Malawi 2004 – 2007

Link to “Malawi Collection ”       Link to "Paul's Travels Contents "

Introduction to the Malawi Collection

My stay in Malawi was the result of a volunteer placement with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) based in London but working at that time in more than forty countries.

Malawi, in common with all of the Southern part of Africa was experiencing high rates of HIV infection. Medication was available but in its early stages and before this time AIDS, conditions contracted after the HIV virus had weakened the immune system, was seen as a death sentence. Knowledge levels were generally low, medication not always easy to access, and there was widespread stigma attached to people with HIV. Along with this, generalised abusive and dismissive attitudes to women left many without protection and support. Men often pressured women into unprotected sex, a sizeable number depended on the sex industry for the means of sustaining life, and monogamous women were often blamed for contracting HIV from their husband. Young people were also ill equipped to protect themselves and two attitudes were commonly heard:
“You don’t eat a sweet with its wrapper on” – a comment on the desire not to use condoms by boys.
“Something will kill me anyway, so why bother” – again usually boys.
Added to this was the stance of the Catholic Church and some others that use of condoms was against God’s will. Anyway, Westerners put holes in them to kill Africans. Gay hating was endemic.

It was not unusual for middle class Malawians to choose death rather than admit to being HIV positive and seeking help. It was largely taboo to mention HIV/AIDS at funerals.

My placement was to use sport as a vehicle for reaching young people with HIV/AIDS knowledge, information and messaging. As a result I was placed with CEYCA (the Centre for Youth and Childrens Affairs), a small organisation based close to the main market and bus station in the capital city of Lilongwe, but covering Central Region, especially Tsabango, a rural area of villages outside the city. My role was to support the development of CEYCA but developed beyond that into direct work with young people as the placement developed. CEYCA (Centre for Youth and Children's Affairs) A great deal of time was spent working with the young staff of CEYCA to build skills, understanding and confidence alongside a very skilled and intelligent Director in his 40s and an experienced Youth officer.

If this sounds a slick operation, it was far from it. Nothing progressed in a straight line, some projects started strongly and failed and then spluttered into life again. Some only lasted a short time. A great deal of problem-solving took place. Always, hidden and visible personal, organisational and official politics were part of daily life. In spite of that we all learnt a huge amount and formed great affection for each other.

The main areas of work were:

a) Tsabango Youth Club Building Project.

Doreen Mbandera, the District Youth Officer had managed to raise funds to start building a youth centre in a large rural village some 7kms from Lilongwe, the capital. The building project ran out of money and was unfinished and left to decay. We managed to get funding from the E.U. to complete the building to relatively good standards along with some entertainment and computer equipment. Young people formed the management committee for the building and future management of the Building. They also worked on the building project, digging materials, latrines etc, breaking the old floor and cleaning the finished building.

b) Development of activities linked to the youth group and centre and training young people
to act as peer trainers and educators of other young people. Tsabango Youth were at the heart of CEYCA's work (my host organisation). Much work was done by visits, learning workshops and events to build their understanding, skills, and motivation. We also taught them computer skills and sourced books from Malawi Library Service for their own small library. They were equipped with facilitation skills to run HIV education sessions and sports activities in local villages (supported by funds donated by friends and others from home).

c) Sports and HIV

My brief was to use sport as a tool for HIV awareness raising (the infection rates were very high at this time – a quarter of the education budget was spent on funerals for deceased teachers and families.). I used donated funds to stimulate football leagues in around 8 districts in Central Region and linked playing to HIV awareness and workshops run by young people from Tsabango and the girls group.

d) Developing a girls only group to train, educate and support other girls.

(This included two photography based projects leaning heavily upon the skills of Ingrid Hesling and Julia Kapinsky.)
Lilongwe Girls Group
Nearly 18 months after my arrival a female volunteer was to come to work with girls. To prepare for her arrival we gathered representatives from across Lilongwe youth groups and formed a sports network. When she arrived we held a big girls sports day. Unfortunately, the volunteer did not settle and returned home after just a few months. The only option was for me to continue with CEYCA as their mentor. Although it was not ideal nor desired it was the only practical way forward and I already had a trusting relationship with the group. The group moved away from a sports focus to more of a girl's empowerment focus. We also worked to equip them with facilitation skills and they ran HIV workshops, a village youth voices project in Tsabango (with a female intern), two photography projects and several events. One girl benefitted from a chance get a scholarship in a South African University, another was chosen to represent Malawi at an international youth conference and a few years later I met up with a girl who had become a professional community facilitator dealing with a woman's empowerment NGO.

Malawi was consistently in the bottom five countries in the UN poverty index. Most children did not attend past primary education, with girls often failing to attend and to drop out early. Many girls were subject to sexual abuse and early marriage. There were large numbers of orphans, often cared for in large numbers by ageing grandmothers or living in child headed households.
Urban life was relaxed and friendly with areas of high crime and risk in poorer neighbourhoods and it was inadvisable to walk on the streets after dark (6pm) when workers went home and streets were abandoned to anarchic forces. In villages there was a high level of interdependency and a structure of chiefs at village and district levels. Their word was paramount and tribute was payable for services. They also controlled use of land which was problematic as corruption meant that the rich urbanites bribed chiefs to allocate them land leaving insufficient for the young. Witchcraft was a feature but not often discussed with strangers

Traditional religious beliefs sat alongside strong Christian identity with its most visible aspects in Gulewamkuli dancing, marriage and funeral rituals, traditional healing and defined gender roles. In the village Gulewamkulu dancers were traditionally seen as the true embodiment of ancestor spirits and exposing them could lead to death. By this time much of those beliefs had weakened and dancers had a mixture of traditional and modern costume items. Dancers were rewarded for energetic displays by contributions of small value notes thrown at their feet and children still feared them. They attended village events and funerals.

Children took a strong role in farming and girls in household chores. Small children were cared for by their older brothers and young girls often carried babies on the backs. The parents did not deal in intimate conversation with children as this was seen as weakening discipline. Personal education was the role of mother’s sister (auntie) or father’s brother (uncle). Father , mother, auntie and uncle were used as terms of respect based on age to any member of the village. Women’s clothes were conservative with the main item of clothing, a chitenge, or wrap of cotton or polyester material wrapped around the waist down to the ground. Village women covered hair with a cotton headdress. Urban women often wore tailored two piece skirted suits with more elaborate headdress.
What follows is a collection of letters to friends at home who were interested in my take on the many experiences and adventures in my nearly four years living and working in Malawi.