Photos

You keep some, you loose some. If you go to Lilongwe Kodak shop, you may be given the wrong CD. And then once you have deleted the pictures from you camera you discover that there is music on your picture CD... Is this real or are you dreaming? It has been a long day and maybe you are seeing things... Hope for the best in the morning. Will keep you posted.

Another note on the frog situation...

I met a Lilongwe resident who told me this story:

He was a part of the protests. The people were ready to demonstrate on the 20th of July. But a court interdict suddenly prevented them. They were irritated. The police came on the morning. There were journalists there. Suddenly the police decided to start man-handling the media. The people became restless. The police (stupidly) fired tear gas into the crowd. This, according to Dagrous, was a big mistake. The crowds easily over-powered the police. The crowds were cross with the government, therefore any government building or car was burnt (so there was burning). This apparently happened only in the townships - the government owned shops, PTC, and parked (due to no fuel) cars were torched. Thank goodness there was no petrol or diesl in the cars. Could have been chaotic if explosions were also reported!

Also, now the people were cross with the police. And the police were driving around. And then their cars would run out of petrol, right in front of the crowds and that would frustrate the police because they were easy targets for the crowds and so more violence occurred.

On the second day they police were better prepared.

However, it was some of the police who were showing the crowds which cars to burn and generally enticing them in anti-government riots.

Dargous, my informant, tells me that he is a little worried about the 17th of April, the date the demonstrators have given tot he government to sort their issues. The police will be better prepared and the people maybe more angry. In fact, he thinks that now the Malawi has been given a taste of what they can do, these types of demonstrations will continue until Bingu is out of office, in 2014. You see, Malawians (he tells me) are not scared of dictators. The president before Bingu was one. And now people have seen that they can oppose Bingu.

But he also laughs and assures me this will not be like Libya.

He says the president just uses big, difficult and intimidatory language and is unlikely to carry it out. Unlikely, but we admit a small possibility exists.

There is no strong opposition part in Malawi, it is the civil society that has taken on that role. It was the civil society that brought Bingu to power and they have now turned on him with as much power.

It's just unfortunate that the president thinks that he knows everything because he worked for the World Bank. He wont take advice...

Interesting fact: did you know that he went into exile in about 1994, exile in Zim. Him and Bob are good mates because of this. You see, the president before Bingu (unsure of his name - always a he that is a dictator, never a she...) made it mandatory that all carry a party card and the Jehovah's Witnesses refused. And they were hunted for it.

So that's the story from a well informed (worked in government, tourism, teaching, and is now an independent consultant) Lilongwe citizen.

Viva!

Don't throw the frog out with the bath water

The streets of Lilongwe were earily quiet. We drove down the main streets at 6.30 pm and there was no one about. No restaurants were open. We had run out of a lot of our food.

Three days later, I went back to the streets of Lilongwe. And they were as busy, hot, dustly, invasive and normal as they had been before the "riots".

I have put riots in inverted commas becasue they were definitely not as the media portrayed them to be. The looting, many locals believe, were just a few opportunists looking at getting some free things. The burnt out, flame gutted buildings? Well both Game and Shoprite, two of the reported burnt buildings were still clean and filled with good when I went to buy a tent, three days after the demonstations. Either something (renovations) works suprisingly swiftly in Malawi. More likely, no such burning happened.

The fires raging on the side of the road? True, there were probably fires. But outsiders don't understand. One local said, "it's the dry season. We burn our dry sh**". Meaning that dry leaves and other garden material is quite openly burnt on the side of the road. In fact, this morning, almost a week later, I saw fires on the side of the road... of piles of leaves gardeners had just raked up.

That these demonstations are akin to Libya and the Middle East up-risings? Please excuse me, and all the locals and neighbouring country peoples I have spoken to, for laughing out loud. Like the Middle East??? Media people, it really isn't. Malawi doesn't have the money to mobilise it's forces so much. There is no gold, or oil or other valuable resources that greedy outside forces want to get their hands on (and therefore interfere).

The president knows he is in trouble. Malawians aren't happy. Maybe, before these demonstations are likened to the Middle East uprisings, let us wait until the deadline given to the government (sometime in August) to sort their issues. Maybe then it might be worthy of being likened to Libya. But I hightly doubt it.

So the media, don't throw the baby out with the bath water - this isn't the end of normal life in Malawi.


The frog you say? Well, there was a frog in the tub of water in the kitchen at Nature's Gift Permaculture - gave us all a fight at 6am in the morning!

A wheelbarrow for NGP - a fundraising plea

Nature's Gift Permaculture is a centre (on the farm of Nature's Gift, Lilongwe, Malawi) that provides "training and education through demonstration with the goal of achieving community based food and nutrition security" (http://www.naturesgiftpermaculture.org/)

I have been working on the farm for the last 3 and a half weeks. Here is a bit of a background on the place:

The residential areas are converted horse stables made from fired mud bricks and thatch, wich keeps the place well ventlated.



