Until We Meet Again

Alright, so by now everyone who has read my blog and hoped to keep track of me via my blog has figured out that I am not a blogger. Upon reflection I wish I was, it would have helped to keep track of everything that has been happening in my life - but alas, life goes on.

So, not a lot has been happening in relation to my work. As a result of delays in funding and poor scheduling the last couple months much has been left to be desired. However, back in January and February I was able to assist with the implementation of model herbal gardens for vulnerable people. Communities have been taught the use of many plants, how to plant and care for them and in the coming months will be taught how to process them. This may not seem like much but it provides benefits on two levels for Malawians. Firstly, it becomes cheap, accessible medicine for an array of ailments. Secondly, it is an income-generating activity, if the right channels can be developed. People in Europe are willing to pay outrages amounts of money for herbal medicines - it is the current trend, and Malawi should be taking advantage of this. My role in FUM has been warped from gender specialist to gender and HIV/AIDS specialist. This came as a surprise to me, since I have had less interaction with HIV/AIDS-related work then I have with gender. However, over the months I have begun to feel comfortable with both topics and feel confident in the work I do do as of now.

I feel the more exciting aspects of my adventure have actually been happening outside of work (particularly the last couple months). I live with a fantastic couple (unfortunately from the US ha ha) who work in Dzaleka Refugee Camp here in Malawi. I have had the opportunity to really get to know their projects and some of the refugees they work alongside. To be perfectly honest, my work in FUM had made me lost track of why I even started studying International Development. Dzaleka made me remember. Everyone in the refugee camp comes from a completely different background, with a unique story that, if you take the time, they would be willing to share with you.

Recently I even had the opportunity to attend a celebration within the refugee camp. It was the 10 year anniversary of a church. Which, if you know me at all, doesn't sound like something I would ever attend. Now, I'm not about to tell you I had a life altering experience and I am now a women of God - cause I'm not. But, I have developed a deep appreciation for what religion can mean to people. Religion brings people together and provides them with the hope they need to keep moving forward.

Dzaleka is an interesting place all around. Recently, the amount of food aid available to them has been cut in half, from 14kg to 7kg, which is not enough to survive on for a month. By some stroke of luck they received more food and a second distribution was set up, for another 7kg. But the the horror of the refugees they were only receiving 5kg and the distributing organization (that shall remain nameless)  was keeping 2kg/person for themselves. Of course, this resulted in riots and numerous refugees ending up jailed. This is just one story of many, and it isn't a one time thing or unique to this particular refugee camp.

I could honestly talk about the refugee camp and some of the individuals I have met for days and days. So, if you ever wanna talk or just ask questions you'll know where to find me in 3 weeks (WATERLOO!!!), or just shoot me an email.

As most people know I had two friends come to visit me in March, Dana and Sarah, who are currently completely a placement in Botswana. It was nice to have some familiar faces around me. It was also nice to view Malawi through the eyes of someone else, someone who isn't accustomed to the daily issues or general woes of the country. It was refreshing to see Malawi as the beautiful country that it is once again. I lost track of that and let myself get wrapped up in the daily grind of life in Malawi.

This post is already getting lengthy, and I apologize for that. I have also not covered a lot of things in this post about my life here in Malawi. I am looking forward to being home and sharing all of my stories and pictures with everyone. Only 18 more days until I am on a plane and headed home. As it gets nearer I am starting to think that I will really miss Malawi and that one day I would really like to come back, whether it be for work or for pleasure.

Oh! Just a tidbit of information, we are now experiencing a sugar shortage also. Without going into too much political stuff I will just say it is now added to an ever expanding list.

TIA - This Is Africa

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 1^st. 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!

One week at a time...

Kind of looks like I have a mustache, just a piece of hair!

Okay, so when I said I would blog weekly, its more likely bi-weekly, maybe even monthly. Since I last blogged however, life has been pretty slow. Im won't pretend like life in Malawi is hugely different from that of home. I wake up, walk to work, spend 8 hours in the office, walk home, have supper and sleep. Pretty similar to that of home or maybe its that I am starting to become accustomed to life in Malawi, the things that once seemed so unique and different from home are very much so commonplace to me now.

