The Canadians are Coming!

For the last couple of weeks, we have had visitors from Canada at MUSCCO. CCA, the Canadian Cooperatives Association, runs a Credit Union Coaching program, where people who work at Credit Unions in Canada have the chance to come to Malawi for 2 weeks to work at the SACCOs and share skills and expertise. At the beginning of last week, there were 6 new Canadians in the office, and since then they have been dispatched around the country to work at a couple of different SACCOs and will all be returning tomorrow for a debriefing, before heading home. It was really great having fellow Canadians here and I really loved and answering all the questions they had and showing them around. After 7 months, I’m the Malawian expert! I was trying to explain about the cell phones and buying airtime – both for international and local calls, and how the mini buses work among other things. These things are second nature to me now – they just make sense, even though it might not appear that way to a new arrival. It made me realise how much I’ve learned about Malawi without even trying, and how much I’ve adapted to things here, which gave me a nice warm fuzzy feeling.

Monique, from CCA, came along with the coaches too. She was the person who interviewed me for this job, and was there at the pre-departure training in Ottawa. She’s the one that I’m in contact with most at CCA, and has been an incredible course of support this whole time. I was really excited to see her and had a great time just chatting everything through over lunches and meetings. In one of our meetings, we talked about what I felt were the successes and challenges I’ve had here, and what I am proud that I have accomplished. Work related things aside, what I am most proud of here is that I was able to come to a place where I knew no one, and where I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and carve out a niche for myself. I’ve said it before in previous posts, but I’ve found my place – with work, with friends, and in the city. It’s a great feeling to know that I can do these things. Even though every time I go somewhere on my own - South Africa, Australia, Ireland and Malawi – and I curse myself on the first lonely night for putting myself in these situations, I always seem to come out okay – A little stronger, a little wiser and a little more sure of who I am.

That being said, as much as I love being away from home, I also love being home. I was quite excited when Monique mentioned some job postings coming up at CCA in Ottawa. So, we’ll see where I end up in the next few months… 10 months is kind of a long time to be away, without a visit home, or a visitor from home. I’m thinking that Canada will be my next destination. Although for how long always remains the question… 

In terms of work, things are picking up at MUSCCO after a slow period of about 5 months… haha. We have some workshops planned in the next couple of weeks, so I’ll be out of the office helping to organize things. We are going to be spending a week in Blantyre, and then another week at a conference centre about an hour north of Lilongwe. So, with Gender and HIV/AIDS policies out of the way, I’m currently swimming in workshop budgets, stationary orders and confirmation phone calls.

This is what Gender Equality looks like:

I came across this on the Oxfam website the other day, and I think it sums everything up quite nicely. Working towards gender equality does not mean promoting women at the expense of men, rather it is working together to give both women and men an equal voice in their own development.

This is what Gender Equality looks like:
- Women and men sharing power and wealth equally.
- Education, health care and decent livelihoods for all.
- Women making decisions jointly with men.
- Women controlling their own bodies.
- Women as active citizens and leaders.
- Men and boys saying “No” to restrictive gender roles and gender-based violence.
- Relationships based on respect and inclusion.
- Women and girls living free from violence.
- A green world for the well-being of women and men, girls and boys.

Check out the Oxfam website for more great info.

In other news, I had a nice quiet weekend in Lilongwe which involved a Braai, playing tourist, and spending many hours with friends, a coffee and a book at the new Sanctuary Lodge. There is pretty much just one tourist activity to do in Lilongwe, and it is fairly pathetic that I have been living in the city for 6 1/2 months without going! My friend Verity felt the same way, so on a bright Sunday morning we packed up the car and drove around the corner to the Lilongwe Wildlife Sanctuary! It is a rehabilitation centre as well as a zoo of sorts, and it is quite forested, with huge fenced areas which means that it is fabulous for the animals but not so much for the tourists who only might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the back of a leopard 100m away (which we were!) We also saw a python, a crocodile, lots of vervet monkeys and couple different types of baboons. A very good day. We didn't see the hyena, but just for interest's sake, I should mention that a few weeks ago I was driving through the city centre late at night with a friend and we saw one by the side of the road! They are huge, scary and ugly. A big change from driving around at home and catching a glimpse of a raccoon, and maybe a deer if you are lucky. This is Lilongwe...

