Harvest time

The President of Malawi has declared a state of disaster due to crop failure during this harvest season.  As many as 5 million people may be in need of food assistance towards the end of the lean season early next year.

Although this is the national situation, the picture is mixed, and fair harvest has been secured in the northern and central parts of the country.  People worked hard in their fields, and put much efforts into the harvest.  "Food" in Malawi is almost equal to maize, which they use in their msima, which is equal to ugali in Kenya and Tanzania.  You grind the maize and cook it into a dow-like porridge.

Many of my colleagues are cultivating maize, and have harvested during the last few weekends and late afternoons.  Our housemaid Emily is an eager farmer on the side.  She has rented land, and gradually bought land with the money generated from selling maize she does not need for the family's consumption.  The fields are about one hour walk from her house, and during planting season she leaves the house around 4 in the morning, works some hours in the field, walks back to her house and arrives at our house to do her daily chores.  No wonder she confides in me that she drops to sleep very early in the evenings!

During harvest season she hires a number of people, and rents a truck to bring the harvest back to her house.  As the photo shows, she is using her porch as primary storage.

Emily is satisfied and posing on top of her maize harvest.

Emily and her daughter Jacqline are also harvesting pumpkins.

We are not experiencing the sound of combines out in the field, but rather human voices.  Human hands are also used to shell the maize after the harvest has been brought home.  The extended family is put to work in order to shell and clean the maize, ready to be bagged.

Emily was quite satisfied with her harvest last year.  This year she believes she will have about 80% of last year's yield.  In one way she had hoped for more, but she is quite proud to observe that she has better harvest than her neighbours out in the field.  She will now store the bags of maize and wait for prices to go up during the lean season.  Her farming activity is an important supplement to her salary from working for us.  Her dream is to develop farming to become her main source of income.  I will not be surprised if the hard-working Emily will succeed in the next few years!

Labour, - but on what condition?

Let me today follow up my previous reflection on labour, but from a different perspective.  When I look into the official statistics of Malawi, I find a surprisingly low unemployment rate.  If I did not know better, I would believe that the labour market is thriving.  There are many reasons that there is a mismatch between official statistics and the reality.

When we travel along streets and roads in urban and rural Malawi we see economic activities on the roadside.  The photos in this blog give only a small glimpse of what we encounter.

The woman is preparing a piece of wood that will end up as a table for sale along the road in our area 12 of Lilongwe.  

From this vendor I purchased similar furniture for our guards.  

Vegetables are sold in more or less organised markets, as can be seen from this photo. 

 Along the roads in Lilongwe I can buy bananas every day on my way back from work if I want.

What is the common thread between these photos?  The chances are that their activities are not officially registered, but are part of the informal economy.  The informal economy is thought to represent a major portion of the real economy of Malawi.  These people never turn up in the unemployment statistics, since they are outside the system that is recorded in official statistics.

Those who work in the informal economy do not have any social safety net in terms of social security, pension rights, or other normal benefits that registered workers have.  They spend long hours, and very often travel long distances to reach their informal places of work.  The question is not idleness, since they work hard.  This does, however not translate into prosperity.  The majority of those in the informal sector remain poor.

Part of the problem has been that Malawi, until late last year, did not have a system of officially register birth.  There was no official ID cards being issued.  Big masses do not have a legal identity, and therefore they are prevented from officially taking loans, buying property, starting business...

Introduction of birth certificates and ID cards will hopefully be one step in the direction of channeling hard work and investments into formal economy, and more people into systems of social safety nets.  Perhaps the statistics of unemployment will be more realistic sometime in the future.

Child labour and modern slavery - on Labour Day

The labour movement in Norway is dealing with rather sophisticated challenges, and I find it interesting that the electronic version of Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) today only has a small article on "This is the way 1.May is celebrated throughout the world".

Looking through Malawian newspapers this morning gives a slightly different picture.  The President is marking the Labour Day through praising the value of work that contributes to development.  Commentaries are highlighting the workers as "building blocks" for development both in private and public sector, and their "welfare" is crucial to their production.  Little is mentioned about the conflict of interest between workers and business owners / investors.  This is in spite of on-going advocacy campaigns related to the mining industry, and struggles of the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions for "decent work".

My focus this Labour Day is on another category:  child workers and modern slavery.  Trafficking in children and young women is a significant problem in Malawi.

