Preschool Teacher Training Day II

A long day is over...

Along with 4 other volunteers, we just finished March Preschool Teacher Training Day.

For total, 45 teachers representing 25 preschools (out of 27 that were invited) participated in it.

This month, we covered the following topic:

• Effects on preschool education (guest speaker: primary school headmaster in the area)
• HIV/AIDS and healthy living
• Hygiene: simple hand wash equipment-making
• Homemade play ground
• Compost and organic farming
• Development of 5 senses
• Song sharing
• Coloring sheet making

Teacher Training Day started thanks to the donation by Finish government. Each month, DIs (Development Instructors = volunteers) organize this event for the preschool teachers who are chosen by their village heads. Almost all of them did NOT complete their primary education. So, you can imagine how challenging it would be for them to teach a variety of subjects and/or activities to the children. We have a lot of work to do to improve their teaching skills.

We do everything from making budgets, sending invitation letters, finding cooks, doing shopping, setting up the training place, preparing and presenting workshops, serving food, dish washing, to cleaning afterwords, except for the actual cooking and translating everything into Chichewa. At the end of the day, we were all exhausted but it gives us a deep sense of fulfillment.

With the budget, we were able to provide a pack of 12 color pencils, a pencil sharpener, 6 bar soaps, and 1 kg of soy beans for each school, in exchange of not buying soda and pens for the participating teachers, which made them little upset. I found it every interesting.

After November, there will be no more funding from Finland. I wonder how would these teachers react if we don't provide them with breakfast and lunch...

I need to get my own income generation activities (IGAs) going.

Azungu, give me MY money!

I wonder how many times I hear little kids say "Azungu (white people including Asians), give me MY money!" everyday... Even 2-year-old's can say this phrase and sadly, it's the ONLY English they seem to know.

Malawi has developmental aids from all the major humanitarian organizations--UN, UNICEF, Save the Children, USAID, SIDA, and so many more. Indeed, it's one of the biggest "aided" countries in Africa. And yet, the problem of poverty, hunger, and diseases still remains here. But WHY?


It's been almost 2 months since I started volunteer work in Malawi. Through everyday interactions with village people, educated teachers and international volunteers, I came to few conclusions in response to my own question.

• Children from uneducated parents will become equally uneducated and will raise more uneducated kids.


• Poor people rely so much on foreign aids and they are passively waiting to be saved. In other words, they don't actively work for things that can be given by somewhere else.


• Women in villages are very suppressed and have no decision making power.

Let me explain these points.

- Education is NOT free in Malawi and many children don't finish schooling (80% don't have high school degree). When you face "survival" and "ensuring food for the day," education does not become your priority, certainly for those who haven't enjoyed and experienced the benefits of education. I cannot remember how many people who approached me to help them with their children's school fee by now. I would love to help them as I know how much education means for their future but if I start supporting one, then I will have to do the same for everyone. And I don't have enough money for that. Obviously, no education means no decent job. And no decent job means no money. Why can't the government make the public education free for all?

- I heard another volunteer from my organization say one of the communities she worked with did not want to build a preschool for their children (provided that she managed to get all the materials donated). The reason was simple: "Oxfam (different NGO) came to other village and built a beautiful preschool. Why do we have to work if they can do it for us?" Another preschool I worked with requested if they could get soy flour instead of maize flour because it "tasted" better. To begin with, the NGO I work with is focusing on sustainable development and community involvement. We don't do relief work of just giving out of materials. Malawi don't need relief work any longer. It's sad to say this but good intention to help the poor can be misinterpreted and even makes them become spoiled. In a way, giving out things can dis-empower people in that they don't learn what they can actually do by themselves.

- In villages in Malawi, if a child gets sick, the mother has no authority to decide to take him/her to hospital. She would always have to ask permission from her husband or someone from his family. Another example: 14+% of Malawian population of which 60+% are women, are infected by HIV. And the transmission is almost always through the male partner as polygamy is openly allowed and practiced. I cannot articulate well but I truly believe in empowerment of women to make the society and world better. When the voices of mothers and women are reflected in society, particularly in politics, I am confident that their society will experience a big difference. Malawi is far from that.


Anyways, these are just my personal opinions about social problems in Malawi. What you might call "food for thoughts" for you. Well, I hope you can take sometime to think about it.

4th Day without electricity & running water

Blackout and thus no running water or Internet is an everyday event for my Malawian village life. Fortunately, however, I usually get them back within a day or two.

Since I came to Malawi in February, there have been 3 occasions including this time, where blackout lasted more than 3 days. (max was a whole one week)

Blackout and no running water is not that bad to be honest, except for not being able to charge my cellphone and carrying a heavy bucket full of water on top of my head so many times for cooking, flashing toilet, bucket-showering, and everything else. But it did make me realize how dependent I am on those "luxuries" and how little we actually need to survive.

So, here I am, being desperate and coming all the way to town just to use Internet and charge my phone. (I've been missing important calls from NGOs and donors!!)

You just need to take little more time in doing everything... and it's really not that bad.

And of course, when there is no light or Internet, I go to bed at 8pm. Healthy life it is...

