Water Issues in Malawi

I wrote a post post for the SEED Workshop Blog. SEED stands for Sustainable Environmental Education for Development. SEED is a unique opportunity for young motivated Malawians from all over the country to attend a week long environmental education workshop in Liwonde National Park. To learn more about the SEED Workshop and the Environmental issues Malawians face head over to their blog. 

“When I was young there was enough water, but now the rain is not falling as it was in past years.” My friend and active community member Jameson is speaking about the water issues in our area. In this area of Northern Malawi the rains last year started late and ended early. The image below illustrates how the rain patterns have been changing; there isn't only just less rain falling every year. 

Jameson lives partway up a mountain, where boreholes cannot be drilled due to the bedrock or the extreme depth to water. Just a few months ago, the Red Cross was trying to place a borehole in Jameson's village. They drilled to 51m in several places before they decided that one could not be placed that far up the mountain side. He and his family have to walk about 1 km to draw water from a shallow well, which is often broken. When the well is broken they have to collect what little water seeps out of a spring adjacent to the well which is often cloudy and full of debris.

In past years there also used to be a perennial steam that flowed down the mountain and joined the river 1 km (0.6 miles) away. In the past Jameson's family used to farm along this stream growing vegetables long into the dry season. Today, this stream is just a trickle during dry season and in the past 20 years has carved a 2 m (6 ft) ravine that doesn't support any farming. Jameson knows that these changes have occurred due to the increased population in the area causing the forest and mountain side to be over-harvested and burned from year to year.

When Jameson was a boy this stream flowed all year providing a source of water closer to his home for agricultural purposes. 20 years later the heavy rains have eroded away 2 meters worth of soil from the stream bed.

Jameson, and many others from his village now have to travel 1 km to the main river to grow food during the dry season, but both this year and last that river is going dry in places. The crops are still growing since the water table is so high but there may become a time when even those will fail.

Jameson and his family. He is a small-scale farmer dependant on the rain to grow enough food for his family for a year.  With the changes in the area, he must travel about 1 kilometer to the flood plain in order to grow food in the dry season.

Jameson and his community have been active in trying to counteract these changes by encouraging people not to burn the forest undergrowth and by starting tree nurseries. In an effort to mitigate these changes even more Jameson was open to creating a permagarden at his house. A permagarden is a small heavily amended garden that stores water in the soil lessening the need of bringing in water specifically for the garden. Waste water from bathing, washing clothes, and washing dishes should provide enough water through the dry season.

At the SEED Workshop participants learn how to manage water in a sustainable way in order to grow more food year round closer to the home.

Role Model: Gender Equality (Part 4)

This is part 4 of a 4 part series (16 Days to end Gender Based Violence Against Women) 
Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

In August I was able to send Kattie and Tupo to camp GLOW where they were trained in how to start their own girls group in their village. They came back energized and with a training manual of their own. Similar to the topics we had covered in previous girls groups they had 10 new lessons to share with girls. Exactly what they were looking for!

Girls Group 

I watched one of their first lessons. Let me tell you...nothing made me prouder than watching these young women lead their peers. They were confident in the material and both had found their own facilitation style. It would have been so easy for them to follow my example and try to imitate the way I lead sessions but they were confident enough in themselves to lead in a way that fit their own personalities!

Tupo was asking plenty of probing and open ended questions and Kattie went around to each small group to make sure they understood assignments.

They rocked it!! and the best part was...it was like I wasn't even there!

It is so important for girls in Malawi to have role models. It's one thing for a person from the United States to come in and say:

“YOU CAN CHANGE GENDER!”

“YOU CAN CHANGE CULTURE!”

“YOU ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS A BOY!!!”

Kattie Leading

It's something entirely different for them to see this role model in themselves! We can only change something if we identify it as something that needs changing.

When I start these conversations about changing violence against women it is not met with “Yeah! Violence against women is wrong!” It's met with “Violence against women is the way things are and our culture says it's how we learn and how we improve our lives”.

When a Malawian, with the same cultural understanding as her peers, starts the conversation about changing violence against women it is met with “I would love that, but how?”

And she can respond with 

“Well, let me tell you how I started.”

Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Leadership: Gender Equality (Part 3)

This is part 3 of a 4 part series (16 Days to end Gender Based Violence Against Women) 

Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4

These two ladies continually surprise me.

Tupo and Kattie 

When I first met Tupokiwe (Toopokeeway) she was seemingly shy and had very conservative views of a woman's role in Malawi. She had a habit of rolling her eyes when I would say something like “if a girl wants, she should be allowed to wear trousers without being seen as a prostitute”. Now she's teaching girls the very same lesson! She is able to look at her traditions and customs with a critical lens and determine for herself what pieces she finds important to keep and what pieces should change.

On the other hand when I met Kattie she was outspoken and seemed hopeful that a world of equal rights for women was just around the corner. She's from a city and already knew that wearing trousers didn't make you a loose woman, it just meant you didn't want to wear skirts all the time. From the beginning I could look to her when I wanted a varied opinion from the girls. I would ask “Is it okay to hit a woman”. Most girls would answer “yes” and have very few exceptions. Kattie would say “Well, our culture says it's okay but I want that to change”. Like all the girls I've worked with she has also had a shift in perspective, hers was less drastic than others. At the end of the first girls group her take away was “I really can do what boys can do but more girls really need to know that as well. We're all told what we cannot do, not what we CAN DO.”

Both of these girls are intelligent, passionate leaders. They have different strengths and personalities and they have learned to work together even in the midst of their differences.

I started working with both of them about a year ago and after their interest and dedication to the program I asked them, and a few other graduates, to join me as mentors to co-facilitate lessons for future groups. They rose to the challenge and took their role so seriously. We had workshops for facilitation skills and leadership and during sessions with me they would practice these skills and help me with translations as difficult topics arose.

Based on their commitment I sent them to Camp GLOW to learn more about teaching topics of gender equality to their peers.

In the next post I'll fill you in on their progress and work.
Spoiler: They've rocked it!!  

Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4

Independence: Gender Equality (Part 2)

This is part 2 of a 4 part series (16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign)

Read part 1 here, Part 3 and Part 4

Malumbo Kalua Age 21 Form 4 

Here is Malumbo. She is a talented seamstress who has taken it on herself to train girls at school to make their own reusable menstrual pads. She is also teaching it with an income generating component so if they want to make and sell pads on their own they know where to start. Oh, and one more thing. She is writing me a business proposal so that on the school holidays she can have her own business. For about $5-10 she can have the start-up money she needs to get her own reusable pad business going!

Breaking the chains of financial dependency is a huge step to being independent. In Malawi it can be difficult for anyone to find a successful path that allows an individual to rely on themselves or employment for self sufficiency. For women it can be even more challenging. I have heard too many stories from women who feel they have no other option than to take money from another person, most times a well-to-do man or uncle. As you can imagine, this puts them in a vulnerable position. When it comes time for “repayment” many women feel they owe their benefactor some service. A service that can seem as innocent as cooking and cleaning to something as demeaning as sexual favors.

Teaching Form 1 girls how to make reusable menstrual pads. 

It can be so easy for a girl child who wants to pay for school fees to be taken advantage of.

I love that Malumbo wants to teach this skill to other girls. She doesn't see it as competition. She sees it as a way to empower more girls and to give everyone a better chance at life and to feel like a person.

She is one of my Sheroes. She will be a huge agent of change for this country!

Read part 1 here, Part 3 and Part 4