Finally, a Picture

I actually got one posted. Further attempts have failed. This tree was close to the guest lodge that we stayed in when we first arrived and is a few blocks from where I now work. In the background you can see a fence made out of woven grass that is around someone's yard. Most walls in this area are brick with either broken glass shards cemented on the top, razor wire or electric fences or a combination of them. Not the most friendly view, but very similar to neighbourhoods in Brazil.

Call from Mom

Well, I had a call from my Mom on Saturday which was really nice as we haven’t talked to her since we arrived a month ago. I would like to say a belated happy birthday to her and to wish her well on her pending, possible shift change. It was nice to get an update on family matters in Canada and to get to talk to her and my Dad.
I have tried once again to upload photos but I can’t get it to work. The connections here just can’t seem to handle it. We are going to try Plan B which is to put the pictures on CD and then mail that to a friend who will post them for us. Hopefully that will be viable, and hopefully not too expensive.
That will still take awhile though so I have to ask for patience from all those who have asked to see pictures. Janna went in to her work today and they told her that she needs to leave today for the whole week. That is after she just was away from Wednesday to Friday at midnight last week. There’s nothing wrong with her going and in fact it is great for her to get to see the country, it is just a tad funny to not tell someone with more notice than that. I have found that as well but not to such a dramatic degree. If meetings or work projects go late no one asks you if you can stay or if that is ok. There is no consideration given towards whether you may need to get home for your daughter or other plans etc. That is on top of a long work day. I start at 8 am and finish at 5 pm with no coffee breaks and a one hour lunch. The transportation whether it is bike or minibus takes almost an hour so you have to leave home at 7 am and you return at 6 pm. That is when you are done at 5 pm, twice in the last week and a half my work day has ended after 6 pm so by the time you get home you definitely aren’t a bundle of energy. I feel for my Malawian colleagues though as they often work far later and also work on weekends, all without any overtime pay or consideration of their plans.
We had really nice weather on the weekend even though all we did was hang out at home it was nice. On Saturday we went to a get together for Valentines day at an Englishman named Matt’s house. It was funny to bump into people we had met at the last get together a few weeks ago as the expat community is relatively small.
Janna had a great time in the south of Malawi last week as I’m sure you’ll hear in her blog. It has made us reconsider getting a car again as Janna said that things were so beautiful on the drive and there are not always easy ways to get around and sometimes there aren’t any ways to get to the areas you would like to see. Some of the single volunteers we know seem to get invites in other people’s cars but a family of three doesn’t seem to get that as we have yet to receive an invitation to see anything outside of the city. We are going to look at our finances again to see if we can afford it. The funny thing about cars here is that they don’t depreciate like in Canada. Most volunteers told me that they were able to sell the car for what they bought it for so it is more an issue of accessing the capital to purchase it.
Regan went to a basketball tournament with her school on Friday where one of the big questions from the other schools was if she was the only Caucasion at Mt. Sinai (which she is). It was actually strange to see so many non-Malawian kids from two other schools with their parents cheering them on, one called the African Bible College and one called Bishop MacKenzie International School. Regan seems to be fitting in to her school really well and she has made some friends but she finds their styles outside of school to be quite different from hers. Most of the kids she has met outside of school dress heavily influenced by American Hip-Hop and Regan has said they have no problem commenting negatively on how she dresses. The other day one of her classmates told her that she needs to remove her dark nail polish. This advice wasn’t given as a suggestion but as a necessary action for her to perform. Regan just laughs at all this and remains her own person.

The People

With a population of approximately 12 million, Malawi is one of the more densely peopled countries of this part of Africa. Most of the population is rural (85 per cent), living largely in fascinating traditional villages. The largest town is the conurbation Blantyre-Limbe (the commercial "capital") in the south followed by the capital city of Lilongwe in the central region. Mzuzu is the only large town in the north. Zomba, once the capital, has, until recently, been the seat of the parliament.The Great East African Rift Valley, of which Malawi is a part, has been home to man from the earliest days of Homo sapiens. Many of today’s Malawians are descendants of the Bantu people who moved across Africa and into Malawi for hundreds of years up to the fifteenth century.The nineteenth century history of the country was one of turmoil, inter-tribal skirmishes and the slave trade. The slave routes from Africa’s east coast to the interior crossed Lake Malawi. Thousands never even survived the journey.The great explorer-missionary, David Livingstone, is intimately connected with Malawi’s history and there are many sites and monuments to be seen which remind today’s visitors of this. As Dr Livingstone was helping to put an end to slavery, the country was becoming increasingly under European influence. The British Central Africa Protectorate (later to become Nyasaland) was established in 1889.After World War II the pressure for independence grew, led, from 1958, by Dr Hastings Banda. In 1963 Banda became independent Malawi’s first Prime Minister and, later, Life President. His autocratic rule lasted until 1993 when Malawians voted for a change to a multi-party democracy. A year later, Dr Bakili Muluzi, leader of the United Democratic Front, became the country’s new President and he successfully fought a second democratic election in 1999. His term ended in 2004, when Bingu wa Mutharika was elected President.The people of Malawi are accurately described as the friendliest on the continent. It is they who make this country the Warm Heart of Africa.

