Lunch at the camp

Rob, Matt and I were invited to the house of Papa (top right, orange shirt) to eat lunch. Papa and the guy in the red shirt, Justin took the video class that Matt taught to the group of 10 refugees. Papa lives at the camp with his wife and four children, and amongst other jobs also broadcasts the camp radio station from his house.

Mice on sticks....yummy!

Liwonde National Park

It's not all work, work, work!
Just got back from a lovely weekend in Liwonde, about a four hour drive south of the capital. We stayed overnight at the Mvuu Camp, overlooking the Shire River in a beautiful tent type chalet. We took two safari excursions, one on land and one by boat. Both were wonderful and we got to see dozens of elephants and hippo, some zebra, kudu, water buffalo, crocodiles, wart hogs, sabel, impala, baboon and so many more birds and wildlife I can't remember all their names...
To top it all off was an enormous frog outside my chalet later in the evening...needless to say I didn't stay around long enough to take a picture of that!

Learning how to play the game Bao

Not an easy game to learn!
I sat in the market for about half an hour being very patiently taught by the market stall holder. I did win two games, but I'm pretty sure that had little to do with my expertise!
After some skillful bartering I bought the game from him, and have checked on the internet to find some step by step instructions....phew...otherwise i just spent £10 on a nice wooden box with beans in.

Hiking in the Dezda mountains

Yesterday, we went to Dezda, a small town about an hour and half drive away from Lilongwe to take a hike in the mountains.
We drove for a while up half the mountain on unmade rocky roads and then climbed the rest of the way. Amazed at how lush the vegetation was with lots of fir trees.
It was great to get out of the city and see some scenery, and get some much needed exercise!
Although I felt ashamedly unfit and lazy when I saw groups of women walking down the mountain carrying huge piles of wood on their head, most barefoot and some carrying babies on their backs. Never again will I moan about the walk up Gipsy Hill!
We finished the day off by visiting a place where they make and sell pottery and then sat down in the restaurant to devour a huge piece of well deserved chocolate cake!

Blanket Distribution

On Friday 19th I went with Matt and Jake to distribute blankets to some 120 orphans at a village nearby Dzaleka camp. This is an outreach programme through one of the camps churches, Emmanuel Full Gospel. We went first to collect the blankets and 2 of the refugee pastors, Joshua and Peshu, from the camp .
When we arrived at the village there were lots of children, women and men sitting and waiting infront of some buildings the village uses to teach and feed the orphans in. These children are orphans because their parents have died due to various illnesses or diseases, such as HIV/AIDS or cancer. Pastor Joshua called out the orphans names from the list he had and the children lined up infront of us.
This took quite some time and many of the children were missing. During the wait some small children tried to sneak into the line but were firmly removed!
It felt strange standing there, at this official 'ceremony' of handing out blankets. I was quite apprehensive about taking part and hung back for a while to take some video footage and photos, but the pastors were keen that Jake, Matt and I join in the distribution. I felt very conscious that here was the white man giving and the black man receiving....what sort of message is this??
I was comforted though from seeing the small children walk away with their blankets knowing they would now have something to keep warm at night, as it gets very cold in this area at night...but I questioned whether someone in the village may take the blanket and try to sell it. I don't mean in any way that they are dishonest or selfish, but simply the harsh reality that having money means being able to buy food. What is more important...food or warmth?
What was also difficult was of course there were not enough blankets to give to all the children and afterwards, as photos were being taken I was pulled on by a few children asking to be given one as well, I could only reply, "next time."
But the distribution was a success and it did go very well, the pastors were very pleased and afterwards they proudly showed us the village church that they often preach in.

Before we left the village I became a figure of amusement for some young girls who apparently thought my skin colour was very strange and wanted to touch my arms. I also had a small cut on my hand which was slightly bleeding and they found this fascinating!!

We made it back to the camp and dropped off the two pastors at their office. Next to the office is the tailoring training centre that There Is Hope has funded which I took a look at, and next door there were some students learning how to braid hair using hair extensions. One girl was sitting very patiently having her hair braided, i'm not sure how long she had been there, but she looked pretty fed up with four people pulling her hair in all directions!

Outside, waiting to leave camp we were surrounded by children wanting to shake our hands and share the typical greeting with us..."hello, how are you...i'm fine, how are you?" One small child was clearly very scared by us, crying and screaming, clinging onto a women, he really didn't want us to shake his hand!

On our way back to the city, we stopped at a busy market area to pick up some drinks for the ride home. All sorts of business going on there, small shops, clothes and shoes for sale, all types of foods being cooked and goats and cows hung up, being stripped of their skin and chopped up. Then I witnessed my favourite sight for the week...a man walking across the road carrying a bulls head! It looked freshly cut off and somehow he had made a handle through the skin of the neck for carrying ease. I wonder what he was about to do with that...bulls head soup perhaps, or a new style of handbag??!!

Video class graduation ceremony

Day off!

Wednesday and a day off...what luxury! There was supposed to be a planned demonstration in the city today, it got postponed, but we thought it best to stay home just incase anything kicked off anyway.

I went to the refugee camp again on Monday and had a very worthwhile day. We delivered more chicken feed and then i spent the morning with Innocent chatting with the women about the chicks and the project, and how some of the chicks need to be moved into the other coop as they are getting much bigger. They are very lively chicks and seemed to enjoy pecking at my feet!
I also showed them my ideas about how to keep a record of their finances when they start selling the chicks.
Innocent and I then spent time with one woman from the group, Christine, and listened to her story. Although she was not speaking in my language I could still grasp that this was a painful story to tell. Inno was strongly affected by it and shared some of it with me later on. I feel odd about sharing someone else's personal story on the blog here, so I won't. Christine's strength, courage and perseverance amazes me and I feel humbled by her hope and her huge smile. Photo above is of Christine and her daughter Janet.

