Cross Cultural connections

May 25th
Cross cultural connections
My host family loves listening to the radio, therefore my host brother keeps asking me to show him my music. Today I finally pulled out my nearly dead laptop (there is no electricity at my village home, and I have not been to the district office due to field work). When I started playing my Chris Tomlin and Starfield, he wasn’t all that responsive. I even played the “African” tunes I downloaded before coming to Malawi, and he still did not recognize it. This perplexed me because why wouldn’t an African recognize his own music? (Rhetorical question) However, I started playing “Grenade” by Bruno Mars and “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz and he lit up with excitement. He knew the lyrics and everything and they are not even in his native language.
This demonstrates one of the assumptions we make about Africa. I don’t exactly know why my family chooses to listen to the American/Canadian music on the radio. However, I must tell you that this remote village without electricity, internet, or running water still has radios that play Bruno Mars and Celine Dion Monday to Saturday and Hillsongs on Sunday. On a selfish note, it’s a taste of home and somewhat comforting for me. From my family’s perspective, perhaps they choose that radio station because it is English, for my sake. Whatever the reason, I think it’s something interesting to share with all my friends, family, colleagues, and readers back home. What you listen to on the radio reaches all the way to this remote place, where I can barely get cell phone reception. In fact, to really target my point, I will probably already have listened to all the new tracks by the latest and greatest artists from North America when I return home. I will be completely lost in Grey’s Anatomy and Off the Map, but all the new songs will be familiar because I’ve already heard them in my village home.
Besides my presence, the radio, and television in the capital city, my family does not receive much experience of what Canada is like. It makes me wonder, what if my host brother only knew about Canada what Bruno Mars, Celine Dion, and Jennifer Lopez sing about? I suppose our misconceptions of Africa are just as inaccurate as their perception of Canada. Interestingly enough, you can probably blame both misconceptions on the media. We see our vision of ‘Africa’ on TV, advertisements, theme parks, movies, or someone in Hollywood is adopting a baby or building an orphanage somewhere. And from what I’ve seen so far, they receive our music on the radio and TV broadcasting. Even right now, I am using technology or ‘media’ in form of a computer to share my perceptions of Africa, specifically Malawi.
Food for thought. I must go, my battery is dead in 3...2...1...
Karina
Disclaimer: Reference to specific artist names and musical scores are not representative of my personal or professional preference. As a person, and a representative of Engineers Without Borders, I do not endorse any of the artists or songs mentioned.

Peel me like a potato

Hello THere
This morning I was able to share a new experience with my host family. A few days ago, I ended up biking home in the mid afternoon for lunch break. Other than the fact that this bike ride is 5km uphill, midday in Malawi is very hot and the sun is powerful. Being the good JF that I am, I had taken my malaria pill, had 1L of water in my packback, and my phone was charged with units for emergency. Goodness, I even had an emergency first aid kit in my backpack because of my nursing habits. Being the fair sensitive-skinned person that I am, I am very prone to burning. This particular day, despite my exhausting health efforts, I forgot to put sunscreen on, and ended up earning myself some burns on my arms and face. I find the more time I spend speaking the language, eating, cooking, and cleaning in the village, I forget that I am not African.
This morning after taking a bath, my skin started peeling like it normally does after burning. This does not seem like a novelty to you or me because fair skinned people always feel the consequences of burnt skin, and peeling is not that unusual. However, for my host mother who has never seen this consequence before, the sight of me was extremely appalling. She looked at me as a mother would if their child came running into the house with a massive black eye. I felt really bad for freaking her out so much. We happened to be eating sweet potatoes and tea for breakfast. She told me I was a sweet potato, because we always peel the skin off of it. My host Aunt also piped in that I was like a baby, with super sensitive skin.
Despite learning the language, harvesting sweet potatoes, washing, cleaning, drawing water, and cooking like an African, I will always be reminded that I am an alien here. (FYI, you can’t buy sunscreen in Africa anywhere, because they don’t use it. I packed 50spf thanks to my Mom). Whether it’s the sun beating down and burning my skin, or the constant shouts from little kids waving and running to see me yelling “Muzungu! Muzungu!” (white man), I am reminded that I am different.
What one does with this unfamiliarity is up to them. Some people use this ‘white power’ to exploit others. Some use it as self gratification to stand out as the white hand coming to pull Africa from its state of poverty. Personally, I have chosen to try and bridge that gap, to prove that there is no difference between white and black. I have tried to immerse myself into the culture so deep that people will see more than the colour of my skin. They will see someone trying their hardest to love them. If that means I forget to put on sunscreen, then I can handle the burns along the way. Physically and emotionally.
Much love,

Karina

Church, Frisbees, and Making Friends

Hello Friends!

