Georgina's Volunteer Report
The best part of being in Malawi is there is no 'typical' day! Every single day I spent there threw up a new challenge, whether it be physical, mental or emotional. Stripping it down, my most typical day is waking up around 6.30, making some porridge (or a contingency if the electricity's off!), showering (or bucket bath if the water's off!), dressing and making a packed lunch for the day, which I don't think I ever once actually ate.
At around 7.30 I'd set off for the minibus stop on the Blantyre road, around ten minutes away, and hopefully get on a minibus by 8am. 9 out of 10 times this was fine, but there were a few days where I was left waiting for around 2 hours! I would get off the minibus at '4 miles', then walk to Namilongo school where I would meet Gastol Maunda and Edward Twaibu from Chifundo Chathu, at least half an hour after we agreed to meet (ah, Malawian time!). If you are considering Chifundo Chathu, don't let the journeying put you off. It's probably the time where I learnt most about real Malawian culture - there's nothing like being one-on-one with village Malawians who want to know all about you, and want you to know all about them! This is also probably the time when I learnt the most Chichewa.
So, after a relatively long walk and some river-hopping, we arrive at the centre. Kindergarten class may or may not be on, but you will still be greeted by scores of little ones. The entire village knew my name, in fact. Usually from the centre we would go to the house of someone in the village who needed some help. Often this would involve cleaning around their house, going to fetch water for them, washing their clothes in the river and, at harvest time, assist them in the field. Most village Malawians depend on their crops for survival, so it is a big worry if they are elderly or sick and cannot tend to them properly. It's never just you doing the work - Gastol and Edward are always there, plus more often than not other Chifundo Chathu members will join you along the way. This means if you are struggling to do the work, you can get help! Most people you go and help will just want to see you doing typically 'Malawian' things - pounding maize etc - and enjoy laughing with(/at?) you when you are making a real meal out of things.
We would usually visit two or three vulnerable people per day. Between the visits, we would return to the houses by the centre for lunch. Beware! Malawians eat a LOT, but they certainly will not eat until you, the visitor, are fed. Properly. Take it from me, protesting is futile! I was often knowingly given 2 or 3 larger than average lunches per day. Gastol thought it was a hilarious inside joke we had and would appear, grinning ear to ear, and announce "Second lunch!" Meanwhile my stomach was already groaningly full from lunch at Dinnex's. After lunch and a possible last Home Based Care visit Gastol and Edward would escort me back either to 3 Miles or 4 Miles, depending whether I was going into town or straight home. As they are both still in Secondary School, often they accompanied me on the bus and went to school in the afternoons (although if I hadn't been able to cover the bus fare - 15-20p - they would always walk and be VERY late.)
Returning home anywhere between 3 and 5.30pm, I would see Beth for the first time that day as she had left for school before I got up. We were both literally exhausted every night, and would either read a little or just go for a nap before making dinner. Our typical dinner was relatively simple, for example veg omelettes with boiled potatoes. After dinner we'd chat for a bit about our days, maybe have a few minutes each on the laptop and then in bed by 9.30!
What has been difficult about your trip?
Honestly, a lot less than I was expecting. Being fair, I worried a lot about the sun but as it's respectful in Malawian culture to keep covered anyway, I was fine as long as I suncreamed my face and neck, and got used to the lovely dry heat very quickly. I was also worried about missing loved ones, but was kept so busy that intermittent texts and Facebook messages did seem enough. I only had a couple of wobbles - the worst on my birthday - but this is when your fellow volunteers can step up to support you and Beth was incredible at this.
Obviously the biggest difficulty was getting past the HUGE culture gap - I tried my very best to fit in with Malawian culture and grasp an understanding about how things were done but honestly, I think if I spent 10 years there I would never fully understand it. For example, I was expected to go to 6 different funerals of strangers in Malawi, which take place outside the house of the deceased. I also struggled with the near-constant praying, and even being asked to pray for everyone before a meal etc. Having Peatry around for the first few weeks certainly made this much easier and helped with the language barrier, too. Malawians can be very blunt and often say things that they don't realise (and refuse to acknowledge when told) are offensive to Westerners. A rare day would go by when I wasn't told something like "Georgina, you are very bad at this!" or "Georgina, you are becoming too fat!" (which I did; I put on nearly a stone due to the aforementioned several lunches per day!!! Nobody believes me when I say living in Africa made me fatter; silly stereotypes) I personally found this hilarious and it is also important to remember that you probably say things to offend them without realising it, too, and you are communicating in your language, not theirs, so allow for some mistakes. This crazy country and its people will have you in stitches most of the time if you choose not to take things too seriously and learn to laugh at yourself.
