Good Friday... and the rain forest!

Birgit and I made a short trip out of Lilongwe from Good Friday to Easter Saturday.

On our way we were reminded of the Easter story.  There is a tradition that churches arrange big processions to commemorate Jesus' last walk to Calvary along main roads.  In almost every urban area we passed through we caught up with processions, showing the suffering Jesus and the crowd following him.

                                              

While many people in our own countries, including Norway would not be able to narrate the Easter story, this remains part and parcel of the culture in the Malawian society.

The one night outing brought us to Ntchisi Forest Reserve, 2 1/2 half hours drive north-east of the city.  This is one of the forest areas that has survived deforestation - so far.

Deforestation is given a main responsibility for climate change consequences in Malawi.  The tree cover in the country has been reduced drastically over the last 30 - 40 years.  When I travel with colleagues throughout the country they frequently point to barren hills and valleys and say: "This whole area used to be covered with forest.  The climate was different, and the crops more predictable."

We stayed at Ntchisi Forest Lodge, a place that had been built by the British colonial District Commissioner one hundred years ago.  It was a idyllic and quiet place, surrounded by the rain forest. (See  www.ntchisiforestlodge.com) 

                                            

The only sounds to be heard were those of birds and insects, and the evening was crisp and chilly. The full moon was shining and illuminating the surface of Lake Malawi in the distance.

We enjoyed the environment, and used the opportunity to go hiking in the rain forest.  A rather heavy climb brought us to the top of the summit, which is in the centre of the reserve.  A combination of planted treees, partly pines, and natural rain forest created a humid micro climate that seemed to be conducive to a rich under-forest.  Old trees had fallen and become nutrients for new life, and birds and animals had plenty of food. The soft cover of the ground kept humidity as a sponge.

                                   

All was not that well, however.  Eston, an elderly athletic man from the nearest village could tell us that the forest was threatened.  Charcoal burning, forest fires and grassing by big herds of cows created major challenges to the future of the forest.  He was a dynamic campaigner for the preservation of the forest.  Local chiefs had been invited to approve bylaws that controlled life in the forest, and volunteers were organized to systematically patrol it.  While there are conflicting interests related to the forest reserve, the local communities around the forest make great efforts to rescue the natural diamond they have at their doorstep.  Eston wished for the country that many community groups would come together and preserve and increase the tree cover of Malawi.

We were greatly encouraged by this local initiative, which hopefully in the long run can inspire other communities and lead to a proper reforestation of Malawi.  This could be an important counter measure to the threats due to climate change.

Water - and existential contrasts

At the time I intended to post the few words below, our internet refused to cooperate.  Therefore you will have two short pieces to endure in one day...

NCA has just conducted its annual Lenten Campaign, collecting money for its work through a door-to-door collection with more than 40,000 young and older Norwegians knocking on doors.  This year the main focus was water.  "Water is life" is a known slogan, and nobody can deny its justification. NCA is doing a lot around the world to assist people and communities in accessing clean water.

We have all the lively stories about the importance of water.  Malawi has this year, and last year, suffered from too much water (floods), too little water (drought) and untimely and erratic water.  This year erratic rains have led to floods, but at the same time acceptable expected harvest in the northern and central parts of the country.  Erratic and too little rains have led to serious failures of the crops in the southern region.  The rain patterns these two consecutive years leads to food shortages that will leave more than 3 million  people in need of food assistance.

More closely to our home in are 12 in Lilongwe, water shortages have led to restrictions of water in some outlaying areas.  Across from the main road behind our wall there are villages that over the last weeks have suffered from water shortages.

One day Birgit was driving in the neighbourhood, She met a group of young people with empty water containers.  They seemed to look for somewhere to fetch water.  As she a bit later returned home, she was slightly surprised to find the group inside our compound.  They were busy filling their containers from the water tap that is used to water the plants in our garden.  One of our guards apparently knew someone in the group, and had allowed them to enter in search of the cherished fluid.

In itself this was not a story to share on my blog.  There was, however another twist to the story.  Only a few meters away from the water tap, our swimming pool was rehabilitated.  There had been a leakage, and repair was in progress.  As I write this small story, the pool is back in operation, and we had our first swim yesterday.

What a contrast!  The group, including the small kid with the metal tin on her head had walked quite a distance to fetch lifesaving litres of water.  At the same time we were waiting for the swimming pool to be filled with hundreds of litres to satisfy our pleasure!

We did not build the swimming pool, but we enjoy it very much on hot days.  Having a swimming pool is obviously a luxury.  At the same time girls and boys and women are walking long distances to fetch the water needed for drinking, cooking, washing, watering chicken, nurturing vegetable gardens...