マラウィの村生活では、停電と、それに伴う水道とインターネットの切断は、日常茶飯事。いつも大体その日のうちに修復されて元通りになるからまだありがたい。2月にマラウィに来て以来、今までに3回この停電が3日以上続くことがあった。一番長かったのは丸々一週間。

電気と水道無しの生活は正直思ったより大変じゃない。唯一不便なのは、携帯の電源が切れて外の世界から隔離されるのと、料理や、トイレ、バケツシャワーのために、重いバケツ一杯の水をパンプから運ばなきゃいけないこと。ここで生活していく中で、生きてくために必要なものって本当に少ないんだなって思った。と同時に、携帯や何やらってどうしても要らないけど便利なものにどれだけ頼って生きてきたかって事に気づかされた気がする。

っていうのも、たった5日間、メールのチェックと携帯の充電が待ちきれなくて村から苦労して町までやってきてしまった。携帯はNGOや他の大事な連絡をとるのに必要不可欠だったけど、インターネットへの依存には怖いものがある。

電気と水道無しの生活は、単に効率が悪いだけ。何するにも普段より少し時間がかかっちゃうだけ。たいした事じゃないんだ。心に余裕のある人にはなんてことないんだろな。それに電気とインターネットがないと就寝8時。健康にも良し！そんな生活もなかなか楽しいかも。

Donation from Gift of the Givers Foundation

After my 4th visit, I was able to get generous donation from Gift of the Givers Foundation in Blantyre, Malawi. Mr. Sunka, the district manager promised to provide 120 bottles of nutritional supplement products per month for the period of 3 months, in addition to 15 bags of Farmer's Pack (2kg of maize seeds, 2kg of nuts seeds, 5kg x 2 fertilizer for both seeds).

Starting with preschools with a strong and committed committee members, I began distributing the Farmer's Packs. This 2 kg of maize seeds with a good quality fertilizer will provide 6 bags of maize flour, enough to sustain food (maize porridge) for a preschool for one whole year. I had each committee to agree to buy new seeds and fertilizer out of the nuts production profit for the following year.

I can only wish for the committee to take good care of the garden and enough rain to fall.

At the next Teacher Training Day, I will distribute the nutritional supplement to all preschools.

(Photo: Committee chairperson and a teacher at True Faith preschool holding the Farmer's Pack & Shakie, my supervisor/translator)

Soy beans for Positive Living Club

Every Monday and Wednesday afternoon, I go visit Positive Living Club (group of people who are infected by HIV). Some of them are mothers of babies. Others lost their partner, family members, and/or friends from AIDS. Many of them are young, seemingly healthy-looking people. I haven't gotten to know each and every one of them as yet because most of them don't speak English, but I want to become their friend who can be there to support them.

Anyways, I contacted some soy beans companies back home in Japan and was able to get Non-genetically-modified soy beans donated by Sanko-Shokuhin. This company and persons in charge of communicating with me were incredibly supportive and generous. And their precious beans from Japan just arrived yesterday so I went to deliver them to PLC members this afternoon.

It was so nice to see PLC members with bright smiles. We decided to plant the seeds in the beginning of April after rain season. I really hope these seeds will grow strong and contribute to better nutrition as well as their income generation.

Drama Festival

Teacher Training College (TTC) working with local community groups, TTC students and staff, and all the volunteers in the area held the first Drama Festival yesterday. The theme was "HIV/AIDS" (more than 14% of the Malawian population are living with HIV and the accurate % should be higher as so many people haven't been tested). Over 200 people from the community participated in it by presenting skits, comedies, chorus, and dances based on the theme. Many of these participants are HIV+.


Everything was done in local language Chichewa. Although I did not fully understand what was going on, it was just so encouraging and inspiring to see and feel their enthusiasm to face and fight against the epidemic.


I will post the pictures soon!


Just FYI: HIV/AIDS are prevalent in Malawi for many reasons--practice of polygamy, lack of information and education about HIV/AIDS (many dropouts from primary schools due to poverty), practice of prostitution for income, and rejection of contraception by churches.
Malawian government provides free medication for people with HIV but unfortunately, many people live a short life due to malnutrition.

Greetings from Warm Heart of Africa!

Muli bwanji once? (How are you everyone?)

At last, lazy Mitsue is starting to share her volunteer experiences in Malawi with her friends and family after one and 1/2 month...

With limited creativity and English proficiency, I will try my best to share what I see, smell, eat, hear, feel, and DO! Well, I hope my experiences will give you some inspirations and new perspectives into your life.

For those who have no idea why on earth I am in Malawi and what I am doing, let me give you a brief introduction.

As part of a volunteer program run by NGO called Humana People to People, I am doing volunteer work in a poor rural area in Malawi called Chilangoma until February 2009.

The aim of my main project is to improve overall quality of 40 pre-schools in the area. Preschools are not supported by Malawian government, which makes villages or communities become responsible for sustaining their own preschool with no fund. What I do mainly is to do everything I can to help each preschool ensure food for children, get more educational supplies, build/repair school building, introduce and promote income generation activities, and supervise teachers for teaching skills among others.

I also work with people with HIV and young Malawians who will soon become primary school teachers in rural areas.

For now, I am living in a comfortable room with electricity and running water most of the time. We have blackouts and water gets cut off all the time, but the villagers around in the area have neither of them.

Alright, enough for intro. From next time, I will write the details :)

Until then, Tionana!!

Mitsue