I then spent a while walking through the camp with Inno, stopping to talk with people he knows and visiting a few people in their houses. There are endless alleys and hut and houses...I was glad I wasn't alone or I think i would have got totally lost!
He then took me to a place to eat. I had bbq'd goat on skewers and cassava bread. I don't think I will rushing to eat either again! Each mouthful of goat took an age to chew, i'm not sure how much actual meat i digested and there was something which looked like ventricles poking out of each chunk. The cassava bread, a starchy root high in carbs was tasteless and a bit like a uncooked rubbery dumpling the size of a melon. Mmmm, yummy!

Grateful for a having a full stomach, but in pain for a couple of hours while it tried to digest these new foods, Inno and I went to the hall where the video class were having their graduation to commemorate the end of the course. Matt, Rob and the previous intern Katie had taught a video making course to a group of 10 refugees.
It was a lively afternoon, there were a few speeches, one from Inno and another from Matt, we watched some clips from the videos the class had made and listened to some great songs sung by a choir. The men who attended the course were really proud to receive their certificates and have their family and friends congratulate them. After everyone had taken photos of everyone with everyone and then some, we left for home! Photo above is of the class, with Innocent, Rob, Jenn, Matt and I.

Some odd things that take time to get used to here are...not having to open the curtains in the morning and check what the weather is like...its always sunny! Not brushing your teeth with water from the tap...bartering for food in the market, when things cost next to nothing anyway...and this is my favourite so far....men at the side of the road selling mice on sticks - not sure if they are cooked or raw...anyone dare me to try one???!! People sure do know how to make use of everything here...maybe this could be a new business venture back in London...that'd get rid of a few of the mice and rats around!

on that note...I'm off to eat lunch!
loadsa love xxxx

Making cards with the Umoja Association at Dzaleka

Twisungane chicken rearing project at Dzaleka

Walking across bridges in the market

My first week

I can't believe my first week is almost over...life may flow at a different pace in Africa but its still wizzing by.
Here's my story so far....
After a very long, tedious and sleepless flight I arrived in Lilongwe on Sunday lunchtime. My warm welcome back to Africa was spent at the luggage conveyor belt for over an hour hoping to see my suitcase sometime soon, after an while I noticed a billboard advertising phone top up cards, with the slogan "Call South Africa, its probably where your bags are!" But no, my luggage appeared, albeit with broken wheels and I was met by my new house mates, missionaries Jake and Jenn, a young couple from the US, who are working with There Is Hope for 3 years.
We drove to their house, passing scenes that felt familiar...overloaded lorries, women carrying large bundles of wood on their heads, men hanging out at the side of the roads selling all kinds of things – phone cards, fruit, papers, people begging at the car window as we stopped at traffic lights and piles of rubbish on the roadside, burning. The smell as well felt very familiar – there is a particular smell about Africa, I can’t describe it...a mixture of food, fire, sweat, heat, and i don't know what...odd but I like it!
We arrived at the house, where I met the other two guys staying there, Matt, Jakes brother and Rob, his friend. They are both involved with various voluntary jobs while they visit for a few months.
I have had a varied week, working in the office at There Is Hope, learning quickly how the organisation is run and what projects they are involved with at Dzaleka, the refugee camp. Innocent, the director of the org, and his wife Florisa who coordinates work tirelessly, their dedication is amazing to be around.
I have been given a couple of projects to work on, one working with Twisungane, a group of women with HIV/AIDS who have a chicken rearing business in the camp. There Is Hope have made them a chicken coop and are funding the first phase of the business. They have about 300 chicks so far, which they are rearing and when they are big enough will then sell to other refugees and local villages and businesses. I will be working with them to implement a simple way of keeping account of all their financial transactions.
I spent one day this week at Dzaleka, where I met with the ladies and the chicks and to deliver fresh bags of chick feed. The rest of the day I spent with another group, Umoja, an association of disabled refugees making greetings cards that they sell.
The camp is huge...it's like walking into a massive African village, there are no fences, no gates and people are going about their daily business...washing clothes, working in shops, making food...kids playing all over. There is nothing temporary about the camp, there are no white UN tents, but hundreds and hundreds of huts on 'streets', brick buildings, a school, a university and even a football field...and I only saw a small area of it.
There are about 15,000 refugees living there...one of the small refugee camps in Africa...most of the refugees are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burindi, Rawanda, and Ethiopia. During my afternoon spent with the Umoja group I was able to speak with one of the men who coordinates the group...most of the refugees don't speak English so obviously communication is limited. His story of his escape from his home in DRC and why he can't return, I'm sure is one like so many others - He now lives in the camp, with no close family and does not dare return to DRC until the troubles there are over....when or if that happens?
Over the next weeks I will be working more closely with the Twisungane women and a translator has been organised for me, so I will be able to communicate with the women and hear their stories too...I hope I can be strong enough for that.
I also hope to get a clearer picture of size of the camp and how it runs, I hope also to visit with some of the permanent organisations there, such as the UN, the Red Cross and the Jesuit Refugee Service.

The end of my week was spent playing with babies at a crisis nursery not far from where I live, most of the babies are orphans or from families who can't afford to support them. It was wonderful to have some play time and lots of cute baby cuddles!
Friday evening we all went out to a nice restaurant, where I drank some much needed beer!

My body clock has adjusted to African time quickly, up at 7am and exhausted and ready for bed by 10pm at the latest! June to August is winter here...its around 25 degrees so no deadly mosquito bites yet. We have booked a weekend at Liwonde National Park where will be staying at the Mvuu Camp and going on a couple of safari excursions...really looking forward to that.

Ooops, a lizard just ran down my bedroom wall....better go and investigate!!

more soon....x