Our water comes from a borewhole that is pumped up using solar power. The centre is based around the principles of permaculture. On their website, the centre states that "Permaculture systems are ecologically harmonious, efficient and productive."

In this way, the food that is grown here is grown with as little effort as needed to receive maximun results. A nutritionist that regularly works here calls this type of food farming "low-imput, high-yeild farming". If you look at the previous post the principles of permaculture are written there.

We have a (fantastic) composting toilet!






No smell, no flies, no sickness, just wonderfully healthy soil all around!

The biggest project that NGP is undertaking now is to grow jatropha (I think that is how you spell it). Jatropha is a fuel replacement. Growing the seeds and processing them accordinly will yeild good (maybe even better but definitely more sustainable) fuel. In malawi now there is a fuel shortage. This is mainly due to the fact that there is no forex in the country (hence the demonstations - a post on this to come). However, realistically, we have few years left of fuel and we need to start making a plan, fast. Ironically, eventhough we have no fuel here to to mismanagament of funds, in a way Malawi is also better off - the country is getting a headstart at preparing themselves for when there really is no more fuel. Out come the bicycle taxis and lift sharing etc etc etc.

Malawi is lucky to have a place like NGP. Infact, Eston Mgala, the big go-to man on anything to do with permaculture, and who is also the community outreach coordinator for the centre, says that his goal is to make Malawi a permaculture country. He says Malawi is small enough to not e daunted my the hugeness of the project. He is going to the International Permaculture Conference in Jordan later this year, and when he returns he is going to present, to the Malawian government, permaculture as the model for sustainable development (real sustainable development, says Eston) in the country.

The centre is only a years and a half old. Their funding is not expansive, and things are sometimes a bit tight. Also, the centre is not starting tree propogation and the commercial garden is being revemped in order to grow and sell a larger variety of vegetables and fruits. Becasue there is so much happening, the one and only wheelbarrow that the centre owns if often needed in more than one place. A new wheelbarrow costs 14 000 kwacha, which is about R650. Nothing really, but when everthing is expensive in Malawi and the centre has other more pressing needs for their money, they right now cannot afford to but another wheelbarrow.

And so I am asking all those who can spare R50, R100, even R30, to please get in contact with me and I will give you banking details (my banking details because I want to get all the money together and then suprise the centre with the full amount in one go - obviously acreditted to you all).

I really hope that you can all, in some way, help out with getting the centre a wheelbarrow.



Kelvin (and I) say Zikomo kwambiri - thank you very much!

this is what permaculture is...




and some more...



this is my best friend in malawi, kelvin, the most adored and sweetest baby i have ever met



lake malawi, at sunset, with a fish eagle catching a fish



the commercial garden at nature's gift permaculture



love and light x

Sweet potato frutali

Last week thursday i learnt how to make groundnut flour.

You see i have kind of been assigned to work with the food and nutrition team at nature's gift permaculture. so i went for my first lesson and learnt sweet potato frutali. before you all start shouting for the recipe, hold on, delay your gratification, listen to the story and then you will get the recipe.

So it began with the entry request, "Odi!" followed by a, "yes come in". Odi is the Malawian equivalent of hello, knock knock, can i come in.

Inside was Carol and her sister-in-law, Delleah. The fire was already boiling, the sweet potatoes already softening, the courtyard a general smokey tinged.

I asked what i could do, and i was told that i could start making the groundnut flour. I was given a wooden pestle and mortar and about 500g of raw peanuts. Delleah showed me briefly how to go about pounding the nuts in the pestle.

I think the ladies laughed briefly inside, as i slowly started crushing the nuts. After a while Delleah took the pestle from me and shook the not yet smooth flour out. Into a flat bottomed bowl they went and she began shaking and separating the fine powder from the large bits. she put the large bits back into the pestle. and then she repeated this twice or three times again to get only the flour out. This she put into another bowl and i continued pounding.

After a while again, without a word, Delleah took over from me, saying something a little while later that i must be getting tired. this time i did the sifting. "But you can do it", carol exclaimed and patted me on the back.

A while later, again without word, Carol took over from Delleah, also something about getting tired.

And so we shared the process of making lunch. No one got tired, we all made the flour.

we chatted while we worked. I learnt that her son had not actually been born with malaria but had contracted it a few days after he was born because in the hospital they slept without a mosquito net. Her son got something like 17 injections in the first few days of his life.

I also learnt that in all her life in malawi, she had never been to the lake.

i was going to the lake over the weekend.

I learnt that Delleah was working at Escom (yes, also electricity suppliers) and studying Human Resources. And that she was 24 (my age) and had amZING dress sense.

Then we actually started making the frutali.