In Malawi, children are one of the vulnerable groups of people that are prone to child trafficking. With high poverty levels, orphan-hood due to HIV & AIDS, abuse, witchcraft and peer pressure there is an increase in the number of children being trafficked for different purpose within Malawi and to the neighboring countries. Perpetrators and even other trusted individuals, including parents, take advantage of their situation , abuse them and let them ending up being trafficked for cheap child labour, sale of their body organs and sexual exploitation.  This is the face of modern slavery.

Work is done to stem this trend.  Police has established "Victims Support Units", mandated to identify and rescue victims of trafficking and child labour.  NCA has lately engaged private sector in encouraging them to take responsibility to prevent and take actions to stop child labour and trafficking.  Two weeks ago we convened a conference together with the Congress of Trade Unions and with participants from the tourism, transport and agricultural sector.  It was confirmed that the problem is serious, and that they are ready to take serious steps.  We will follow the process.

The Salvation Army is engaged in identifying and rescuing trafficked children in Malawi and neighbouring countries. The town of Mchinji on the  Western border with Zambia is one of the major receiving districts of trafficked children on the borders of Malawi especially en route to Zambia and Mozambique.  The Salvation Army brings young survivors of trafficking to The Mchinji Anti-Child Trafficking Centre which they have run since October 2006. Norwegian Church Aid has been supporting the Centre since 2009. 

Rescued children attending school during their stay at Salvation Army Centre

The Centre receives the children, offers them psychological counseling, education and live-skills training.  In parallel the Centre contacts their home communities and their families, and attempts to create a conducive environment for the children to return to their families and communities.  They accompany the children and counsel the families as they resettle

 Joseph Paulo , a 12 year old Dedza boy was sold by some member of his family and dumped, in reality as a slave at a trading centre.  He was rescued by Police Victims Support Unit, placed in Salvation Army Centre and later returned to this family.

Dignified transition from slave-like child labour to safe re-entry into their families is worth while fighting for on Labour Day!

Politics - and the "voice of the people"

Please braze yourself for a slightly "heavy" reflection this time...

17th - 18th February this year the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) conducted an "all inclusive consultation" on the state of affairs of the country.  PAC is an inter-religious body, in which leaders of almost all mainline religions are represented, notably Christian and Muslim leaders.  PAC has existed for a number of years, and was quite important and instrumental during the transition from dictatorship to democracy during the early '90s.  This year's consultation was the fifth since it started some years back.  The previous consultation was in the build-up for the 2014 elections, in which they challenged politicians on their integrity and seriousness in wanting to serve the people of Malawi.

This time around the main topics were "governance" and "economy" as the country is faced with serious challenges.  A sizable delegation of government ministers, opposition politicians, representatives of religious groups, civil society organizations, labour unions, chambers of commerce, academia and media were invited.  A total of about 230 delegates participated. I had been invited as an observer, and enjoyed the learning experience.  Most of the consultation was constructive in the sense that critical issues were raised and discussed.  Opposition politicians tried, however to hijack the occasion by entering into a blame game and demanding that the President should step down within 30 days.  A number of recommendations were made through group works, and additional recommendations were brought to the plenary floor.

The PAC board processed all the recommendations and came up with 21 observations and "actionable recommendations".  They asked for an audience with the President to present these recommendations.  Finally, Thursday this last week they were given audience for what was named a round table.  The whole meeting was broadcast live on the government (read: ruling party) controlled TV station, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation.

The Chair of PAC presented the recommendations, and the President commented upon them.  It was quite instructive how the President controlled the whole meeting, but allowed issues to be brought out.  He used his power to have the last word, in which he tried to leave behind the impression that: "My government is doing quite well, even after having heard your recommendations.  We might look at certain issues here and there, but overall I believe we are on track!"

In concluding the round-table, an agreement was reached that "technical committees" should look deeper into the recommendations and see what might be done.

What did the media get out of this open consultation? Here are some first page headlines:  "APM (Arthur Peter Mutharika, the President) refueses to forfeit powers", "PAC encounter with the President ended in deadlock", "Fury over silent APM quit text: Govt hits at PAC for inserting resignation call in written report".

PAC made efforts to collect diverse views and recommendations from a variety of stakeholders, while media pegged opinions on PAC.  They want to instigate a conflict between the government and PAC.  While PAC had processed the recommendations and developed their own set of priority recommendations, both government, opposition politicians and media attack PAC from different angles for opinions expressed by the participants of the consultation.  It is not always easy to make efforts to be a loudspeaker for the "voice of the people"!  There is a saying:" Don't shoot the pianist / messenger!"  This saying is certainly relevant for PAC in their efforts to be an instrument of dialogue, and act as a "prophetic voice
.