6 Months In

As with the majority of New Years resolutions, my “Write On My Blog More” resolution kind of died about two weeks in. “Saving Money, “Eating Better” and “Moving More”, are still around – not vibrantly alive, but alive nonetheless. And as to Julian’s query of “Yo, where’s your Blog at?”, I respond with another super-post to fill in the blanks from the last three weeks!

In terms of work, things got off to a slow start in January. I had been hoping to dive right in after getting back from holidays, but as I have learned by now, things move at a slower pace here. I don’t say this to complain, but rather just as an observation that I think many others have made as well – we in the West are much too concerned about time: saving time, losing time, finding time - there is never enough time, and that it why we are always in a hurry. Malawians on the other hand have a differing view. Time is more fluid – there is always enough time, you can make the time you need, why are you rushing, Anna? This is not a negative thing, rather, I think that we may have it wrong. Everybody has heard of ‘African Time’ and the term is often used in a jokingly negative context – is it so bad though? Maybe we all just need to slow down. The waitress we had at lunch yesterday will never get a stress headache, or die of a heart attack. Admittedly, ‘African Time’ has been frustrating, especially at work, but then I have to ask my self: “why are you rushing, Anna?” Just so I don’t generalize too much about Malawians, I must mention my CEO who has everyone sign in when they arrive in the morning, and if you are later than 7:45 (yes, work starts at 7:30am) they you have to sign the ‘Why I am Late’ sign-in book.

I am potentially concerned about getting things done because I am only here a limited amount of time (see? There you go: “a limited amount of time” – it is so ingrained!) and I want to feel like I have accomplished something. Monique at CCA assures me that I have been quite productive, but I still feel like I spend many a day trying to keep busy. I have been successful in developing HIV/AIDS policies for both MUSCCO and a generic policy for the SACCOs to adopt, and the same for Gender. That’s something anyway, and something concrete, which is kind of nice. We have actually set some dates for HIV/AIDS Awareness trainings and some Gender trainings as well. These will be happening in March, which is later than I would have expected, but there’s enough time...

With a full 6 months in Malawi under my belt, and now a little less than 3 more to go before I am done work, I’m starting to get itching to see what other possibilities are out there in the “Post-Internship” world. Broad options include getting another job overseas or getting a job in Toronto or elsewhere in Canada. My fear is that I will be just one more Intern-Returnee hitting the pavement in Toronto, or working as an over qualified cashier, and that it will take forever to find something else in my field. And apparently, with this marvellous economic situation that we are in, jobs are fairly scarce to begin with. If you are reading this and happen to know of something available in Gender/Girls Empowerment/AIDS, let me know... Best to start the job search early!

Outside of the office, things in Malawi are fab. I feel like I am always busy with this or that and seeing friends. Football, Aerobics, dinners out, Wednesday night at the Shack... and there is always some party on Saturday night, or weekend at the Lake that requires my attention  I like being busy and social, and in a small city, with a relatively large expat population, there is always something going on. Tonight however, I am secretly hoping that no one calls me so I can stay home and eat popcorn and watch many, many episodes of Desperate Housewives... I remember that before I left home, I was having a bit of a mini- freak out: What am I doing? What if I don’t like my job? What if I don’t make any friends? Mom was to the rescue, of course, with the wise words of: “Anna, you’ve made friends everywhere you’ve ever been. Why would this be any different?” So true, Mom. I am honestly proud of myself that I can move somewhere where I don’t know a soul, and end up with a solid group of friends.

I’m not too sure what I expected when I came to Malawi, but there seems to be much more of a divide between the Expats and the Malawians than I thought there would be. Maybe it is Lilongwe? Maybe it is me? I don’t have many Malawian friends at all, save people from work, and expats hang out at expat places where the few well-to-do Malawians hang out. I feel like people in Development should be bridging the divide though between the expats and the locals, but the sad but true reality is that you really do always end up hanging out with people like you, and where you feel comfortable. Then it seems kind of silly just to go and hang out at a bottle shop in Bwandilo, just so you feel like you are more ‘with the people’.
These are just rambling thoughts, pay no heed...

