Preparing for Christmas – and the rains!

As I write, the drumming of the rains on the roof and rumbles of the thunder create the atmosphere of fourth Sunday in advent.  This year it seems that the co-incidence between the Christmas season and the rainy season is according “to the book”. 

The opening song in the Area 18 St. Thomas Anglican church this morning (7 am as usual!) was Silent Night, and a visiting choir was performing Hark of Angels.  No lighting of four candles to bring us into the “pre-Christmas” mood.  But the story of Elisabeth and Mary who shared their excitement of being pregnant – the one late in life, and the other as a young woman – with promises that their respective offshoots were to make significant footprints in history was read.  Youth choir and congregation were fired up through polyphone song and rhythms that made the hips and feet move, and the hands clap.  The reggae tune was complementing the incense from the alter to fill the room with physical and spiritual sensations.  … This was the pre-breakfast service in charismatic Anglican tradition.

In our home we have the traditional nativity scene, with figures produced at Dedza Pottery

In conversations with my colleagues and other Malawian friends I have learned that waiting for Christmas break, which is the main vacation season during the year, is waiting for time to be spent in the village… and in the field.  Families living in urban areas return to their villages to visit family over Christmas. They bring gifts, not extravagant accessories or luxury gadgets as in Norway, … but soap, sugar, cooking oil, rice, clothes, solar lamps…  These are commodities that very often are in short supply in the villages, and Christmas is the occasion for sharing necessities! 

Christmas celebrations in Africa are not quite the same as in Europe!

While visiting the village, or on return from the village, time is used in the fields.  This is the time to plant maize, ground nuts (peanuts), pigeon peas and beans.  Many will have started planting earlier, particularly in the southern part of the country that receives the rains earlier than further north.  But Christmas holiday is typically the farmers’ season. 

While spending time in the village and in the field, most Malawians spend considerable time in church, or in social events convened around their church community.  The saying goes that Malawi is a “God fearing country”, and during Christmas the church still has more influence than the merchants who try their best to advertise their “Christmas bargains” through radio and newspapers. Christmas can still be a season of joy and celebration.  Contemporary culture is gradually penetrating the Malawian society, but tradition persists!

P.S. While I wrote this on Sunday, the rains cut off the internet-connection, and I could only send on Monday.  This is also part of the preparation for Christmas - and rainy season in Lilongwe. D.S.

Another Friday...

When looking for ideas for what to share in my blog, I obviously search for the spectacular... interesting... exotic...  The truth is that life in Malawi, like life in Norway, mostly consists of those more or less normal days.  Therefore one of these days should also be worth some lines and reflections.  Accordingly the headline:  another Friday.

First business of the day: checking into the employee register 

Yesterday was this "another Friday", and as usual I was the first one to arrive at the office in the morning.  Security screen had to be unlocked and opened, alarm dis-armed and biological mechanism to be activated by my finger before I could come inside and proceed up the stairs.  By the way... I forgot to mention that the guards opened the gate, allowing me into the compound that we share with the timber company RayPly.  While the level of crime is relatively low in African context in the capital Lilongwe, security systems are in place, and security companies are big business.

View from my office, through the blinds

As I sign into the daily employee register book, I take a look at the white-board that indicates the whereabouts of my colleagues this week.  We will be rather few in the office this Friday I register.  Some of my colleagues are listed as having "annual leave".  As rainy season is around the corner, the smaller or bigger pieces of land that most of my colleagues cultivate on the side, need to be made ready for planting.  Annual leave comes in handy and time needs to be spent together with family and hired pieceworkers to get ready for the life-giving rains.

We have just entered the "16 days of activism against gender violence", and I register that my colleagues Esther and Elita are in two different border areas with Mozambique where human trafficking is rampant.  Friday is a day with seminars for police, magistrates, immigration officials and social workers about the new law against trafficking of persons (the modern slavery).  On Saturday people in the nearby trading centers will through roadshows be mobilized to fight violence against women and to stop trafficking.  Theater, dance, songs, short speeches and interaction with the public will hopefully raise awareness and mobilize for action.

I further register that our architect and engineer Kondwani and our procurement officer George are heading south on a one-day inspection to the building site of Mwanga health center.  We have been informed that the contractors are about to put roofing on the maternity ward, and it was time to check progress and quality of work.  Our experience is that infrastructure projects need careful and tight follow-up..

Agnes keeping control of logistical and administrative details

One vehicle is in the field with Jimmy, the driver.  He is taking one of two research teams to the field for carrying out a study on what skills are in demand in the agricultural sector in order to move farming from subsistence farming to the level of some agribusiness.  We have three partners in this study, and they make up the two teams that are going to five districts in the north and center, and in the south respectively.  We hope new initiatives for vocational training will emerge from this study.

These are the activities my colleagues are involved in outside the office, that I read out of the white-board this "another Friday".

Still I expect colleagues to trickle in during the next one hour. I will not remain alone in the office.

Florence, the "face of NCA"

Next week we we have invited our partners for the annual partners meeting, and preparations are on-going on several fronts.  Agnes is dealing with the logistics, which has turned out to be more complex than earlier anticipated.  She has plenty of routine, and is not the person who panics.  She tackles challenges... one by one.  She is ably assisted by Florence, who is also the "face of NCA" as she sits at the reception and serves whoever needs attention.

Joanna

Joanna, my deputy - and head of administration and finance - keeps the overview and controls that we are keeping preparations within our budget and through correct procedures.

Mary and Paul in consultation

Mary and Paul seem to be the only programme people in the office this Friday.  Reports and plans are due... all the time it seems... and time in the office is necessary in order to serve both our partners, ourselves, and our "masters" in Oslo or elsewhere.

Let me not end the story before I mention the important tradition that is being kept alive by Gladys in the canteen.  Follow your nose and the smell around 9 in the morning, and you can enjoy the warm waffles... on this "another Friday".

Gladys making Friday morning waffles, the Norwegian way

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