Lessons taught and lesson learnt

Malawi has continually surprised me. This past Monday, I came into the office uncertain whether we would be able to carry out all of our school trainings during the following days, as we had hoped. After meeting the second of the two District Education Managers (DEM) on Monday, it was unclear whether we would be approved for doing school trainings in Kamphinda and Kaliwawala. He was extremely excited about having someone from Sweden in his office, as he had been to a one month conference in Lund several years ago. Regardless, he was still hesitant to approve. He loved Sweden, and we agreed that it was a bit too cold there. We also might have agreed that there is a bit of a smile shortage in Sweden, relative to Malawi.

In any case, we didn’t hear back from him until Wednesday, when he finally agreed to let us go to the two schools in his district. We learned later that the reason for his hesitation was that an organization a few years ago had visited the same schools and accidentally given out condoms to hundreds of nine year-olds. Needless to say, the parents and school system were not too thrilled. It seems that every time I think something might not work out because of the complicated (and slow) bureaucracy in Malawi, everything comes together at the last minute. Needless to say, everyone in LUPPEN is used to this process, and probably thinks I’m overly concerned and stressed every time there is uncertainty. It is continually a good lesson in patience and flexibility.

All in all, the school trainings were a success!  We went to four different schools, Mbuka in Katantha, Msambeta in Area 44, Liwera in Kaliwawala, and Katola in Kamphinda. Every training involved around 160 pupils, all of which seemed excited to have LUPPEN there. The class participation was fantastic – despite the lessons being in Chichewa that I couldn’t understand, it was apparent that many of the children were eager to answer questions and jumped at the opportunity to be involved in the lesson. It was almost as if the entire LUPPEN group were tenured teachers, making the teaching seem so natural and fluid. One of the highlights of the lessons was a song that the LUPPEN group had written, which I mentioned in my last post. Every time LUPPEN finished singing, the students were ecstatic, and seemed to be even more engaged with the lessons. We also used a series of poster-sized drawings that Matilda’s friend Alexander had drawn, which depicted different scenarios relating to land rights and human rights. The students loved the pictures, and they proved to be a great way to cultivate discussion and engage the students.  It certainly seemed like a worthwhile activity, in that the students, headmasters, and everyone else involved seemed to benefit from it. Also, it was extremely rewarding working with a group like LUPPEN, who bring so much energy to everything they do.

Apart from work, I’m thoroughly enjoying life here in Malawi. In fact, I am a bit concerned about how quickly time is passing. It seems that living here brings you closer to life, closer to a feeling of vitality that I somehow think is partly absent in Sweden. The inequality and the poverty are very difficult, and I am constantly reminded how difficult some of the challenges are here. Malawi is a country that has so much to offer, and it is heartbreaking that so many people live is such a degree of poverty.

Until next time!

Pitani bwino! (Goodbye!)