In pure expat fashion, tomorrow night there is a big party. The theme? 80’s Prom Night. I’m heading to the used clothing market tomorrow to see what might turn up, and to give the Malawians just one more reason to shake their heads and say: “Crazy Mzungus...”

Mount Smiley

On top of Mount Smiley

This Thursday was a public holiday – John Chilembwe Day. For a little bit of Malawian history, John Chilembwe was a minister who led the first serious uprising against the British in Nyasaland (Malawi) in 1915. He and his followers attacked and killed a manager of a large estate, but the mass uprising that he hoped it would trigger never materialized. Unfortunately, he was executed and many of his followers were imprisoned. John Chilembwe is fondly remembered though as a hero of the struggle against colonialism, which is reflected in numerous Chilembwe Roads, his face on the money, and a public holiday.

To celebrate Chilembwe day (or perhaps more importantly, a day off work!), I went hiking for the day with some friends to Mount Ngala, also referred to as “Mount Smiley” for the big smiley face rock crevasse on the hillside. Mount Smiley is about 45 minutes from Lilongwe, along the M1 road to Blantyre. You turn off the main road on to dirt roads (read: MUD – we were lucky to have a 4WD) for about 10 km through villages until you get to the base of the mountain. It is interesting how the landscape around Lilongwe is quite flat, but then it is also dotted with small mountains that seem to rise out of nowhere. We attracted a large group of boys who ended up leading us up the mountain. I thought that there was going to be a clear path, but it was really just a series of goat tracks and semi-sheer rock faces that we had to clamber up. We were quite a convoy hiking up the hill, with 5 of us and 13 guides – I’m not sure we needed 13, but a group of crazy Mzungus who might have some chocolate in their backpacks to share is an enticing enough prospect to warrant climbing up a mountain. We of course were all geared up, with hiking boots, running shoes, backpacks and water bottles, huffing and puffing up the hill and these little guys just ran up the mountain in their bare feet!

It took about 1 ½ hours to reach the top, and I felt like I was actually going to pass out at some point because it was almost straight up, but of course, once you get to the top and catch your breath, you forget that you really hated getting there. Haha. The view was quite amazing, and because everything around the mountain is so flat, you can see quite far – all the way to the Dedza Mountains – over small patchwork fields and little villages. Now that it is the rainy season, Malawi has exploded in vibrant green and it is absolutely gorgeous.


Yep, we made it all the way up there!


Bryn, Carl, Jeff and our 13 guides

Women and the Millenium Development Goals

It is 2009 and we are one year closer to the 2015 deadline of the Millennium Development Goals. We are past halfway, but how far have we come? Are we any closer to achieving gender equality? Are women more empowered than they were 9 years ago? MDG #3 is to Promote Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, and it seems that the success of all the other goals hinges on this one.

I read an interesting website the other day which looked at all 8 of the MDGs through a gendered lens. In each case, women’s needs need to be specifically addressed in order for the goal to be achieved. Here is a summary, plus my little opinions:

#1 Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Poverty is feminized. Women the world over have less access to education and resources, yet bear the burden of the majority of the productive, reproductive and cultural work. The majority of people who live in poverty are women, and women who head households are poorer than their male counterparts. Women represent the greatest labour force in agricultural production, but they lack equal access to credit, training and markets.

#2 Achieve Universal Primary Education
Education of girls and women is a major step in breaking the cycle of poverty. Women who are educated are healthier, as they have fewer children and marry when they are older, and healthier women are more productive and have more access to resources and decision-making power in the household. The greater a women’s control over resources within a household, the more resources will be allotted to education, health and nutrition.

#3 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Of the world’s one billion poorest people, 3/5 are women and girls. Gender equality in rights, resources and voice must therefore be in place to ensure women's equal access to the opportunities that allow them to pursue a dignified and progressive life based on informed choices.

#4 Reduce Child Mortality
The number of years of education that a woman has has a direct positive impact on reducing the Under 5 mortality rate. The more educated a women is, the healthier she is and the healthier her children will be.

#5 Improve Maternal Health
Once again, the more education a women has, the more control over household resources she has. She has more control over her own body, her fertility and the number and spacing of her children. Women who are healthier and have better nutrition have a better chance of healthy pregnancies and safe births.

