Chief Makupo’s Farewell Speech
ed. Chief Makupo delivered this presentation just as we were leaving the village last August.
8:30 - 19 August 2010
Before I say goodbye to you, our beloved visitors, I have a few remarks to make.
I am extremely happy this morning, on this send-off ceremony. On behalf of Makupo people and indeed on my own behalf, we wish you a safe journey on your way back to Canada. We know you had a very wonderful moment here in Malawi and Makupo Village in particular. In fact, people of Makupo became and are now your brothers and sisters just in this short time of which memories of such event will remain in the blood of Makupo people for generation after generation.
Makupo People appreciate the role you are playing in developing Makupo people and village as well the villages around in many areas. During your stay here you may have experienced some rude behaviours which did not go well with you; please take it from me that it is not our style of cheering visitors. We cheer visitors in a way that they live happily, live on peace and harmony. Please accept our sincere apologies.
I know most of you are saying “Sheesh!!!! This is too early to leave Makupo.” I am sure of this, but because time is against us, there is nothing we can do to save the situation, for sure some of you are saying that. All the same there is still hope that you may come again and enjoy with your brothers and sisters of Makupo.
I am also compelled to point out here that our diet was not compatible with your standards. Nevertheless, most of you found it delicious, even if the preparation was substandard.
Your visit has created a bond of friendship, love and understanding so much that Makupo People and you have become intimates. I am very pleased to say that you have left a culture to our children to love communicating in English. It is very surprising to hear from as young as Loice Bwelezani, 4 years old, saying, and I quote, “How are you? I’m fine and you?” end quote. While on the other hand you have managed to pick some Chichewa words and sentences such as and I quote, “Muli bwanji? Tili bwino, kaya inu?” end quote. You have managed to put yourself into the world of linguists. You have written dictionaries which translate English words into ChiChewa. Really you will be super-models back home. The highest marks go to Alida for almost fluent speaking – 95%.
I was very impressed seeing Canadian students carrying babies on their backs. This is a sign of joy and appreciation, which existed at Makupo expressing their happiness indeed. You have done many things which I need not mention. Life changes take time but become easy where the environment is so cordial.
Turning to our two professors, Dr. C. Stonebanks and Barbara. I have been overwhelmed for your full participation in all activities taking place at Makupo; in the way you conducted your research and in the way you maneuvered around Makupo. People of Makupo became your brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews.
Your research was so magnificent that no-one complained and I have a hope that whatever information gathered will one day materialize to fruitful benefits. I am suggesting to open up a book where records of your visits be recorded so that our children may have something to refer to, as to what made this village and its people develop to such heights. This book will guide them to the answers.
Development by handouts only is no development. It is meaningful where there is a combination of research, advise and assistance. May you please understand our full co-operation and acceptance of this exercise in our village. Please feel free to conduct more and more research as you may wish at any time.
Please extend our heartfelt thanks to the respectful people of Canada, of your universities, your respectful homes and your respectful families for unflinching support to gladly accept that you come to Malawi and sleep with Makupo people.
Lastly let me thank Mr. Miller, who is head of delegation, Professor Dr. C. Stonebanks, Prof Barbara and the entire group for the wonderful visit.
God Bless You
Chief Makupo
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The elders present their case
The elders present their case
Wednesday night was the last night in the village for the students from Bishop’s university, so we had a party. Everyone enjoyed themselves as we sang and danced and relished those last few moments together. I had passed on responsibility for the pay to the Makupo “Central Committee” of the account signatories, elders and the ones who had organised the different work teams – cleaners, cooks, security and guides. There was a lot of heated discussion about the amount of money available and how some got paid less than in past years, but on the whole everyone was in a good mood with money in the pocket. So they danced and they sang. When the CD player in the truck stopped working, then out came the women led by Esnati who really knows how to whip the older women into a really good mood with lots of hand clapping, praise singing, dancing and laughing.
Esnati had come to the village from granny’s home village in the valley below Dedza as an orphan in 1970 and lived with the old lady anaMumba almost as a servant. She and her children were very much part of the fabric of village life and even though she never really went far in school, she was the energy and enthusiasm behind dancing and singing whenever she got involved. After many years in Lilongwe trying to be a business woman, she and her husband are moving back and building their house in a nearby village about 4 kilometres away. He is going to become a Group Village Headman (GPV) which makes him chief over as many as 6 to 10 other village headmen.
Our Chief Makupo came to invite myself, and the 2 professors, Christopher and Barbara to meet him. He had something to tell us. He praised us for what we had done and how we were working to make Makupoites work together and take responsibility for their own projects. He understood how we were passing on to the people of Makupo the running of the projects so they could build a stronger economic base.
However, he wanted to remind us that there were people who contributed a great deal to making the visits successful but were not included in the payroll. They were the elders who helped behind the scenes to smooth out rough patches and contributed in a variety of ways to the enterprise.
It was a very logical appeal and very instructive about how a village works. We were paying people for functions that fit the labour force, but behind the scenes was the wisdom and judgment of the village managers, the movers and shakers. Despite their age and apparent lack of visible contribution they had maintained a constant eye on things and monitored progress and ensured that the overview was never lost in the busyness of the moment.
Mr. Chikapa is a case in point. Now 72, he retired from the civil service many years ago after a career as a local government auditor. He was married to Nellie’s oldest sister, Ruth who died in 2007. He had suffered a stroke about 5 or 6 years ago that slightly incapacitated his left hand and leg, but his senses are still really strong. Because he had married into the family there was a tendency to leave him out of the family circle when things were discussed. From my first visit, I felt that we could use his background in accounts and bookkeeping to our advantage and that it would be therapeutic for him to be involved and called on for help.
That really began during the last trip in February, but he remained peripheral until this trip, when I set up a petty cash for him to administer so the workers in the kitchen, security, construction, etc.. would go to him and he would exercise the requisite controls and develop a business sense among the people and a sense of accountability and transparency. He was very busy throughout my stay and worked very hard to bring some order to my chaos.
The chief himself, intervened at any number of instances too ensure that problems were dealt with. When one person became too overly friendly with the women visitors and approached people when he was clearly drunk, Chief Makupo had called the elders together including the culprit’s father to correct the behaviour. With the many projects and actions which required a business sense, he was the go to person. He signed the contract for the hostel on behalf of Makupo and solved the problem of the signatories and the bounced cheque. (Don’t get me started on the sins of the Standard Bank of Malawi). And there were others – Mr Kuphera (79) and Anasimango (69) who did not march at the front of the parade, but who helped the whole machine work smoothly.
Now here was the chief reminding us that in all the calculations, these essential contributors had not been considered, nor rewarded. It was an important lesson in how a village works. This is true in any organisation let alone a village. The managers may not be visible on the ground, but they are the ones who create the conditions for everything else to work effectively. His message was articulate and clearly put. He was educating us in how a village works as much as he was making a plea for the elders to be included in the rewards assigned for the visits.
Wednesday night was the last night in the village for the students from Bishop’s university, so we had a party. Everyone enjoyed themselves as we sang and danced and relished those last few moments together. I had passed on responsibility for the pay to the Makupo “Central Committee” of the account signatories, elders and the ones who had organised the different work teams – cleaners, cooks, security and guides. There was a lot of heated discussion about the amount of money available and how some got paid less than in past years, but on the whole everyone was in a good mood with money in the pocket. So they danced and they sang. When the CD player in the truck stopped working, then out came the women led by Esnati who really knows how to whip the older women into a really good mood with lots of hand clapping, praise singing, dancing and laughing.
