dancing, halfway threw the day it was decided that a break was necessary, except it turned into a dance party. The chiefs, my coworkers, all the children and even myself ended up dancing – it turned out to be a very memorable experience for me demonstrating the unity that can exist for everyone. In another community there was a football game afterwards, where again I noticed how connected the community was. Each time a goal was scored all the children would run onto the field and give the players a high-five. And in a third community, just as the Open Day was concluding an ox-cart went by carrying an individual who had just passed away as well as there family. In response to this, the women of the community, as well as many of the children, stood up and started to follow the cart, walking behind it for as far as I could see. This really showed how much community is treasured, it gave me goosebumps just seeing this and realizing how connected everyone was. Overall, my week in the field was exhausting and by the end I was completely worn out, but driving home, with the sun setting over the beautiful Malawian landscape thinking back on all the experiences I had that week I felt inspired again. I find it is easy to want to give up day after day here, so these moments of inspiration are truly cherished.
A particular comment made by my co-worker has got me seriously reconsidering the world of aid. She was talking with our field officers about just getting an activity done so that they would continue getting the funding. It is starting to feel as if the work itself isn't actually the main concern anymore, its about ensuring that the money keeps rolling in. What would happen if aid just stopped, would all these aid-dependant countries just fall apart or would they be forced to stand on their own own. Would there be a period of civil rights movements that ensued that are necessary for many countries to get where they want to be? I find myself thinking about these sort of things more and more often. Our current international aid situation is less then sustainable so maybe its time we start looking for alternatives to the typical means of aid, move away from pouring millions of dollars into countries on an annual basis.
I also recently had the opportunity to go to the refugee camp in Malawi. The couple that I live with, two really amazing people from Michigan who are here for three years, work within the refugee camp. This was really an eye opening experience for me. It allowed me to see the importance of religion within this context as well as gave me the opportunity to meet one of the most interesting people I have ever met. I attended a church service within the camp. As many of you know, religion does not play a large role in my life, but since coming here I have gained a huge amount of respect for the institution of religion and how it truly helps people.
As I mentioned before, I also had the chance to meet a very fascinating individual. A man who goes by Papa. He has been in the Malawi refugee camp since 1992, and is considered a Burundi refugee. However, he has only ever been to Burundi once in his life and wasn't even born there, he was born in the Congo. To me this seems completely outrageous, that this man who has rarely been to the country that he is named a refugee from has been put into this camp where they aren't even legally allowed to leave. However, by spending an afternoon talking with him, I came to realize that despite the terrible circumstances he has really managed to make a life for himself. He owns several business within the camp, including his most recent endeavour of starting an internet cafe within the camp and he is genuinely making the best out of the his situation. His blind faith in the world, hoping that his hard work will pay off and trying to provide the best he can for his family made me think. Apart from Papa, listening to my roommates talk about all the scholarship applicants in the refugee camp has made me truly think about how many brilliant minds are within these refugee camps that will never have the opportunity to really have their chance at the world.
My apologies if this post is all over the chart, just some ideas that have been floating around my head the last couple weeks. Unfortunately this will probably be my last blog post until the new year. I have a school report to write, grad school applications and work assignments to address before my family gets here. I'll be sure to keep track of my adventures with my parents so that I can blog and share their experiences as well. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holidays this year, I will be thinking of everyone back at home!
