Mwaswera bwanji? (Evening greeting… “How have you spent the day?”)
Well, October is almost over and my time in Malawi is officially winding down. I’ve been here for 8 weeks, only 34 days to go. On one hand, I’m excited to get home and see my friends and family, and to feel relaxed and at ease for the first time in a long time. But on the other hand, I can’t help but feel sad that I can see the light at the end of my first African adventure tunnel.
I had two more great sessions in my Wednesday and Friday schools this week. (It’s looking like the Thursday school is not going to accommodate us now, but I’m trying not to be discouraged by that). At the schools, I talked about issues of self-esteem and body image, two topics very close to my own heart. Over the years I have struggled on and off with issues of body image, so these sessions have served as a great reminder for me as well! We all need to hear that we are worth something, and that the important things in life are your character and your abilities, not your outward appearance. I hope the girls took away from these sessions that each one of them is valuable and important. I had the girls do two participatory activities during the sessions, where they would raise their hands to answer “I am good at ______” or “One thing I like about myself is ______” One girl raised her hand timidly and said, “I really like my face”. Confidence! I loved that.
I am currently planning for next week’s session, a continuation of this week, which will touch on issues of confidence, assertiveness, relationships, and peer pressure.
I had an interesting experience at the first school on Wednesday, when I was walking to meet the girls at our usual meeting place under the tree. As I was crossing the school grounds, I heard a group of young Malawian boys nearby, repeatedly chanting, “Ching chong! Ching chong!” Now, those of you reading this at home will surely agree with me that these comments are completely racist. Naturally, I was shocked at what they were saying and whipped around to locate the Asian person they were targeting with these slurs. To my surprise, they were targeting me. As I turned, the group burst out laughing and quickly scattered. Apparently Malawian children in the public school system are not taught the difference between an Asian and a Caucasian. My co-worker told me they thought I was Chinese. That’s a first!
This weekend my friends and I are travelling 4 hours via bus to Malawi’s biggest city- Blantyre. We are staying with our friend Rachelle, another WUSC volunteer who arrived with us in September, and who has been working there. I’m very interested to see another big city, especially since most Malawians will tell you Blantyre is considered to be much ‘nicer’ than Lilongwe. We’re going to tour around the city a bit Saturday, and then head out for dinner Saturday night. I’m excited to celebrate a bit since it’s my birthday on Monday!
Love to all,
Jacqueline
Hey Jacqueline, it's Jen Lyons.
ReplyDeleteI have been following your blog for several weeks now. Congratulations on your NGO work in Africa, I am so happy for you. I think that the world needs more people like you who are willing to make such a commitment to change even in places where many have lost hope.
The issue of body image has come up a lot in my Psych studies, and I have looked at many studies on women's self esteem/body concept cross-culturally. Of course, a lot of this research is lacking in developed nations like Malawi. I wanted to ask you-do you think Malawian girls benefit from not being exposed to the heavy media? Media typically instigates these negative images that women hold of themselves (being thin and sexualized). Do women in Malawi strive to be thin or bigger? Is it easier to change their self concepts when they aren't being pressured to fit an idealized version of beauty?