If you are wondering why I am on a bloggin’ spree, it’s because I’m staying at a house that has wireless Internet. So these are blogs I would have been posting over the last three weeks. You can take your time and read them as such.
I’m in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, for work. I’ve had a great time. We came by car on Wednesday and we are staying at a co-worker's house. He has a nice, big house as he is often housing passer bys. Thursday & Friday Enock & I had partnership meetings with Save the Children US, FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN), JICA, the Japanese govt. org in Malawi and CIDA, the Canadian govt. org here. Very exciting.
Today, Sunday, Tebogo & Joanes arrived. Tomorrow & Tuesday we will be visiting projects here. Tonight I insisted on helping with dinner. I made peanut sauce with eggplant, carrots and tomatoes. Afterwards, Joanes told me he has tasted my food and I will make a good housewife! Ha. And that my husband will not run away from the house. So, eat that anyone that thinks I’m not “domestic” enough. :)
Joanes is from Cameroon. He does have some traditional ideas about men and women, as many African men do. Tebogo & I keep him in check though. :)
I’m feeling hopeful & encouraged about what is happening in Israel today. They have signed a peace treaty with Hamas & there has been a cease-fire for the past four days. Today they are allowing food & medicine across the border into the Gaza Strip, which has been closed for the past 12 months!
As for Zimbabwe. There are a good number of Zimbabweans here in Malawi. I met one that is for Mugabe, but most want him out. I initially felt disappointed when I heard that Morgan Tsvangirai (pronounced Tang-ger-ray) pulled out of the presidential race today, but I respect his reasons. Too many people were getting killed or injured by Mugabe army members/supporters. Tsvangirai said that he won, but his presidency will just be delayed. (He won the March 29th election but not by an absolute majority). He also said that Mugabe has declared war for June 27th (the day the run off election was to take place) and he will not take part in that war. It’s great to hear someone choosing to not take part in violence.
So the Zimbabweans will continue to suffer with all the problems they have under Mugabe, but at least the violence is abated for now. Tsvangirai is saying that genocide could occur in Zim, and the U.N. should intervene before it does. People tell me they want Bush to come and remove Mugabe. I tell them he never will because Zim doesn’t have anything the U.S. can use. Tebo suggested he do it to prove the people who say that wrong. I told her even if he wanted to do that, there are no troops left. They are all in Iraq & Afghanistan.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
I am Legend
My days are great, filled with work and co-workers. Nights are quieter. We were told not to leave our house at night. Seeing how it is dark by 6pm, this seemed to be a limiting restriction. Sam and I fill our nights with making dinner, talking about history, politics, & culture and playing cards. (Sam is an Indian who moved to the U.S with his wife a few years ago. He works for Planet Aid in Washington, D.C. We had only met a few times before the flight to South Africa, but we’ve proved to be easy travel partners and good friends. We live together along with Leslie). We soon discovered counterfeit DVDs and added watching those to our nightly activities. We’ve been watching a Denzel Washington collection, which boasts to have 32 movies, but since half of them are advertised as part two of movies that don’t actually have part twos, there are about 18 movies. I never knew there were so many good Denzel Washington movies I hadn’t seen.
It also affords me lots of time for reading & writing in my lovely travel journal and going to bed early, which I need to do now to get up for work on time.
One night sitting at the kitchen table I told Sam that I felt like I was in the movie I am Legend, because I had never been out at night and I wondered what it was like “out there”. Our first weekend we had the opportunity to find out. We went to dinner at a wonderful Indian restaurant with some co-workers with a company car. Truth be told, it’s pretty dead at night but at least my curiosity was quenched. As Sam turned to me and said, “now we don’t have to be I am Legend anymore.”
It also affords me lots of time for reading & writing in my lovely travel journal and going to bed early, which I need to do now to get up for work on time.