A little more geography

I have found an online resource that gives a good overview of Malawi so I will post some of the information for those of you who have wished to know more about Malawi.

Malawi is one of Africa’s smaller countries, a little over 45,000 square miles (117 000 sq km), of which about 20 per cent is occupied by Lake Malawi – Africa’s third biggest lake. Much of the country lies within the great Rift Valley of eastern Africa, with Tanzania to the north, Zambia to the west and Mozambique to the east and south. Malawi’s northern boundary comes within nine degrees of the equator.

The country stretches southwards to 17°S.The Rift Valley floor at the lakeshore is almost at sea level but the bordering plateau rises to between 1600ft (490m) and 5000ft (1500m). The highest peaks in Malawi touch 10,000ft (3000m) while the Lower Shire Valley (pronounced Shiray) in the south is at a meagre 500 ft (150m). These great contrasts help to make the landscape of Malawi one the most varied in all Africa. The scenery, including its cloak of vegetation, presents an ever-changing vista.Such is the great size of Lake Malawi and the narrowness of the Rift Valley, that there is little space for lakeshore plains.

In north Malawi, between Nkhata Bay and Livingstonia, the Ruarwe Scarp marks the very edge of the Rift Valley, plunging over 5000ft (1500m) from the Viphya Highlands straight into the lake. Further south, in central Malawi, there are plains but rarely do these extend more than 15 miles (25 km) from the shoreline. Here and there are floodplains, often farmed but occasionally flooded in the rainy season. Shallow depressions, called dambos, characterise some of the lowlands.

The lake itself is a great inland sea, some 360 miles (580 km) north to south and up to 50 miles (80 km) wide. Much of the time this tideless, freshwater lake gently laps the golden beaches which surround it. But on rare occasions it can show its anger in a fierce storm. Its fish-rich waters are home to the mbuna, colourful tropical fish in greater abundance here than anywhere else in the world.To the south, Lake Malawi drains into the River Shire which flows over 300 miles along the Rift Valley floor.

On its way to join the Zambezi, the Shire tumbles over rapids and falls as well as flowing quietly across broad plains.Away from the Lake and the Shire Lowlands, much of Malawi is part of the Central Africa Plateau. This gently undulating land, where not farmed, has a natural vegetation of deciduous woodland – brachystegia, acacia or combretum.Rising to even greater heights are Malawi’s true mountains: the whaleback plateau of Nyika and the mountainous Viphya in the north, the Dowa Highlands in the centre and, in the south, the two great massifs of Zomba and, highest of all, Mulanje, Central Africa’s grandest peak reaching over 10,000ft, which in colonial times was described as the best view in the British Empire.

More Geography

I have found an online resource that gives a good overview of Malawi so I will post some of the information for those of you who have wished to know more about Malawi.



Malawi is one of Africa’s smaller countries, a little over 45,000 square miles (117 000 sq km), of which about 20 per cent is occupied by Lake Malawi – Africa’s third biggest lake. Much of the country lies within the great Rift Valley of eastern Africa, with Tanzania to the north, Zambia to the west and Mozambique to the east and south. Malawi’s northern boundary comes within nine degrees of the equator.



The country stretches southwards to 17°S.The Rift Valley floor at the lakeshore is almost at sea level but the bordering plateau rises to between 1600ft (490m) and 5000ft (1500m). The highest peaks in Malawi touch 10,000ft (3000m) while the Lower Shire Valley (pronounced Shiray) in the south is at a meagre 500 ft (150m). These great contrasts help to make the landscape of Malawi one the most varied in all Africa. The scenery, including its cloak of vegetation, presents an ever-changing vista.Such is the great size of Lake Malawi and the narrowness of the Rift Valley, that there is little space for lakeshore plains.



In north Malawi, between Nkhata Bay and Livingstonia, the Ruarwe Scarp marks the very edge of the Rift Valley, plunging over 5000ft (1500m) from the Viphya Highlands straight into the lake. Further south, in central Malawi, there are plains but rarely do these extend more than 15 miles (25 km) from the shoreline. Here and there are floodplains, often farmed but occasionally flooded in the rainy season. Shallow depressions, called dambos, characterise some of the lowlands.



