Story Gathering in Malawi #1

So after much determination, positivity and some tears, I have an internship in Malawi, gathering some ol' stories, writing some ol' childrens' books and illustrating them ol' books. *pause for ecstatic dancing*

In about a month and a half to two months time I will be working just outside of Lilongwe, Malawi at a place called Nature's Gift Permaculture, a community centre that centres around permaculture (ethical food planting, effortless food planting, all-benefiting and non-invasive food planting) (find the link to NGP in the heading on on the side of this blog under "my favourite links" section). My brief (a snippet from the e-mail that Hope Thornton sent me):

"We think that one of the most effective ways of teaching about permaculture is through song, dance, and stories.  Would you be interested in an internship that focuses on education through story telling- perhaps with the final outcome being a children's book (written in Chichewa and English?). You could work with local communities surrounding our area to help you gather data regarding already existing stories and provide space for living and a base for research."

I am going to be the 'leader' of the project, self-directing, self-motivating etc etc etc. Hope has told me that the centre is only about a year old and so they do not have a lot of extra man power to throw around. But they will have in-put in directing me towards specific themes that they want to focus on. However, with me being the director I can use the themes as spring boards and can also focus on things on the side line that may not directly relate to specific projects. 

What I foresee is that I will be doing anthropological field work, theatre/drama-type workshops, art and story work shops and documenting story tellings (pictures and videos) and anything else deemed appropriate. This is why I love love love field work, because while you have an idea of what you would like to look for, you essentially go into the field not knowing what you will find and how you will go about finding it! And it is with this unknowing stand-point that you often find the most amazing finds. Because you do not have a preconceived idea about what you will find,  it is like starting a new life each time you go into the field. It is like you have a new chance to treat this situation in a better way. You spend your life living your life in a certain way, stuck in a rut, or not necessarily stuck but pretty much doing everything in much the same way. Which is great and is what I would like to have. When I have done everything else that I want to do: 
-like shave my hair
-live in an ashram
-learn all the different dances around the world (while travelling to each of these places)
-hike to base camp of Everest
-live in a light house for more than a week
-live on/work as part of a crew of a tug boat
-dance at the Moulin Rouge and then 
-dance with Madam Zingara's or Vaudeville. 

Then I would like to (maybe) buy a house. Maybe rent... But have a place where I can unpack my books, buy my own bed and my own coffee pot where I will make coffee every morning, check my emails, do whatever work I am doing, clean my house every Saturday morning. And maybe paint the walls a colour that I love. 

If at this stage I am still an Anthropologists and I am still going out into the field, then I will still have a new start each time I start a new project. And even if I have routine I will still have pockets of excitement, heady excitement, when I don't know what I will find, and who I will become. Because in field work, you can't but help being changed by the experience, and sometimes in profound ways. You may learn a lesson, experience a shift in beliefs and values or you may change your life's path completely. And all in participating in Anthropological field work. Qualitative field work, where it doesn't matter that you will only have worked with one community in your work (unlike say Sociology or Economics field work where researchers do quantitative study, where amount matters more than the in depth quality) and that it will have taken a few months. What is important is that you have focused on specific examples, areas or situations and therefore we realise that there are no over arching solutions or answers to the problems or questions in the world. And this is why you can work with the same themes in you life work, but each situ is new and fresh - cliche? A fresh start.

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In Malawi, I will be starting a-fresh, in more than one way. Keep connected and you will see how. You can subscribe to my blog, and if you are friends/family with anyone else who has expressed desire to keep updated about what I am doing on my adventures, then please tell them to subscribe to my blog. I would love to hear from you all, so comment and get involved with my stories, adventure and research. 

My progress thus far is this: I have money from my 21st that I will use a small portion off, added to my small saving to pay for immunisations and transport costs to get to Malawi. Hopefully there I will be provided with accommodation (this is still  unknown on my side). But I have applied for several fundings so these will (they will they will they will!) kick into effect a few weeks into my travels. If anyone knows of anyone who has an old digital camera (one with removable lenses, not a little point and shoot), an old one that they are no longer going to use and would like to donate it, do let me know. And if you know of anyone else who has any gear that I might need, gear that they are definitely NOT going to use again, do do do let me know. 

Until "Story Gathering in Malawi #2"

Keep excited

The bee doth work

Eventually, I have a job: all my G'town fans will know about my bakery? Simply Bee Bakery of Bread. My mom has since learnt how to make divine sourdough bread and so we decided to go into business together. We updated the menu (Thank you Leigh), we advertised and then... on Tuesday the 15th of February, Anthony McKay, the Managing Director of the Irene Farms, called me and asked me if he could stock the Irene Dairy Shop with our breads! Oh yessiree, we are playing with the big boys (or women, or people, depending on your view of gender related issues in the work place) ;)

So we delivered our first batch yesterday, 18th February. I baked 72 breadsticks, a feat of note, if I do say so. My mom clocked 11 sourdough loaves. Anthony wanted 6 each of white sourdough, wholemeal, rye and pecan nut and date. That would have been an astonishing 24 loaves! Astonishing! But we couldn't do so many on such short notice, so we did as many as we could. It was a mind-boggling blur of messed flour on the floor, piles of rising bread, hot ovens, cooling bread and general excitement all round. We have also decided on new packaging for the bread, thanks to the inspiration of the wonderful of wonders De Oude Bank (really, if you go to Stellenbosch for no other reason, it is to sample Godly wonders of bread, cheese, pesto and honey beer...). That bakery...wow...that's my dream come true... (PS the link to this post takes you to an article of De Oude Bank)

Here endeth my last digression...

So, I have the beginnings of income. And then the rest happened: I got accepted to to a photography course to work on a cruise ship; I got an reply from Wildreness safaris about working for them; I was approached my the owner of a tiny community development/aid organisation in Malawi, asing me if I would be keen to help her (she is a filmmaker) and an old man to document stories and narrative and histories of the people in the little town in Malawi where the organisation is (I can't remember off hand right now). So while the bee doth work, the rest doth try to decide where best to go forward. But the universe always provides and I know that what will happen, will be what must happen. Just got to always keep my eyes on the goal - two years of travelling in Africa.

I have spoken to people, a person, re: travelling, and he suggests working on a serious proposal for the aims of my story gatherering. And Riaan Manser (the dude who cycled around Africa on his bicycle, taking him 2 years) told me, yes I contacted him, he told me, via his PA, that if I decide to do this, to travel around Africa, then I really really really really have to decide: what am I willing to give/give up for this? He told me you have to give it your all, you can't do it half-heartedly. But he says it can be done. You just have to DO it. My new role-model for travelling Africa. Read his book, Around Africa on my Bicycle - it's a bit of a blow-by-blow account of his travels, not fantastically well crafted prose, and quite a guy's guy (it's a 'boys' book, there is no other way to descibe it). But an informative read none-the-less.

SO I am still going to do it. I will, I will, I will.