Mwaya Memories — Louise's Story (December 2003)

"The most important thing to realise is how much you gain from the experience as a volunteer, being able to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world surrounded by gorgeous inquisitive kids and warm generous adults who embrace you into their community as much as you are prepared to venture."

“Teaching in Africa, hey? Oh yeah, you’re one of those ‘save the world' girls are you?”

My decision to travel to Malawi, in order to take part in a small village programme was taken for purely selfish reasons; I was incredibly excited about the opportunity to live in a rural village for six months, teaching in the school and working with the local people in community groups. It was a privilege.

The most important thing to realise is how much you gain from the experience as a volunteer, being able to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world surrounded by gorgeous inquisitive kids and warm generous adults who embrace you into their community as much as you are prepared to venture. It was this insight I was chasing. Having travelled extensively in the past, I needed a new challenge and honestly arrived at Mwaya prepared to rough it. It is paradise. If you enjoy walking, swimming, reading and the simple things in life, you will be in your element.

The teaching was more than a challenge. I had prepared with a short TEFL course — but nothing can equip a non-teacher graduate with the skills necessary to teach up to 86 kids in a class where the ages range from 10 to 17 and the knowledge of even rudimentary English is, in the main, non-existent. There were excellent days, where the kids behaved (and when you’re new and bursting with enthusiasm, they will love you) and really picked up concepts, all chattering about the colours and the clothes they were wearing. They are so keen to learn. Throw in a song and their faces are beaming. Where in the West do kids ever jump up and clap with excitement when their teacher enters the room? These kids will do anything for a red tick in their books, so prepare for a stampede at marking time. It’s a natural high in the most extreme and you get to feel so good – you realise how much you are gaining.

As they become used to you, and vice versa, the familiar frustrations set in. You realise the bright kids are talking as they are bored, and the slow ones (repeating the year for the fourth or fifth time who still can’t read) are excluded. It is a sad reality that this is education ‘survival of the fittest' style. I had days where I almost lost it and still laugh at the expressions coming out of my mouth that belong to my own nagging teachers — it was a shock to realise, “Oh my god, I’ve turned into Mrs. Jones!” Sometimes it felt as though I was doing no good at all, failing them as we could not communicate in the same language. Such potential before me, and yet it is impossible with so many kids to provide the one-on-one attention that could make such a difference and which I imagined would be the role of the volunteers at the school.

I could rant for an age about the ridiculousness of an education system which demands students are taught all their subjects in a language they have not mastered. I could have had a mathematical genius in my class and not discovered it — unless he or she was also a linguist. Remembering that, if it was not me up there, then they would have no one brings the reality home. However, there are improvements, and should you decide to volunteer for the project then you will be working with Malawian volunteers in the class room — hopefully overcoming some of the communication problems and able to give more attention in class.

The unique nature of RIPPLE Africa is the lack of bureaucracy. Volunteers are free to develop projects and the role within the school to their own talents and knowledge. Remember the clichés “less is more “ and “time flies” when thinking of what you wish to achieve. There really is “no hurry in Africa” and achieving something simple takes an age — at which point you realise it was not so simple. Working with the women’s groups was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I feel in love. Sitting with them in the afternoon sun and working on the sewing of bags, kids adorning laps and sucking breasts, pure contentment — for me. For them, they embraced the opportunity to earn money for essentials, such as soap and medical needs, working as a co-operative/insurance team and helping out should any member of the group become ill. The women in Malawi are the backbone of the country, physically working most of the day, and caring and providing for their families. In contrast, the male culture of idleness is astounding and frustrating.

In addition to teaching at the primary school, there are tutoring programs for the secondary school kids – those fortunate to be able to afford the fees, or who qualify for the sponsorship programme. There was an amazing trip to Nyika National Park by the environment clubs (10 hours on the back of a truck with 34 kids and two teachers all screaming with excitement, most leaving the village for the first time), a festival, swimming lessons, health clubs, the library, and a whole village eager to engage in whatever you have to offer.

The men and women you will come to meet and work with as a volunteer are humbling; to recognise the intelligence of the teachers at Mwaya Primary School, and their warmth and patience with us was gracious. Remember that, as volunteers leave, it is the teachers who embrace new initiates and continue with them in addition to their heavy work loads.

People in Malawi realise they are poor. They will think you are rich, and even if, like me and many of the other volunteers, you are saddled with student debt, you are rich compared to them. You will be asked for things all the time, and it wears thin. They would take the clothes off your back if you let them. There is a depressing culture of dependency that pervades the country, and while Mwaya is generally a haven from this, be prepared to be singled out wherever you walk outside the village. Screams of “Hey Mzungu! ( white person)” accompanied by a frenzy of hands out “give-a me money” — the main downside of the experience, albeit a minor one which has been created by irresponsible tourism and an Aid agency culture imposed on the country from the West. Don’t even get me started on UNDP shiny Land Rovers.

People in Mwaya are rich. Their children run about in safety, playing on the beach and at school with real innocence and freedom, now extinct at home. They are unaffected by TV and Britney Spears and will play for hours with toys they have created themselves. What parent in the UK would not wish that for their children? It's priceless. They are fed and have houses — no, I wouldn’t want to eat nsima every day or live in their homes, but they are happy and cared for.

Of course this ‘freedom’ is a thin veneer masking real need; education, clothing, healthcare. The poverty becomes apparent most at times of sickness. Medical volunteers, a challenge and immense experience await. And of course they could eat far more nutritionally if they grew more varied crops — if you are a potential volunteer interested in the environment and agriculture, THEY NEED YOU. There is a dearth of eco-knowledge and the deforestation taking place in the village and the lakeshore is shocking.

So in response to the many who shook their heads, not understanding why I was bothering — “you can’t make a difference” — I would say that the change was within me. I was naïve and idealistic and, while I have become grounded, I still believe there is much to be gained from both sides in the opportunity to exchange cultures.

Enjoy it. It will, I hope, prove to be the most amazing, unique experience.

Louise (Volunteer Teaching Assistant, June-December 2003)