#6 Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
Women are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Biologically, women are more susceptible to infection and socially, women are vulnerable because they often lack the power to dictate when, where and how sexual intercourse takes place. More women live in poverty than men and oftentimes they must resort to prostitution in order to support themselves and their families, which puts them at risk. Also, the burden of care falls to women, as they have to care for those who are infected. Often this means pulling girls out of school, which then fuels the cycle of poverty.

#7 Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Women are much more affected by climate change as they are the primary agriculturalists in the world, and are responsible for collecting water and fuel. For women, climate change means an increasing scarcity of water and food, which compounds their already vulnerable position.

#8 Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Women make up roughly 50% of the population of the world and therefore should have 50% of the decision making power. If women can form solid membership in institutions of governance and poverty reduction they can influence national and international policies. As half of the world’s population, they represent an active force in development.

Spice up your Life - Christmas in Zanzibar

I just arrived back in Lilongwe, from the most fabulous Christmas and New Years in Zanzibar. If I couldn't be home for the holidays, I was so glad to be able to spend it on a beautiful tropical island, with some of my favourite people in the world. I met up with Christine, Colleen, Laura, Kevin and Tsolmon from IPMP at Humber and a smattering of other Canadians from Lilongwe, and we spent the majority of our time lazing on the beach, eating delicious seafood, and spending a lot of time at the beach bar...

Christine, who also lives in Malawi, and I flew from Blantyre to Dar es Salaam on the 21st, and after spending one night in the city, we boarded the ferry to Zanzibar. The ferry docks in Stone Town, the main town on the island, which is really beautiful as the architecture is all a mix of Africa, Arab and Indian influences. We actually went straight up to Nungwi Beach where we plopped ourselves down for the next 10 days. Sounds a bit lazy to spend 10 days on the beach, but somehow I managed to fill my time :) The place we were staying was absolutely gorgeous. We had a great spot in some little bungalows which were on the beach, and the water was an amazing colour of turquoise... I hear that the actual beach and water on other parts of the island aren't really that great, so we did well at Nungwi - definitely recommended! The only problem was that the beach bar was right next door, attempting to sleep anytime before 2ish was like trying to sleep IN the bar, but like they say: "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" Christine and I took this to heart, and made ourselves fixtures at Cholo's.

Most of the days were spend eating fresh fruit for breakfast, swimming, walking, reading, tanning, eating and more swimming, reading, tanning and eating. It was great that there was such a good crowd to hang out with - never boring! I haven't seen some of my IPMP friends since June, and we just fell back into the swing of things like no time had passed.



Christmas got off to a bit of a slow start, as we were all up VERY late on Christmas Eve. We did manage to have our own little Christmas morning though, complete with Secret Santa and a mini Christmas tree. Laura got me a lovely Kikoy (sarong) from Uganda, and some paper beads made by a women's group. A great choice as I was totally admiring the ones that she and Colleen had! For Christmas dinner, we had planned to go for a seafood buffet which kind of fell through because we didn't reconfirm our booking. Instead we went for dinner at a nice restaurant - good food but the waiter was actually laughably horrible... It is quite funny, looking back now..."The waiter who ruined Christmas..." lol.



We managed to get off the beach a couple of days and spend boxing day on a snorkelling trip to Mnemba Atoll. Mnemba island is a small private island just off the coast of Zanzibar, which has an $800 a night resort on it! We didn't get to stop on the island, of course but the reef around it was amazing - the coral wasn't that bright but there were loads of really cool tropical fish. We had a delicious lunch of ginger and garlic tuna on the boat too!

As Zanzibar is known as the Spice Island, we decided that we should probably go on one of the many Spice Tours on offer. I honestly haven't really thought much about where spices come from, so it was pretty educational - Cloves grow on big trees, Cardamom grown on vines on the ground, Turmeric is a root and cinnamon is rolls of tree bark. Cool. One of the guides even climbed up a coconut palm to get us a fresh coconut - I wasn't sure a coconut was worth the chance of this guy falling 50 meters to his death, but he was fine and the coconut was delicious! We had heard that sometimes on the tours, the guides make you spice wreaths - no spice wreaths for us, but better yet! Our guide made us frog necklaces out of palm leaves - Spice Frogs!