However, since I last wrote I did manage to do the most typical African tourist thing ever – went on a safari. This was one activity that I absolutely needed to do, I mean really, who goes to Africa and doesn't do a safari...definitely not me! Bonnie and I went with a company called Kiboko Safari's. They are a great company and really provide a lot of value for your money. We went on a four day trip into Zambia. The safari was a lot of fun, we were able to see loads of animals: elephants, giraffes, lion, lioness, lion cubs, zebras, hippos, hyenas, antelope, puku, crocodile, monkeys, warthogs and loads of others. Despite having taken nearly 1,000 pictures none of them really capture what its like to see this magnificent animals in person. As amazing as it was, the environmentalist in me struggled with how comfortable these animals were with people. They are fully aware of people and just go about their business as if they aren't there. It seems unnatural that we should be able to be only a few feet from a lion. The camp we stayed at was located inside the game management area of the park, so it was frequented by hippos and elephants in the early hours of the morning. But there were lodges within the national park as well, which to me doesn't seem right. Shouldn't the park be left to the animals, its bad enough we drive threw the park but by building lodges it is further deteriorating what should be a pristine place for these animals. I wonder how many animals homes were destroyed so that tourists could stay in the park and be even closer to the animals....Maybe I need not worry and a complete impact assessment was completed prior to these lodges being constructed (however, I have a hard time believing that). The game management area is more of less the transition zone between the national park and the surrounding villages. Within this area I was able to listen to hippos talking to one another as I fell asleep, watch monkey corner other tourists and watch elephants take a mud bath, so why does one need to be any closer? All in all I really enjoyed myself, but it made me realize that I think I have a more vested interest in environmental aspects of development, my heart is in the flora and fauna of the world. 

Big lion sleeping :)

 

But for now I am working with the social aspects of development and at the request of my dearest Sarah (currently volunteering in Botswana) I'm going to talk about my work. As I mentioned before I work at the Farmer's Union of Malawi, which is an umbrella organization for farmer cooperatives and groups across all of Malawi. The organization does work in a lot of areas, agro-forestry, gender, human rights, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, basically anything that farmers could use to further themselves, to increase food security and decrease poverty. So my role in all of this, I have been given the title of gender specialist. I don't claim to be a gender specialist by any means, my education pertaining specifically to gender consists of one – three hour lecture. But I am learning as I go, even if I had had more education specifically on gender Im not sure that it would have proved overly helpful. No matter how much reading or how many essays I wrote every country is different and the best way for me to learn about gender issues in Malawi is to be here.

So far I have had to opportunity to draft two policies for my organization, one on gender in the workplace and the other on HIV/AIDS. I have also helped coordinate and implement training sessions for 2 districts (Salima and Mangochi) on gender, human rights and HIV/AIDS. These sessions were intended to provide the participants with knowledge that they could use in their own organizations to try and work towards gender equality and minimize the spread of and impacts of HIV/AIDS on their groups. My co-worker and I are now planning our presentation for a symposium next week on the importance of considering gender equality and all levels of the value chain in agriculture. As a female from a country where women have already made huge progress to be considered equals I find it extremely frustrating that there is so much inequality here.

We recently conducting a training sessions on gender for employees of the Farmer's Union of Malawi. At these training sessions we completed an activity that really put this into perspective for me. We did a daily calendar, which basically visual maps out a man's day vs. a women's day. It looked something like this:

Men:

5:00 am: land preparation

10:00 am – home, drinking, playing games

1:00pm – lunch

2pm – resting

3pm – working in the garden

5pm – home (family time), resting, socialize with friends

7pm – supper

Women:

4:00am – prepare breakfast for family

5:00am – garden the field

10:00am – collect fire wood & water

11:30am – vegetables and food preparation

1:00pm – cleaning

2:00pm – fetch water

3:00pm – working in the field

4:00pm – food preparation

6:00pm – spend time with children

7:00pm – dinner

8:00pm – bed

**These schedules were created as a group, both men and women contributed, both coming from villages across Malawi. **

It then became apparent that gender inequality also plays a role in the spread of HIV/AIDS. The men have so much free time while the women are exhausted by the end the day, with little no time to even bathe themselves. So it is often the case that the men will go elsewhere for their lovin'. Again, I am struck by how complicated international development is, so many problems have simply compounded on themselves and it is like trying to unknot a necklace, slow and intricate work.

