Change is possible...

We are seated under a tree, our guides from the Evangelical Alliance of Malawi, Birgit and I, and representatives of the small and quite remote village of Gulugulu.  NCA, through EAM is supporting a project for community-based care for children and youth.

   

                                  Playground equipment provided by NCA to Gulugulu village

We are informed about the importance of new ways of stimulating and educating children through their “children’s corner”.  Sounds and sight are those produced by nature and their creatures… until suddenly a different sound penetrates the meeting… the sound of a mobile phone!  The chairman of the “children’s corner” committee stands up, walks away from the group and starts talking loud on his phone.

                                         Meeting with the community under a tree

What a contrast!  In many ways this village is living as their ancestors have been living for generations. Their main tools are hoes to cultivate their fields, and suddenly this leap of generations into the electronic world of mobile phones and potentially social media!  Change is certainly possible.

Although this leap in time and technology, human cultures and inherited notions do not necessarily change that rapidly.  Children need to be taught that there is a relationship between the way they behave when they relieve themselves and their own health.  Why should girl-child not be given away for marriage, but be encouraged and helped to get education?  They need to learn how to straddle between learning traditional skills, and knowledge that can bring them into the wider world around them.  Their radius of operation is basically the village, and if lucky they may be offered to attend the nearest primary school.  This is a walk through the bush for 4-5 kilometers for your children of age 6-7!

                                        

                             The local community built this bridge to help access to their village

How will communities like Gulugulu manage the transformation that can close the gap between the age of hoes and that of mobile phones?  We make efforts to assist local communities to have access to skills and knowledge that can encourage their innovation and increase their options for future choices for improving their livelihood. This will have to happen with deep respect for their heritage, while exploring how short-cutting some of the many steps our own culture had to take from moving from the hoe to the mobile phone!  The wise female village chief Gulugulu expressed the wish to connect the past with the future through dynamic development of their children. Huge potentials lie ahead, and with wisdom we may contribute to constructive change!