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.