The White Devil Returns

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7/2 - 7/5

Alex and I officially started our first week of work with Fletcher at Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN). Fletcher himself is a well known international development research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in the U.K. and has worked all over the world. He is also native to Malawi and good friends/neighbors with our host mother, Sally, which is convenient for rides into Old Town where the office is located.

Once in his office, Fletcher outlines the projects we'll be working on this summer. Some of which include case studies centered on Malawian access to justice, water, service provisions and human rights. We get to choose out of 10 projects that our focus will be placed on the Phalombe (Pa-lome-be) District in Malawi's southern region. This research will double for our Applied Policy Project (APP), one of the UCLA's MPP requirement for graduation. One of the questions posed that we will set to measure is, what quality of policy response are citizens receiving from their civic engagement? One of MEJN's goals is to icnrease civic engagement to foster greater participatory governance which both holds government more accountable and generates the framework of economic policy within the country that advocates on behalf of the poor rather than just benefitting the elite. After reviewing MEJN's budget analysis commentary today, approximately 40%!o(MISSING)f Malawi's population lives on less than $.50/day. Poverty is EVERYWHERE here.

Most of our other time has been spent on background research to familiarize ourselves with the organization as well as figuring out why Summer Park (our lunch restaurant adjacent to the office) never serves chicken samosas even though it's always on the menu. We also met Francis, one of the original founders of MEJN, who now travels from South Africa to the office from time to time on a consultant basis. Francis is a super interesting guy that now among other things works on gender violence issues in Africa. He told us the story of his former secretary in South Africa who was gang raped by 18 men, five of which had HIV/AIDS, just because she was a lesbian. The stories one hears here are absolutely gut wrenching but sadly, daily life.

Luckily, my spirits were lifted that night both when Alex had the whole house do the Kim Kardashian butt workout dvd she brought (add that to the growing list of things I didn't think I'd be doing in Malawi) and by Sally having us watch a 'come to Jesus' video disguised as a documentary on the illuminati in the music industry. Yes, it's exactly as it sounds. Did you know that Beyonce, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, etc. are illuminati? Yeah, me neither. I didn't know how to respond when she asked us excitedly what we thought of it.

N-E-Waaayyy, the GREAT news is that we were invited to a big July 4th bash hosted by a group of U.S. aid and political workers. I don't think I've ever appreciated 'burgers', s'mores or Bruce Springstein more. We made plans with Lizzie, one of Jenn's friends to head down to Cape Maclear this weekend too! Buuut the fun didn't stop there. When Alex and I walked into Sally's yard, guess who got attacked by the family dog? That's right, the White Devil. And here I thought it was just the continent of Asia whose animals were repulsed by me. Although my leg was in pretty bad bloody shape it is just amazing what 3 glasses of Malawi Gin can do for you. Alex said I barely made a sound when it happened but rather just hobbled inside. Suffice it to say 12 days later, I'm done with having to change the dressings on it and bless his 4-legged soul, Junior not only has remained alive but it turns out he doesn't have rabies - hurray!

Our last night in town we were invited by Alex's friend, Jam, to attend his salsa birthday party at one of the clubs he owns in Lilongwe called Diplomats. Jam, btw, is the second coming of Bob Marley mainly because of his 2+ft. of dreadlocks and for his many attempts to be the 'ambassador of love' to every "mzungu" in Malawi. Quite the character. While he tends to customers he tells us that we should check out his other club, Zanzi, which apparently everyone we've met so far tells us it's the place to be on Saturday nights. After a brief look at the place we head home to get a good night's rest in prep for our weekend in Cape Maclear 😊)))....yessssss (Throws hand up and makes dramatic grasp down).

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