One night sitting at the kitchen table I told Sam that I felt like I was in the movie I am Legend, because I had never been out at night and I wondered what it was like “out there”. Our first weekend we had the opportunity to find out. We went to dinner at a wonderful Indian restaurant with some co-workers with a company car. Truth be told, it’s pretty dead at night but at least my curiosity was quenched. As Sam turned to me and said, “now we don’t have to be I am Legend anymore.”
Mom gets a nod
In coming to Africa this time, I tried to pack based on my last experience: things I brought & used, or didn’t, and what I could have used but didn’t bring. The number one thing being chocolate. So I brought a stash…only to find that chocolate is readily available at the grocery stores here. (It’s fun, because it’s the candy bars you find in the UK, which reminds me of Ireland :) I’ve yet to visit the U.K.). The grocery store also had many of the toiletries that I stocked up on for three months…they may be expensive, but I might have paid the price to carry around lighter bags the four days we spent traveling. :)
One thing I learned from my previous trip & did right was to bring nice clothes. Africans always dress up, no matter what they are doing, and it is generally a mysterious marvel to us Westerners how their outfits remain spotless without a washer, dryer, iron or dry cleaner. (These things exist, but many people cannot afford them). I also knew I would be working in the country office everyday, as opposed to being out in the field. So my effort to wear skirts and dress up has been well received. I was also complimented on my behavior and told that my mother must have raised me well, telling me how to act, what to do and what not to do!
So yes, here in Africa I dress better for and arrive earlier to work than I do in the good ol’ U.S. of A. Everyone gets to work early, so I have to keep up. I am there by 8:30 am at least every day. This was ok the first week when my body clock was still on U.S time and I wasn’t sleeping well. But now that I have regained my precious ability to sleep (Thank God!), getting up early is a struggle. Especially because once I get up I have to boil water for my shower. I can’t just step into a warm shower to wake me up. But once I step out of my house and onto the bustling street, I am happy to be awake and a part of life.
One thing I learned from my previous trip & did right was to bring nice clothes. Africans always dress up, no matter what they are doing, and it is generally a mysterious marvel to us Westerners how their outfits remain spotless without a washer, dryer, iron or dry cleaner. (These things exist, but many people cannot afford them). I also knew I would be working in the country office everyday, as opposed to being out in the field. So my effort to wear skirts and dress up has been well received. I was also complimented on my behavior and told that my mother must have raised me well, telling me how to act, what to do and what not to do!
So yes, here in Africa I dress better for and arrive earlier to work than I do in the good ol’ U.S. of A. Everyone gets to work early, so I have to keep up. I am there by 8:30 am at least every day. This was ok the first week when my body clock was still on U.S time and I wasn’t sleeping well. But now that I have regained my precious ability to sleep (Thank God!), getting up early is a struggle. Especially because once I get up I have to boil water for my shower. I can’t just step into a warm shower to wake me up. But once I step out of my house and onto the bustling street, I am happy to be awake and a part of life.
Load Shedding & Politics
Hi again. I have so much to say, but there are technical limitations here. I only have the Internet at work, and I cannot stay after work hours to write, because I need to catch the bus home before it gets dark. (Since it is winter here, it starts to get dark at 5pm). So, I get to the Internet when I can, then the power goes out…and so it goes.
Speaking of electricity going out. (Some of you probably didn’t even know I had electricity, did you?) Well, I do, at all times, except for during load shedding. Load shedding basically means power sharing. There are times where we lose power for a few hours so that another area of the city can have it. The times when this will happen are posted in the newspaper. It happens a few times a week. Why there is not enough power for everyone, as there is in the States, I do not know yet. I’m assuming it has something to do with a lack of finances, or maybe some government bureaucracy, otherwise known as bologna sausage (BS).
We also lose power when someone has neglected to pay the power bill. This happened to us at work the other day, not because our organization hadn’t paid, but because the landlord of the building we are housed in did not pay. This is especially frustrating because not only do we lose the Internet, but after the batteries on our laptops run out, we lose the ability to do anything on the computer.
