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
Saturday, 11 June 2011
So...You want to go to Africa?
I wish to begin this blog post with a question. Someone tells you that you are “going to Africa”, what is the first thing that pops into your mind? Elephants? District government (EWBers...)? Safari adventure? Water/agric/data systems? Libya? Famine? Soccer (go Holland)? Languages?
Those with the experience of ‘going to Africa’ may have gone for travel, sight seeing, development work (whether it’s one week or a number of years), or perhaps work experience. Maybe you live or have lived in Africa before. But I really want to target those of you who have never stepped onto the continent before. There is a lot to do in Africa, with many experiences to be had. Those of you who have never ‘been to Africa’ before. Specifically, those of you who’s dream it is to go there and save lives. You have been stirred in one way or another to step up and help people less fortunate. Maybe you volunteer so much people look at you in bewilderment, perhaps you see those pictures and biographies of children dying in Africa and can’t stand to sit still any longer. Maybe you’ve had a taste of poverty in your own life, or have witnessed it in others. Whenever someone is looking for poverty to fight, problems to solve, hunger to advocate against, and preventable diseases to prevent, they generally look at Africa as the hotspot. All of you who have never been to Africa before, but it is your dream because in your eyes, it is the place where you can serve the most, this blog is written for you. Because approximately 40 days ago, I was all of the above.
Now back to that question. Imagine someone tells you that you are ‘going to Africa’ for four months of the summer to help decrease the number of children who die every year due to diarrhoeal illnesses. People die of diarrhoea every day because of a number of causes, and you are going to target the act of shitting out in the open. This will decrease the oral-fecal transmission of cholera (among other diseases), so babies will live past the age of 5 and not die of something INCREDIBLY preventable as diarrhoea.
WOOT WOOT! This is your dream come true! You really don’t understand exactly WHAT you’ll be doing, but you know that you are ‘going to Africa to save lives’. I want you to take a moment, close your eyes, and imagine what you will do, who you will meet, what experiences you will have, how many people you will impact, and most importantly, how many lives will you save? Close ‘em and think of the sights, smells, and people. GO.............................................................................................................................
During the past 6 months of knowing I am “going to Africa” I painted a picture of myself in my mind of what I would look like, what I would do, where I would go, what I would accomplish, etc. However, my good friend from home wrote me an “in-Africa” letter to read that I recently had the opportunity to open. I thank God for her writing it, because He worked His purpose through her words, even though she probably did not realize the impact it would have at the time. It said that as a Christian, I must give up this fantasy of my purpose in Africa. I have this idea of what I will accomplish and who I will become through all these experiences. In all honesty, I fell prey to my own pride. I thought that I would make some incredible impact for God, for EWB, for Dorothy, and for myself. But God also has a plan for me here, and it’s a million times better than one that I could ever imagine. So I have decided to just go with the flow, and trust Him.
It has been an incredible experience thus far because I am giving up that fantasy of myself. If you had the chance to read the last post titled “Walls”, this fantasy of myself was one of those barriers that was constricting me from being effective in my work for sanitation.
Thank you God, and thank you K.A. <3
Karina
Disclaimer: this blog is from the perspective and opinion of the writer only, and does not represent any other parties that the writer may represent, such as Engineers Without Borders Canada. Thank you.
Those with the experience of ‘going to Africa’ may have gone for travel, sight seeing, development work (whether it’s one week or a number of years), or perhaps work experience. Maybe you live or have lived in Africa before. But I really want to target those of you who have never stepped onto the continent before. There is a lot to do in Africa, with many experiences to be had. Those of you who have never ‘been to Africa’ before. Specifically, those of you who’s dream it is to go there and save lives. You have been stirred in one way or another to step up and help people less fortunate. Maybe you volunteer so much people look at you in bewilderment, perhaps you see those pictures and biographies of children dying in Africa and can’t stand to sit still any longer. Maybe you’ve had a taste of poverty in your own life, or have witnessed it in others. Whenever someone is looking for poverty to fight, problems to solve, hunger to advocate against, and preventable diseases to prevent, they generally look at Africa as the hotspot. All of you who have never been to Africa before, but it is your dream because in your eyes, it is the place where you can serve the most, this blog is written for you. Because approximately 40 days ago, I was all of the above.
