Hey Everyone,
Just a heads up, I will be missing in action for the next three weeks because I am headed farther North where there is no electricity or internet. I want to research sanitation practices farther away from the capital city. If you want to call my cell, it is still posted on Skype, or you can email one of the other JFs/APS from Southern Africa for the number. Talk to you then!
Karina
Saturday 9 July 2011
The Phantom of the Opera
July 7, 2011
Yesterday marked probably one of the best days I’ve spent in Malawi. I was spending the day in Mzuzu, where I was trying to research fair trade farming in Malawi, get some pictures printed, and attend the independence day football game which the president was attending. While I was watching the game, I kept thinking of my brother in law Nathan, because he is the only soccer fan in our family. I have never watched a soccer game live in Canada, so after seeing African football I am not sure I ever will because there is little comparison. I love the sport so it was nice to see a game live. Despite how awesome talking to a fair trade worker and watching a Malawian football game was, these are not the reasons why the day was so incredibly amazing.
On the walk back to the church hostel where I was staying, I heard music being played in the room attached to the big sanctuary. Inside I saw two Malawian men playing keyboards, and I stopped in my tracks. Drums are common, guitars are rare, and pianos do not exist where I live in the north. Seeing piano keys, even if they’re plugged into the wall made me so excited. I nearly ran into the room and asked (begged) if I could give the keys a try. They graciously stopped practicing and handed them over. The model of the keyboard was very similar to the one I have at home, except it was a few years older. After tinkering around, doubling the tempo, and choosing the proper sounds, I proceeded to play the Phantom of the Opera. [insert facebook link here]. The JFs were surprised, and the two Malawian men absolutely loved it, and started dancing to the techno beat that I was pounding out of the keyboard. My friend videotaped it, making me wish that I knew an accessible place to upload it effectively. That one thing I miss from Canada, is free high speed internet access where you can actually upload pictures and videos.
I learned a valuable lesson from this experience that I did not fully understand when I came to Malawi. I am only here for four months, and I cannot guarantee that I will ever come back to Malawi. There are thousands of experiences that I can have, and depending on various variables such as location, available time, and motivation every JF will have different experiences. There is not just one JF experience that everyone has. I have learned that depending on the individual, their passions, interests, and level of personal awareness, their placement will be unique from anyone else’s.
Where does that leave me now and in the future? Well right now I have a huge amount of responsibility of taking ownership of my placement and time spent in Malawi. In the future, I will have to articulate this experience with 5 seconds or less to everyone who asks me “Soo, how was Malawi?” There is responsibility to make the most of your time while in country, and also the responsibility to somehow explain such a life changing experience to others in a way that fits their lens. EWB at the national, chapter, and African program level has put a great deal of faith in me.
A huge part of the JF program is taking advantage of every opportunity that presents itself. In fact, these opportunities are so common that you need to pick and choose. For example, I chose to visit fair trade workers in Mzuzu, and once I reach my home in Chitipa, my friend is a Malawian nurse working at the hospital, and she’s offered to let me shadow her for a shift on the wards. When will I ever be able to witness working on the maternal ward of a hospital in Africa again? Hopefully again soon, but what an experience to share at home in my chapter with the nursing students at McMaster!
Before I stepped off the plane into Malawi, I had the resounding “take advantage of your time, and make the experience your own” in my ears. I believe it is one of the most important messages that any future JF should hear. I think it’s funny that it took me walking into a church and playing the Phantom of the Opera techno style for this “Aha” moment to really sink in. Some things must be experienced before they fully capture the conscious.
As my good friend Scott from Zambia said during the mid summer retreat, there is no room for procrastination or hesitation, because there is no such thing as delayed opportunity. There is only missed opportunity.
If there is something on the back of your mind, something on your bucket list, something kind you want to say, do not allow hesitation, procrastination, or some other road block to stop you. We only have one pass on this road of life, and every day could be a chance to make better the life of another, experience something that photos cannot give credit, and/or be an “Aha” moment. “At the end of the day, let us reflect that one more day is irreversibly gone, indelibly marked” (Adoniram Judson)
Let this be that day you say “yes, I will [walk up to a stranger in a huge church and ask to play Phantom of the Opera on his keyboard]”. You can insert your own words to that sentence. “yes, i will .....”