I tried to do some stirring but the smoke blew into my eyes so fiercely that i had to give it back to carol. she said i was lucky, that is smoke blows onto you, the "elders of her village" would tell the children that it meant they were lucky. she didnt seem to believe it. i got a tingling in my tummy. i hope it is true.

i was sent to make the salad dressing. it was okay, nothing worth mentioning. (however, the salad dressing that i made today - baby, it was a killer!)

carol asked me if i was happy here, and if i was that i should stay here longer than three months, many 6 months, or a year. my gut twisted and renched. i felt so guilty, because i was planning on "resigning" the next day. (which i have - which means i am leaving in a week to travel up north and to stay in nkata bay for a while).

then i was made to learn how to dish up the meal. well, i did the salad. carol dolled out the sweet potato and the soup.

and finally here is the recipe:

Sweet Potato Frutali

- sweet potato (however much you want to make for however many people)
- raw groundnuts (peanuts), about 500g for 12 people (adjust accordingly)
- a good, strong pestle and mortar
- salt and pepper
- water (4 or 5 litres for 12 people, adjust accordingly)
- leeks, as many as you would like

1. start with groundnuts. take a few handfuls and put into pestle. Begin pounding the groundnuts so that they break up. The nuts will not become smooth after one round. Pour the semi-pounded nuts into a container and begin sifting through, picking out the large bits. This is done in a flat dish: shake the contents and the large pieces with jump to the top. Repeat this exercise until what remains is a smooth flour consistency, like maize meal or wholemeal flour. Return large pieces to the pestle and repeat the pounding and the sieving until there are no more large pieces. Do this with all the ground nuts. Set aside an hour at first to make the groundnut flour. The more skilled you become, the quicker it will get.

2. In the mean time cook the sweet potatoes (with a little bit of salt is desired).

3. Once you have your groundnut flour, get the water boiling on the stove or fire and add the flour, stirring continuously to avoid clumping and to make a smooth paste. Cook the flour. It will thicken to the consistency of maize meal porridge (in other words a thick runny consistency, like a soup), the type you eat for breakfast with milk and sugar). Therefore adjust water/flour consistency accordingly) Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. A minute or two before serving slice in leeks.

5. Serve hot groundnut soup over still warm sweet potatoes.



And then the next day i resigned and i went to tell carol. while all the others who i told left my explanation at "this isnt the right place for me now, i have personal things to deal with and that i am not in the right space to do the project", made me sit down and tell her why. and so on friday afternoon i sat at her house again, cried a little at leaving her. and i understood what i had just read in a book. that love is about extending yourself to a person, with the sole intention of helping that person to improve themselves spiritually. it felt okay to tell carol all i had been thinking. and she didnt try and convince me otherwise (except for a bit at the beginning), she just understood.

And that was just by making an effort to learn how to cook sweet potato frutali.



PS - please excuse the typos and small letters, typing on a bit of a broken computer!

A Return to the Kitchen

Let us suppose that in order to be a liberated woman, you need to renounce skirts, children and home life, and instead embrace office jobs, suits and power positions.

Now let us suppose that in order to empower yourself, in whatever position you find yourself in, you take the power to choose what will liberate yourself, how you will liberate yourself and choose to do what makes you happy and not what is perceived as the 'right' position.

Meet Julia*. She is a graduate of a good Malawian boarding school and of an auto-electrical college. However, she has chosen to learn to cook good, balance, nutritious foods; home grown organic foods, and make people aware of what they eat.

About a year and a half ago, Julia and her husband did the Permaculture Design Certificate and have since moved to Nature's Gift Permaculture farm to continue learning about a sustainable way to grow food, cook food, and live. She now over-sees the Food and Nutrition team on the farm.

The farm employs a number of permanent gardeners and Monday to Friday, Julia cooks or oversees the cooking of lunch for the gardeners, the management team and the volunteers and interns that work on the farm.

The emphasis on the meals is that most, if not all, of the food eaten is grown on the farm. The lunches form part of an ongoing demonstration that people can be completely self-sufficient in feeding themselves. The centre wants to show that sustainable grown food can not only ensure food security but also nutrition security.

The permanent permaculture residents on the farm say the same thing, you can have food security but you also need to have nutrition security is you want to have a healthy country. If you only eat maize, you will become malnourished. Therefore, you have to have a country acknowledges its richness is food resources and is therefore will nourished.

According to management and other workers on the farm, Julia takes huge pride in her garden, as much pride it seems as a person might take in their first big pay cheque or their doctorate degree from a prestigious university.

She learnt to cook from her mother. But she also used her taste sense. In this way she learnt to cook food that she felt like, that seemed like a nice taste combination and that were what she liked (at the time anyway).

Julia has one son, Kevin, and he was born with malaria. But with proper medication and most importantly proper nutrition he is now the fattest, brightest, bouncy-est baby I have seen in a long time. He rarely cries, even now when he is teething.

Just goes to show the importance of balanced, healthy food!