So yesterday was Sunday, so I did not go to work (no one is there). Instead, I went to church in morning and experienced the African church to its fullest! It was really fun, I am going to take a video of their worship next week. Once the associate pastor realized I had a digital camera, he said “WHY did you not use it?” and I replied  “I did not want to be rude, taking a video without asking” and he was like “no no no you take as many as you like!”. I was asked to stand up in front of the whole congregation and introduce myself. I was also invited to a wedding on June 4^th. After church I went to dinner and met some of the workers who are constructing the road through town right now. The road to the nearest town is very rough, so the Chinese have come in to build a paved road. What is currently a 4 hour car ride will be 1.5 hours instead to the nearest town to the south. It's interesting hearing about the Chinese development projects in the paper, and witnessing it first hand outside my front door. After dinner, I went to explore and read my bible outside in the remotest area possible. I love being outside to think and reflect! At home I like to go outside to be alone. It’s hard to hide outside here because everywhere you walk, people cry “Mazungu” (white person) or “Sista!” to get your attention. I am hoping the novelty will wear off in the next month or so. While I was looking for a place to chill and read my bible, a bunch of kids called to me, as usual. But instead of just waving and walking on by, I pulled out my Frisbee and we spent almost an hour playing with it together. They made me promise to come back tomorrow to play again. I kept walking down the road and found another bunch of kids, so the Frisbee came out again. I am excited to go back to that part of town to play with them, and may even capture a video if I can. I am just worried that every kid in town will show up, now that I have promised the Frisbee again.

Food for thought

Hello Everyone!

In this blog post, I would like to share two things:

1.       What it’s like living in the part of Malawi that has 12 languages

2.       The effect of open defecation and Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS, my placement) on girls and women

1.       What it’s like living in the part of Malawi that has 12 languages. Tiresome! But really interesting at the same time. I am so relieved when I find someone who speaks English, because then I can ask them how to speak in their language! My host father speaks seven languages, and one of those thankfully includes English. However, his wife, mother, and three children do not know any English. So it will be cool communicating with them without words and practicing my Chilambya (the language I have chosen to learn). I am getting supremely good at communicating with actions and not words. I want to challenge each and every one of you to a game of charades when I get home, because there is a good chance I will win! I am getting very good at explaining things like “shower, boiled eggs, and business deals” with hand actions. Mostly people just laugh at me, and I laugh at myself.

2.       The effect of open defecation and Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS, my placement) on girls and women specifically. Open defecation means that instead of using a commode (toilet), someone pees or poos in the wide open space (like a bush or river). This is a serious contaminant for people’s water and food supplies, and causes disease transmission via the faecal-oral (poopàmouth) route. For example, someone with cholera/typhoid/Ecoli/etc poops in a river. A woman is collecting her family’s drinking water and/or washing clothes downstream of this. Diarrhoea causing illness such as cholera, typhoid fever (yes that still exists), and E. Coli are transmitted when the recipient swallows the faecal matter (poop) of the person with the disease. Gross eh? So thaaaat is why we wash our hands after using the toilet! Millions of children die before the age of 5 because of diarrheal illnesses, even more than malaria. This is because someone is pooping in the river upstream, behind their house, in an open pit, or simply behind a bush. This is one specific example (pooping in the river) but there are lots of other scenarios where diarrheal related illnesses are spread from pooping to eating. It sounds really gross, but most people don’t understand the connection. So this part was about girls and women right? Yes. Girls and women are most affected by open defecation because the cultural indicators of Malawi inhibit them from showing any skin from the waist to well below their ankles. This space between their waist and ankles is the most intimate part. So you will see NO bikinis in Malawi, or skirts above the knee for that matter. This means that ‘going’ in the great outdoors means that girls and women must wait until no men are around in order to relieve themselves. In fact, most will get up before dawn and wait until after dusk to do their ‘business’ for privacy. The hours of daylight in Malawi are between 5:30am and 5:30 pm. This is an extremely long amount of time to wait. In fact, my nursing mind is wondering if it’s even possible. Anyway, constructing a private toilet or closed pit with walls would be extremely helpful for girls and women. I have also read that women are usually the leaders in a village on sanitation movements because it both affects them directly and their children. Women are most aware of diarrhoea illnesses with their children.