Much love,
Karina
Yesterday marked probably one of the best days I’ve spent in Malawi. I was spending the day in Mzuzu, where I was trying to research fair trade farming in Malawi, get some pictures printed, and attend the independence day football game which the president was attending. While I was watching the game, I kept thinking of my brother in law Nathan, because he is the only soccer fan in our family. I have never watched a soccer game live in Canada, so after seeing African football I am not sure I ever will because there is little comparison. I love the sport so it was nice to see a game live. Despite how awesome talking to a fair trade worker and watching a Malawian football game was, these are not the reasons why the day was so incredibly amazing.
On the walk back to the church hostel where I was staying, I heard music being played in the room attached to the big sanctuary. Inside I saw two Malawian men playing keyboards, and I stopped in my tracks. Drums are common, guitars are rare, and pianos do not exist where I live in the north. Seeing piano keys, even if they’re plugged into the wall made me so excited. I nearly ran into the room and asked (begged) if I could give the keys a try. They graciously stopped practicing and handed them over. The model of the keyboard was very similar to the one I have at home, except it was a few years older. After tinkering around, doubling the tempo, and choosing the proper sounds, I proceeded to play the Phantom of the Opera. [insert facebook link here]. The JFs were surprised, and the two Malawian men absolutely loved it, and started dancing to the techno beat that I was pounding out of the keyboard. My friend videotaped it, making me wish that I knew an accessible place to upload it effectively. That one thing I miss from Canada, is free high speed internet access where you can actually upload pictures and videos.
I learned a valuable lesson from this experience that I did not fully understand when I came to Malawi. I am only here for four months, and I cannot guarantee that I will ever come back to Malawi. There are thousands of experiences that I can have, and depending on various variables such as location, available time, and motivation every JF will have different experiences. There is not just one JF experience that everyone has. I have learned that depending on the individual, their passions, interests, and level of personal awareness, their placement will be unique from anyone else’s.
Where does that leave me now and in the future? Well right now I have a huge amount of responsibility of taking ownership of my placement and time spent in Malawi. In the future, I will have to articulate this experience with 5 seconds or less to everyone who asks me “Soo, how was Malawi?” There is responsibility to make the most of your time while in country, and also the responsibility to somehow explain such a life changing experience to others in a way that fits their lens. EWB at the national, chapter, and African program level has put a great deal of faith in me.
A huge part of the JF program is taking advantage of every opportunity that presents itself. In fact, these opportunities are so common that you need to pick and choose. For example, I chose to visit fair trade workers in Mzuzu, and once I reach my home in Chitipa, my friend is a Malawian nurse working at the hospital, and she’s offered to let me shadow her for a shift on the wards. When will I ever be able to witness working on the maternal ward of a hospital in Africa again? Hopefully again soon, but what an experience to share at home in my chapter with the nursing students at McMaster!
Before I stepped off the plane into Malawi, I had the resounding “take advantage of your time, and make the experience your own” in my ears. I believe it is one of the most important messages that any future JF should hear. I think it’s funny that it took me walking into a church and playing the Phantom of the Opera techno style for this “Aha” moment to really sink in. Some things must be experienced before they fully capture the conscious.
As my good friend Scott from Zambia said during the mid summer retreat, there is no room for procrastination or hesitation, because there is no such thing as delayed opportunity. There is only missed opportunity.
If there is something on the back of your mind, something on your bucket list, something kind you want to say, do not allow hesitation, procrastination, or some other road block to stop you. We only have one pass on this road of life, and every day could be a chance to make better the life of another, experience something that photos cannot give credit, and/or be an “Aha” moment. “At the end of the day, let us reflect that one more day is irreversibly gone, indelibly marked” (Adoniram Judson)
Let this be that day you say “yes, I will [walk up to a stranger in a huge church and ask to play Phantom of the Opera on his keyboard]”. You can insert your own words to that sentence. “yes, i will .....”
Much love,
Karina
Friday 1 July 2011
Happy Canada Day!
Hello Everyone!