Esnati had come to the village from granny’s home village in the valley below Dedza as an orphan in 1970 and lived with the old lady anaMumba almost as a servant. She and her children were very much part of the fabric of village life and even though she never really went far in school, she was the energy and enthusiasm behind dancing and singing whenever she got involved. After many years in Lilongwe trying to be a business woman, she and her husband are moving back and building their house in a nearby village about 4 kilometres away. He is going to become a Group Village Headman (GPV) which makes him chief over as many as 6 to 10 other village headmen.
Our Chief Makupo came to invite myself, and the 2 professors, Christopher and Barbara to meet him. He had something to tell us. He praised us for what we had done and how we were working to make Makupoites work together and take responsibility for their own projects. He understood how we were passing on to the people of Makupo the running of the projects so they could build a stronger economic base.
However, he wanted to remind us that there were people who contributed a great deal to making the visits successful but were not included in the payroll. They were the elders who helped behind the scenes to smooth out rough patches and contributed in a variety of ways to the enterprise.
It was a very logical appeal and very instructive about how a village works. We were paying people for functions that fit the labour force, but behind the scenes was the wisdom and judgment of the village managers, the movers and shakers. Despite their age and apparent lack of visible contribution they had maintained a constant eye on things and monitored progress and ensured that the overview was never lost in the busyness of the moment.
Mr. Chikapa is a case in point. Now 72, he retired from the civil service many years ago after a career as a local government auditor. He was married to Nellie’s oldest sister, Ruth who died in 2007. He had suffered a stroke about 5 or 6 years ago that slightly incapacitated his left hand and leg, but his senses are still really strong. Because he had married into the family there was a tendency to leave him out of the family circle when things were discussed. From my first visit, I felt that we could use his background in accounts and bookkeeping to our advantage and that it would be therapeutic for him to be involved and called on for help.
That really began during the last trip in February, but he remained peripheral until this trip, when I set up a petty cash for him to administer so the workers in the kitchen, security, construction, etc.. would go to him and he would exercise the requisite controls and develop a business sense among the people and a sense of accountability and transparency. He was very busy throughout my stay and worked very hard to bring some order to my chaos.
The chief himself, intervened at any number of instances too ensure that problems were dealt with. When one person became too overly friendly with the women visitors and approached people when he was clearly drunk, Chief Makupo had called the elders together including the culprit’s father to correct the behaviour. With the many projects and actions which required a business sense, he was the go to person. He signed the contract for the hostel on behalf of Makupo and solved the problem of the signatories and the bounced cheque. (Don’t get me started on the sins of the Standard Bank of Malawi). And there were others – Mr Kuphera (79) and Anasimango (69) who did not march at the front of the parade, but who helped the whole machine work smoothly.
Now here was the chief reminding us that in all the calculations, these essential contributors had not been considered, nor rewarded. It was an important lesson in how a village works. This is true in any organisation let alone a village. The managers may not be visible on the ground, but they are the ones who create the conditions for everything else to work effectively. His message was articulate and clearly put. He was educating us in how a village works as much as he was making a plea for the elders to be included in the rewards assigned for the visits.
An Amazing Trip – Continued
An Amazing Trip – Continued
Doug’s note
Posting this exactly 2 months from when it was written, I realise theris so much more I could add. I have presented a banner to the the presidents of the student council and the Social Justice Committee in front of an assembly of all students of Royal West Academy to thank them for their dedicated support. The banner was hand-stitched by the women of Makupo and says, “Zikomo. Bwanali / Mlangali. Madzi ndi moyo” which translates as “Thank you from the villagers of Bwanali and Mlangali. Water is life.” On October 19 we will deliver the same message of thanks to OPSEU – the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, who have been consistent and principled supporters of our efforts to help the people of Makupo and the neighbouring region become self-sufficient.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Therese Foundation
Friday 6 August 2010
It had already been a very exciting day with our visit in the morning to the Therese Foundation also being very charged. Melissa Banda, the coordinator, is a very impressive lady who has done a wonderful job of village based care. It started with agogos (grannies) and orphans and is dealing with an important outstanding need. Roger Roome when he was in Lilongwe had made the connection with Mnjale Village on behalf of his adoptive aunt, Therese Bourque-Lambert, the octogenarian dynamo who heads the Stephen Lewis grannies chapter in NDG, Montreal.
From the modest money she has been sending, the villagers through self-help work have assisted more than a hundred grandmothers in as many as 30 villages. From the beginnings in Mnjale village, the work has expanded to so many communities that when they applied for NGO status they decided to change the name to reflect the greater scope and that is when they decided to honour Therese by calling themselves the Therese Foundation. Many of the grandmothers or agogo had gathered and were waiting for our arrival. Sister Gisele from the MIC order of sisters acted as our guide and when our two vehicles pulled up the women all began singing and dancing towards us in greeting. It was quite overwhelming.
The main focus of their work arose out of the situation of destitute seniors in the area. There are many older women and some men with no-one to support them. For whatever reason their children are not there to look after them. They can be old and lonely and as some get senile they get in trouble because no-one is around to care for them. Others are rejected or discriminated against, especially if they are labeled as witches. Sometimes if there have been unexpected or unexplained deaths in the village, people will accuse them of bewitching the bereaved family and they are ostracized. Others are charged with looking after their grandchildren when their own children have died, The group has used the money Therese has sent for food, clothes and blankets to share with these elders who have no means of support and end up in extreme poverty. Bicycles allow village based health care workers to travel around to see how the different elders are doing. They have also begun to help the orphans and already have a couple of girls going to secondary school who would have dropped out for lack of school fees. They are also building a community centre for their meetings and office.
The real reason for the visit was Alice Abracer. Therese has trouble traveling at the tender age of 88 so Alice was visiting Mnjale as her grandmother’s eyes and legs. They had been alerted to her presence and were extremely excited to show her everything, explain their progress and outline the problems they still face. Their new community centre is going to be very special and the foundation was already laid. Bricks were being prepared for burning as we met and even the oldest grannies had given some time to molding them and would help carrying them over to the construction site.
By the time we left Mnjale we had been emotionally drained but the day wasn’t over.
Well report
As I was posting the last item about an amazing trip, the drill rig from the Ministry of Water had arrived and in less than 2 days had completed drilling the 2 wells at Bwanali and at Mlangali. On Friday, Alice. Alida, Barbara, Katie and I were just arriving back from Lilongwe and Mnjale when Themba had called to tell us that they had begun the drilling at Bwanali Village.
We drove straight into Bwanali before arriving at Makupo and found them packing everything up. However, they weren’t finished. The last step, to the joy of the villagers was to drop an air hose to the bottom of the bright new tube they had installed and using the giant compressor that travels on the back of one truck they blow the tube clear of waste matter and debris. The site is quite spectacular as water shoots 5 metres or more into the air. Many villagers gathered including woman with assorted pails and buckets on their way to the older well. They quickly placed their containers on the ground around the hole to catch the water that was coming up.
Their joy and excitement was evident as they began to sing. One man arrived with a drum and they really got into it. We were all teary eyed by the time the crew finished the job. After 10 to 15 minutes they drove off to Mlangali to begin the 2nd well. In that way we got to see them at both ends of the operation - drilling and cleaning up.
