Moni (greetings in Chichewa),
I’ve spent only 2 weeks in Malawi and am already feeling comfortable in my surroundings. I’m slowly learning Chichewa, with many mistakes and laughter along the way, my stomach is getting used to the food and water, and I am feeling more and more comfortable with my host mother and my coworkers.
I’m working at Malawi Freshwater Project (MFWP), a local non-governmental organization that was started in 1995 and has a high reputation in the surrounding area. To date, they have drilled 1017 boreholes, and lead hundreds of community hygiene and sanitation workshops. Sounds like they know what they are doing, eh? On the technical side of drilling boreholes and training communities on the field, they seem like they know what they are doing. On the office communication, report writing, computer skills, and external communication side of things, they need some work. So that is where I come into play. I’ve been going to the field nearly every day since I started and soaking up the village life and the pure joy you see on people’s faces when they have clean running water, but I’m finding it hard to see where I can be making an impact in the field. That’s why I feel my main focus is going to be on the work done in the office. Information from the field has to get to the Director and the donors somehow, and that link could definitely use some strengthening.
At the moment I am living with an older woman named Sarah. She has two daughters, one in Scotland going to university, and the other in Lilongwe, Malawi with her husband. I’m enjoying living here and learning lots from talking with Sarah, but I don’t think I will have experienced the true Malawian culture without living in a rural village. To sleep on the floor with Malawians, to eat true Malawian food, to learn from them, and to be surrounded by the village life is something I need to experience. I’m currently working at finding a nice home in a nearby village. It helps that MFWP does a lot of work in nearby villages and therefore has some good connections. I should be starting my stay within the next two weeks, and purchasing a spiffy used bicycle to get myself to and from work.
Recently, I’ve been visiting a lot of governmental schools while on the field. MFWP does quite a bit of work at the moment with Unicef, building latrines in schools for sanitary reasons and so young girls are able to attend school. I’m not entirely sure how long it will take me to get used to 50 children standing in a clustered semi-circle in front of me, but at the moment is rather awkward. There isn’t really a lot I know how to say to such a large group of children, and it seems that when I do say something in Chichewa I either get shy responses or blank stares. I would love to know what is going through their heads when a white person is standing in front of them.
I’ve been getting some requests for some Chichewa lessons, so here it goes:
In Chichewa, there is no word for hello (well if there is, no one uses it). A person is greeted usually by asking “How are you?” which in Chichewa is “Muli bwanji?” The proper back and forth responses are:
Me: “Muli bwanji?”
Responder: “Ndili bwino. Kaya Inu?” (meaning “I am well. And you?”)
Me: “Ndili Bwino. Zikomo” (meaning “I am well. Thankyou)
Responder: “Zikomo”
“Zikomo” is used a lot in Malawi. Older women will say “zikomo” while gently placing their hands cupped together and do a bit of a curtsy. To be respectful, you do the same in return.
I’ve encountered a couple ironic coincidences in the last week, some would say they are signs from God, but Malawi hasn’t changed me that much… yet. The first started when I met a man on a minibus (minibuses are 5 row vans that work kind of like the buses of Canada, but not really controlled by the government). So this man and I got talking and I soon found out that he is a Masters student at the University of Malawi in Political Science and has a job working with the Malawian government. We had a lovely chat about fertilizer subsidies from the government in Malawi, and that was that. The next day at work, Alex, a boy who works at MFWP and is doing his diploma in community and rural development at the University of Malawi told me that in his morning classes his professor mentioned in class that he had met a girl from Canada working at MFWP. Yep! His prof just so happens to be the same man I sat beside in the minibus the day before. So I snatched up this wonderful opportunity by asking Alex if he could ask his prof if I could sit in on one of his classes.
The second coincidence happened at the yearly Trade Fair just outside of Blantyre. The Trade Fair is where many governmental and non-governmental organizations, and local Malawian businesses showcase what they are working on. The Ministry of Technology had several new Malawian invented technologies geared towards helping Malawians. One invention was a locking system for the Afridev hand pump that MFWP uses on all its borehole projects. So the coincidence; the day before this, we spent the entire day working with a village to replace parts of their borehole that had been stolen in January. When parts are stolen, it is up to the village to raise the money to replace the parts. This invention could really help out villages whose boreholes have been installed in areas that are not visible and therefore have increased chance of theft. I went back to the office on Monday and am now dedicated to making sure MFWP gets the funding for its projects to have this locking device installed.
My goal is to have an update sent out every two weeks, so keep the questions, comments, and things you would like to know more about coming!
