Blogs from Lilongwe, Central, Malawi, Africa - page 7

Friday 21st - Sunday 23rd We drive through Salima, a prosperous looking town on the west side of Lake Malawi to Cool Runnings, a site opening onto the sand in Monkey Bay. We're right on the beach by the lake, which looks like a sea, stretching to the horizon with gentle waves lapping on the sand. To the left is the fishing village where the men mend their nets; to the right women do their washing in the lake and spread things to dry on the sand. More boys than girls splash in the water, though some do, and four of them came to chat to me. Aged 15 to 21 they say they're not ready to marry yet, unlike the village girls who marry at this age. Two of the girls are at Secondary school, ... read more

8th September to 29th September It is my first Aid Camp International trip, and it won't be my last. This is Aid Camp's first time in Malawi too, and they are working with the Landirani Trust (a local Non Governmental Organisation supporting orphans) to build a Community Building Chidren's Centre (CBCC) about 30 km from Lilongwe. The Centre has been built using a newly recognised method of construction, 'rammed earth' which is actually a traditional method. Brick-made buildings have been used for a while, but brickmaking uses a lot of wood for firing the bricks and deforestation is becoming a problem. Brick-built houses use only one thickness of brick, which is not very stable, and does not keep out the cold or the heat. 'Rammed earth' is done by ramming earth of a certain damp consistency ... read more

7/27 Sorry it’s taken me so long to write this next entry. We’ve had frequent all day power outages which can make things a little difficult around here! These past 3 weeks have definitely had their fair share of highs and lows with time moving fast and yes, even slow. I’ve had some kind of cold symptoms for about two of them but really I think it’s all the red clay-colored dust and exhaust in the air. Anyway, it’s left me totally wiped, sleeping away half my evenings right after work. Not much writing has gotten done so I’ll summarize my days as they come to me. Our busy times at work have included meetings with DFID (MEJN’s funder), AICC, a policy symposium on agriculture production and an all day Saturday meeting in the Mchinji ... read more

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 ... read more

6/24 Well ladies and gents....I'm back in action! Off to the great motherland...Africa, my dream. Of course by now we know that my adventures always start off with a bang, right? No, they didn't lose my ticket to the Philippines and I don't have to worry about the only ferry to cross the Celtic Sea being out of service for the season. THIS time the fun began at flight check-in where I was told my overweight bag (80lbs) would cost me $400...but then it was $200...and then it was $100. Two attendants, one supervisor and a strong arm Irish lad by the last name of Mackey I was able to finagle one bag into two free of charge. Off I went through screening where 99.9% of the time yours truly gets "randomly" selected for world's most ... read more