Thanks for reading! I really appreciate all your comments and questions, I read and cherish every one of them!

Karina

The Right Question

When someone offers up their entire summer holiday, it relatively means that they are committed to whatever task they are signing on for. Last November, the phone call from my chapter changed my life around and suddenly I was on this journey to Africa. One national conference, four months of assignments, one week in Toronto for training, 22 hours of travel, three days training in Lilongwe, Malawi, 36 hours of travel, and now I am in my placement for the summer. All that time that EWB has poured into my preparation and travel, all those letters my friends and family wrote, and that huge shopping trip my Mom took me on all comes to this. The time has come. That phrase just took me back to Gandalf in LOTR, sorry for how random that is, but my headspace naturally is. If someone were to ask me for five emotions I am feeling right now, I would answer: nervous, excited, eager, lonely, and peaceful.

There is so much unsaid. During my stay in Malawi so far, I have learned that value of asking a minimum of five questions before being satisfied with the answer. There seems to be a gap between me asking a question and my counterparts fully understanding what I am getting at. I am sure this is mostly because English is not their first language. Many of the things in English make no sense for them. For example, on my plane ride to Lilongwe I was speaking to some native Malawians about their country. During our conversation, the phrase “you’ll rock their socks” slipped out, and the confusion on their faces was priceless. Even when I am not using strange catch phrases, it’s hard trying to find the real answer to my question. Whenever I ask a question, I always get a very direct, honest, short answer, but it’s not always what I am looking for. For example, if my family, friends, or EWBers asked where I am right now, I would say a guest house in Chitipa, Malawi. I answer this with the amount of detail that my counterpart is looking for. However, if I were Malawian, the conversation would probably go like this:

Q: Where are you?

A: I am sitting in bed

Q2: Where is your bed?

A2: In a house

Q3: Where is this house?

A3: In the capital

Q4: Which capital?

Q4: Chitipa

Q5: What is Chitipa?

Q5: District in Malawi

Five questions later I finally get the full depth of answer I was initially looking for. I hope that makes sense. This exercise is just to demonstrate what it feels like asking questions. My coach and I were talking this morning, before he helped me settle in Chitipa, about asking the right question. This puts a whole other swing on things, because you not only have to be meticulous about digging deeper into the conversation, you also have to begin that first question with a legitimate reason.

I have always taken communication for granted up until now. Being able to articulate a question where the recipient knows exactly what I am getting at (most of the time) is so efficient. I am really enjoying my time within the language barrier though, because I would never have seriously thought about communication unless I had!

So what is the right question to ask me right now? If someone were to ask me what I am doing here, I would answer them something like this: I am stationed in the District Hospital working with the environmental health officers trying to further understand natural leaders’ role in the Community led total sanitation status of the district. The better question is “what made you decide to spend four months 13,000 km away volunteering in an unfamiliar place where you don’t know the language and you stick out like a sore thumb”? That is the question I wish people would ask. That is the right question because it brings the conversation to a whole different level. I have a well thought out answer for that, but you will have to wait and see, because I must go buy a bicycle, flipflops, and some food from the market.

Tsalani Bwino (stay well, Chichewa) Much love,

Karina

A series of cultural events

May 9^th, 2011 11:49 pm Malawi time

Muli Bwanji!

This morning I awoke to the local mosque messaging the dawn at about 4:30am. It sounded so beautiful! Luckily I could go back to bed! The schedule began with waking up at 8:00am to go for a walk through the village with one of the other JFs! We then convened at 9:30am to start off the sessions with another hour long language session with Duncan. From 12:00 to 2:30 I was in the market  working on a scavenger hunt! I stumbled through the phrases that Duncan taught us like Muli Bwanji “How are you” Ndili Bwino, kaya inu “I am good, and yourself?”. We were given a scavenger hunt to buy malaria medication, a cell-phone, a Nshima spoon, retrieve money from a bank machine, etc. We were also suppose to find a restaurant, which never happened. I bought some chichenje which is Malawian fabric that women wrap around their lower half. My favourite part was trying to speak with the people, when they were both surprised and amused by my interest in learning the language.

I have 5 minutes of free internet a day where I am temporarily staying, and beginning on Thursday I will be headed off to Chitipa. It will take two days to reach the district.

Today I tried a beer that was made of maize (corn flour), sorghum (another type of flower), milk, and yeast. It tasted like raw bread dough floating in white wine. I was one of the only JFs who managed to taste it! I feel like it was like a rite of passage.