The same day, we went to look around Stone Town. We didn't really do any of the tourist things (eep! I think the first time I have been to a city and NOT visited the museum!)but rather just wandered around the shops and got lost is all the twisting alley ways. It really is an amazing place - loads of interesting history and a really cool blending of cultures. It's worth another look - maybe Zanzibar again in May? Interesting fact: Freddie Mercury from Queen is Zanzibarian and was born in Stone Town. There is a bar called Mercury's in honour of him, and we felt it fitting to honour him too, with a drink at sunset :) We stayed late in Stone Town specifically to go to the evening seafood market - I was flooded with memories of traveling in Asia - I LOVE evening food markets. This one was amazing, with loads of fresh fish - just pick what you want and they'll grill it up for you!

Our bungalows were quite close to Nungwi village as well, so we spend some time exploring the town. After quite a few nights of slightly overpriced food fro beach restaurants we discovered the very cheap and very delicious street food in town. Who doesn't love meat on a stick?

On New Years Eve, we went to a huge beach party at Kendwa Rocks. Kendwa Beach is just down from Numgwi beach, and has the most beautiful picture-postcard long stretch of white sand beach and clear water. The party was amazing, with fireworks at midnight, and as always an eclectic mix of travelers, Rasta men and Masai Warriors. lol. Good times. The last thing I wanted to do on January 1 was get on a ferry to leave the island.


Happy New Year Rupen!

I've done a lot of traveling, but it has been a long time since I've actually just gone on a HOLIDAY. It was fabulous, and I'm missing the island and my friends already... A great end to 2008. It has been a good year - finishing up school, moving to Africa and getting a start on what I want to do with the rest of my life. 2009 is looking good as well.

Happy New Year everyone!

For more pictures, make sure you check the link to my Picassa web album - there are some great ones!

http://picasaweb.google.ca/annaejbrown

The Halfway Point

I’m not quite sure how, but somehow, 4 and a half months have managed to pass by since I came to Malawi. I’m roughly at the halfway mark of my internship, and with our policy writing coming to completion, the Christmas holiday coming up seems like a natural break. I’ve been working since August on developing Gender and HIV/AIDS policies for MUSCCO. Things tend to work a little slower here in Malawi so we’ve only just developed the policies, and I have developed grand plans for the new year when we will be launching the policies and doing education sessions and workshops with the SACCOs in order to build capacity for them to develop their own workplace policy. According the new ‘plan’ there is a lot more to accomplish in the next 4 months than I have probably done in the first 5, but hopefully things will go more or less according to the plan...

Christmas is coming up, and it feels a bit odd this year to not be home. If I were home, I’d be listening to Christmas Carols, and window shopping and walking through the snow in the evenings looking at all the Christmas lights. I don’t think I ever really realized how much of a factor the weather and environment play on my Christmas mood! ‘Summer’ and ‘Christmas’ are just not two things that I can equate in my head. One of the big shops here, Shoprite, has had Christmas decorations up since October, and the place is filled to the brim with Christmas tree balls, tinsel and plastic toys, with songs like “Frosty the Snowman” playing, it seems, just to mess with the heads of mzungus... I went to the beach last weekend and had a bit of an odd moment as I was standing at the beach bar, wearing my bathing suit and sunglasses and ordering a drink, and I realized that they were playing Christmas carols! There is one song that seems to make sense here- “Give me an African Christmas”, but that doesn’t deter people from still “dreaming of a White Christmas”.

This year, instead of snow and hot chocolate, I’m off to Zanzibar for a Christmas of beaches and gin & tonics. I’m a little sad by the fact that I won’t be home, but I’m consoling myself with the fact that Zanzibar with friends from IPMP is a pretty close second. Should be an interesting scene, to say the least. Zanzibar is a predominantly Muslim island, off the coast of Tanzania. It’s always had this sense of mystique to me, as the cross-roads of the Arab and African worlds and the one time centre of the spice trade. Needless to say there won’t be much Christmas activity, or nativity scenes on the street corners, but I think the high influx of Western tourists will mean that there is enough Christmas cheers spread around.

If I don't get a chance to write again before I leave this Sunday (and if the recent time in between posts is any indication, I won't...) I want to wish you all a Christmas Yabwino ndi Chaka Chatsopano Chabwino (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)


okay, so this picture is from Halloween - an indication that Shoprite started sellng Christmas stuff LONG ago. :)