We saw them begin the drilling at Mlangali and came to recognize why these wells are so expensive. Three huge trucks bring in the equipment. One has the huge compressor that pumps air under great pressure to force out the material being drilled. The other has the drilling rig which looks like the ones we see in the movies for oil wells. The third is laden with pipes, length of drill shafts and the other materials and tools needed for the work. They are big, muscular 4 wheel drive trucks capable of traveling over extremely rough terrain.
The drilling is a carefully coordinated, almost military operation. The foreman stands on platform right beside the drill and directs everyone else. All the team members have a role and shafts are put in place, lining pipes are readied and tools are available at exactly the moment they are needed. The compressor and the motor of the drill truck make a lot of noise and the dust of the drill by product blows up straight out of the hole. They record where the first water is reached and continue down to 45 metres. A metal sleeve keeps the hole from collapsing and it is inserted at lengths as the hole deepens. Once the depth is reached they remove the drill and drop a white plastic pipe down inside the metal sleeve. The pipe is full of tiny slits that allow the clean water in. The sandy refuse that the drill has pulled up is dropped down the space between the sleeve and the white tube to act as yet another layer of filter and keep the slits from clogging with finer clay like materials. The sleeve is slowly removed and a short bit of the white pipe is all you see above the ground waiting for the next crew to come and construct the cement footings, drains and wash stand. After the cement has duly hardened then the pump is placed on and the well is operational.
When I gain the skills I will get our website up and running and post the videos I made of the operation.
Doug’s note
Posting this exactly 2 months from when it was written, I realise theris so much more I could add. I have presented a banner to the the presidents of the student council and the Social Justice Committee in front of an assembly of all students of Royal West Academy to thank them for their dedicated support. The banner was hand-stitched by the women of Makupo and says, “Zikomo. Bwanali / Mlangali. Madzi ndi moyo” which translates as “Thank you from the villagers of Bwanali and Mlangali. Water is life.” On October 19 we will deliver the same message of thanks to OPSEU – the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, who have been consistent and principled supporters of our efforts to help the people of Makupo and the neighbouring region become self-sufficient.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Therese Foundation
Friday 6 August 2010
It had already been a very exciting day with our visit in the morning to the Therese Foundation also being very charged. Melissa Banda, the coordinator, is a very impressive lady who has done a wonderful job of village based care. It started with agogos (grannies) and orphans and is dealing with an important outstanding need. Roger Roome when he was in Lilongwe had made the connection with Mnjale Village on behalf of his adoptive aunt, Therese Bourque-Lambert, the octogenarian dynamo who heads the Stephen Lewis grannies chapter in NDG, Montreal.
From the modest money she has been sending, the villagers through self-help work have assisted more than a hundred grandmothers in as many as 30 villages. From the beginnings in Mnjale village, the work has expanded to so many communities that when they applied for NGO status they decided to change the name to reflect the greater scope and that is when they decided to honour Therese by calling themselves the Therese Foundation. Many of the grandmothers or agogo had gathered and were waiting for our arrival. Sister Gisele from the MIC order of sisters acted as our guide and when our two vehicles pulled up the women all began singing and dancing towards us in greeting. It was quite overwhelming.
The main focus of their work arose out of the situation of destitute seniors in the area. There are many older women and some men with no-one to support them. For whatever reason their children are not there to look after them. They can be old and lonely and as some get senile they get in trouble because no-one is around to care for them. Others are rejected or discriminated against, especially if they are labeled as witches. Sometimes if there have been unexpected or unexplained deaths in the village, people will accuse them of bewitching the bereaved family and they are ostracized. Others are charged with looking after their grandchildren when their own children have died, The group has used the money Therese has sent for food, clothes and blankets to share with these elders who have no means of support and end up in extreme poverty. Bicycles allow village based health care workers to travel around to see how the different elders are doing. They have also begun to help the orphans and already have a couple of girls going to secondary school who would have dropped out for lack of school fees. They are also building a community centre for their meetings and office.
The real reason for the visit was Alice Abracer. Therese has trouble traveling at the tender age of 88 so Alice was visiting Mnjale as her grandmother’s eyes and legs. They had been alerted to her presence and were extremely excited to show her everything, explain their progress and outline the problems they still face. Their new community centre is going to be very special and the foundation was already laid. Bricks were being prepared for burning as we met and even the oldest grannies had given some time to molding them and would help carrying them over to the construction site.
By the time we left Mnjale we had been emotionally drained but the day wasn’t over.
Well report
As I was posting the last item about an amazing trip, the drill rig from the Ministry of Water had arrived and in less than 2 days had completed drilling the 2 wells at Bwanali and at Mlangali. On Friday, Alice. Alida, Barbara, Katie and I were just arriving back from Lilongwe and Mnjale when Themba had called to tell us that they had begun the drilling at Bwanali Village.
We drove straight into Bwanali before arriving at Makupo and found them packing everything up. However, they weren’t finished. The last step, to the joy of the villagers was to drop an air hose to the bottom of the bright new tube they had installed and using the giant compressor that travels on the back of one truck they blow the tube clear of waste matter and debris. The site is quite spectacular as water shoots 5 metres or more into the air. Many villagers gathered including woman with assorted pails and buckets on their way to the older well. They quickly placed their containers on the ground around the hole to catch the water that was coming up.
Their joy and excitement was evident as they began to sing. One man arrived with a drum and they really got into it. We were all teary eyed by the time the crew finished the job. After 10 to 15 minutes they drove off to Mlangali to begin the 2nd well. In that way we got to see them at both ends of the operation - drilling and cleaning up.
We saw them begin the drilling at Mlangali and came to recognize why these wells are so expensive. Three huge trucks bring in the equipment. One has the huge compressor that pumps air under great pressure to force out the material being drilled. The other has the drilling rig which looks like the ones we see in the movies for oil wells. The third is laden with pipes, length of drill shafts and the other materials and tools needed for the work. They are big, muscular 4 wheel drive trucks capable of traveling over extremely rough terrain.
The drilling is a carefully coordinated, almost military operation. The foreman stands on platform right beside the drill and directs everyone else. All the team members have a role and shafts are put in place, lining pipes are readied and tools are available at exactly the moment they are needed. The compressor and the motor of the drill truck make a lot of noise and the dust of the drill by product blows up straight out of the hole. They record where the first water is reached and continue down to 45 metres. A metal sleeve keeps the hole from collapsing and it is inserted at lengths as the hole deepens. Once the depth is reached they remove the drill and drop a white plastic pipe down inside the metal sleeve. The pipe is full of tiny slits that allow the clean water in. The sandy refuse that the drill has pulled up is dropped down the space between the sleeve and the white tube to act as yet another layer of filter and keep the slits from clogging with finer clay like materials. The sleeve is slowly removed and a short bit of the white pipe is all you see above the ground waiting for the next crew to come and construct the cement footings, drains and wash stand. After the cement has duly hardened then the pump is placed on and the well is operational.
When I gain the skills I will get our website up and running and post the videos I made of the operation.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Addis Ababa in transit
Blog: Sitting in transit in the Addis Ababa airport
It’s a cool 14 degrees outside and the scene outside is green with tall blue gums all over the place. I do not want to got through to the departure lounge and lose this view of Addis Ababa. In all my travels in Africa this is the closest I have ever come to the fabled city with the melodic name. The place is central to much of African history and even the destinations on the departure board range from Douala, Ougadougou to Zimbabwe, Lilongwe and Lumbumbashi. The plane I am taking is en route to Lumbumbashi and the waiting passengers in the terminal reflect the multitude of different cultures and societies. I have always wanted to visit and absorb everything about the country.
