Malawi 2004 - 2007

Chapter 6 "Short Dramas"

Sam, my first born, came to visit and said to me that I look too much at the negative things that are happening in Malawi. It is a beautiful country with friendly people and a relaxed atmosphere. When I sat to write the short notes I reflected on the adage that bad news makes good reading. Since I last wrote I am amazed at how many 'bad news' stories have been in the news and happened around me. Sorry Sam.

1.  But First The Good News

About eight months ago I attended a meeting of chiefs in Chimutu to support some young men who were trying to develop a small community group to help orphan families. They wanted chiefs to provide land in each local village for growing food for orphan families (chiefs control traditional lands). I was enchanted by the dignified and thoughtful contributions from these poor and largely non-schooled men. They said that they would support the organisation's aims. At the end one chief approached. He said in Chichewa that the real problem for the area was lack of water - there was no bore hole for the village.

I talked to the Micro Projects Programme.

" Village Bids have to received by next Friday. It must be endorsed by the Village Development Committee "

" That is a very tight deadline."

" You are supposed to be community animator - get them organised."

What that meant was getting an application form to the leader of the orphan group - talking him through the process and costs, encouraging him with the benefits of being the organisation to bring water to the village and telling him to get the form to the MP office by Friday. I heard no more.

When Sam and Adele came to visit, Adele came to the village and tried carrying water the 500 metres or so from the nearest water source in a bucket on her head. I quizzed the young man with us, who was also part of the orphan care project. He told us that the bid had never been processed. We moaned that they wasted a great opportunity.

Today, I drove past White and picked him up.

" It is good news. Micro projects is coming to assess us for a bore hole."

•  Where to file 'rodent'.

I have two small desks in my office. Each has a set of drawers. When I opened the top drawer of one I noticed some chewed paper. I carefully opened the next drawer - nothing unusual. The bottom drawer at first looked empty too until I noticed a curled black tail. As I gingerly opened the drawer further there was a medium sized rat trying to hide itself in the corner.

The rat had constructed itself a perfect little rodent adventure playground. As I opened the drawer further it ran up to the next drawer. As that opened it went to the top.

I told the boys in the next office that I had a rat. They became very excited. A posse was formed and I left them to hunt down the rat. I stood by the front door talking. Suddenly the rat emerged from the office with 3 young men in noisy pursuit. It headed straight for me. With great presence of mind I launched myself into a Masai-style leap and the rat ran under me only to be cornered and killed in the maize field.

The boys were not impressed by my personal best high jump or by my claim that I was trying to squash the beast by jumping onto it. My protest that I might have been killed drew only scornful laughter.

2. Hyenas Eat Woman and Child and ..

Last weekend was a bad one for T.A. Tsabango even by African standards. Firstly on Saturday two young men from Khundi decided in their drunken state to ford a turbulent river. Their funerals were on Thursday.

A few weeks ago I was approached by a small woman in tattered clothes outside the agricultural hall. She had an unkempt child of about two years in a threadbare chitenge on her back. She laughed without humour displaying her broken brown teeth, as she gabbled a demand for money. The child looked listlessly at the scene in front of him. She took the hundred kwatcha note offered and put it on the child's head as she walked away. A young man picked it up from the road and pressed it into her hand.

On Sunday this same woman, feeling pangs of hunger went to her brother's garden after dark to take some food. The next morning her remains were found under a nearby bush. Her body was badly disfigured and the child was not found. People said she had been attacked by hyenas, probably a pack. Now people are worried about travelling in the area around Ng'oma after dark. Two troubled lives were completed in the most distressing way.

Post script - This story was overshadowed by the killing of nine people in Dedza District by hyenas. The official story was that it was a rabid hyena that attacked people in a village over two nights, even breaking into their houses. Local people knew better, however. A dying man had recently told a child that after his death the child should kill the first animal it saw under a particular bush. Following the man's death the child found a small dog under the bush, but he was scared and failed to dispatch the snarling mutt. The malevolent spirit was released to turn into a beast preying on people. All of the dead were from one family.

3. Castrated Boy Becomes Circus Exhibit.

Malawi, like any country, has a problem with the abuse of children, especially girls. There are regular radio horror stories about the rape of girls and women in many African countries, from babies under the age of one year to elderly women. But one recent incident became a public symbol of the perceived decay of morality in Malawi.

A boy of eight years from a village near Lilongwe was sent by his parents to fetch his two brothers from the football pitch. He did not find them and set off to return home. On his way he was struck and knocked to the ground by an unidentified assailant. Probably thinking he was dead the assailant took a knife and cut off his penis and testicles.