The lake itself is a great inland sea, some 360 miles (580 km) north to south and up to 50 miles (80 km) wide. Much of the time this tideless, freshwater lake gently laps the golden beaches which surround it. But on rare occasions it can show its anger in a fierce storm. Its fish-rich waters are home to the mbuna, colourful tropical fish in greater abundance here than anywhere else in the world.To the south, Lake Malawi drains into the River Shire which flows over 300 miles along the Rift Valley floor.



On its way to join the Zambezi, the Shire tumbles over rapids and falls as well as flowing quietly across broad plains.Away from the Lake and the Shire Lowlands, much of Malawi is part of the Central Africa Plateau. This gently undulating land, where not farmed, has a natural vegetation of deciduous woodland – brachystegia, acacia or combretum.Rising to even greater heights are Malawi’s true mountains: the whaleback plateau of Nyika and the mountainous Viphya in the north, the Dowa Highlands in the centre and, in the south, the two great massifs of Zomba and, highest of all, Mulanje, Central Africa’s grandest peak reaching over 10,000ft, which in colonial times was described as the best view in the British Empire.

Not your regular Canadian news story

Here is an example of how news here can have a different focus. The following news story is from the region we are living in, but not anywhere near where we live, (don’t worry Grandparents) rather it is in the municipal boundaries but in an area that if you saw it you would classify as rural. Parental Guidance warning, this is not a pleasant story.
Hyena preys on four-year-old boy
By Amos Gumulira
A marauding hyena killed and devoured a four-year-old boy at Chiwamba Village in T/A Chimutu’s area in Lilongwe last week after it snatched him from his mother.
Kanengo Police confirmed the death of the boy in a press statement on Monday, saying the deceased, Joseph Chonga, and his mother Matrida Khoviwa, had gone out of their house to urinate around 11 pm when the marauding hyena came, caught the boy and ran away with him.
Kanengo Police public relations officer Beatrice Mwachande said in the statement when the community mounted a search for the boy the following day they only found his jaw bone some 10 kilometres away. The rest of his body had been eaten up.
Mwachande said Kanengo Police in conjunction with Parks and Wildlife Department officials have since mounted an intensive hunt for the hyena.
Stories of hyenas attacking, killing and preying on people are common these days.
Senior assistant parks and wildlife officer responsible for environmental education and extension in Central Region Dixie Makwale said incidents of hyenas killing and preying on people happen because people have destroyed the environment resulting in the creation of an imbalance in nature.
He said because of the growing human population pressure on the natural forests as people’s demand for cultivating land grows, animal habitats are destroyed.
Makwale said because hyenas find alternative habitats within the area in the form of caves or road curverts [spelling theirs], they still hang on in the same deforested areas.
“Now the problem comes when the hyenas want to eat. They find that the easiest prey are humans.
“Believe me, human beings are very easy prey.” Said Makwale.
The wildlife officer said stories of hyenas killing people in the Central Region are common in Dowa, Dedza, Ntcheu and Chiwamba in Lilongwe because people in these districts have destroyed the natural habitats by destroying the environment.

The Nation February 15, 2008 Page 2

An interesting note with regard to the spelling error with the word culvert. For reasons that stem from their native language Chichewa the people here often mix up the letters R and L and in fact use them interchangeably. So Regan is often called Legan at school. When someone is advertising the security of their house they often write that their wall has lazor wire rather than razor wire. It makes for some interesting and amusing signs.

Food and Weather

Brian Yasvinski commented that I haven't mentioned the food or weather so I will rectify that here.

As far as food goes I would have to say that the warnings I was given turned out to be true. The food in Malawi, and from what I hear much of sub-Saharan Africa is nothing to write home about. Traditional meals are heavy on the carbs and light on meat and vegetables. The climate is conducive to growing all the vegetables that you would want but somehow in the cultural history the eating of vegetables either was lost or didn't occur. When we went camping at the lake we cooked some green beans alongside some noodles and the Malawian with us laughed at us and said "You crazy mzungus and your vegetables" while he carfully removed them from any contact with the noodles and then refused to eat them. The choice of fruit is great and we have been enjoying all the cheap mangoes and bananas, but things here work on seasons so you can't get anything you want at any time. You buy what is in season when it is in season. The staple dish here is nsima which is similar to porridge made from corn and huge slabs of it are eaten at a time. It is almost completely flavourless therefore it needs to either be dipped in the sauce your side dish may be soaked in or it needs a relish. One of the problems with starvation in this country is that 85% of the farming is devoted to corn (which they call maize) for feeding the country. Corn is relatively sensitive to precipitation so in years where there is too much or too little rain the yield plummets and there is large scale starvation. The message about diversifying their crops is one of the goal of most foreign groups working here in agriculture. That said, they have groceery stores here that have the same kind of products you would find at home as well as traditional markets so you can eat similar to how you would at home. The traditional markets have great prices so we usually go there as the imported stuff at the grocery store can be pricey for our budget.
Temperture wise it is usually in the high 20's to low 30's each day down to the low 20's to high teen's at night. It is the rainy season so it rains almost every day but usually just for short periods of time.