Since being here my interest in gender issues has definitely grown. But as I mentioned before, my heart is truly in the environment. I had the opportunity to attend the National Symposium on Climate Change and Environment here in Lilongwe. I really enjoyed this because it was all Malawians presenting on the environmental issues that Malawi faces. I hadn't realized how much climate change was impacted Malawi until I attended this. I have been told that if I would like I can write a proposal and try to create a project relating to climate change. This is a door I have just started to open, so we will see where it leads to.

The rainy season is finally starting in Malawi. I am starting to see the changes all around me, everything is green, farmers are planting their crops, and the temperature fluctuates like crazy. The rain cools it off but it only lasts a few hours before the humidity is right back to where it was. I am excited to see the plant life start to really bloom. I am just glad I survived the Malawian summer, starting to think Canadian summers just won't seem as warm anymore.

Evidently, I apparently also lied about making my blogs shorter, I didn't intend on making this one super long. What can I say, I like to talk (who would have thought). All the best to everyone back at home and to all my friends working in their various countries. Will write again soon, I miss and love my friends and family so much.

Only two months late, my apologies!

Bridge that I am doubting will survive the rainy season...

Life in Malawi is definitely an experience of a lifetime. I have yet to write a blog since being here but I am going to try and start keeping everyone back at home up to date with my adventures. However, since I haven't been blogging, this one will be along one. I do apologize for the long delay, and if you can't make it threw this post, I won't be offended :) .

As I sit in my bed typing this up I am currently waiting out one of the many power cuts that Malawi experiences, more recently then not as of late. Power cuts are just one of the many issues that plagues Malawi. Since my arrival in Malawi in early September I have had the pleasure of enduring the fuel crisis, the electricity issues as well as the most recent water crisis. But apart from the many issues my time in Malawi has been one adventure after another, and definitely a learning experience.

My first weeks in Malawi were spent figuring out how to get around the city. Luckily I have had two really great travel companions that have helped me to get settled. Bonnie, who goes to the University of Ottawa, and Katie, who is in the same program as myself. Right from our first day we have been having the time our lives. Starting with our arrival at the airport, we were 12 hours early...leaving us stranded at the airport at 1:00 am. We were fortunate enough to meet a very persistent taxi driver who wanted to make sure we had someone coming to pick us up. After calling the program director of WUSC in Malawi the taxi driver took us to Annie's Lodge in Area 47 where we were suppose to be staying for the week. However, upon arrival we were told they did not have room for us. Now as it is approaching 3 am the program director shows up at the lodge and takes us to his house for the evening, where Bonnie was forced to sleep between Katie and I, two girls she had just met. It was safe to say that we had started our trip off on the right foot...

The first week we tried to keep ourselves relatively busy in order to ward off any homesickness. Our first day to ourselves (our second day in the country) we decided to make a trip into town to see if we could find the market. After getting to know the city better, we now know we took the longest possible route into town. And the market that we were never able to find that day was just around the corner. Our first week was spent mostly with WUSC doing an in-country orientation, a city tour (a little late for our first adventure), culture and language training, and being introduced to the organizations we would be working with. I am working at the Farmer's Union of Malawi (FUM), which is an umbrella organization for farming cooperatives and groups across Malawi. While at FUM I will be working on gender equality, human rights and hopefully in the near future implementing a project relating to climate change.

My first day with my organization was probably the most interesting first day I will ever have at a job. Not ten minutes after finishing my introductions to my fellow colleagues I was taken to a funeral...I was glad I brought my chitenja (the traditional wrap worn by women on special occasions). And my second day, my boss decided to take me out into the field, where I was able to finally see Malawi outside of the capital city. This was the first time the advice from my professors truly hit home. “Don't be concerned if small children in rural villages cry when they see you, for this may be the first time they have seen a white person”, but even being armed with this knowledge I still felt terribly for making the small boy cry. But from that day, work came to a complete halt in terms of excitement. My counterpart (the girl I will be working with for my placement) Chikondi had left for the United States the day after I arrived. Katie and Bonnie were both experiences equally as exciting times with their organizations. In order to keep ourselves motivated we kept ourselves busy on weekends.