The airport reminds me of the defunct Mirabel north of Montreal. It’s a huge long marbled floored and glass walled space, very different than the small narrow corridors of Nairobi. There are the usual duty free shops, lounges and internet café. The people waiting in-transit reflect the names or the destinations for their diversity. The Chinese guy is using sign language to bum a light from a white robed African. This is the first public building I have been in anywhere in a long time where smoking is permitted. It is such a large place that it is easy to avoid, but I note that where I once smoked and then worked for several years in a small office with chain smokers without really minding, I now find that even a trace of cigarette smoke in the air disturbs me.
The glass wall I am facing looks out on Addis. I have no idea what I am seeing but it is very exciting for me. I can see an elevated highway which looks like the highway near my house in Montreal. Near it is a very busy bus station. It is probably rush hour, accounting for the apparent hustle bustle. There does not seem to be any grand city plan like so many new capitals like Lilongwe
Addis is home to many international organisations like the African Unity as well as UN regional agencies. Many Malawians spent the years of Kamuzu’s repressive regime in exile their working for these organisations. It was convenient for the regime to have them out of the country when they were released from the political prisons and safer for them.
I must spend some time here and learn more about the rich history, and the people with their Nilotic features which make me think of the Queen of Sheeba. I have known many Ethiopians over the years and have become familiar with some of their history and the way they speak English. But they are isolated individuals in Montreal and now I am looking out on a country containing millions of people who look and talk like the friends I have known.
It’s recent history has played a large role in shaping the course of events around the horn of Africa and down the East coast. The poet Rimbaud exiled himself to one of the country’s remote and exotic city states for 7 years before his untimely death. The imperial kingdom of Ras Tafar and the tragic ending of Haile Selassie provided the material for a rich mythology and the root of the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica. The socialist revolution of the army colonels led to the brutal years of Mengistu, the destructive wars of secession and the infamous man-made famines. Since the separation of Eritrea and the installation of the new president with the blessings of the United States things have not gotten better. Secessionist movements continue to eat away at the country’s unity; democracy has been thwarted and the opposition oppressed; wasteful and destructive war lingers on with Eritrea; a failed invasion of Somalia has cost the country dearly; famine still looms and yet Ethiopia remains a presence and an influential force at so many levels.
I will be back and will take the time to stop and see and learn.
++++++++++++
A small footnote:
I was standing in line for the toilet on the plane as the northern part of Lake Malawi came into view. There below me was the north western shore that I had paddled with Guy and Monica. I could see the point of land where we camped at Usisya on the abandoned lodge. The line of houses along the peninsula leading out to the point are clearly visible. North of that is the bulls horns of the bay where Ruarwe is located and the hidden Zulunkhuni Lodge. It was in beautiful relief and far more graphic than the maps indicate.
It’s a cool 14 degrees outside and the scene outside is green with tall blue gums all over the place. I do not want to got through to the departure lounge and lose this view of Addis Ababa. In all my travels in Africa this is the closest I have ever come to the fabled city with the melodic name. The place is central to much of African history and even the destinations on the departure board range from Douala, Ougadougou to Zimbabwe, Lilongwe and Lumbumbashi. The plane I am taking is en route to Lumbumbashi and the waiting passengers in the terminal reflect the multitude of different cultures and societies. I have always wanted to visit and absorb everything about the country.
The airport reminds me of the defunct Mirabel north of Montreal. It’s a huge long marbled floored and glass walled space, very different than the small narrow corridors of Nairobi. There are the usual duty free shops, lounges and internet café. The people waiting in-transit reflect the names or the destinations for their diversity. The Chinese guy is using sign language to bum a light from a white robed African. This is the first public building I have been in anywhere in a long time where smoking is permitted. It is such a large place that it is easy to avoid, but I note that where I once smoked and then worked for several years in a small office with chain smokers without really minding, I now find that even a trace of cigarette smoke in the air disturbs me.
The glass wall I am facing looks out on Addis. I have no idea what I am seeing but it is very exciting for me. I can see an elevated highway which looks like the highway near my house in Montreal. Near it is a very busy bus station. It is probably rush hour, accounting for the apparent hustle bustle. There does not seem to be any grand city plan like so many new capitals like Lilongwe
Addis is home to many international organisations like the African Unity as well as UN regional agencies. Many Malawians spent the years of Kamuzu’s repressive regime in exile their working for these organisations. It was convenient for the regime to have them out of the country when they were released from the political prisons and safer for them.
I must spend some time here and learn more about the rich history, and the people with their Nilotic features which make me think of the Queen of Sheeba. I have known many Ethiopians over the years and have become familiar with some of their history and the way they speak English. But they are isolated individuals in Montreal and now I am looking out on a country containing millions of people who look and talk like the friends I have known.
It’s recent history has played a large role in shaping the course of events around the horn of Africa and down the East coast. The poet Rimbaud exiled himself to one of the country’s remote and exotic city states for 7 years before his untimely death. The imperial kingdom of Ras Tafar and the tragic ending of Haile Selassie provided the material for a rich mythology and the root of the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica. The socialist revolution of the army colonels led to the brutal years of Mengistu, the destructive wars of secession and the infamous man-made famines. Since the separation of Eritrea and the installation of the new president with the blessings of the United States things have not gotten better. Secessionist movements continue to eat away at the country’s unity; democracy has been thwarted and the opposition oppressed; wasteful and destructive war lingers on with Eritrea; a failed invasion of Somalia has cost the country dearly; famine still looms and yet Ethiopia remains a presence and an influential force at so many levels.
I will be back and will take the time to stop and see and learn.
++++++++++++
A small footnote:
I was standing in line for the toilet on the plane as the northern part of Lake Malawi came into view. There below me was the north western shore that I had paddled with Guy and Monica. I could see the point of land where we camped at Usisya on the abandoned lodge. The line of houses along the peninsula leading out to the point are clearly visible. North of that is the bulls horns of the bay where Ruarwe is located and the hidden Zulunkhuni Lodge. It was in beautiful relief and far more graphic than the maps indicate.
The elders present their case
The elders present their case
Wednesday night was the last night in the village for the students from Bishop’s university, so we had a party. Everyone enjoyed themselves as we sang and danced and relished those last few moments together. I had passed on responsibility for the pay to the Makupo “Central Committee” of the account signatories, elders and the ones who had organised the different work teams – cleaners, cooks, security and guides. There was a lot of heated discussion about the amount of money available and how some got paid less than in past years, but on the whole everyone was in a good mood with money in the pocket. So they danced and they sang. When the CD player in the truck stopped working, then out came the women led by Esnati who really knows how to whip the older women into a dancing mood with lots of hand clapping, praise singing, dancing and laughing.
Esnati had come to the village from grannies home village in the valley below Dedza as an orphan in 1970 and lived with the old lady anaMumba almost as a servant. She and her children were very much part of the fabric of village life and even though she never really went far in school, she was the energy and enthusiasm behind dancing and singing whenever she got involved. After many years in Lilongwe trying to be a business woman, she and her husband are moving back and building their house in a nearby village about 4 kilometres away. He is going to become a Group Village Headman (GPV) which makes him chief over as many as 6 to 10 other village headmen.