Rubbing Elbows

Last week was a very interesting and busy week. My coworkers had to work even harder than I did (due to the fact that I am more of an advisor than an employee) and worked till midnight on Wednesday after having to work last Saturday until 8 p.m. as well. This was all in preparation for the Farmer's Union of Malawi (FUM) www.farmersunion.mw annual general meeting (AGM). This was their fourth AGM since inception and was an extremely big one for them as the state President, "His Excellency, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika" was the guest of honour, officially opening the AGM as well as receiving an honourary membership in FUM. The president here is also a farmer, as well as the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security. It was quite a coup for FUM to get him to come and will really help put their name and their issues forward. The visit was a little different than what you might be used to as the pomp and circumstance is wonderfully Malawian. Women dressed in traditional clothing except that the fabric is printed with the face of the President lined the road as his motorcade arrived singing acapella Malawian songs in harmony. Later they were accompanied by African drumming while the women sang in response to parts of the President’s speech that they wanted to support. When the President stated something that the members of FUM really liked they all stood up and broke into a song they had composed the night before about the President’s agricultural policies. I have to admit that I would never have thought of using song as a lobbying and advocacy tool to communicate your viewpoint on government policy. All or most of the singing seemed to be done by women with the men swaying and clapping their hands. It was fascinating.
Also on Friday I met the Irish ambassador who was extremely friendly and very interested in what I am doing and what FUM is about. On Thursday night I met the husband of the Canadian High Commissioner to Malawi and he is interested in working with FUM to promote fair trade coffee. As well we broke off into talk about all things Irish and he will keep me in mind for an Irish appreciation society that is in the works in Lilongwe which will of course include Irish whiskey. (I know what some of you are thinking!)
The AGM was a success and it was great to meet so many of the farmer members of our organization and I am really looking forward to working with them in the next year. As well, it is not often that in a two day span I make contacts with the Canadian High Commission (with an invitation to lunch), the Irish ambassador and be involved in organizing a visit to our meeting from the Head of State in Malawi.

A Bit of Geography

Malawi is dominated by the lake of the same name which is the 11th largest freshwater lake in the world and the third largest freshwater lake in Africa. The lake occupies the floor of the rift valley made famous by its discoveries of early hominids such as “Lucy” in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania which is the country on the northern border of Malawi. Since the lake fills the rift valley which is the result of plate tectonics pulling Africa apart (we’re talking geologic time here) it is extremely deep for those used to the Great Lakes in Canada. The surface is 474 m above sea level but some parts of the lake floor are below sea level. The water exceeds depths of 700 m in some parts making it far deeper than the deepest Great Lake (Lake Superior) at 370m.
When we went to the lake a week and a half ago it was beautiful but at the point we were at (Senga Bay) it was not as wide as it is in other spots as we could see the mountains that are in Mozambique on the other side. Cole, one of the WUSC student placements , came with us and after a flippant comment about swimming across has stated that is his new goal during his time in Malawi (insert skepticism at this point – Sorry Cole).
Malawi depending on how you slice the continent can be described as being in central Africa, eastern Africa or southern Africa but it is normally slotted in as part of southern Africa. As well it definitely looks southward as a country as South Africa is the most developed country in the region. It has a rainy (right now) season and a dry season with the hottest temperatures occurring around September or October. As far as heat it is summer right now and the temperatures are comfortable hovering in the high twenties sometimes reaching the low thirties. Winter can have temperatures as low as 7 degrees Celsius at night so the climate has a far more sub-tropical feel like Florida than the tropical temperatures I experienced in South America.
The landscape is surprisingly varied considering the fact that the country is about half the size of Great Britain and the highest point in Central Africa is in the country. Next week Janna will be traveling to the southern part of the country which can be much warmer than Lilongwe. The river that flows out of Lake Malawi is the dominant feature in the south, are region called the Shire. There aren’t any hobbits Paul but there were reports up until the 19th century of sightings of a people known to archaeologists that weren’t the current Bantu tribes or the former San (Bushmen) tribes but rather what seems to be a mix of those two with additional Caucasian traits. Currently the south is experiencing severe flooding due to the high level of rain and 100 000 people have lost their homes. The sad thing is that this occurs every few years but structures aren’t in place to prevent the same disaster reoccurring year after year. I’m sure Janna will blog about her visit to this area.
Well, that is all I have time for now. Before I go I just wanted to thank Jody Young (and Duncan Martin) for her support for my year in Malawi and for taking me out with the MOL team for lunch where everyone was so positive and supportive about our Arntz-Gray’s in Africa adventure.