Our first adventure was to the Lilongwe Wildlife Sanctuary where we saw our first wildlife of Malawi (pretty well all exotic wildlife in Malawi has been eliminated). We saw loads of monkeys, a leopard, a turtle and a crocodile. There is also a one-eyed lioness from Romania that makes the Lilongwe Wildlife Sanctuary home. However, it isn't meant to be a zoo, it is where animals are taken when they are found sick or out of place. They are kept here until they are better or until their time has come.

Our second adventure was to Lake Malawi. This is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and a place where few people will ever have the opportunity to be. However, it was here that I first started to experience what it is like to be an outsider. Malawi is considered to be the “warm heart of Africa”, which is true, people are very friendly and helpful. However, there are still times where being white gets you more attention then you really want. While walking along the beach Bonnie and I became famous....simply because of our skin colour. Locals on the beach decided to start taking pictures of us and a few even asked us to be in pictures with them. It wasn't a great feeling, almost like being an animal in the zoo. After being here for almost two months now I am more accustomed to receiving this sort of attention. On any given day men in Malawi will ask “Can I fall in love with you?”, or “Will you be my wife?”, and I am constantly being called baby, momma, lover, etc.

Freshly Ground! Look 'em up!

Lake of Stars Music Festival

Our last adventure in September was the Lake of Stars Music Festival. This festival is the largest festival held in Malawi and draws artist from Europe and from across Africa. We spent the weekend lay on the beach during the day and listening to music on the beach at night. It was really amazing to be introduced to new music that I wouldn't normally have listened to. For example, a group that I would highly recommend is Freshly Ground (look 'em up, seriously).

My most recent adventure took me to Mt. Mulanje. Bonnie, myself and a few other international volunteers went and climbed, just not all the way to the top. We climbed to the top of a smaller mountain, however after a full day of climbing we were still 12 hours from the peak of Mt. Mulanje and we were unfortunately short on time as well as being completely out of shape apparently. This was one of the most amazing things I have ever had the opportunity to do, the view was amazing and so worth the pain of not being able to walk for two days afterwards and six hours stuck on a bus between Malawian men.

Market

Of course these just represent the bigger trips I have taken. Any trip to the market is always an adventure, bargaining and interacting with locals. The pace of life in Malawi is completely different from home, and takes some getting use to. Work moves at a glacial pace but the market is a sea of chaos and the minibuses we take are probably the most amusing things I have ever seen (some days you could swear they defy the laws of gravity).

Work has picked up since Chikondi has returned from the United States. We just spent last week out in the field conducting training sessions on gender equality, human rights and HIV/AIDS. This was such an eye opening experience. I spent four long days in four very different districts. Life is so much more simple then North Americans make it out to be. After spending a week out in the field watching mothers and their children making the best of life I realize that we really have nothing to complain about. These mothers who spend their time taking care of children, farming, doing chores, and locating water amongst other things still managed to make time to come to a training session in order to try and better themselves and their communities. And the children are always smiling, they are happy with the simple things in life. Some of the children that mothers brought to the training sessions occupied themselves for nearly eight hours with plastic bottles in 40 degree weather.

Malawi is definitely opening my eyes to so much and keeps me on my toes. No day is ever the same. I miss home everyday but I would not give up this experience for anything, it is really a life changing trip and has helped me find where I want to go with my future. I will blog again next week, not to worry it will be drastically shorter then this :) . Happy Halloween Canada, I miss you all and wish everyone the best!

Where are we going?

Over the course of my years at the University of Waterloo I have been accumulating names of various films I would someday like to watch. Last night I finally started in on the list. The first film I decided to watch was The Human Experience.