Mozambican refugees... and a sidebar on politics

Political unrest in the northern part of Mozambique has brought about an influx of people into Malawi.  The Mozambican government has denied that there are any reasons for people to flee.  The UN agency for refugees, UNHCR, therefore has to use the term asylum seekers until the legal issues are sorted out.  Neighbourly relations are at stake if Malawi accepts that they are hosting refugees, which will officially recognize that the neighbouring country has internal trouble...

Currently Malawi hosts approximately 12 000 refugees (I dare use this terminology), and more are coming by the day.  Most of them are located in the overcrowded Kapise camp, while others are scattered in the southern part of the country.  Re-opening of Luwani camp, that was used during the Mozambique refugee influx during the '90s will facilitate all refugees in an acceptable way.  NCA and two local ACT partners got involved as an ACT team in preparing for the refugees to settle in Luwani.  We committed ourselves to work on water and sanitation needs. Urgently we needed to address these needs in the reception center.  Our team landed in the nearby town of Mwanza before last weekend, and started surveying the task together with UNHCR.  The first refugees were to arrive this last Friday, so there was no time to lose.

I visited our team Monday and Tuesday this last week, and I could witness how they systematically and quickly got their feet on the ground and started working on the urgent tasks.  Clearing of land for the reception center was step one, while identifying water sources - boreholes- was a basic precondition for settling people in the area.  Next step was to construct latrines, shower houses, hand-washing stands and digging solid waste pits.  Other organizations under the leadership of UNHCR got down to other tasks, including erecting tents and preparing other important services.

By end of Thursday the first latrines and shower houses were ready for the first refugees who were brought into the reception center on Friday.

  I am proud of our team that got off the ground and prepared these facilities in time.  They are continuing to increase the capacity, allowing the entire reception center be populated by 500 people.

The two first bus-loads of refugees arrive

Currently we have limited funding, but we hope additional money will make it possible to move into the main camp and accompany refugees when they construct and maintain their sanitation facilities.  Our plan is to see 300 family latrines being constructed over the next two-three months.  UNHCR has planned for a total of 30,000 refugees in Luwani.  There is plenty of work to be done!

A SIDEBAR ON POLITICS
As I follow the campaign trails of presidential candidates in USA, and observe election promises from politician around the world, a news article in "The Daily Times" this week caught my attention.

.

Mr Ambokire Salimu has sued the Malawi Election Commission.  He has asked the High Court to restrain the Electoral Commission from holding any elections until a provision in the Electoral Law is introduced that "public officers should account for campaign promises they make to get into the office."  This is an interesting move.  Imagine that all politicians who promise "heaven on earth" during election campaigns will be held legally responsible for these promises when they take up their offices!  I wonder who would dare to campaign for offices if such laws are implemented... Does anyone know any politician who has kept his/her campaign promises?  While legal responsibility probably is beyond imagination, we could at least hope for some ethical responsibility once in  a while?

Too little - too much - and Injustice

Malawi is, as is the case with most Southern African countries suffering from food deficit.  Drought and erratic rains resulted in crop failures last harvest season.  This current rainy season has been erratic and partly untimely.  Therefore it looks like another harvest below average will add to the food shortage in the country.

The picture is complex, since parts of the country have had significantly less rains than needed, and the rains that came in the south came at a time that was too late for the main maize harvest.  In the central region the picture is mixed, with some areas expecting normal harvests, while other areas will experience low yields.

Compounded with this is the repeated floods that have been in the north.  During the last week the north has seen serious flooding in which lives have been lost.

The story of Masasa Township close to Mzuzu is about untimely rains, but also of injustice.  As can seen from the newspaper article below, 8 people died... most of them children due to the flash flood that was the result of heavy downpour Thursday night.

The elders of village, pictured above, lament that their disaster is just as much man-made as caused by the nature.  "Most of the people were forced to settle in these risky places.  And the result are these deaths" says Thula, one of the elders.  She continues:" We were relocated from Katoto Area 4 without compensation to pave way for the rich to build their mansions."

This is but one example that natural disasters are unjust.  Natural forces hit equally hard in the different communities, but the poor and marginalized communities are much more vulnerable due to injustices brought upon them.  There is great need for serious advocacy work on many levels to secure basic survival and rights for the poor of this country.  Addressing natural disasters is not limited to a charity approach, but needs to be complemented with a human rights approach!

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.