Dress

This is very typical of what I wear to the office - dress shirt and long skirt


This is a really nice traditional outfit


This is Martha in what she would wear if she was going out or visiting relatives


This is a fairly traditional outfit that I wear around the house or at the office, though most people in an office environment wear more western style clothes

Reflections on Poverty

I think the aspects of poverty that stands out the most here is vulnerability and lack of choice. It is harvest season so people don’t seem in destitute, but there is this sense of insecurity. Some people will run out of food before the next harvest. So many people are just getting by. What if there is a drought, or pest problem, or market prices crash? There are no government safety nets, there is no savings, and the likelihood is that friends and family will be in the same situation. So many things could go wrong that could send a household into a desperate state. A bad harvest is not a matter of less profit or going bankrupt, it is a matter of not being able to feed and clothe your family.

The one advantage to poverty in the rural area is that at least there are not as great of inequalities. There are definitely people who are better off than others, but most people are of the relatively the same social status. The main images of wealth come from western influence, mainly in the form of media and products. Such a disservice we do the world.

The other characteristic of poverty that strikes me is the lack of choices people have available to them. Many people want to continue education after primary school, but can’t afford to. There are few jobs available, even for those with some education. It is hard to take the risk of doing things differently if you are just getting by. I am hesitant to ask young people what they want to do when they are older, because I know it is not really a matter of what they “want”. So many people tell me they want to go to Canada; the land of opportunity, but the chance of them raising the funds to leave Malawi is slim. I’ve also been asked how easy it is to sneak into Canada and work illegally.

Living here makes me view my life and the western lifestyle in a new light. I can travel anywhere in the world. If I want to eat a chocolate bar I can just go buy it. I can choice what school to go to. I can get a job fairly easily. I can go to the doctors when I get sick. The worries I have seem so insignificant. I have security and choice, two things that everyone should have.

Recreational Activities

Board game carved into the roots of a tree


Football match in Bwanje

HIV/AIDS

One of the departments of BERDO works in HIV/AIDS. The HIV/AIDS rate in Malawi is one of the highest in the world. Not only does the disease itself reduce a person’s quality of life, but it also prevents them from fully participating in development activities. BERDO provides voluntary testing and counseling, training in Home Based Care, training in establishing herb and vegetable gardens for the sick, agricultural assistance, and assistance to AIDS orphans. The office has its own testing equipment, which it also brings to villages that are to far to access it.
I went through the counseling and testing to get a better understanding of the process. First someone talks to you about what the testing is about and asks why you want to get tested. They then prick your finger and draw out a small amount of blood with a thin tube. The blood is placed on two different HIV tests. They look a bit like pregnancy tests. One line and you are negative, two lines and you are positive. I was not that worried about being positive for the HIV virus before, but sitting and waiting the ten minuets it takes for the results to show is a little nerve racking. Before you know the result they ask you what you will do if you are positive. It is a scary thought. You think of how your life would change. Everything you wanted to do in life jeopardized. Oh please let there only be one line. Indeed after 10min. only one line appeared and I was told I was negative. Sigh of relief.
Unfortunately, this is not the result that about 40% of the people visiting the testing centre get. Another hardship of the disease is the stigma that is attached to it. The people with AIDS are sometimes accused of being sexual deviants or drug users. Probably so people can feel as if it couldn’t happen to them. There is also a lot of anger for those that find out they are infected. A co-worker of mine told me how they had questioned a person who had found out they are positive about what they would do now that they knew. He replied that he would try and infect as many other people as he could. There is fear about dying alone and anger that might not be directed anyone in particular. Some people also see it as if they are already inflected they don’t need to be careful any more, and so engage in unprotected sex despite the other person’s status. BERDO works with communities to try and eliminate the myths and stigmas, as well as provide education on how to protect them selves.

Me and my sister Martha. She is the same age as me, and lives with the family to help with the daily chores and running the maize mill. We have a good time hanging, despite the fact that I do not speak much Chichewa and she does not speak much English.


sunset near my house




Girl in the window of a maize mill

A note on Communication

Communication here is very difficult. The nearest Internet is 50km from my house, and phone network is limited. I apologise if I take longer than normal to reply to emails, but please feel free to email me with questions or comments anyway.

Mawira and Mrs.Malawi

Mrs. Malawi

Mr. Zulu

On Tuesday May 23rd I made a visit to the village of Mawira with Mr. Zulu. Mr. Zulu works in the Agriculture and Natural Resource Management department of BERDO and was also born and raised in Mawira. He has had the opportunity to see the changes the village has undergone over the past 50 years. He showed me the house where his family grew up. He showed his grandfather’s grave which was near the house. He explained that the reason it was not in the grave yard was because he was a chief and it was a special honor to be buried in the community. He also told me how his grandfather had had another wife and family in another town. I asked why they were so far. He explained that it was a way to secure more land, so that other people could not settle there. Polygamy is not common today in the area, and I asked him why this was. He said that men could not afford to have more than one wife, there is not enough resources.

We continued toward the escarpment and walked though the school grounds. Children were having classes outside, sitting under the shade of big trees. We walked up a steep hill where Mr. Zulu pointed out a stream after which the village was named. The spring was feed by a spring a little farther until the hill and into the forest. It was the first real forest I had seen since I got here. The word "Mawira" means to boil, which is what the water coming out of the spring looked like. Mr. Zulu explained that though these trees are not legally protected (one of the causes of deforestation in the area), no one would cut these trees, because they know without them the spring would dry up.

We had planned to have a meeting with the village about the evaluation of the BERDO’s project, but there was a problem in communication and the village was not aware of the meeting. Where the meeting was to take place, women from six villages had gathered to have their young children weighed.

We returned the next day to have the village meeting. Mrs. Malawi was one of the women at the meeting. She shared with us her story as a case study.

Namachenja Malawi
Previously Namachenja Malawi’s husband had problems finding wood for poles. Now they are able to build the homestead completely from their own trees. She is also able to sell the extra trees to others in the community. With the money she has been able to buy a number of tentenges. She is planning to use extra income to invest in goats, and inputs for her summer crops.