I recently got an amazing email from some members of my chapter with specific questions on the topics:
• Latrines/handwashing
• Women’s roles
• Solar power/cell phones/technology
In case anyone else is curious about these topics, I am going to use this avenue to answer the questions. But first of all, I would like to give an update! I have just returned from mid summer retreat! So many amazing memories made! Including sleeping on a bed within 5 inches from lake Malawi. (two hours of sleeping later we were nearly under water because of the tide). Sleeping under the stars, and then watching the sun rise was such an amazing experience! Another cool memory was taking a boat trip out to a rock island, where I jumped from a height of ~20 feet into the lake. Is it cheesy that I thought of Bella Swan the moment just before I jumped? I felt like such an adrenaline junkie. ALSO, the Watsan team won the retreat Olympics, which involved telling the best anecdote (here I told the ‘birth’ story), demonstrating the best Malawian accent, drinking chimbuku the fastest, wearing the best chitenge creation, having the best pictures, and eating Nsima the fastest. I was mentally, physically, and emotionally active the entire four days. I learned a lot about myself, and about those around me. I feel so blessed to have so many talented, passionate, critical thinking, and inspiring people on the team! I will miss them until debrief at the end of August! Also, please note that every morning and afternoon was spent doing serious sessions/meetings/learning moments/etc. I hope you don’t mind that I only included the bucket list memories.
Anyway, back to the questions given to me by Naomi and Meaghan!! (btw, I love you ladies for emailing me!) I am so excited for answering the above questions because those topics are extremely familiar to me!
• Latrines/handwashing. In the typical household in the urban environment, there are pit latrines. Pit latrines are kind of like a man made outhouse. A slab of concrete with a hole just large enough to use. As a girl, it’s pretty difficult to aim. Hand washing is an extremely rare commodity, and where it exists, soap does not. During travel, there are no Timmies to relieve yourself, or rest stations along the highway. Every major bus depot (one per district) has a pit latrine that costs about K40, which is roughly$0.35? I suppose we can take it back to McMaster that their 35 cents paid for something important, other than travel VISAs, accommodations, and other things.
• Women’s roles: This is a very broad question everyone. It depends on many things, but most of all the location. A woman’s role in the village is very different than in the urban setting. And what role are you asking about? In the household, income generation, child bearing, the office setting, etc? The most concise picture that I would like to paint about this massive black hole of a topic is this: women are facing the cultural norm that they are most useful in the home rearing children and performing the servant’s role. Women in the village find their dignity through their servant hood to their family through washing, cleaning, rearing, and quietly submitting. This topic has perplexed me. After spending four weeks living among them and seeing the power dynamics between men and women of the household, I question whether women empowerment truly releases them. Women are dignified through being a servant, in their eyes. If they are loved and cherished for this role, yet have no say in household decisions, what harm is there? I picture myself in their role of pleasant submission, and wonder what they think of all these women coming to tell them they are prisoners. After conducting multiple sessions on women empowerment with collectively 60 women of the village, and living in this context for four weeks, I am no longer approaching the subject with flames and arrows. Like I said, I am still perplexed.
• Cell Phones/Technology/Solar Power: I will have much more information on solar power next week because I will be travelling to a health centre away from the capital city of Chitipa. There they use solar power instead of electricity. As per cell phones, almost everyone in the urban setting has one. Having a cell phone and using it is very different though. Buying units for airtime is fairly expensive. No one that I have met has a cell phone plan. Even the APS with their smart phones don’t have a plan (as far as I know they buy units like the rest of us). It’s all a matter of buying pieces of paper for airtime (I am sending a blank one to Hamilton via Naomi’s house, so some of you can see what these look like). You scratch the back, dial the pin #, then use up that airtime through texting/calling. $1.00 will get you about 14 text messages or 4 minutes of calling. Therefore it is pretty expensive. It’s like Pay as You Go plan
Speaking of cell phones, I have had many people telling me they want to call me. For any of you who has me on skype, I have added my number to that. I am free every evening, so your time that’s between 12:00 and 2:00. So lunch break/call Karina via skype yes?
Looking forward to seeing your faces in September!