Also, it is so awesome having APS at our disposal right now! Learning their perspective on the African-Canada connection in terms of advocacy and acting as a resource was really insightful. I realized today that Duncan was in the play-pump video that we showed in our session at McMaster. There are seven APS providing information and insight on our placements right now. Tomorrow I have another meeting with the CLTS leaders (my placement). I get to sleep in tomorrow until 10:00am!

Goodnight!

Karina

Finally I am in Malawi!!

May  8, 2011

Happy Mother’s Day! I am now officially settled in Malawi! I am sitting on top of a bunk bed, in a room with five other Junior Fellows, and in a hostel in Lilongwe, the capitol of Malawi. Notice I chose the bottom up approach to explain my current location. Bed, room, hostel, city, country. Hey, I made a framework!

Our first flight left Saturday morning at 7am and our last flight landed in Lilongwe at 12:00 pm this afternoon. This is not as dramatic as it sounds though, because technically I am 6 hours ahead of those in Toronto, where we flew out.  During this time I ate three airplane meals and slept 7 hours! I had a lot on my mind as we flew over the ocean (FYI we changed course to bypass Libya). I have committed to myself and fellow JFs to value other’s knowledge, opinions, and perspectives more than my own. I am worried that I won’t ask enough questions to understand, or speak so much that I shut down someone else’s perspective. I am walking into this situation with a serious lack of experience. I am reflecting back to B. Magee’s session about cultural understanding where he explained it as an ice berg. You may see the uppermost obvious information about a culture like clothing, language, and music and this is the part of the ice berg above the water that is obvious to the naked eye. However, there is so much more rich information below the water that a stranger will not see instantly. This includes family roles, livelihoods, gender equality, values, religion, and other hidden cultural qualities. I am worried I won’t ask the right questions or have the right approach to begin understanding the hidden cultural qualities. Thank goodness for pre-departure training to help prepare us for this. So much love for B. Magee, Cat Denis, my coach Annette, and all of the supportive figures from national office.

Tonight Duncan gave us an hour session of speaking the language Chichewa, Anna orientated us to safety and logistics. I have a meeting with Jolly Ann tomorrow morning to discuss everything I need to know about the community led total sanitation before my placement. I have finished multiple assignments and have emailed her back and forth, but tomorrow is when we meet face to face. I am so excited about getting into the headspace and transitioning into Malawi’s culture.

One more thing, I hung my mosquito net for the first time tonight. The six people sleeping in this room all look so cute huddling underneath the equivalency of a princess canopy that my sister in Canada owns.

Much love,

Karina

Training in Toronto!

May 1^st, 2011

I feel like today is the first day of summer! The summer leases are rolling out, university exams are over, people are fitting all their fun, exciting, and hopefully relaxing time in before starting summer jobs.

For me, today marks the first day of Pre-departure training. This morning we met up with Cat and Brian (my Foundation learning coaches/JF supervisors) at the University of Toronto building. I say building because the university campus has MANY buildings sprawled all around Toronto. After introductions, we ran a session about the hopes, fears, and fantasies that we have about our placement. This was meant to allow the JFs to have an understanding of our common feelings.

We then went to an Ethiopian restaurant and had an inspiring speech from George Roter, the CEO of Engineers Without Borders Canada. I love George, because he never stops smiling and showed up today in flip flops. More importantly, he is an incredible motivator. He spoke to us about our role as an ambassador of EWB while we are overseas. He also taught us the connection between being active learners and making impact. He has a lot of stories to relate his points.

We then went back to U of TO where we ran a 2.5 hour session about our impact back here in Canada. They gave us a sheet of paper with a timeline from today’s date to the end of this next school year (April 2012). We made one overarching goal for ourselves, then split up how we’d accomplish that goal. My goal is extending our chapter’s investment in students to reach faculties outside of Engineering. I plan on doing so by running a workshop called “the ROOT cause of Disease” within the Health Science faculties (such as nursing). I plan on developing the workshop while overseas based on the experiences I have with the district hospital in Chitipa, Malawi and the water and sanitation experiences in the surrounding villages.

Today was very well rounded, with a lot of varied information. Cat and Brian organized it wonderfully, and I feel like I have a new diverse knowledge base!

I have to leave know, Cat is about to start the “Intro to Poverty and Development” session. EWB values learning so much! I love how invested the JF supervisors are in us! It’s so honouring and compelling.

Much love,

Karina