Our Chief Makupo came to invite myself, and the 2 professors, Christopher and Barbara to meet him. He had something to tell us. He praised us for what we had done and how we were working to make Makupoites work together and take responsibility for their own projects. He understood how we were passing on to the people of Makupo the running of the projects so they could build a stronger economic base.
However, he wanted to remind us that there were people who contributed a great deal to making the visits successful but were not included in the payroll. They were the elders who helped behind the scenes to smooth out rough patches and contributed in a variety of ways to the enterprise.
It was a very logical appeal and very instructive about how a village works. We were paying people for functions that fit the labour force, but behind the scenes was the wisdom and judgment of the village managers, the movers and shakers. Despite their age and apparent lack of visible contribution they had maintained a constant eye on things and monitored progress and ensured that the overview was never lost in the busyness of the moment.
Mr. Chikapa is a case in point. Now 72, he retired from the civil service many years ago after a career as a local government auditor. He was married to Nellie’s oldest sister, Ruth who died in 2007. He had suffered a stroke about 5 or 6 years ago that slightly incapacitated his left hand and leg, but his senses are still really strong. Because he had married into the family there was a tendency to leave him out of the family circle when things were discussed. From my first visit, I felt that we could use his background in accounts and bookkeeping to our advantage and that it would be therapeutic for him to be involved and called on for help.
That really began during the last trip in February, but he remained peripheral until this trip, when I set up a petty cash for him to administer so the workers in the kitchen, security, construction, etc.. would go to him and he would exercise the requisite controls and develop a business sense among the people and a sense of accountability and transparency. He was very busy throughout my stay and worked very hard to bring some order to my chaos.
The chief himself, intervened at any number of instances too ensure that problems were dealt with. When one person became to overly friendly with the women visitors and approached people when he was clearly drunk, Chief Makupo had called the elders together including the culprit’s father to correct the behaviour. With the many projects and actions which required a business sense, he was the go to person. He signed the contract for the hostel on behalf of Makupo and solved the problem of the signatories and the bounced cheque. (Don’t get me started on the sins of the Standard Bank of Malawi). And there were others – Mr Kuphera (79) and Anasimango (69) who did not march at the front of the parade, but who helped the whole machine work smoothly.
Now here was the chief reminding us that in all the calculations, these essential contributors had not been considered, nor rewarded. It was an important lesson in how an organisation works. This is as true in any multinational as it is for a village. The managers may not be visible on the ground, but they are the ones who create the conditions for everything else to work effectively. His message was articulate and clearly put. He was educating us in how a village works as much as he was making a plea for the elders to be included in the rewards assigned for the visits.
Wednesday night was the last night in the village for the students from Bishop’s university, so we had a party. Everyone enjoyed themselves as we sang and danced and relished those last few moments together. I had passed on responsibility for the pay to the Makupo “Central Committee” of the account signatories, elders and the ones who had organised the different work teams – cleaners, cooks, security and guides. There was a lot of heated discussion about the amount of money available and how some got paid less than in past years, but on the whole everyone was in a good mood with money in the pocket. So they danced and they sang. When the CD player in the truck stopped working, then out came the women led by Esnati who really knows how to whip the older women into a dancing mood with lots of hand clapping, praise singing, dancing and laughing.
Esnati had come to the village from grannies home village in the valley below Dedza as an orphan in 1970 and lived with the old lady anaMumba almost as a servant. She and her children were very much part of the fabric of village life and even though she never really went far in school, she was the energy and enthusiasm behind dancing and singing whenever she got involved. After many years in Lilongwe trying to be a business woman, she and her husband are moving back and building their house in a nearby village about 4 kilometres away. He is going to become a Group Village Headman (GPV) which makes him chief over as many as 6 to 10 other village headmen.
Our Chief Makupo came to invite myself, and the 2 professors, Christopher and Barbara to meet him. He had something to tell us. He praised us for what we had done and how we were working to make Makupoites work together and take responsibility for their own projects. He understood how we were passing on to the people of Makupo the running of the projects so they could build a stronger economic base.
However, he wanted to remind us that there were people who contributed a great deal to making the visits successful but were not included in the payroll. They were the elders who helped behind the scenes to smooth out rough patches and contributed in a variety of ways to the enterprise.
It was a very logical appeal and very instructive about how a village works. We were paying people for functions that fit the labour force, but behind the scenes was the wisdom and judgment of the village managers, the movers and shakers. Despite their age and apparent lack of visible contribution they had maintained a constant eye on things and monitored progress and ensured that the overview was never lost in the busyness of the moment.
Mr. Chikapa is a case in point. Now 72, he retired from the civil service many years ago after a career as a local government auditor. He was married to Nellie’s oldest sister, Ruth who died in 2007. He had suffered a stroke about 5 or 6 years ago that slightly incapacitated his left hand and leg, but his senses are still really strong. Because he had married into the family there was a tendency to leave him out of the family circle when things were discussed. From my first visit, I felt that we could use his background in accounts and bookkeeping to our advantage and that it would be therapeutic for him to be involved and called on for help.
That really began during the last trip in February, but he remained peripheral until this trip, when I set up a petty cash for him to administer so the workers in the kitchen, security, construction, etc.. would go to him and he would exercise the requisite controls and develop a business sense among the people and a sense of accountability and transparency. He was very busy throughout my stay and worked very hard to bring some order to my chaos.
The chief himself, intervened at any number of instances too ensure that problems were dealt with. When one person became to overly friendly with the women visitors and approached people when he was clearly drunk, Chief Makupo had called the elders together including the culprit’s father to correct the behaviour. With the many projects and actions which required a business sense, he was the go to person. He signed the contract for the hostel on behalf of Makupo and solved the problem of the signatories and the bounced cheque. (Don’t get me started on the sins of the Standard Bank of Malawi). And there were others – Mr Kuphera (79) and Anasimango (69) who did not march at the front of the parade, but who helped the whole machine work smoothly.
Now here was the chief reminding us that in all the calculations, these essential contributors had not been considered, nor rewarded. It was an important lesson in how an organisation works. This is as true in any multinational as it is for a village. The managers may not be visible on the ground, but they are the ones who create the conditions for everything else to work effectively. His message was articulate and clearly put. He was educating us in how a village works as much as he was making a plea for the elders to be included in the rewards assigned for the visits.
Missionary zeal
Missionary Zeal
Over the years, this old atheist has had a lot of contact with the missionary project. Even in CUSO and the Peace Corps there was always a nucleus of evangelical types who saw soul saving as central to their work in Africa. One of my first contacts was with an evangelical southern Baptist named Billy Joe Wheeler, whose rich Texan drawl when applied to the Chewa language was the cause of great hilarity among us Canadians. Down the road from my school near Mitundu was Mlale mission with a hospital and school run by an order of Quebec nuns and a church run by an old Quebecois priest whose name has long slipped from my memory. All the Catholics spoke excellent Chichewa and saw their schools and hospital as a service to the population, but in the end were trying to save the souls of the Africans.
I enjoyed the nuns, because for a couple of years, once a week I pedaled out after school to teach English to their African novitiates and the old ladies fed me a good meal of meat and potatoes. Then I would drop over at the old boy’s place and exploit his supply of rye whiskey and his news of hockey scores from Canada. They were very nice people and their hearts were full of compassion and the desire to help the people they had dedicated their lives to serving.