KAR
I recently got an amazing email from some members of my chapter with specific questions on the topics:
• Latrines/handwashing
• Women’s roles
• Solar power/cell phones/technology
In case anyone else is curious about these topics, I am going to use this avenue to answer the questions. But first of all, I would like to give an update! I have just returned from mid summer retreat! So many amazing memories made! Including sleeping on a bed within 5 inches from lake Malawi. (two hours of sleeping later we were nearly under water because of the tide). Sleeping under the stars, and then watching the sun rise was such an amazing experience! Another cool memory was taking a boat trip out to a rock island, where I jumped from a height of ~20 feet into the lake. Is it cheesy that I thought of Bella Swan the moment just before I jumped? I felt like such an adrenaline junkie. ALSO, the Watsan team won the retreat Olympics, which involved telling the best anecdote (here I told the ‘birth’ story), demonstrating the best Malawian accent, drinking chimbuku the fastest, wearing the best chitenge creation, having the best pictures, and eating Nsima the fastest. I was mentally, physically, and emotionally active the entire four days. I learned a lot about myself, and about those around me. I feel so blessed to have so many talented, passionate, critical thinking, and inspiring people on the team! I will miss them until debrief at the end of August! Also, please note that every morning and afternoon was spent doing serious sessions/meetings/learning moments/etc. I hope you don’t mind that I only included the bucket list memories.
Anyway, back to the questions given to me by Naomi and Meaghan!! (btw, I love you ladies for emailing me!) I am so excited for answering the above questions because those topics are extremely familiar to me!
• Latrines/handwashing. In the typical household in the urban environment, there are pit latrines. Pit latrines are kind of like a man made outhouse. A slab of concrete with a hole just large enough to use. As a girl, it’s pretty difficult to aim. Hand washing is an extremely rare commodity, and where it exists, soap does not. During travel, there are no Timmies to relieve yourself, or rest stations along the highway. Every major bus depot (one per district) has a pit latrine that costs about K40, which is roughly$0.35? I suppose we can take it back to McMaster that their 35 cents paid for something important, other than travel VISAs, accommodations, and other things.
• Women’s roles: This is a very broad question everyone. It depends on many things, but most of all the location. A woman’s role in the village is very different than in the urban setting. And what role are you asking about? In the household, income generation, child bearing, the office setting, etc? The most concise picture that I would like to paint about this massive black hole of a topic is this: women are facing the cultural norm that they are most useful in the home rearing children and performing the servant’s role. Women in the village find their dignity through their servant hood to their family through washing, cleaning, rearing, and quietly submitting. This topic has perplexed me. After spending four weeks living among them and seeing the power dynamics between men and women of the household, I question whether women empowerment truly releases them. Women are dignified through being a servant, in their eyes. If they are loved and cherished for this role, yet have no say in household decisions, what harm is there? I picture myself in their role of pleasant submission, and wonder what they think of all these women coming to tell them they are prisoners. After conducting multiple sessions on women empowerment with collectively 60 women of the village, and living in this context for four weeks, I am no longer approaching the subject with flames and arrows. Like I said, I am still perplexed.
• Cell Phones/Technology/Solar Power: I will have much more information on solar power next week because I will be travelling to a health centre away from the capital city of Chitipa. There they use solar power instead of electricity. As per cell phones, almost everyone in the urban setting has one. Having a cell phone and using it is very different though. Buying units for airtime is fairly expensive. No one that I have met has a cell phone plan. Even the APS with their smart phones don’t have a plan (as far as I know they buy units like the rest of us). It’s all a matter of buying pieces of paper for airtime (I am sending a blank one to Hamilton via Naomi’s house, so some of you can see what these look like). You scratch the back, dial the pin #, then use up that airtime through texting/calling. $1.00 will get you about 14 text messages or 4 minutes of calling. Therefore it is pretty expensive. It’s like Pay as You Go plan
Speaking of cell phones, I have had many people telling me they want to call me. For any of you who has me on skype, I have added my number to that. I am free every evening, so your time that’s between 12:00 and 2:00. So lunch break/call Karina via skype yes?
Looking forward to seeing your faces in September!
KAR
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