When this happened, we turned to reading the newspaper and discussing politics (which we do even when we do have power). As Sam says, the Malawians' favorite things to talk about, and in general, are football (soccer to most of you) and politics.
Malawians are very up on current events and read the newspaper daily. Our Grenadian (from the island nation of Grenada, in the Carribean) housemate, Leslie, has a radio and puts on BBC Africa each morning. I listened to this station in Mali as well. It is one of my favorite radio stations.
There is no shortage of news about the United States. Before I even got to work to look it up on the Internet, I heard on the radio on the bus that Barack won the democratic bid. Before this, everyone was asking me who I liked, Hillary or Barack. They have their own opinions as well. One woman I work with told me she didn't like Hillary because then the presidency would be staying in one family! At first I was surprised that they knew and cared so much about what goes on in the U.S. But then I realized, of course they do. The decisions made in the U.S. directly affect the rest of the world.
Here we are all very excited about Barack Obama's victory! The Malawians ask me about John McCain (another four years of Republican policies scare me), if the U.S. is ready for Barack Obama (I hope so), and if I will accept him (Yes, I will).
Speaking of electricity going out. (Some of you probably didn’t even know I had electricity, did you?) Well, I do, at all times, except for during load shedding. Load shedding basically means power sharing. There are times where we lose power for a few hours so that another area of the city can have it. The times when this will happen are posted in the newspaper. It happens a few times a week. Why there is not enough power for everyone, as there is in the States, I do not know yet. I’m assuming it has something to do with a lack of finances, or maybe some government bureaucracy, otherwise known as bologna sausage (BS).
We also lose power when someone has neglected to pay the power bill. This happened to us at work the other day, not because our organization hadn’t paid, but because the landlord of the building we are housed in did not pay. This is especially frustrating because not only do we lose the Internet, but after the batteries on our laptops run out, we lose the ability to do anything on the computer.
When this happened, we turned to reading the newspaper and discussing politics (which we do even when we do have power). As Sam says, the Malawians' favorite things to talk about, and in general, are football (soccer to most of you) and politics.
Malawians are very up on current events and read the newspaper daily. Our Grenadian (from the island nation of Grenada, in the Carribean) housemate, Leslie, has a radio and puts on BBC Africa each morning. I listened to this station in Mali as well. It is one of my favorite radio stations.
There is no shortage of news about the United States. Before I even got to work to look it up on the Internet, I heard on the radio on the bus that Barack won the democratic bid. Before this, everyone was asking me who I liked, Hillary or Barack. They have their own opinions as well. One woman I work with told me she didn't like Hillary because then the presidency would be staying in one family! At first I was surprised that they knew and cared so much about what goes on in the U.S. But then I realized, of course they do. The decisions made in the U.S. directly affect the rest of the world.
Here we are all very excited about Barack Obama's victory! The Malawians ask me about John McCain (another four years of Republican policies scare me), if the U.S. is ready for Barack Obama (I hope so), and if I will accept him (Yes, I will).
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach him to fish, and he eats for life.
My first week at work has been full. I am working at the Partnership office, which consists of five people. We have an office within the larger office of the country office. Our organization, DAPP Malawi, has lots going on in Malawi. Our job in the partnership office is to find funds (for instance grants) to support the programs, both internationally and domestically. There are a lot of organizations that we already partner with, so part of the work is keeping good relationships and showing them the work we are doing so they continue to support us. As you may know, grants are given for an allotted amount of time, so there is always the work of reapplying or find new sources when the current ones run out.
To do my job well, I need to learn a lot about each project which is exciting. In our office, we have our project leaders, Augustus & Enock, and then the partnership officers: Joanes, Tebogo, and myself. Luckily for me, Joanes & Tebogo are also new, so we are going to pay extensive visits to each project over the next month.
We have six types of projects. The two that I am responsible for both deal with HIV/AIDS: HOPE and TCE. I am the most interested in these projects so I am delighted it worked out this way. I am even hoping to use my counseling background in some way, perhaps for training.
