July 20th 2011 . . . and beyond

When I first arrived in Malawi, I had a meeting with the head of Canadian aid here. He said “If anything goes down in Malawi when you are here, which is highly unlikely, I will make sure you get on a plane and out of here. I will be waving at you from the tarmac because Malawi is my home, and I won’t be going anywhere.”

Well, that “highly unlikely” event became more and more likely over the last couple of months (as I’ve indicated in earlier posts) until tensions finally exploaded on Wednesday. Malawians have had enough. Planned peaceful demonstrations that were planned for Wednesday July 20th to protest persistent fuel shortages, the rising cost of living, forex shortages, repressive media laws, expanded taxation, poor water and electricity supplies were banned by President Bingu wa Mutharika on Tuesday evening angering civil society leaders and protestors. Thousands poured onto the streets on Wednesday protesting despite the injunction. On Wednesday as the President made his xenophobic address to the nation, while saying “we have peace,” the streets were awash in red, protesters clashed with police, destroyed property, set afire cars, police buildings and looted stores. As of now, 18 deaths have been reported, but I am sure that the numbers are much higher. The early hours of Thursday morning seemed peaceful, but riots broke out again in areas around Lilongwe. The army was deployed in Lilongwe, and authorities were authorized to use live ammunition (which they had already been using on Wednesday). The President made another speech to the nation, requesting a ‘dialogue’ – saying that these protests were accomplishing nothing – there is still no fuel, there is still no forex. Obviously. But this was the Malawian people saying ‘We have had enough. We will not be silent any longer.’ President Bingu wa Mutharika decided to end his speech saying in reference to the protesters; “I hope God will help us, as these people are busy working for Satan.” Today, mass funerals for seven of the protesters who were killed in Mzuzu has been blocked by the government.

The last two days I’ve spent at my house, watching the news roll in over facebook, internet sites, blackberry and television. There was an amazing amount of information being passed through various social networks which allowed us to be informed on what was going on around the city and the country. However, several Malawian radio stations that were reporting live on the protests were banned off the air blamed for ‘inciting violence.’ Others just played music like nothing was going on. Nyasa Times was blocked online. I was surprised that the telephone networks did not get shut down to prevent people from organizing and communicating. The days leading up to the protest – MTL internet blocked facebook and a Zodiak vehicle (one of the media outlets) was ambushed outside a friends house and smashed by men in black masks; very likely undercover scare tactics.

For more information on the protests, photos and news about what’s going on in Malawi: www.faceofmalawi.com

I will continue to update my blog with information. Today is quiet in Lilongwe and I was able to move around freely. A lot of shops are still closed. There were a few army convoys patrolling around. Each police vehicle I saw moving around town had some sort of damage to it – mostly smashed windscreens and windows. I’ve been hearing plenty of stories from Malawian friends who were out for the protests and the goings on in their home areas. I will relay some of these stories in later posts.

I applaud the Malawian people for their courage.

Malawi - Newsworthy Headlines and Articles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forrester Inn . . . Eco-Inn and Responsible Travel

The last year and a half has all been a bit of a blur for me here in Malawi; personally mostly but also professionally. I left World University Service of Canada at the end of February 2011 very disillusioned with the organization and just a bit tired of the not-for-profit world. With everything that had happened to me since my arrival in January 2010, I was ready to pack it in. But I'm still here . . .

In January, a gentleman who works in Property Development and Management among other enterprises in Lilongwe (and also in the UK and India) that I had been doing consulting work for on the side offered me an opportunity. He owned a large house in Area 9 that had sat vacant for the last 6 months. 'Write me a proposal' he said, 'and if its viable, you can turn it into a lodge.' So that's what I've been doing the last six months. My spin was turning it into an eco-lodge (environmentally friendly) that also follows the principles of responsible travel. We are pretty much set up now, as a lodge; and the environmentally friendly principles will be implemented as we continue to establish. Some of these will include: water recycling, solar power, fresh organic produce grown on-site, our own hens, composting, recycling and partnerships with local organizations. We are close to opening and have our first guest right now in the initial stages. Which means I am managing director, driver, and cook extraordinaire. I am tired. But I am very happy with how things are shaping up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news - the puppies are now 5 weeks old, cute as anything and little trouble makers. I have homes for all of them, and while I will be crushed to give them up, they are EXHAUSTING me. Mind you, my beautiful cousin Rachel just had twins - so I guess I shouldn't complain.

My gangster Toyota Corolla has been retired, and I have gotten a PURPLE Honda CRV. I feel very white ('Mzungu' in the local language 'Chichewa' - hence the name of my blog) and very expat-esc driving it around. It is far more practical however.

 

X

My Pups

 

 

 

Living in the Twilight Zone

Congrats to all of you who also ‘survived’ Judgment Day. And as the Malawi Sunday Times headline so eloquently stated; this was an epic fail.

It’s an interesting time to be here in Malawi (although my mother may beg to differ).

Since the diplomatic debacle where the British High Commissioner was sent packing; Britain along with several other EU countries have suspended aid to Malawi:

http://nyasatimes.com/national/britain-germany-and-eu-cut-aid-to-malawi.html

Although President Bingu won’t admit it, this is a huge blow for Malawi. It has also left some of my expatriate friends wondering about their contracts. There is a lot of uncertainty at the moment. How much worse can things get? I have a feeling this is only the beginning.


The current lack of funds in the government these days is being taken out on motorists:

“The Government has . . . asked the police force to intensify traffic patrols and raise money on the spot from offending motorists. The city streets are awash with traffic police hoping someone would not have their vehicle papers in order or over speeding and fine them K5000. The police force is under instruction to raise K28 million every week and immediately remit the same to the Ministry of Finance.”

