SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009
All's well that ends well
Bingu has been re-elected in what appears to have been a free and mostly fair election, we’ve gotten the word out to all 57 scholarship recipients for term 3 and the craft shop remodeling is completed. We couldn’t have done it without your encouragement and support, and we’re deeply grateful. Together, we’ve made a difference in the lives of many here.
Tomorrow, we start our journey south to Lilongwe and soon we’ll be winging our way homeward. We hope we get a chance to see all of you over the summer. Photos with this post include a different angle on the remodeled shop and the faces of some of the term 3 scholarship students.
In gratitude,
Steve and Mary
TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009
Turning Point
It is Tuesday, May 19th as I write this, Mary Ellen’s birthday and
election day in Malawi. For Malawians, it is a crucial turning point
as they vote for local representatives (Ministers of Parliament) and
for a president to lead them for the next five years. The country
emerged from one-party rule in 1994 and since that time, democracy has
gained a foothold here.
But it’s a fragile thing, and one of the two leading candidates for
president is a throwback to the worst abuses and repression of the
late Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s regime. Banda’s rule spanned four
decades beginning with Malawi’s break from colonial rule in 1964 and
became increasingly despotic in the fashion of Zimbabwe’s Robert
Mugabe. By 1990, he was 91 years old and though still president in
name, John Tembo had positioned himself to succeed Banda.
Tembo was a shadowy figure during the Banda years and the de facto
ruler from 1990 on. While a member of Parliament in the early years
of independence, he used his position to build a personal fortune. In
1992, he placed the country’s Catholic bishops under house arrest
after they wrote a pastoral letter critical of the abuses of power of
the Banda regime. In May of that year, police shot and killed 4o
people in the capital city of Lilongwe at the height of protests
against the government. In October of the same year, a prominent
government opponent and founder of the Malawi Congress Party died in
prison after being held since 1981.
Unfortunately for Tembo, the world was watching and by early 1993, he
conceded to his opponents and allowed a referendum on multi-party
elections to take place. Malawians voted for change and in 1994 held
their first multi-party presidential election. In 1995, Tembo was
tried (and acquitted) for the murder of three cabinet ministers and an
MP who died in a suspicious car accident back in 1983. Fast forward
to 2009 and Tembo is making a run for the presidency against the
incumbent Bingu Mutharika who has presided over economic growth of
almost 9% this past year.
So Malawians face a critical choice today. And while it seems
unlikely that they would vote to return Tembo and his thuggish ways to
power, he has been aided by the endorsement of his once chief rival
and former two-term president (1994 - 2004) Bakili Maluzi. Maluzi’s
support makes Tembo’s challenge viable, especially in the more
populated south, and here in the north where Mutharika enjoys
overwhelming support, people are holding their collective breath.
Tembo has publicly said that Malawians had better pray that he doesn’t
seek revenge if he loses, so some expect a protracted fight after the
polls close if the votes are slow to be counted and the results look
close. Worst possible case scenarios include violent clashes between
Mutharika and Tembo supporters in the urban areas and an eventual
power-sharing arrangement ala Kenya and Zimbabwe. If you’re
interested in the outcome, Google the BBC who usually pay closer
attention to Malawian affairs than their U.S. counterparts.
Against this backdrop, Mary and I are finishing our tasks here and
beginning a round of goodbyes. My last day with 102 first-graders
will be this Friday and it will be a bittersweet goodbye. The days
have been exhausting, but the kids are so much fun. I’ve been
scrambling to get the word out to our 50+ recipients of term 3
scholarships. Since all are away at school, that has required some
logistical planning and long hikes down the Goroti’s twenty bends and
up and down the M1 highway.
Mary has been finishing up the craft/coffee/tea/cold drink shop
remodeling job and it is looking darn cute. The word is out all over
the greater area and we expect it to be a stable source of income for
orphan care once we get the final okay from the Head of Station who
returns from a three-month course in South Africa in early June.
Our time here has been profound and deeply felt for both of us, and
we’re already planning our return trip. At the same time, we’re very
excited about seeing friends and family and returning to our little
place in the woods. We’re grateful for the opportunity we’ve had and
looking forward to sharing our experiences in person with you.
Photos with this post include life in the standard 1 (first grade)
classroom and long lines at the local polling place (the primary school)
in the early morning on election day.
Our best to each of you,
Steve
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2009
A chorus of a thousand roosters
As we should have expected, we’ve been besieged with
requests for help with school fees this first week and a half of the
new term. As word spread of the help we provided to 57 students, we
heard from many others, some with compelling stories and others just
looking for some breathing room. Unfortunately, with our April 10th
deadline, decisions had been made for terms 2 and 3 and all available
funds had been allocated.
That is until Twin Cities resident Rick Naymark stepped forward with a
generous donation that will allow us to extend our reach for this term
and the next. So we’re back to the business of reading through the
pleas for help and making a new list. It is always challenging
sifting through all the requests and prioritizing the need. We rely
in part on the recommendations of headmasters and the local social
service agency, Primary Health Care. But some fall through the cracks
and must be evaluated solely on the basis of their words to us.
And we continually remind ourselves that even if mistakes are made,
and they inevitably will be, everyone is struggling with making ends
meet here. Some, those who have a steady income, look relatively
affluent from the outside. When you dig a little deeper, you might
find that they’re caring for relatives’ children or orphans in their
extended family. But for most, income is an intermittent thing,
consisting of whatever they can make doing piecework or selling garden
vegetables. Most work incredibly hard day-in and day-out just to
survive.
Still, there is a lot of joy to be found in this little village.
Football (soccer) games always draw a big crowd of enthusiastic fans
as outlying villages travel to the main lift here in the village for
games on Sunday afternoon or in the early evening. With no tv or
video games, children engage in all kinds of imaginative outdoor play
until darkness sends them inside, and it’s fun to stop, look and
listen as you pass groups of them along the pathways that traverse the
village.