We are part and parcel of existential contrasts - and with the golden spoon in our mouth!

Technology promoting health in Balaka

NCA is partnering with DREAM project in Balaka, which is in the south-eastern part of Malawi.  This week we had our friends Toril and Helge visiting us, and this gave a good opportunity to pay the DREAM project a visit.  DREAM ( Disease Relief through Excellent and Advanced Means)
is a project of Sant Egidio Community, a lay Catholic community well established in Malawi.

The DREAM project is promoting technology to improve quality of health services.  Data management is extremely important in order to effectively register clients and follow them up systematically.  The photo below shows how DREAM in Balaka keeps record of around 20,000 clients in the district, of which around 5,000 are HIV/AIDS positive.

All pregnant women in the districts are supposed to be registered and follow a regular schedule of check-up.  If they do not turn up, field assistants will reach out to them and encourage them to come for check-up.  We were told that during the last month, only one pregnant woman had failed to follow the regime. The woman in the photo below was one of the many who had followed the regime both before and after giving birth.

HIV testing is a key component of the work, and a well functional laboratory is part of the Balaka health centre.  A number of different tests could be carried out through the skilled work of professional technicians.  Their capacity for testing for HIV is around 200 per day, while lack of additional technical staff prevents the laboratory from carrying out another 100 tests.  We were quite impressed by the physical environment, the instruments and the professional regime that obviously kept a very high quality.  It was humbling and gratifying to know that NCA is able to support this quality service in an otherwise poor country context.

One of the components of DREAM's work in Balaka district, which include far distance places, is the satellite field clinics in which mobile health teams visit weekly.  Through installation of solar power, the basic technology needed for the operations can be carried out also in these clinics.  We visited one of these clinics and heard the witness of its importance for the local community.

Clean water is fundamental to health, and the hand-pump at the health centre was serving the centre and the surrounding community.


Having experienced this important work on the ground, it is painful to admit that we in NCA may perhaps have to end the support for this work at the end of this month.  We have been informed that financial support for our health programme through the Norwegian Embassy has been stopped as of 2016.  Increased allocations to respond to the Syrian humanitarian disaster and the refugee crisis in Europe have led to reduced budget for Malawi development assistance. This, combined with political decisions to change thematic priorities for official Norwegian assistance to Malawi have been given as the main reasons. Our Embassy supported health programme has been on-going since we entered Malawi in 2002, and has had multi-million budgets in Norwegian kroner.  While we are exploring to fill part of the gap from alternative sources, we have to go through painful cuts to our partner projects.

No decision has been made about the support to DREAM, but the future is uncertain.  This is a great pity since DREAM very much relies on NCA support for this work.  Quality service is crucial to keep the level of HIV infected people down.  The systematic DREAM efforts have contributed to a stabilization, and even a decrease in HIV infected persons in Balaka district.  What will happen if this activity has to be scaled down!?  Challenges are certainly ahead!

Stimulating children, - keeping them off the streets

You who have followed my blog, ... regularly or once off ... you have noticed my silence for a lo-o-o-ong time.  I am back on air, and intend of keep it up with a certain regularity.

Now I am fortunate to have been joined by Birgit, my wife.  Being a fresh retiree she is trying to adjust to a new situation.  She enjoys to join me on field trips, and some days ago we jointly went to the inauguration of Chitawawa community based children's centre.  Chitawawa is some distance outside Lilongwe, but not further away than Lilongwe attracts a number of children from this community.  They end up on the streets, begging for a living, or committing petty-crime to survive.  Chisomo Children's Club is an organization that is committed to work with street children, including efforts to prevent children to end up in the streets.  One of the measures is to work through community based children's centres.  The centres are multi-purpose buildings that can be used for kindergarten, pre-school, awareness building for parents, and some times mother - child health checks.

NCA is supporting Chisomo Children's Club, and I was invited to participate in the inauguration of  the Chitawawa centre.  As you will see, the building is decorated with lively and educational illustrations.








Playground toys are part of the centre,

and Lego toys and other toys are available.

More importantly, about 15 caretakers have been trained to activate and support the children who attend the centre.  More than 300 children are regular visitors, and therefore the centre is more than an empty building.  It is a busy place for constructive caring and teaching of children.

The official inauguration was made by the Minister of Children, Disability and Gender, and she cut the ribbon.  As you will see, I was asked to assist the Minister.

As is the tradition, such event included speeches, including speeches by the Minister and myself, cultural show, singing and dancing.

An interesting contribution was the band you see below.  The instruments were entirely home-made, but I can tell you that there was no problem with the sound and rhythms coming out of their band!

The community elders praised the new facility, and claimed that this could be a defining event for the children of this area.  Let us hope they are right!