For years I grappled with my disdain for the church and the arrogance of the missionary project and the fact that the left just wasn’t there on the ground in poor countries. It was easy to join in solidarity with South African workers who had an economic system with an organised workforce and a militant communist movement that I had an affinity to with its anti-church, secular humanism. By comparison in poor countries like Malawi, trade unions were few and far between and the peasantry was extremely hard to arouse to any form of resistance to their exploitation. In the place of the left and in the absence of government services, the churches have become a dominant force. In rural Malawi, churches far outnumber economic enterprises or public services like schools and hospitals.
The churches provide something around 50% of health services in the country and run large numbers of schools. Under colonialism they provided way more services than the colonial government. In the meantime, where was the left? The struggles of Latin America and South Africa were easy for them, but they were largely absent in the poorer peasant based agrarian countries. They did not prosletyse, their message was absent and they provided no services like the religious groups did to attract their converts.
My problem is with the evangelical mission and its enormous arrogance. It is still very imperial in goal. The Zimbabweans used to say during the struggle for independence that when the white man came to their country, they owned the land and the whites had the bible. The whites taught them to close their eyes in prayer and when they opened them they had the bible and the whites had the land. Not much has changed.
The pre-Christian religions of Malawi have been completely denigrated and the most conservative forms of religious observance have been imposed and are referred to as Malawi’s traditions. The residual Victorian mentality dates back to the period of Livingstone and colonialism when the religious project involved the 3 C’s – Christianity, Commerce and Civilisation. Anything less than white as England was part of the ‘white man’s burden’ to correct. Now all the African elites wear suits and pray before meetings and what little is left of the pre-contact religions end up as traditional dances like the famous gule wamkulo with its masked dancers who are trotted out for public performance as quaint relics of another time.
I sat on the plane from Lilongwe to Addis Ababa with a very nice man from Arkansas, a Baptist who had been on a 2 week mission to evangelise and baptize as many people as possible. They spoke to over 15,000 people through the Salima district and brought them the word of the lord so they could be saved. I am sure that the good people of Salima would have preferred, economic progress, jobs, schools and hospitals, but these Christian believed that their way was so superior that they had to come and convince these poor people to convert to their belief. I was polite and friendly at the level of conversation, but led him away several times from the opening he was trying to make to talk about their mission. I have no time for the missionary zeal.
Finally, he asked if he could show me pictures of their work and I very politely declined. He asked if I believed and I told him that I did not. He asked about the state of the faith in my homeland and I explained the demise of the traditional churches in Quebec. I explained to him that I had been around for a long time and that I really did not want to see what he had been doing. I was as polite as I could be and he was very gracious about stepping back at my request, but it is not always such a graceful outcome.
He was not alone. On the same plane were a large gang of German Servants of Love mission, and some Brits with t shirts proclaiming that they believed in the right to life and that “I am glad that you were born” with a little foetus curled up in a womb. They had clearly been in Malawi to ensure that the abortion laws were maintained. Two elderly nuns tottered off beside me. It has often occurred on these trips that one of the participants in my tours will end up seated beside someone full of the zeal who will pray for them and try to get them to see the light.
Meanwhile the primary school teachers still teach about how Livingstone brought civilization to Africa, but know nothing of their pre-contact religious roots, and enthusiastically emulate anything western as superior to anything they possess. Illegal abortions wreak a horrible havoc on young woman, because their churches forbid legal safe abortions as a reproductive choice. The poor peasants are taught to pray and love a god that clearly doesn’t love them and the rich elites use religion as one more tool to cement their power over the poor.
Missionary zeal – bah humbug.
Over the years, this old atheist has had a lot of contact with the missionary project. Even in CUSO and the Peace Corps there was always a nucleus of evangelical types who saw soul saving as central to their work in Africa. One of my first contacts was with an evangelical southern Baptist named Billy Joe Wheeler, whose rich Texan drawl when applied to the Chewa language was the cause of great hilarity among us Canadians. Down the road from my school near Mitundu was Mlale mission with a hospital and school run by an order of Quebec nuns and a church run by an old Quebecois priest whose name has long slipped from my memory. All the Catholics spoke excellent Chichewa and saw their schools and hospital as a service to the population, but in the end were trying to save the souls of the Africans.
I enjoyed the nuns, because for a couple of years, once a week I pedaled out after school to teach English to their African novitiates and the old ladies fed me a good meal of meat and potatoes. Then I would drop over at the old boy’s place and exploit his supply of rye whiskey and his news of hockey scores from Canada. They were very nice people and their hearts were full of compassion and the desire to help the people they had dedicated their lives to serving.
For years I grappled with my disdain for the church and the arrogance of the missionary project and the fact that the left just wasn’t there on the ground in poor countries. It was easy to join in solidarity with South African workers who had an economic system with an organised workforce and a militant communist movement that I had an affinity to with its anti-church, secular humanism. By comparison in poor countries like Malawi, trade unions were few and far between and the peasantry was extremely hard to arouse to any form of resistance to their exploitation. In the place of the left and in the absence of government services, the churches have become a dominant force. In rural Malawi, churches far outnumber economic enterprises or public services like schools and hospitals.
The churches provide something around 50% of health services in the country and run large numbers of schools. Under colonialism they provided way more services than the colonial government. In the meantime, where was the left? The struggles of Latin America and South Africa were easy for them, but they were largely absent in the poorer peasant based agrarian countries. They did not prosletyse, their message was absent and they provided no services like the religious groups did to attract their converts.
My problem is with the evangelical mission and its enormous arrogance. It is still very imperial in goal. The Zimbabweans used to say during the struggle for independence that when the white man came to their country, they owned the land and the whites had the bible. The whites taught them to close their eyes in prayer and when they opened them they had the bible and the whites had the land. Not much has changed.
The pre-Christian religions of Malawi have been completely denigrated and the most conservative forms of religious observance have been imposed and are referred to as Malawi’s traditions. The residual Victorian mentality dates back to the period of Livingstone and colonialism when the religious project involved the 3 C’s – Christianity, Commerce and Civilisation. Anything less than white as England was part of the ‘white man’s burden’ to correct. Now all the African elites wear suits and pray before meetings and what little is left of the pre-contact religions end up as traditional dances like the famous gule wamkulo with its masked dancers who are trotted out for public performance as quaint relics of another time.
I sat on the plane from Lilongwe to Addis Ababa with a very nice man from Arkansas, a Baptist who had been on a 2 week mission to evangelise and baptize as many people as possible. They spoke to over 15,000 people through the Salima district and brought them the word of the lord so they could be saved. I am sure that the good people of Salima would have preferred, economic progress, jobs, schools and hospitals, but these Christian believed that their way was so superior that they had to come and convince these poor people to convert to their belief. I was polite and friendly at the level of conversation, but led him away several times from the opening he was trying to make to talk about their mission. I have no time for the missionary zeal.
Finally, he asked if he could show me pictures of their work and I very politely declined. He asked if I believed and I told him that I did not. He asked about the state of the faith in my homeland and I explained the demise of the traditional churches in Quebec. I explained to him that I had been around for a long time and that I really did not want to see what he had been doing. I was as polite as I could be and he was very gracious about stepping back at my request, but it is not always such a graceful outcome.