No-one knows who perpetrated this terrible deed, but public sentiment linked it to witchcraft and immigrants from outside Malawi (In Nigeria politicians are known to use body parts in witchcraft ceremonies to ensure success) .

The boy was taken to Central Hospital where slowly his physical wounds began to heal. However, this boy from a poor family, who had never worn shoes and did not even possess a blanket, suddenly became the object of pilgrimage for anyone wishing to display their human rights credentials. Worst of all was a flying visit from the Minister of Gender and Child Welfare with an entourage of around twenty people including T.V. crew and news reporters. This was followed the next day by named pictures of the boy and his dumbfounded father in all media sources.

I protested to my Human Rights boss that this was an unacceptable way to treat a child victim.

" I expect they thought that this was a good way to raise money for the boy," was his response.

Later it was reported that doctors had taken a decision that they would rebuild the boys genitalia, but this would involve turning him into a girl including hormone treatment to create breasts as he reached puberty. When I challenged this idea with the Director he thought the reason for this was cost. To rebuild male genitalia would cost some mk 20 million. A female remould would cost a quarter of the price. This must be challenged. Surely, I argued, this is the sort of case for which rich western nations would offer treatment. He wanted the Government to accept its responsibility and agreed to call a meeting of civil society leaders.

A month later his plight has disappeared from the news and general conversation. Civil society has held marches to highlight child abuse.

4. Dispossessed Women.

For all of the welfare provided by the family structure, inheritance provides an opportunity for robbery with menace.

William's father died some two years ago and after the funeral the father's brother moved in to claim ownership of the family land and all of the father's possessions. To avoid further complication he threatened that if the mother stayed in the village he would kill her through witchcraft. She was forced to flee to her home village leaving her grown children sharing a small house in Kangoma. She now lives 25 kms from her family, who see her rarely.

The Government is trying to address land ownership through changes to the law, but the Lands Ministry lacks the funds and probably the will to create a system that can effectively protect the vulnerable people - women and children - in this situation.

5. VSO staff try to kill Zambian Nurse

Jill, the VSO Director likes to walk. She phoned. "Do you want to come out for walk on Dedza Mountain?". Aggie, a Zambian nurse, over to train as an ophthalmic nurse came too. By the time we got half way up the relatively small mountain Aggie was looking a bit tired. "want to sit for a while?" "yes" she said as her eyes rolled and we only just stopped her rolling off down the mountain. The Director started to visualise the headline 'VSO Director leads Zambian Nurse to her death. It took her more than 30 minutes for her to recover from her altitude sickness, but we treated her to a picnic at the bottom with real cheese.

6. A Tragedy That Couldn't Happen In England

You will be used to me writing about the carnage on Malawian roads. This week Katie a twenty-one year-old young volunteer took a phone call and burst into tears. She works at the World Food Programme and a colleague had called with the terrible news that a workmate had been killed in a car crash. What was even more distressing was the manner of her death.

She had been travelling in a car with three relatives en-route for a family gathering. Up ahead a potato truck with people in the back started to overtake only to find a problem that caused it to stop on the wrong side of the road. The car braked, the fully-laden tobacco lorry behind braked. The brakes were not working well and it ploughed into the back of the car forcing it into the potato truck.

A fire engine raced to the scene as the tobacco crop caught fire. One man was dragged from the car, but three others were trapped by the twisted metal. For some time the fire fighters kept the fire at bay. People tried to free the pleading passengers. At last the pressure in the hose dropped and the helpless fire fighters ran out of water. They had to leave in search of water that never came in time.

The fire took hold again and the heat was so severe that no-one knows how many died. No cutting equipment, no foam, and too little water. Lives lost needlessly and in terrible circumstances.

Today it was reported that eight children beween 3 -8 years had died when a car ploughed into a group returning from a vaccination session. They were all children of two wives of a muslim husband. The wives are also badly injured and another child is in a coma. The driver claims he hit a pothole as he drove through a village and has paid for the coffins.

7. Jack Visits Malawi.

Jack McConnell, the Leader of the Scottish Parliament, decided that Malawi would become his Parliaments special contact in Africa. He is mainly interested in Health and made a presentation to the G8.

8. A Curse Upon Good Fortune

A Peace Corps worker had lived in Kangoma for two years. She decided to help two young men by paying for them to go to the United States to continue their education. Solomon and Griffin started to plan and were due to leave at the end of July.

