I am beginning my fourth week in Malawi and have gotten into somewhat of a routine. Work has become a large part of this routine as I spend 9 hours a day with my organization, and obviously I spend the hours prior preparing myself to go.
Work is the reason I decided to venture to Malawi in the first place. I wanted first-hand, real-life, grassroots experience of non-governmental work in Africa. For the last four years I read about what development work is like, I researched it, I even presented on it, and pretended to be an expert. McMaster would be happy to know they prepared me well, theoretically. But I was certainly not prepared for the ‘real-world’.
In just a week and a half, I have realized that the real-world of grassroots NGO work is often a world with brilliant ideas, but scarce resources. Passionate, committed volunteers, but little funding. In other words, it is frustrating work. We’re all taught money does not grow on trees, but likewise, money is not simply handed out by governments or donors. Community-based NGOs have to work hard to fund every dollar, or else there is simply no programming. I should note, however, that hard-work and proposals are only half of the funding equation. On the opposite side of the coin, there must be an availability of funds on the part of donors. Thus, NGO funding is a complicated dance between donor and organization, one which requires patience, commitment, and perseverance on the part of the organization, as I have learned there are usually more unsuccessful proposals than successful ones.
Here in Lilongwe I am working for grassroots NGO called Youth Development and Advancement Organization, in short- YOUDAO. We are located in Area 25, about a 15-minute drive from my home in Area 47. (Lilongwe is divided into neighbourhood-like ‘Areas’, but are in no particular geographical fashion. They were simply created based on the chronological order of each area’s development, Area 1 being the oldest part of town, etc). When I first rolled down Area 25’s dusty unpaved roads in WUSC’s pick-up truck for introductions with YOUDAO, I secretly wished we would suddenly turn on to a paved, road, with a sophisticated-looking office building, and a few less homeless dogs wandering the streets. We did not. YOUDAO’s office is an old house, with bumpy floors and holes in the ceilings. There are only a few tiny rooms, one computer, and a washroom consisting of just a toilet. However, it is not YOUDAO’s floor plan, or cracking floors which are important. As the housing market always tells us, what’s important is “location, location, location”. YOUDAO is located in a community with many struggling people, as there are all over Malawi. There are widows living with HIV/AIDS, low-income families, and houses where only orphans reside, with not a parent or authority figure in sight.
YOUDAO is primarily involved in youth HIV/AIDS advocacy and mitigation, but also works with orphans and women in the community, as well as girls in schools- which is the project I will be coordinating while interning here.
My colleagues at YOUDAO are nice people, and clearly have their hearts in the right place when it comes to the work being done at the organization. But I was introduced to one small problem during my first week. There are no funds. Nothing. No money is coming in. I was wondering why the workers were showing up each day and just sitting around… because that’s all they can do. They show up because they are committed, but no programs are currently being implemented. I have heard stories of the YOUDAO of the past, a ‘hopping’ place with plenty of activity most days of the week. There was an active orphan feeding program, where parent-less children from the neighbourhood could come for porridge in the mornings. This program was designed and implanted by Canadian volunteers 2 years ago. I’m sure they would be devastated to hear it was not sustained, I’m sure the orphans are even more devastated though. I’m told that Mondays and Tuesdays, especially, used to be extremely busy days, with many HIV+ widows from the community stopping by to discuss the issues being faced in their income-generating activities, financed by small loans YOUDAO provided them. These ladies no longer come, however, because they do not have the money to repay the small loans, and are afraid to come to YOUDAO in case they are pressured to present what they owe. The volunteers here are no longer receiving their extremely small volunteer allowances, and believe me, some need that small allowance desperately. I have questioned why the volunteers remain, and why those who have orphaned siblings to look after, in particular, do not find a paying job? I suppose this is a very western way of looking at things, and I just do not understand the commitment they have to the work here.
So, in a nutshell, my work life has been frustrating thus far. I have been given the task of “resource mobilization”, which is a fancy way of saying I sit on my computer all day, research potential donor organizations and draft proposals for funds, based on YOUDAO’s program criteria and needs. I KNOW this work has to be done, and really I am happy to help, it is just frustrating because it is not the work I thought I was coming here to do.
I would feel a lot worse if I did not see us making strides towards beginning the Violence Against Girls in Education project in a couple weeks- I have already visited 3 primary schools in the area to introduce the program. These introductions have gone well, and each time we were deemed “most welcome” by the head teacher. We will be presenting our work plan to these schools next week, and meeting the girls at the same time, and I hope to actually start implementing the program in the schools the following week.
I have been a bit nervous, meeting these head teachers, because I was not sure how they would react to our wanting to implement a violence program in their schools, or if they would be offended by our claims that “yes, violence is happening here, to your pupils”. But of course, they are already aware of this fact. One head teacher, who I met just this morning, elaborated a bit more on the issue than the previous head teachers had. She thanked us for targeting her school; she knows that girls experience sexual violence and abuse at home, by family members or neighbours, but she also mentioned that violence is rampant on the school grounds, because of its location between the market, main road, and bus station. Girls are often beaten and roughed up, even as they wait for classes to begin in the morning, or during shift change at the middle of the day- when they have to wait for their peers to leave the classroom before they can enter. Men wander onto the school grounds looking for these innocent girls… she said it is easily done because there is no security fence around the school premises. She told us she has pleaded with the Ministry of Education to put up a fence, in order to reduce the amount of violence and harassment these girls experience from passersby, but in her words, “it is no use, my fight is in vain”. I am so excited, but overwhelmed, by the opportunity to make a difference in this school.
Thoughts to dwell on...
For every development dollar spent, girls receive less than 2 cents.
An extra year in primary school increases a girl's lifetime wages by 10-20%.
An extra year in secondary school increases a girl's lifetime wages by 15-25%.
When a girl has received at least 7 years of education, she is likely to marry 4 years later and have 2.2 less children.
A girl or woman will reinvest 90% of her income into her family. A man will reinvest 30-40%.
In short: it is worth investing in the future of girls. (stats from "The Girl Effect")
Love to all,
Jacqueline.
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