A Day of Downs and Ups

A Day of Downs and Ups
July 13, 2009

Today was as busy as it gets. We started at Malemia School with our students distributing the ponchos that Deena and others had made. Unfortunately, we had to pull some teachers into a very important meeting on the Chibale Project, and our students were left with fewer teachers. Also during these three days people are registering for another election at the school site, so there is much going and coming on the school grounds. (Because Joyce Banda, the Domasi area member of Parliament, was elected vice-president in the recent election, a special election has to be held. She is the first female to hold such a high elected office!)

Consequently, our students had difficulty controlling hundreds of students in the early grade classrooms, made worse by upper grades pouring in and even children from the community who don’t attend school but hang around. Everyone coped, but it wasn’t easy. They’re learning, reflecting, and evaluating much that has happened here.

In my mad dash from Malemia to the Government School (about 1 ½ miles) to take care of some business there and return to Malemia, I tripped on a rock and went sprawling face first into sand. Scraped elbow and hand, stubbed toe, and a bruise the size of a half dollar (or Malawi kwacha) on my chin. But the fall could have been disastrous. I fell into one of the few places of sand on the road. A few feet away, the road is very rocky. So I feel fortunate. I trudged to do my business and returned to Malemia to take a taxi to the bank in order to add the chair of the feeding program committee to the account, a decision that had been made in our meeting.

Last year when we set up the account, it had taken us around five hours. Every process in Malawi is excruciatingly long. So when we were told at the bank that we would need to essentially re-apply, start the process for establishing our account again, our Malawian counterparts nodded quietly and were ready to acquiesce. That wasn’t going to happen!! I gently but firmly talked with the manager of “enquiries.” He tried talking to me as if I didn’t understand what he was saying about their process. I told him I understood perfectly what he was saying, but that I was sure it didn’t have to be that complicated. We went through that a few times until I said that if we had to start the process again, we could as easily go to another bank. We were there to add a name and deposit more money. But if that couldn’t be done, we’d be on our way more or less. Not surprisingly, it could be done with a small addition of a letter and school stamp that we’ll attend to tomorrow. My actions did not go unnoticed by Mrs. Ussi and Mr. Laibu, two of our partners. Both were pleased by how it had been handled. I was firm and persistent but not abusive. Everywhere – banks, government offices, garages, hospitals – that someone has some power to exercise over someone else, processes become arduous and petty, sometimes involving days. I do know that in our country government offices have the reputation of doing the same, but businesses usually respond to customers in a timely fashion.

We ended the day with a party for Annie Fletcher, who owns Annie’s Lodge. She is a remarkable, loving woman – once a member of Parliament – who has always made our stay in Zomba memorable. But this year was even more so because of the Lucius Banda concert and the lunch at her home on Malawi Independence Day. Ann got a beautiful cake, I bought her a gift of wine, several people made beautiful cards and signs, and Todd blew up balloons and decorated the conference hall/bar, making the place festive. Annie was an hour late because as she said, “I’m not good with good-byes.” Her friend, Limboni, told her she had to come and he drove her to the Lodge. The whole scene was a love-fest – the outpouring of love and thanks were genuine. I was so proud of our students in the way they honored her for what she had done for them. And also for who she is and her contribution to Malawi.