Solomon's curse:

He looked at the U.S. Visa requirements on the web. Six credits at MSC level were required. He had six good passes. He was almost packing his bags, when the U.S. Embassy told him that his Chichewa and Religious Studies passes could not be counted. He will now try to retake his MSC subjects in the hope that he can go in the future.

Griffin's Curse:

Griffin's visa looks fine. Three weeks before departure Griffin got onto his bicycle to ride from Lilongwe to Kangoma. Just as dusk was falling he came within a kilometre of the village. A group of men ran from the bush and pulled him from his bike. He was stabbed on the right side of his chest. Somehow he broke free, left his bicycle and ran. In his panic he had no idea that he had been stabbed. He ran, throwing off his flip-flops so that he could outpace his attackers. As he ran he saw a Police vehicle coming towards him. He stood in the road flagging it down. It drove round him and sped on. At last he collapsed and lay for two hours at the side of the road still loosing blood, before a passing traveller found him and ran to the chief's house. Some were too scared to venture out, but the Chief and another man armed themselves with sticks and panga knives and walked to the village.

His one piece of good fortune was the fact that our young German Intern was staying in Kangoma. She had my cell phone for security. The Chief knew that azungos had links to help. She contacted help.

Four hours after the attack, still bleeding, clothes soaked in blood he was in a car rushing to.. the hospital? NO rushing to the Police. In order to receive free treatment the Police must sign an official form. By now Griffin was in medical shock from the loss of blood. He was still in a shirt and trousers dyed red with blood and shivering uncontrollably. The Police showed little concern and aggressively questioned him, suspecting him of being an offender. They took little notice of azungo requests for speed. They took their time with a young man unable to collect his thoughts, blaming him for riding a bicycle at that time of day.

Luckily, he reached the hospital in time to save his life. Maybe he can still reach his goal of going to the U.S.

We wondered why robbers would chase him to stab and maybe try to kill him when they already had his bicycle. They hid on a stretch of road with no houses, so they must have been waiting to rob. Were they worried he would bring help? Were they just violent men who set out to maim? Did he fight them? Or did they know him, resenting his good fortune? It is unlikely that the Police will do much to investigate. We will probably never know.

Griffin is now healing, but is still very traumatised by his experience. He finds it difficult to walk outside after dark and hangs onto his blood-stained shirt even though he does not want to ever wear it again. He also heard at the hospital that a secondary school student had also been slashed with a panga knife in a bicycle robbery on the same road and that a man had been killed when robbers broke into his house, raping his wife and attacking him with a panga.

It is worth repeating that these incidents are still minority events but are worrying to communities and shocking in their callousness.

9. The Value Of Religion

On World Service an expert explained that for the first 900 years of its existence the epicentre of Christianity was Asia Minor. By 2000 the epicentre was Mali. In the next two decades it will be Nigeria, which has 20% of the African population.

As I have explained before people in Malawi shop around for the best spiritual deal. Just recently on Malawian Radio some people were complaining that their wish to change from Islam to Christianity brought down great family pressure ending in excommunication from the family. Another woman, however, had a positive story to tell. She had converted from Islam to Christianity with great success.

" When I prayed to God in a Muslim way I was very poor. Nothing went well. Now I pray in a Christian way and I got a job and a nice house."

Some of the Pentecostal churches of Nigeria build the appeal to God for wealth and prosperity into their hymns. The poor and the upwardly mobile are their main customers.

10. Naming The Child

When researchers go to largely non-literate areas and wish to get historical information they have to ask people to remember events.

" When did you have your first child?"

Puzzled look.

" Can you remember what was happening at the time"

" Ah it was the year the maize crop failed and my father died."

So it is sometimes with naming children. At our office we have a young man named Mavutu. In Chechewa it means 'Problem'. Probably it is a representation of how things were for the family when he was born. Others have more positive names - Mphatso - Gift, Chimwemwe - Joy. I checked with Mavutu whether he liked being called 'problem' with all of the tired jokes that accompany it.

" No" he said "I would like to be called Eric. I feel that I am now an adult."

" Well we will ask everyone to call you Eric."

At first it was seen a strange and amusing request, but gradually Mavutu has become known as Eric. Most people seem to use a Christian name but have a Chewa name also.

11. The Tragedy of Beauty.

Following the embarrassment of beauty contest organisers in Blantyre, where lack of entrants caused them to scour the streets and bars for contestants just 30 minutes prior to the event, there came the Miss Malawi contest.