As if the police don’t harass us enough already. Even if everything is in order, they are now scouring for anything they can to get money out of us. I once had a police officer, frustrated he couldn’t find anything out of order with my car resort to saying: “Well, your car is really dirty.” I’ve also heard via a friend who works for the IMF that the next fuel crisis hitting Malawi soon will be crippling. I’ve bought a bicycle.


To add to Bingu’s charm these days, in true Mugabe style, Bingu went ahead to publically compare homosexuals to dogs recently:

http://www.nyasatimes.com/national/malawi-leader-says-homosexuals-worse-than-dogs.html

I have no idea why people think he is intolerant. Last year Malawi made headlines around the world as two homosexual men were jailed for getting engaged publically. The two men were released after Bingu caved to international pressure. I can’t help but wonder if this was to be case today whether the outcome would be the same. Make no mistake, this issue also reverberates through the international community.


Anyway . . onto more personal news. My beautiful dog Tess had 6 beautiful strong part ridgeback puppies on May 27th. They are lovely, and I'm a touch obsessed with them. They haven't opened their eyes yet, but I can see them getting bigger by the day. I will keep one for myself, so any name suggestions are welcome. My oldest friend in the world, Andrea got married on the long weekend. I was extremely sad to miss it - but the pictures look stunning. On this weekend past, my running friend Charlotte from Toronto ran her first Marathon in Ottawa. I'm extremely proud and she is such an inspiration for me. I will get there. My work life is still a touch upside-down, but work is slowly progressing. I will need an entire post just to talk about work. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep my head in a good space, and out of the Lilongwe poison!

X

Hard Road

One thing I feel about my life here is it comes in waves. Hectic waves. Boring waves. Bar waves. Staying home waves. Running waves. NON-running waves. Last week started great – gym, Hashing, running. Then it just fell apart. I miss the Running Room and I miss having a plan and a schedule. My friend Kate who works at the Wildlife Centre has told me they are in charge of organizing a marathon in Lilongwe in September. Can I do it? I’m not sure yet. Its tight on training considering I’m starting from pretty much scratch. I have to mentally commit. That is a difficult difficult thing to do. In Toronto, I had the Running Room – I miss my running friends and the motivation they gave me. You feel like you are in something together. Running alone is hard – especially long distances. When I was easily pounding out the kilometers at the Running Room in a group, even a measly 5km by myself could still be torturous. I also don’t want to fail at my first marathon attempt as I feel like that would fuel my running negative self-talk to a debilitating level. I’m not completely shutting out the possibility, but I’ve got to commit myself.

Despite the fact I JUST had a Lilongwe break I feel like I desperately need another one. Lilongwe can be extremely suffocating. I find myself and others tend to take on a ‘Oh, screw it’ attitude sometimes here. I am more than guilty. Today is not going the way I planned, ah screw it. In Malawi it is incredible how you can work all day, yet get nothing accomplished. I don’t even know what happened last week. Even my Canadian friends here has his facebook status today as “You know when you’re just like “F it?” Ya …. Looking forward to a distraction free week.” As an expat community, sometimes I think we all need to figure out a better way to deal with our stress. A few of my friends and I have been trying to channel our frustrations into working out/running . . . but like last week, I was inevitably bitten by the “screw it” bug. Kate and I started off this week with a 6:30am run this morning (beautiful temperature!) and have planned for another on Wednesday. Hopefully we will be able to keep positive spirits this week.

The title of my post I felt fitting. Mostly because I have revived my love affair with Sam Roberts (I miss Canadian music!) and I’ve been relating to all of his lyrics these days (“… cause there’s no road that ain’t a hard road to travel on …”). I feel like its been a long hard road to where I am now. I have a long hard road ahead. I’m watching a lot of my friends here battle the same things I have, and the same things I will. But as Sam would say “… stay true to your friends, cause they’ll save you in the end.” We’re all in this together guys.
X

Malawi and UK ... If you can't play nice, then don't play at all!

You! Get out!

http://www.nyasatimes.com/politics/malawi-issues-official-deportation-order-to-british-diplomat.html

Fine. You get out too!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-africa-13205729


As much as we expats and Malawians all make the obvious jokes on the issue (“Did Fergus fart and get deported?” . . . “But what about the Royal Wedding Garden Party at British Consulate?” - the party did happen by the way but all Malawian government officials invites were withdrawn), this is actually getting pretty serious. Things are already not great in Malawi: no fuel, no forex and apparently we are one bad harvest season away from another famine. So potentially losing our biggest foreign donor over a leaked cable that criticized the President is a big deal. Bingu’s inability to take criticism has now resulted in something that will likely have a major impact on Malawi’s people, and as usual – it will be the poorest of the poor who suffer. Bingu will still have his private jet to run away on when the going gets tough. Before this incident, donors had begun to speak out against Bingu, and talks of pulling aid had already started after Bingu told his supporters that they should “discipline” people who were against his regime. In addition, a protest against the on-going fuel crisis here in Malawi was squashed and organizers arrested before it even began. Will my blog posts be the next to be censored? And as we plod along, unable to protest, unable to speak out, Bingu is lining up his brother to be the next President. And do we really think China can fill the UK’s shoes in donor aid? I’m not overly aware of China’s presence here in Malawi. All I do know is that they are building a 5-star hotel . . . and the majority of the labour being used is Chinese . . . and they are refusing to install any of the electrical fixtures in the hotel (which is very expensive). I’m not convinced that relying on China is the smartest idea.

Ran with Kate and Sinead this past week and chatted Malawi politics. Nothing like fueling your anger during a run to keep you going! Still fighting with motivation issues.