I’ve spent only 2 weeks in Malawi and am already feeling comfortable in my surroundings. I’m slowly learning Chichewa, with many mistakes and laughter along the way, my stomach is getting used to the food and water, and I am feeling more and more comfortable with my host mother and my coworkers.
I’m working at Malawi Freshwater Project (MFWP), a local non-governmental organization that was started in 1995 and has a high reputation in the surrounding area. To date, they have drilled 1017 boreholes, and lead hundreds of community hygiene and sanitation workshops. Sounds like they know what they are doing, eh? On the technical side of drilling boreholes and training communities on the field, they seem like they know what they are doing. On the office communication, report writing, computer skills, and external communication side of things, they need some work. So that is where I come into play. I’ve been going to the field nearly every day since I started and soaking up the village life and the pure joy you see on people’s faces when they have clean running water, but I’m finding it hard to see where I can be making an impact in the field. That’s why I feel my main focus is going to be on the work done in the office. Information from the field has to get to the Director and the donors somehow, and that link could definitely use some strengthening.
At the moment I am living with an older woman named Sarah. She has two daughters, one in Scotland going to university, and the other in Lilongwe, Malawi with her husband. I’m enjoying living here and learning lots from talking with Sarah, but I don’t think I will have experienced the true Malawian culture without living in a rural village. To sleep on the floor with Malawians, to eat true Malawian food, to learn from them, and to be surrounded by the village life is something I need to experience. I’m currently working at finding a nice home in a nearby village. It helps that MFWP does a lot of work in nearby villages and therefore has some good connections. I should be starting my stay within the next two weeks, and purchasing a spiffy used bicycle to get myself to and from work.
Recently, I’ve been visiting a lot of governmental schools while on the field. MFWP does quite a bit of work at the moment with Unicef, building latrines in schools for sanitary reasons and so young girls are able to attend school. I’m not entirely sure how long it will take me to get used to 50 children standing in a clustered semi-circle in front of me, but at the moment is rather awkward. There isn’t really a lot I know how to say to such a large group of children, and it seems that when I do say something in Chichewa I either get shy responses or blank stares. I would love to know what is going through their heads when a white person is standing in front of them.
I’ve been getting some requests for some Chichewa lessons, so here it goes:
In Chichewa, there is no word for hello (well if there is, no one uses it). A person is greeted usually by asking “How are you?” which in Chichewa is “Muli bwanji?” The proper back and forth responses are:
Me: “Muli bwanji?”
Responder: “Ndili bwino. Kaya Inu?” (meaning “I am well. And you?”)
Me: “Ndili Bwino. Zikomo” (meaning “I am well. Thankyou)
Responder: “Zikomo”
“Zikomo” is used a lot in Malawi. Older women will say “zikomo” while gently placing their hands cupped together and do a bit of a curtsy. To be respectful, you do the same in return.
I’ve encountered a couple ironic coincidences in the last week, some would say they are signs from God, but Malawi hasn’t changed me that much… yet. The first started when I met a man on a minibus (minibuses are 5 row vans that work kind of like the buses of Canada, but not really controlled by the government). So this man and I got talking and I soon found out that he is a Masters student at the University of Malawi in Political Science and has a job working with the Malawian government. We had a lovely chat about fertilizer subsidies from the government in Malawi, and that was that. The next day at work, Alex, a boy who works at MFWP and is doing his diploma in community and rural development at the University of Malawi told me that in his morning classes his professor mentioned in class that he had met a girl from Canada working at MFWP. Yep! His prof just so happens to be the same man I sat beside in the minibus the day before. So I snatched up this wonderful opportunity by asking Alex if he could ask his prof if I could sit in on one of his classes.
The second coincidence happened at the yearly Trade Fair just outside of Blantyre. The Trade Fair is where many governmental and non-governmental organizations, and local Malawian businesses showcase what they are working on. The Ministry of Technology had several new Malawian invented technologies geared towards helping Malawians. One invention was a locking system for the Afridev hand pump that MFWP uses on all its borehole projects. So the coincidence; the day before this, we spent the entire day working with a village to replace parts of their borehole that had been stolen in January. When parts are stolen, it is up to the village to raise the money to replace the parts. This invention could really help out villages whose boreholes have been installed in areas that are not visible and therefore have increased chance of theft. I went back to the office on Monday and am now dedicated to making sure MFWP gets the funding for its projects to have this locking device installed.
My goal is to have an update sent out every two weeks, so keep the questions, comments, and things you would like to know more about coming!
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