This was a much more popular event held in a fancy hotel with fancy prices charged for tickets. The event seemed to be a standard beauty contest followed next day by the usual smiling pictures of the winner in the press. However, it soon emerged that triumph was quickly consumed by disaster.

As Miss Malawi was parading her charms in front of an adoring audience, her mother, blissfully unaware, was out at her local market shopping for tea. As she made her way home an excited shopkeeper called her to see his television. There in front of her disbelieving eyes was her daughter. Not simply her daughter, but her near naked daughter, there for the whole nation to see. It was all too much to bear for both of them. Miss Malawi's mother collapsed in despair and, although rushed to hospital, died of embarrassment.

12. Hunger

Four and a half Million of Malawi's twelve million people are said to be facing hunger after a very poor harvest this year. This is even worse than the number of people in Niger. The whole situation is a nonsense in a country which is 20% water, for lack of rain is the cause. The World Food programme operates in Malawi and targets help to those areas suffering worst deprivation. As with all attempts at aid responses to social problems there tends to be propagation of hybrids that meet need whilst distorting development mechanisms. For example the apparently good idea of targeting schools in certain areas as maize distribution centres to encourage parents to send children to school rather than work led to a shift of pupils from non-maize schools to those with food status. Other countries have complained that food for work schemes disrupt local markets. Tanzanians have found a way to develop their own response to generation of profits. They come into northern Malawi at harvest time to buy maize at the bottom of the market. When shortages occur they return to sell it back at high prices.

The great fertiliser blame game also exemplifies the problems. The President wanted starter packs of fertiliser and seeds for farmers. This policy failed to deliver. The opposition blame the Government and the Minister of Agriculture, the Government blame speculators for causing shortages of fertiliser, which stopped Government purchases and drove up the price of fertiliser.

Meanwhile there is already an increase of hospital treatment of malnourished children in the highly populated and rain-starved south. The World Food Programme has estimated it will only be able to meet 55% of need in the south and the Government has banned exports of maize. Meanwhile the bottom has fallen out of the tobacco market and sales have been suspended. Tobacco is 70% of Malawi's exports.

On World Service yesterday The U.N. re-launched an appeal for funds for the impending hunger. Thus far the appeal has raised .... nothing, not one penny from countries around the world. Hospitals in the south are reporting more crocodile injuries as people get more desperate and enter rivers to look for food. This is likely to be the story across Southern Africa in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Note - As I write the Nation newspaper reports that 29 children have already died in the Ntenje District Hospital of hunger related illnesses. Maize that is available in the markets from Mozambique is selling at twice the national price. DFID has pledged something like $89 million and the President has started a self-help fundraising fund in Malawi.

13. Mr Nice - Or Not?

Mr Nice is the highest grossing singer in East Africa. His promoter, a sophisticated and engaging Tanzanian accountant from Dar decided it was time to visit the adoring Malawian fans. Three concerts were arranged and Sam, Adele, Bettina (German intern) and me went to see him.

Mr Nice was a sham. Although he sang his backing was a D.J playing a CD. It was expensive karaoke.

After the concert Bettina complained to a roady making eyes at her.

" You wouldn't say that to his face." He said.

Spunky girl that she is, she did and came back excitedly flourishing Mr Nice's telephone number and an invitation to call. This set off a day of teasing and the soubriquet - Mrs Nice.

Next day, on the way back from a night out, we decided to call into the bar at the Lilongwe Hotel, where Mr Nice was staying. This bar is the only bar in Lilongwe where women out number men. It is a trading centre. Immediately women started walking past Sam swinging their hips outrageously drawing disgusted comments from more conservative colleagues. Then we saw him.

" There's Mr Nice"

Sure enough Mr Nice was leaning over the bar with his black-shorts and vest ensemble displaying a 'builder's bum'. We egged Bettina on and she went over to say hello.

Mr Nice was so inebriated he had trouble focussing let alone remembering who she was.

14. It must be Christmas

It was the week before Christmas. I drove into town and turned right down a narrow road. 'Oh blast' I was in the wrong road. I checked, no traffic coming, then executed a perfect 3 point turn and started back towards the main road. Looming at me was a man in uniform in the middle of the road, waving his arms. I stopped and wound down the window.

"you turned your vehicle around."

"Yes I checked that the road was clear."

"You are not allowed to do that."

"There is no law against it"

"I will take you to the magistrate's court", he pointed to a building in the distance.

"O.K. lets go and sort it out."

He looked at me disdainfully and waived his arm wearily. Christmas would not be as bounteous this year.

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