It’s easy to become frustrated with the perception most Malawians have about 'azungu' white people. You will be asked for money, and often people will try to make friends with you in the hope you will give them things, bring them to the UK etc. In our case, as a couple of gap year students who funded the trip ourselves with some difficulty, the perception was completely wrong! But the more time we spent there we had to admit that the way most Westerners behave in Malawi does a lot to perpetuate the stereotype. It was very difficult for us to convince even close friends and colleagues that we don't own thrones of solid gold etc and that we’d actually had to work very hard to gain the opportunity to come visit them. It's even worse than this when Malawians praise you for being "humble" by coming to Malawi, almost as if you've had to get down off some great big pedestal to visit them.
Beth and I were also pretty much stumped when we first arrived about what we were going to eat. The two reasonable supermarkets in Zomba aren't really what we'd call supermarkets back home and were usually understocked, which meant the only reliable source of food was the market which sold fresh fruit and veg as well as things like rice and maize flour. As neither of us had ever really cooked before, we were probably worse at this than others would have been but we came up with a few ideas, sort of winged them and our cooking improved throughout our stay. It's actually a really valuable skill to learn to cook with limited, fresh ingredients although I think we only came up with 7 or 8 meal plans. If I was to give advice on the cooking front, I'd say learn from the Malawians! They've been cooking with stuff that's available a lot longer than you and learning about cuisine is another way to really get into the culture of a place. You might find you like Malawian food - I know I do! Also probably learn to cook rice on a stove before you go.
What have you learnt since living here?
People are always saying to me how difficult it must be to live in Africa, and I think they are imagining constant food/water shortages, murderous bugs and diseases and wild animals. I probably had the same perception before I went, and I think the biggest thing I've learnt this year is that a simpler life doesn't mean a worse one! There is so much less stress and worry floating around the air in Malawi, and the truly spellbinding thing about Malawi is the reputation of its people being incomprehensibly benevolent, friendly and relaxed. Is it scary living in Malawi? No. I feel perfectly safe, more so probably than walking around the streets of my own home because every single person I met just wants to make sure I am comfortable, welcome and happy in their home. I often feel sick about the way visitors and non-native speakers are treated in the UK, as we are more likely to intentionally make them feel isolated. To me, that is the complete wrong attitude and I would be horrified if any Malawian visitors to the UK were made to feel that we were anything but delighted to have them here.
Another thing that now disturbs me about the UK is how detached most of us are from the natural environment. I feel everything around me is man-made, clinical and weirdly contrived. In Malawi, even in the cities, one lives in relative balance with nature; structures are functional, mud is everywhere, and there is simply no possible way of keeping bugs and lizards out. There's something about getting used to that that now feels a lot more comfortable to me than the life I currently live. A tendency to enjoy, observe and work with your environment is probably, besides all my friends there, the thing I miss most about Malawi.
Malawi also taught me a lot about myself; most things I learnt about myself I liked, but some I very much didn't. For example, I realised that I am a way more determined person than I realised, and what I don't have in physical strength or stamina I can make up for in sheer willpower. However, I also learnt that I have a tendency towards very dark days where I feel awful in myself and deal with it by taking it out on everyone else. The great thing though is that you can encourage the aspects of your personality you like, and work on controlling the ones you don't, and I feel like I've come out the other side a better person. However, I also feel angry at myself every day for forgetting my life in Malawi, taking for granted the things I would have been excited about, and not effectively keeping in touch with people who for nearly four months of my life were my closest friends. I often don't appreciate as much as I should the enormous network of support we had almost from arrival. Most people don't get that in four years of living in a place, but I never felt without people I could call if I was stuck or needed a favour or just some cheering up. I have a real family in Malawi, it is a true second home!
Has your gap project changed your opinions or attitude to anything?
I think people are way more adaptable than they realise. The fact is that I felt way more fulfilled when I was thrust into the moment, uncontactable with no signal on my phone and no choice but to just throw myself fully into what people were asking me to do. I didn't feel like anything was missing from my life due to lack of technology, in fact I felt liberated from the constant nag of wanting to check Facebook or Snapchat to basically make sure other people weren't having a better or more interesting time than me, which in reality they probably were if I was sat staring at my phone screen. In Malawi I was too busy discovering and engaging in things to care what anyone else was doing, and honestly that has resulted in every day back in the UK being disappointingly boring! My biggest shock was how little I missed TV, and I still don't watch a lot of it now.
My attitude towards pretty much everything has relaxed since going to Malawi. I still firmly believe you should take every opportunity offered to you, but priorities need to be in place so that you don't let goals and aspirations get in the way of enjoying life now and spending time with loved ones. Most Malawians grow up knowing that they will live the same life their parents did; if they are a boy, taking over the family land, and if they are a girl, marrying a man with land so that they can continue their subsistence farming. There is a lot of pressure involved in marrying the right person and keeping a happy, healthy family, but for many Malawians that's where the aspirations end. There is something comforting in living in a place with so much less competition, less climbing over each other to become the best, richest, most powerful person. And there is a kinship and community spirit in this way of life which you'll never understand unless you see it first hand!
What could we do for future volunteers to expand on the experience you have had?