Now back to that question. Imagine someone tells you that you are ‘going to Africa’ for four months of the summer to help decrease the number of children who die every year due to diarrhoeal illnesses. People die of diarrhoea every day because of a number of causes, and you are going to target the act of shitting out in the open. This will decrease the oral-fecal transmission of cholera (among other diseases), so babies will live past the age of 5 and not die of something INCREDIBLY preventable as diarrhoea.
WOOT WOOT! This is your dream come true! You really don’t understand exactly WHAT you’ll be doing, but you know that you are ‘going to Africa to save lives’. I want you to take a moment, close your eyes, and imagine what you will do, who you will meet, what experiences you will have, how many people you will impact, and most importantly, how many lives will you save? Close ‘em and think of the sights, smells, and people. GO.............................................................................................................................
During the past 6 months of knowing I am “going to Africa” I painted a picture of myself in my mind of what I would look like, what I would do, where I would go, what I would accomplish, etc. However, my good friend from home wrote me an “in-Africa” letter to read that I recently had the opportunity to open. I thank God for her writing it, because He worked His purpose through her words, even though she probably did not realize the impact it would have at the time. It said that as a Christian, I must give up this fantasy of my purpose in Africa. I have this idea of what I will accomplish and who I will become through all these experiences. In all honesty, I fell prey to my own pride. I thought that I would make some incredible impact for God, for EWB, for Dorothy, and for myself. But God also has a plan for me here, and it’s a million times better than one that I could ever imagine. So I have decided to just go with the flow, and trust Him.
It has been an incredible experience thus far because I am giving up that fantasy of myself. If you had the chance to read the last post titled “Walls”, this fantasy of myself was one of those barriers that was constricting me from being effective in my work for sanitation.
Thank you God, and thank you K.A. <3
Karina
Disclaimer: this blog is from the perspective and opinion of the writer only, and does not represent any other parties that the writer may represent, such as Engineers Without Borders Canada. Thank you.
Friday, 10 June 2011
Walls
I am sitting in the District Hospital’s Environmental Health office while I write this blog entry. I was perusing my notes from pre departure training, and I am overwhelmed at how useful they are! Note to self and future JFs, take notes about what you learn during pre-dep and in-country training! One specific entry I made in my notes was a fear I had. Going back to that headspace before I left Toronto is so interesting. The fear I had was “losing my ambition, drive, passion, ideas, and critical thinking because I keep running into walls”.
These ‘walls’ can be many things, like small details that get in the way of progress or cultural norms that you must learn to live with. One example of this is what JFs lovingly call “Malawi time”. Unlike Canada, Malawians don’t rush to beat the clock. In fact, I have only seen two people carry a watch since I came here. If a meeting it set for 9:00am, it’s not likely to start at 10:30, it WILL start at 10:30, and people will plan for such things and come late. Another small frustration I can think of happened this morning. I was coming into work and no one left the keys for me to get into the office. So I wandered around until I found a friend with an office open so I could charge my phone with the electricity outlet. Maybe this ‘wall’ is not related to efficiency and is a cultural barrier. My placement involves gathering information about hygiene practices of villages to determine the open defecation free status, and how the major players in the village contribute to this status. I have learned that as a white woman, I am treated as a black man, with respect, a chance to voice my opinion, and the highest seat at a meeting with the village. The women of the village sit on the ground and only speak when spoken too. This cultural norm is difficult to work with because the depth of information that I am looking for is mostly found from the women’s perspective. I cannot simply walk into a village meeting and gather accurate information about the village households. Nor can I simply gather this information from the government office. This makes my placement so incredibly interesting and fun to tackle, because I must literally work (harvesting, gathering water, attending church, cooking, cleaning, meeting with the women groups, etc) to gain trust and acceptance from the women of the community. What are the hygiene practices in the household REALLY like outside of what the village leaders are saying or the government is assuming? This is a wall I am having an amazing time scaling.
Let’s go back to that fear of mine, of getting frustrated and losing my ambition because I keep running into these ‘walls’. Other illustrations are swimming upstream or running up an escalator that is going down. However, these walls are not made by anyone but myself. I am the one trying to beat the clock, I am the one who is used to having my own office space, and I am the white foreigner who expects in depth information now now now. I am the one who likes structure, making lists, punctuality, reliable internet, and itineraries that actually happen. I am the one building these walls. I am the problem.