But before I get ahead of myself...This week we had some special events which included HOPE and TCE. It made my first week pretty exciting.
The events were initiated by a company called Kiwi. They make shoe polish as well as other products. In the U.S. they are called Sara Lee (but they do not make cakes here!) Kiwi/Sara Lee celebrated their 100Th anniversary in 2006, and since they make the most money in Africa, they decided to donate 100,000 shoes to people in Africa. They partnered with Camper shoe company to do this. They had gone to a number of African countries and this week it was our turn. So they hooked up with our organization to find the people they would donate to. So we choose some villages/areas that have orphans and others that are served by HOPE or TCE.
From Thursday to Saturday, we went to five different areas. (It has also been a great way for me to see the areas surrounding Blantyre). Our entourage consisted of: from Spain, a Kiwi employee, a Camper employee and two people from Humana Spain (one of our sister organizations), a Kiwi employee from Tanzania, my boss Enock, other various DAPP employees, TCE Field Officers, DIs (people like myself, here from various countries to work for a short time) working with TCE, District Officials, Chiefs, a Minister of Education and TV and newspaper reporters. In each village, there are were hundreds of people sitting waiting for us. When we came they sang and danced. There were speeches by people from each organization, as well as the chief. At one village, we heard testimonies from two women who are living positively with HIV/AIDS.
I should also explain a little about the projects. I will do HOPE at another time. TCE stands for Total Control of the Epidemic. The southern African countries are the worst hit with HIV/AIDS in the world. In Malawi, 14% of the adult population are HIV positive. Part of the problem is that there is are stigmas against talking about HIV/AIDS, getting tested, etc. So TCE employs field officers to go door to door and have a personal, educational conversation about HIV/AIDS with each person. The whole country is divided up...into districts, then areas....each field officer is responsible for 2,000 people and they have three years to reach every one of them. TCE does other things in the community...creates resource centers, offers testing or organizes mobile testing if they do not a facility, counseling, income generating projects, etc. etc.
That is just a snapshot...I realize this entry is already so long but there is so much to explain! So, it was great to hear the women who gave their testimonies. They said the field officer encouraged them to get tested. Both were positive, but through counseling they realized that life is not over. They learned to live positively and are healthy now. One talked about being on ARVs. They both encouraged everyone to get tested. The chief also talked about how he was the first one in the village to get tested because chiefs must lead by example. He also talked about how they have modified their traditions if they were contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
I could say more but...
So the shoes. The shoes were a little sad because we didn't have a lot of children sizes. It was also overwhelming, because the shoes were in a pile on the ground and the villagers were around us, and we were trying to find shoes to fit them. They were called by names, and so the intention was to be orderly, and while it could have been much worse it still felt chaotic. It was also difficult as a lot of villagers do not speak english (or perhaps were too shy to do so? this was suggested to me) so it was hard to figure out what they wanted, if the shoes were too big or too small...though in some instances you can tell of course...
When I think back to when I first got interested in this kind of work, I can see the layers of understanding and knowledge that form over time. When I see others, like the people from Spain who aren't in this line of work, and are in fact for profit, but maybe still feel some compassion for those that are suffering in the world...or guilt... I have to wonder if we do things like this to feel better about ourselves. So we can dust the African ground off our hands and feet and say I did something good today. But we didn't teach them anything, we didn't do anything to undo the systems that have created this mess. So I didn't cry or feel massively touched by the experience. Mostly it was a learning experience to add to my growth, my widening understanding.
I am happy to be working with an organization who understands this. We aren't about handouts, we are about empowering people. For instance, I think the knowledge about HIV/AIDS has empowered people. I'll end here and include some beautiful pictures from the places we visited.
To do my job well, I need to learn a lot about each project which is exciting. In our office, we have our project leaders, Augustus & Enock, and then the partnership officers: Joanes, Tebogo, and myself. Luckily for me, Joanes & Tebogo are also new, so we are going to pay extensive visits to each project over the next month.