He was not alone. On the same plane were a large gang of German Servants of Love mission, and some Brits with t shirts proclaiming that they believed in the right to life and that “I am glad that you were born” with a little foetus curled up in a womb. They had clearly been in Malawi to ensure that the abortion laws were maintained. Two elderly nuns tottered off beside me. It has often occurred on these trips that one of the participants in my tours will end up seated beside someone full of the zeal who will pray for them and try to get them to see the light.
Meanwhile the primary school teachers still teach about how Livingstone brought civilization to Africa, but know nothing of their pre-contact religious roots, and enthusiastically emulate anything western as superior to anything they possess. Illegal abortions wreak a horrible havoc on young woman, because their churches forbid legal safe abortions as a reproductive choice. The poor peasants are taught to pray and love a god that clearly doesn’t love them and the rich elites use religion as one more tool to cement their power over the poor.
Missionary zeal – bah humbug.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
An amazing trip - Project report
It has been an amazing trip. I am very excited about what has been accomplished and what is just on the horizon.
Bishop’s village visit
The Bishops students have fallen into two categories. The teachers are working one on one with their professor, Christopher Stonebanks and are so autonomous that I hardly see them. In fact, I will have to take a few moments today to pass by all the schools and see how everyone is doing. Francois-Xavier is laying the foundations for a great computer lab and working individually and in groups to get the teachers familiar with the machines and capable of trouble shooting. We are making contacts in Kasungu with IT people to see if one of them can come in once a month to help with technical glitches and to continue the learning. Danielle and Maureen are preparing three large wall murals at the primary school. One is of the universe, another a map of Africa and finally a map of Malawi. They are also preparing several large canvases almost 5 feet by 3 feet for students to paint which will be brought back to Canada to sell to raise funds for the primary school. Dave is looking at music in the schools and in the village, etc…
The education group hit a snag because the Ministry has changed the school year from the calendar year back to the old colonial system to begin in September and end in July in parallel with the northern hemisphere’s school calendar. This meant we arrived in the last 2 weeks of the semester. What with exams for 3 grades disrupting school life and the regular disruption of end of semester activities, they have not been able to get the same contact time that the Vanier students had with the Malawi students last year. Despite that they have found ways to become involved and enrich their learning experience.
The other group is what we called in French ‘divers’ or varia in English, but as a joke we now use the English pronunciation as if we are snorkelling divers. Alida is in sociology and political science, Katie is political science and economics, Barbara is the sociology and gender studies professor and Alice is a college student who wanted to come to help her grandmother with the support she has been providing the small village of Mnjale.
Alida and Katie are considered interns and since their interests were similar and dealt with the aid relationship, we agreed that they would help me in my work as a case study for their internship credit. It has proven to be an invaluable support. They have scoured Kasungu for possible internships for next year’s group or groups, looking at everything from PAL, Press Agricultural Limited, the country’s biggest enterprise to a small dynamic local NGO known as Council for Sustainable Community Development CSCD. They are building the inventory of internship possibilities, they are sitting in on meetings between me and partners and in return I am helping them prepare to write their school assignments about this attachment, all of which should enrich the work we are trying to do.
More than anything I appreciate the moments with them when I can talk out the issues of the moment and get their feedback. It has sharpened my decision making and kept me focused on the priorities and recognize the need to involve others in the work.
Christopher is into research and has mobilized Thomas to work with Kristy, one of his students, as research assistants and it is wonderful to see the guy rise to the challenge. Christopher has taken a particular interest in him and is still willing to help him become a teacher despite a couple of major mistakes he made last year. Kristy is researching the learning the students are going through and how culture shock affects that learning. He is also organizing a 2 day seminar of exchange between the Bishop’s profs and students and the Kasungu TTC profs and students. A lot of learning is going on.
The Beria Tembo-Saka Guest House
OPSEU has helped fund three projects leading to self-sufficiency. The first is a guest house named in honour of Nellie’s late mother who was always hosting people in her house so it seemed appropriate to name a house that hosts visitors in her name.
A local contractor has agreed to build the basic structure for the money we have available and will be the first to be called to complete the project when more funding comes available. She is a woman well known in the Kasungu area. She is on the site early in the morning and stays until late in addition to running a number of other projects. Her work caught my eye when we pass the Chinkhoma turnoff to Mchinji some 20 kilometres south of Makupo on the M1 highway. I had admired the thatch roofed bar many times in passing by and decided to stop last January. She is the owner and builder and was present when I visited so we struck up a friendship as we shared our preference for thatch roofing and other construction ideas. She owns the By the Road Bar as well as another one in Kasungu called the Groove 2000 Bar. In addition as a contractor she owns a large truck and a fleet of smaller ones.
I sought her out for and estimate and she introduced me to her husband who took the rough sketch of the idea Nellie and I had proposed and turned out 4 pages of beautifully drafted design and another 2 pages costing the project down to the Kwacha at something close to twice what we had available to spend. Our original design would have cost $25,000 and we were working with $10,000 so after some serious negotiations we came up with a compromise that would get the basic structure of foundation, walls and roof installed before the end of November and they would be prepared to come back and complete the project if and when the balance of the funds become available. We needed to get it up and covered before the rains started to protect the walls. That will give us the time to fundraise to complete the rest of the work before the next group comes in May of 2011. In the meantime we can continue to host small groups as we are now doing using three houses scattered around the village. WUSC Malawi would like to schedule an orientation for their recently arrived Canadian volunteers and Vanier College is hoping to bring some nursing students in May and a focus group on water in the month of June. Bishops seems to be a sure thing for another visit in July or August. We will be ready for next year which should be the last time I have to be away for any extended period.
One Well Becomes Three
Katharine Cukier and the Social Justice Club at Royal West Academy spearheaded a fund rising campaign based on the request by Chief Bwanali a lady who was once a student of mine when I first taught in Malawi in 1968. The villages she covers were all served by one very overworked well ever since the old decrepit well built in colonial times had given up the ghost. She estimated that almost 2000 people depended on one well. The children did so well that it appeared that we might be able to put a well in Chiwayu as well. Based on our calculations from the previous experience in 2007, we feared we would be a bit short for the second well, so we applied for help from our good friends at OPSEU and they gave us what we thought we needed for the two.
As soon as I got to Malawi I visited Jacob Mpemba at WUSC who is an agricultural graduate from Bunda College and sought his advise on a number of matters. He pointed out that we do not have to deal with the private companies since the Ministry of Irrigation and Water can give quotations which cut out the double dealing of the companies. Sure enough their quote was 25% below what the best company had given us and the savings allowed us to put in a third well. Our goal was to work in an ever expanding radius out from around Makupo to provide the villagers with the shortest walk possible to lighten the daily burden of water carrying by bringing water closer to them. The next well then was to be in Mlangali the home of the Group Village Headman that Makupo falls under. Needless to say the chief was very pleased.
The money was paid to Miinstry accounts office on a Thursday. On the following Monday, this week we are ending, the hydrologist arrived with his equipment and spent the better part of 2 days siting the wells. In 2 cases the placement of the villages was right above rock bearing no water so the wells ended up a little farther from the centre of the villages than the villagers wanted. In fact it was interesting watching the interaction of the chief who wanted the well just outside his door and the women who were the actual carriers of the water. They couldn’t argue with their chief but it was clear they were happy the well was moving closer to where they were going to be convenienced. He left on Wednesday and the drilling rig arrived on Thursday, a week to the day from when the money had been paid to the Ministry. They expect to do all three wells in just a couple of days. Needless to say there is much anticipation with all this progress coming about so quickly.