The film is the story of two brothers searching for answers to some very simple yet complex questions. Who am I? Who is man? Why do we search for meaning? In order to try and answer these questions for themselves they decide to travel the world. While doing so they have some amazing experiences that open their eyes to the beauty of humanity. Their journey brings them to three spatially different places: living with the homeless in New York City, working with the orphans and disabled children of Peru and lastly meeting the abandoned Lepers of Ghana.

"The breath taking reality of a new, unrepeatable, unprecedented adventure of a human life." The film ends with this quote, and I think it summarizes the film very well. The aspect of the film that moved me most was how it managed to show the human desire for life. That all these individuals they met on their travels, whether homeless, disabled or exiled from their own villages still managed to find joy in their life and still live their lives to the fullest.

As a student in International Development this film had a great impact on me. After feeling so overwhelmed and defeated from constantly researching and discussing all of the problems that exist this film truly was a breathe of fresh air. It allowed me to recognize the beauty that is being different and all the amazing people that exist globally. But at the same time it also allowed me to realize that despite the all of the differences we may have we are a family. We share this planet and everything that is on it.

There are many lessons that an individual can take from this movie. However, words don't do this film justice, I believe that it is something everyone should watch, like many Grassroots Films. So, I suggest everyone take the time out of your blockbuster movie schedule and squeeze this film in, it has renewed my hope for humanity.

The Informed Masses

For the last three days I have been sifting through various news sources looking for a potential topic or just searching for a story that would inspire me to write a blog. What I realized after three days of reading article after article is that Canadian citizens really can't be all that informed of global issues if they rely primarily on the big news sources. Our major Canadian news sources focus on internal issues, which makes sense, as well as international news. It is the international news that I have an issue with.

The international news sections consistently contain stories of war, disaster, political upheaval and death. These events are obviously important but there are so many other issues that are happening continuously and only appear once in a blue moon. Instead of relying on these conventional news sources I looked up international development news and came across various small scale new sources that focus on these different issues, the news that is consistently changing and effecting the lives of thousands of people.

One source that I found to be particularly interesting was the Guardian in the UK. It has articles on food security, climate change, commodity prices and population growth. Of course the Guardian also covers it's own internal news but somehow manages to do justice to international issues as well.


Maybe it's a commentary on North America in general. Hundreds of North Americans donate money to various causes to help the 'poor black children', but how many are fully aware of the issues behind this poverty? I am willing to bet that not many do, even within my own family there are many misconstrued notions of global issues that exist. Unless you going looking for these global issues they probably wouldn't even be a blip on the radar of many North Americans, which is a crime in itself. I think its time we took a step outside of our North American bubble and really looked at the world around us.

We've All Gone Gaga!

The 2010 TIME 100 list has recently come out and I personally feel it shows just how far we have come. The list is an accumulation of leaders, artists, icons or anyone really that are considered to be the most influential in the world. To be included on this is a great honor for anyone really, especially to be ranked # 1. In past years the # 1 most influential people have been individuals such as George W. Bush, Dalai Lama, Edward Kennedy, and various others. For 2010 the # 1 most influential person was Lady Gaga.

What does it say about our culture and ideologies that the most influential person to most is Lady Gaga....I don't think it says anything good at all. Our lives have become so consumed by media and image that I find myself wondering if we have really lost what is truly important in life. Don't get me wrong Lady Gaga's music is fantastic and extremely fun but is she something the ultimately governs what we do in life? Sarah Palin, Beyonce and Neil Patrick Harris all ranked above the Barack Obama, again I find myself simply wondering why? To me this simply shows how obsessed we are with fame and not with the world as a whole.

Outside of my personal influences (such as my parents) I believe that an influential person should be working towards a goal, be an inspiration for greatness or have created change for the better possibly? Not by being influential because of their obsession with fame (the reason behind Lady Gaga's greatness). Of course TIME has gotten around this by creating various TIME 100 lists for different categories (turning the most influential person into a popularity contest in my eyes). As great as the TIME 100 lists are I find it's really just become a fame list and is not longer as reputable as it once was. So, what influences you? Is it musicians? Politicians? Or maybe one of your professors? I am curious to know what it is that truly influences the people in my life.