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.