Work continues on the craft/coffee/tea/cold drink shop that will
benefit orphan care. Many local folks poke their heads in the doorway
each afternoon for a peek at the progress. The room, measuring
approximately 18’ x 24’, has been transformed from a cluttered, dusty,
dingy space to a bright, welcoming environment, fulfilling the vision
that Mary and Una had. (Before and after photos accompany this post.)
Many have expressed gratitude about having an appealing, inviting space
to gather. All indications are that it will be a great success as an ongoing
fundraising venue.
So it goes here. Sometimes, in the early light out on the front
porch, looking out across Lake Malawi in the distance, I take a step
back and revel in the kaleidascope of color and shape all around. I
listen to the cacophony of sound drifting past, a rooster crowing in
the distance, children laughing, goats bleating, an unidentified bird
singing a sweet song, and it is as if I’m experiencing the place again
for the first time. The wonder returns and I remind myself that I’m
in Africa, deep in the warm heart, and though I’m thousands of miles
from northern Wisconsin, I feel quite at home for now.
Hope all is well in your home and with your loved ones.
Warm regards,
Steve
SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2009
Back in Livingstonia
This week has been spent tracking down our scholarship recipients and moving the coffee/tea/craft shop proposal for orphan care forward. Finding the 55 scholarship recipients and their families and giving them the good news has been a rewarding experience as you might guess. Your gifts have brought great happiness to the plateau and beyond. We have stressed that Straight to the Heart Bursary represents the combined contributions of many from faraway places called Wisconsin and Minnesota in the U.S.A.
Mary has been busily accumulating supplies for the coffee/tea/craft shop and making arrangements to have the space thoroughly cleaned and painted. We had one false start this week as the painters arrived late, worked for a short time while making quite a mess, and then left early, apparently convinced that the job was more than they could handle. But word travels fast here, and by the next morning a more able, experienced painter had arrived on the scene and offered up his services, and things were soon back on track.
On Saturday, I climbed Chombe Mountain with two young Malawian friends. The seven-hour round trip included two hours spent dangling our feet over the rock cliff face at the top, enraptured by the azure-blue lake thousands of feet below and the meandering coastline running north to the Chilumba peninsula and beyond. A stiff breeze kept us comfortably cool despite the strong midday sun, and a family of velvet monkeys provided additional entertainment. Chombe - not to be missed on your next trip to Malawi.
Here’s hoping that your lettuce, snow peas and spinach will soon be poking their heads through the soil and your crocuses and daffodils are in full bloom.
FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2009
Wild Africa
We're back in Lilongwe after four amazing days in Zambia. Tomorrow morning we go to the bank to begin disbursing scholarship funds. We'll be awarding scholarships to 54 students, most for the final two terms of this school year, but some for longer as is the case with a few orphan students at Chilumba Secondary who will have the remaining three years of their secondary education paid for courtesy of some generous donors who requested that their contributions be used this way.
That’s the business end of things. But our past three days have been spent at South Luongwa National Park in Zambia, 600+ square miles of unspoiled African bush, soaking up an amazing assortment of sights, sounds and smells in one of the last remaining wild places left on the continent.
Do you believe those lions? We were twenty feet away. That evening on a night drive, we saw a pride of nine devour a zebra in twenty minutes after which the hyenas moved in to lick the bones clean. As you might guess, that stirred up a mix of feelings.
Besides the pictured animals, we saw zebras, monkeys, baboons, hippos, warthogs, crocodiles, an assortment of the most beautiful birds imaginable, a 1000 year-old baobab tree and much more. It was a powerful experience, one we’ll never forget, the realization of our shared childhood dream of seeing these great animals in the wild.
Tomorrow we head back to our relatively tame existence in Livingstonia, a two-day bus trip away. We’ll spend tomorrow night in Mzuzu and with luck, we’ll be back up on the plateau before night falls on Sunday. Sounds like some full-blown spring happening in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Here, the rains have all but quit, and the nights are getting pleasantly cool, down into the low to mid-50’s.
Wishing you well from Malawi,
Mary and Steve
MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2009
Enroute to Zambia
We're back in Lilongwe, where our Malawian adventure began a month and a half ago, enroute to Zambia tomorrow morning. With any luck, we'll see elephants, giraffes, hippos and, fingers crossed here, a lion or two.
Down from the Plateau
There is a lake that runs most of the north-south length of Malawi, filling part of the Great Rift Valley that runs from southern Europe all the way to South Africa. Lake Malawi is as long as Lake Superior and about 50 miles across at its widest point. Unlike Superior, the water is warm, not quite bathwater warm, but warm enough to spend a half hour or even an hour in without chilling down. And on a day like today, with a strong southeasterly breeze, its crystal clear waters breaking in 5 - 6 foot waves make for some of the best bodysurfing imaginable.
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ABOUT ME
- STEVE PEARSON
- I'm a fourth grade teacher at East Central Elementary School in Finlayson, Minnesota. I've been a teacher for 33 years, 28 as a special education teacher and the past 5 at the elementary level. In the spring of 2008, my wife and I visited and worked briefly in Malawi, a small country in southeastern Africa. We returned to Malawi for three months (March - May of 2009) last spring to do volunteer work in the schools and the health care delivery system. We also set up two funds, one to provide scholarships for secondary school students (grades 9 - 12; tuition costs vary from $15 to $90 per term) and another to support the orphan care program which provides staples to extended families who are caring for AIDS orphans. We are returning once more this spring of 2010 and again will be collecting and disbursing funds for both of our projects which are now under the heading Straight to the Heart (Malawi being the Warm Heart of Africa).