Therefore I have decided to go with the flow. The other day, I went to visit the women in a neighbouring village, but rumours had been spread of finding a body, so no one attended the meeting. Luckily, this meeting was set to happen in a school and there were a hundred children around. With the good ‘ol EWB spirit I developed a workshop targeted for school children on hygiene practices on the fly. The children were really excited to interact with me, and I them. We had fun, and I gathered some really interesting information from children about their household’s hygiene status in terms of open defecation. This is an example of where you just have to go with the flow. Like my coach Duncan told me when he dropped me off in my very much loved district Chitipa, always have a plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D, etc, and if these don’t work, plan on the spot. Being able to scale the walls that you bring into the country is a difficult task, but you just need a positive attitude and recognize that perhaps you are the problem. When this light bulb comes on, gleefully get out of the way of progress.
Have a super fantastic day!
Karina
Disclaimer: this blog is from the perspective and opinion of the writer only, and does not represent any other parties that the writer may represent, such as Engineers Without Borders Canada. Thank you.
These ‘walls’ can be many things, like small details that get in the way of progress or cultural norms that you must learn to live with. One example of this is what JFs lovingly call “Malawi time”. Unlike Canada, Malawians don’t rush to beat the clock. In fact, I have only seen two people carry a watch since I came here. If a meeting it set for 9:00am, it’s not likely to start at 10:30, it WILL start at 10:30, and people will plan for such things and come late. Another small frustration I can think of happened this morning. I was coming into work and no one left the keys for me to get into the office. So I wandered around until I found a friend with an office open so I could charge my phone with the electricity outlet. Maybe this ‘wall’ is not related to efficiency and is a cultural barrier. My placement involves gathering information about hygiene practices of villages to determine the open defecation free status, and how the major players in the village contribute to this status. I have learned that as a white woman, I am treated as a black man, with respect, a chance to voice my opinion, and the highest seat at a meeting with the village. The women of the village sit on the ground and only speak when spoken too. This cultural norm is difficult to work with because the depth of information that I am looking for is mostly found from the women’s perspective. I cannot simply walk into a village meeting and gather accurate information about the village households. Nor can I simply gather this information from the government office. This makes my placement so incredibly interesting and fun to tackle, because I must literally work (harvesting, gathering water, attending church, cooking, cleaning, meeting with the women groups, etc) to gain trust and acceptance from the women of the community. What are the hygiene practices in the household REALLY like outside of what the village leaders are saying or the government is assuming? This is a wall I am having an amazing time scaling.
Let’s go back to that fear of mine, of getting frustrated and losing my ambition because I keep running into these ‘walls’. Other illustrations are swimming upstream or running up an escalator that is going down. However, these walls are not made by anyone but myself. I am the one trying to beat the clock, I am the one who is used to having my own office space, and I am the white foreigner who expects in depth information now now now. I am the one who likes structure, making lists, punctuality, reliable internet, and itineraries that actually happen. I am the one building these walls. I am the problem.
Therefore I have decided to go with the flow. The other day, I went to visit the women in a neighbouring village, but rumours had been spread of finding a body, so no one attended the meeting. Luckily, this meeting was set to happen in a school and there were a hundred children around. With the good ‘ol EWB spirit I developed a workshop targeted for school children on hygiene practices on the fly. The children were really excited to interact with me, and I them. We had fun, and I gathered some really interesting information from children about their household’s hygiene status in terms of open defecation. This is an example of where you just have to go with the flow. Like my coach Duncan told me when he dropped me off in my very much loved district Chitipa, always have a plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D, etc, and if these don’t work, plan on the spot. Being able to scale the walls that you bring into the country is a difficult task, but you just need a positive attitude and recognize that perhaps you are the problem. When this light bulb comes on, gleefully get out of the way of progress.
Have a super fantastic day!
Karina
Disclaimer: this blog is from the perspective and opinion of the writer only, and does not represent any other parties that the writer may represent, such as Engineers Without Borders Canada. Thank you.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
What every traveller should do in Africa
To do list for JFs:
Drink coke/fanta from a glass bottle
Learn how to wrap a chitenge (woman’s cloth) around your waist without it falling off within 30 seconds.