One word: Expand! For me the scariest thing about going out with a brand new organisation was there is less of a network and less support if something bad did happen. Going with a bigger organisation such as Be More would have meant if there was an accident and we somehow ended up stuck, they would have the money and connections to bail us out. This can only come if we get more people out here! However I do think that if there is one thing MPS Malawi can do better than the other volunteer projects currently operating in Zomba it's to continue employing local people rather than Europeans. Not only does this give a more integrated community experience to the volunteers, it's just not necessary to employ 'azungus' in Malawi. Malawians are devoted to any cause that they believe will improve and develop their country; we only worked with Malawians in Malawi (with the exception of your visit Jess!) and they were incredibly supportive, helpful and hardworking. We wouldn't have had it any other way, it really contributed to the overall feeling of actually living as 'adopted Malawians' rather than visitors.
In your opinion, what are the next most important improvements to the house?
Boy, did the house improve while we were there! To me it's sort of perfect now, it's the first house I ever lived in independently and I will always love it! However it's obviously not yet perfect; definitely for me it would be more places to put our stuff. We lived out of suitcases for 4 months which was fine but being on the floor meant your stuff was constantly dripped on from the roof and full of cockroaches. The next quick improvement to be made on the house would definitely be drawers and/or a wardrobe. Similarly, more storage in the kitchen would be good, but we never really struggled with this so not essential. Obviously long term a ceiling would be good and a softer floor in the bathroom for those days where you're knelt over a bucket trying to wash your hair. I always ended up with injured knees!!
How could the projects you worked with be improved?
Most of the ways in which my projects could be improved are just ways in which Malawi could be 'improved' or should I say Westernised!! The complete and utter disregard for the concept of efficiency is something that needs to be adapted to rather than attempting to change it. However, if the volunteer is willing to go 80% of the way towards this then I think the projects will not mind meeting you somewhere in the middle. For example, the idea that Chifundo Chathu would create an itinerary and present the volunteer with it in advance was posed, and sort of attempted. By the end of my trip, usually an itinerary for the centre would appear there at the start of the week (long after I had decided on my own itinerary for the week) and it usually had me posted in full days of activities Monday-Sunday. This was rather sweet (they clearly wanted me around!) and comical, but not altogether practical and rather frustrating. Definitely something to be worked on; even if Gastol and Edward could just decide in advance whether or not they were going to school that week! Also, I was there long enough to get to know Mbulukuta well enough that I knew who needed help more than others. For example, there is a lady with a degenerative muscle disease in the village whose daughter is afflicted with the same problem, and an elderly lady who lives very near Chifundo Chathu. These people obviously appreciate the help more than those with large families to assist them, although I do acknowledge that they wanted to spread me around the whole catchment area as much as possible it might be an idea to be able to say "on Tuesdays we will help this lady" to make the care a bit more regular. It's at least something to look into.
Jali is absolutely brilliant to work at. The only issue with Jali is that getting there can take half a day and one really must leave the centre before 4.30 on an evening or you will encounter lots of problems once you get back to Zomba. Obviously walking home in the dark is not really an option and the lifts stop running when it gets dark. The other thing is that it can be quite expensive transport-wise. MK800-1000 just to get to Jali and up to another MK1200 if you are taking bicycle taxis, for example to Namatapa. However as an odd trip Namatapa is well worth it, they are all lovely and there is certainly a thing or two to learn yourself from this youth club. The great thing about Jali is that you are working with Peatry and he knows exactly how to fully maximise your time there!
Summarise your trip in 3 short statements:
I learnt more in those short months about acceptance and patience than I have in the rest of my life.
The chance to actually immerse oneself in another culture without limits or boundaries is so very unusual; to use the cliché it was truly once-in-a-lifetime.
Malawians are the most special, strange, loving, generous people in the world.
For someone going to Malawi for the first time, what's the best advice you could leave them with?
Leave your inhibitions in the UK. You're going to be thrown into so many situations that will be so ridiculous and incredible and strange that you're just going to have to learn to go with the flow and laugh at them. Say yes to (almost) everything. Realise that your reaction to what Malawians perceive as a completely normal request/inquiry is going to be as odd to them as the question is to you. Realise, certainly, that you're going to be laughed at. Laugh with them! Dance when you're asked to dance, try something new every day! I promise you won't ever regret it if you do! Be as friendly and as social as it's physically possible to be and DO NOT EVER let the trivial things get you down. Appreciate your network of crazy Malawian friends that you can rely on for almost anything. If you need a little cry, have one. You'll feel better afterwards. I tended to think after I'd been in Malawi a while I didn't even notice the things anymore that just would not ever happen in the UK, but my most enjoyable days were when I did remember to notice those things, because they are funny!
Any final comments?
Thank you so much for facilitating the most insane experience of my life so far. I really never thought I'd feel so completely relaxed and comfortable in a country that's not my own, but the extensive network of friends that MPS Malawi had, made it so easy. I would (and will) go back in an instant. Malawi has my heart!