Royal West raised enough money from the energy of their enthusiastic and commited students to put in 2 wells at Bwanali and Mlangali and OPSEU gave us the ability to put in the third at Chiwayu. Rest assured the people appreciate your support.
More to come soon. As I send this to the blog the drill rig has just completed the first two holes at Mlangali and Chiwayu.
Bishop’s village visit
The Bishops students have fallen into two categories. The teachers are working one on one with their professor, Christopher Stonebanks and are so autonomous that I hardly see them. In fact, I will have to take a few moments today to pass by all the schools and see how everyone is doing. Francois-Xavier is laying the foundations for a great computer lab and working individually and in groups to get the teachers familiar with the machines and capable of trouble shooting. We are making contacts in Kasungu with IT people to see if one of them can come in once a month to help with technical glitches and to continue the learning. Danielle and Maureen are preparing three large wall murals at the primary school. One is of the universe, another a map of Africa and finally a map of Malawi. They are also preparing several large canvases almost 5 feet by 3 feet for students to paint which will be brought back to Canada to sell to raise funds for the primary school. Dave is looking at music in the schools and in the village, etc…
The education group hit a snag because the Ministry has changed the school year from the calendar year back to the old colonial system to begin in September and end in July in parallel with the northern hemisphere’s school calendar. This meant we arrived in the last 2 weeks of the semester. What with exams for 3 grades disrupting school life and the regular disruption of end of semester activities, they have not been able to get the same contact time that the Vanier students had with the Malawi students last year. Despite that they have found ways to become involved and enrich their learning experience.
The other group is what we called in French ‘divers’ or varia in English, but as a joke we now use the English pronunciation as if we are snorkelling divers. Alida is in sociology and political science, Katie is political science and economics, Barbara is the sociology and gender studies professor and Alice is a college student who wanted to come to help her grandmother with the support she has been providing the small village of Mnjale.
Alida and Katie are considered interns and since their interests were similar and dealt with the aid relationship, we agreed that they would help me in my work as a case study for their internship credit. It has proven to be an invaluable support. They have scoured Kasungu for possible internships for next year’s group or groups, looking at everything from PAL, Press Agricultural Limited, the country’s biggest enterprise to a small dynamic local NGO known as Council for Sustainable Community Development CSCD. They are building the inventory of internship possibilities, they are sitting in on meetings between me and partners and in return I am helping them prepare to write their school assignments about this attachment, all of which should enrich the work we are trying to do.
More than anything I appreciate the moments with them when I can talk out the issues of the moment and get their feedback. It has sharpened my decision making and kept me focused on the priorities and recognize the need to involve others in the work.
Christopher is into research and has mobilized Thomas to work with Kristy, one of his students, as research assistants and it is wonderful to see the guy rise to the challenge. Christopher has taken a particular interest in him and is still willing to help him become a teacher despite a couple of major mistakes he made last year. Kristy is researching the learning the students are going through and how culture shock affects that learning. He is also organizing a 2 day seminar of exchange between the Bishop’s profs and students and the Kasungu TTC profs and students. A lot of learning is going on.
The Beria Tembo-Saka Guest House
OPSEU has helped fund three projects leading to self-sufficiency. The first is a guest house named in honour of Nellie’s late mother who was always hosting people in her house so it seemed appropriate to name a house that hosts visitors in her name.
A local contractor has agreed to build the basic structure for the money we have available and will be the first to be called to complete the project when more funding comes available. She is a woman well known in the Kasungu area. She is on the site early in the morning and stays until late in addition to running a number of other projects. Her work caught my eye when we pass the Chinkhoma turnoff to Mchinji some 20 kilometres south of Makupo on the M1 highway. I had admired the thatch roofed bar many times in passing by and decided to stop last January. She is the owner and builder and was present when I visited so we struck up a friendship as we shared our preference for thatch roofing and other construction ideas. She owns the By the Road Bar as well as another one in Kasungu called the Groove 2000 Bar. In addition as a contractor she owns a large truck and a fleet of smaller ones.
I sought her out for and estimate and she introduced me to her husband who took the rough sketch of the idea Nellie and I had proposed and turned out 4 pages of beautifully drafted design and another 2 pages costing the project down to the Kwacha at something close to twice what we had available to spend. Our original design would have cost $25,000 and we were working with $10,000 so after some serious negotiations we came up with a compromise that would get the basic structure of foundation, walls and roof installed before the end of November and they would be prepared to come back and complete the project if and when the balance of the funds become available. We needed to get it up and covered before the rains started to protect the walls. That will give us the time to fundraise to complete the rest of the work before the next group comes in May of 2011. In the meantime we can continue to host small groups as we are now doing using three houses scattered around the village. WUSC Malawi would like to schedule an orientation for their recently arrived Canadian volunteers and Vanier College is hoping to bring some nursing students in May and a focus group on water in the month of June. Bishops seems to be a sure thing for another visit in July or August. We will be ready for next year which should be the last time I have to be away for any extended period.
One Well Becomes Three
Katharine Cukier and the Social Justice Club at Royal West Academy spearheaded a fund rising campaign based on the request by Chief Bwanali a lady who was once a student of mine when I first taught in Malawi in 1968. The villages she covers were all served by one very overworked well ever since the old decrepit well built in colonial times had given up the ghost. She estimated that almost 2000 people depended on one well. The children did so well that it appeared that we might be able to put a well in Chiwayu as well. Based on our calculations from the previous experience in 2007, we feared we would be a bit short for the second well, so we applied for help from our good friends at OPSEU and they gave us what we thought we needed for the two.
As soon as I got to Malawi I visited Jacob Mpemba at WUSC who is an agricultural graduate from Bunda College and sought his advise on a number of matters. He pointed out that we do not have to deal with the private companies since the Ministry of Irrigation and Water can give quotations which cut out the double dealing of the companies. Sure enough their quote was 25% below what the best company had given us and the savings allowed us to put in a third well. Our goal was to work in an ever expanding radius out from around Makupo to provide the villagers with the shortest walk possible to lighten the daily burden of water carrying by bringing water closer to them. The next well then was to be in Mlangali the home of the Group Village Headman that Makupo falls under. Needless to say the chief was very pleased.
The money was paid to Miinstry accounts office on a Thursday. On the following Monday, this week we are ending, the hydrologist arrived with his equipment and spent the better part of 2 days siting the wells. In 2 cases the placement of the villages was right above rock bearing no water so the wells ended up a little farther from the centre of the villages than the villagers wanted. In fact it was interesting watching the interaction of the chief who wanted the well just outside his door and the women who were the actual carriers of the water. They couldn’t argue with their chief but it was clear they were happy the well was moving closer to where they were going to be convenienced. He left on Wednesday and the drilling rig arrived on Thursday, a week to the day from when the money had been paid to the Ministry. They expect to do all three wells in just a couple of days. Needless to say there is much anticipation with all this progress coming about so quickly.
Royal West raised enough money from the energy of their enthusiastic and commited students to put in 2 wells at Bwanali and Mlangali and OPSEU gave us the ability to put in the third at Chiwayu. Rest assured the people appreciate your support.
More to come soon. As I send this to the blog the drill rig has just completed the first two holes at Mlangali and Chiwayu.
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