Wash yourself without the help of pipes and gravity. I.e. use a bucket of water
Use an outdoor latrine, which involves squatting over a hole in the ground and covering the hole afterwards. (extra points if you use a leaf for toilet paper)
When using public transport to travel from one city or another, gleefully get into the back of that pick-up truck because it may be the only thing available.
Draw water from a well and carry it at least 1km on your head or wheelbarrow. We are talking at least 40L.
Take a picture of a sunset and sunrise.
Dance to authentic local music
Attend church at least once, if not every week. It’s quite the experience.
Brush your teeth with a cup of water
Start your own fire with twigs and a match
Hang a mosquito net
Get ripped off in the market at least once. We all know what that object was, how we paid, and who we bought it from, so don’t be shy.
Laugh out loud with someone who you cannot converse verbally with
Wash your clothes by hand outside in a bucket
Cook Nsima (or in my case Bughali)
Find a child who sees you, starts crying, and runs away because they’ve never seen a “Muzungu” (white person) before.
Order food from a restaurant in the native language of your District.
Bring your bicycle to the mechanic
Run out of units on your phone (tsk tsk)
Harvest food, in my case sweet potatoes, for others, corn. Cook it, eat it, and wash the dishes.
Wash your dishes outside.
Eat with your hands, (some might call this playing with your food)
Watch a game of football. And by football I mean soccer.
Play with a group of at least 15 children at one given time
Go to an internet cafe
Use solar power, because electricity is not available
Swing in an open body of water, in my case lake Malawi (because we know Schistosomiasis is just a myth....right?). As a nurse, I don’t advise.
This list is only a rough draft of some of the things I've been doing, and I hope to compile a much larger one after spending some quality time with my other Jfs at the mid summer retreat!
I have found internet access in town that supports my blog, so stay tuned for more blogs this week! My laptop died and all my blogs are saved on it, so once I have it both electricity and internet, (very unusual) I will post the ones I have written!
Karina
Drink coke/fanta from a glass bottle
Learn how to wrap a chitenge (woman’s cloth) around your waist without it falling off within 30 seconds.
Wash yourself without the help of pipes and gravity. I.e. use a bucket of water
Use an outdoor latrine, which involves squatting over a hole in the ground and covering the hole afterwards. (extra points if you use a leaf for toilet paper)
When using public transport to travel from one city or another, gleefully get into the back of that pick-up truck because it may be the only thing available.
Draw water from a well and carry it at least 1km on your head or wheelbarrow. We are talking at least 40L.
Take a picture of a sunset and sunrise.
Dance to authentic local music
Attend church at least once, if not every week. It’s quite the experience.
Brush your teeth with a cup of water
Start your own fire with twigs and a match
Hang a mosquito net
Get ripped off in the market at least once. We all know what that object was, how we paid, and who we bought it from, so don’t be shy.
Laugh out loud with someone who you cannot converse verbally with
Wash your clothes by hand outside in a bucket
Cook Nsima (or in my case Bughali)
Find a child who sees you, starts crying, and runs away because they’ve never seen a “Muzungu” (white person) before.
Order food from a restaurant in the native language of your District.
Bring your bicycle to the mechanic
Run out of units on your phone (tsk tsk)
Harvest food, in my case sweet potatoes, for others, corn. Cook it, eat it, and wash the dishes.
Wash your dishes outside.
Eat with your hands, (some might call this playing with your food)
Watch a game of football. And by football I mean soccer.
Play with a group of at least 15 children at one given time
Go to an internet cafe
Use solar power, because electricity is not available
Swing in an open body of water, in my case lake Malawi (because we know Schistosomiasis is just a myth....right?). As a nurse, I don’t advise.
This list is only a rough draft of some of the things I've been doing, and I hope to compile a much larger one after spending some quality time with my other Jfs at the mid summer retreat!
I have found internet access in town that supports my blog, so stay tuned for more blogs this week! My laptop died and all my blogs are saved on it, so once I have it both electricity and internet, (very unusual) I will post the ones I have written!
Karina
Thursday, 26 May 2011
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.
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.
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