We have six types of projects. The two that I am responsible for both deal with HIV/AIDS: HOPE and TCE. I am the most interested in these projects so I am delighted it worked out this way. I am even hoping to use my counseling background in some way, perhaps for training.
But before I get ahead of myself...This week we had some special events which included HOPE and TCE. It made my first week pretty exciting.
The events were initiated by a company called Kiwi. They make shoe polish as well as other products. In the U.S. they are called Sara Lee (but they do not make cakes here!) Kiwi/Sara Lee celebrated their 100Th anniversary in 2006, and since they make the most money in Africa, they decided to donate 100,000 shoes to people in Africa. They partnered with Camper shoe company to do this. They had gone to a number of African countries and this week it was our turn. So they hooked up with our organization to find the people they would donate to. So we choose some villages/areas that have orphans and others that are served by HOPE or TCE.
From Thursday to Saturday, we went to five different areas. (It has also been a great way for me to see the areas surrounding Blantyre). Our entourage consisted of: from Spain, a Kiwi employee, a Camper employee and two people from Humana Spain (one of our sister organizations), a Kiwi employee from Tanzania, my boss Enock, other various DAPP employees, TCE Field Officers, DIs (people like myself, here from various countries to work for a short time) working with TCE, District Officials, Chiefs, a Minister of Education and TV and newspaper reporters. In each village, there are were hundreds of people sitting waiting for us. When we came they sang and danced. There were speeches by people from each organization, as well as the chief. At one village, we heard testimonies from two women who are living positively with HIV/AIDS.
I should also explain a little about the projects. I will do HOPE at another time. TCE stands for Total Control of the Epidemic. The southern African countries are the worst hit with HIV/AIDS in the world. In Malawi, 14% of the adult population are HIV positive. Part of the problem is that there is are stigmas against talking about HIV/AIDS, getting tested, etc. So TCE employs field officers to go door to door and have a personal, educational conversation about HIV/AIDS with each person. The whole country is divided up...into districts, then areas....each field officer is responsible for 2,000 people and they have three years to reach every one of them. TCE does other things in the community...creates resource centers, offers testing or organizes mobile testing if they do not a facility, counseling, income generating projects, etc. etc.
That is just a snapshot...I realize this entry is already so long but there is so much to explain! So, it was great to hear the women who gave their testimonies. They said the field officer encouraged them to get tested. Both were positive, but through counseling they realized that life is not over. They learned to live positively and are healthy now. One talked about being on ARVs. They both encouraged everyone to get tested. The chief also talked about how he was the first one in the village to get tested because chiefs must lead by example. He also talked about how they have modified their traditions if they were contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
I could say more but...
So the shoes. The shoes were a little sad because we didn't have a lot of children sizes. It was also overwhelming, because the shoes were in a pile on the ground and the villagers were around us, and we were trying to find shoes to fit them. They were called by names, and so the intention was to be orderly, and while it could have been much worse it still felt chaotic. It was also difficult as a lot of villagers do not speak english (or perhaps were too shy to do so? this was suggested to me) so it was hard to figure out what they wanted, if the shoes were too big or too small...though in some instances you can tell of course...
When I think back to when I first got interested in this kind of work, I can see the layers of understanding and knowledge that form over time. When I see others, like the people from Spain who aren't in this line of work, and are in fact for profit, but maybe still feel some compassion for those that are suffering in the world...or guilt... I have to wonder if we do things like this to feel better about ourselves. So we can dust the African ground off our hands and feet and say I did something good today. But we didn't teach them anything, we didn't do anything to undo the systems that have created this mess. So I didn't cry or feel massively touched by the experience. Mostly it was a learning experience to add to my growth, my widening understanding.
I am happy to be working with an organization who understands this. We aren't about handouts, we are about empowering people. For instance, I think the knowledge about HIV/AIDS has empowered people. I'll end here and include some beautiful pictures from the places we visited.
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