Zikomo Kwambiri! - Thank you very much!
Thank you very much to everyone who donated so generously to the Mbewe house building project. To date, we have raised just under $4000 Canadian!
As some of you know, Jim and I unexpectedly left Malawi a few weeks earlier than expected, and have just returned to Canada. However, we did have all the donations transfered to Malawi beforehand, and the money has been given to the Mbewe family. They have now continued the construction on their house, and should have a few rooms ready in about two weeks, in order for them to move in. We far exceeded our goal of $1500 CDN, and with the $4000 raised, they will be close to completing the entire house. Fr. Sax will be visiting the Mbewe family at the end of June, and I have asked him to send some pictures of the completed house at that point. When i get those, I will post them up on this blog. So, once again, thanks very much to all of you who responded so quickly and generously.
If anybody else still wishes to help the Mbewe family, they have set up their own bank account in Malawi in which funds can now be transferred directly from Canada. Just drop me a line and I can send you those bank details directly.
Thanks!
Tess & Jim
Mbewe House Appeal!
I promise you that this is not your typical fundraising plea for the most unfortunate, downtrodden, suffering, Malawian family. Rather, it is a request for help for one of the most positive, spirited, hardworking and hopeful Malawian families that we have met.
The Mbewe family, is a family of 8 children. The father had passed away in a motor vehicle accident, and the mother is working hard doing odd jobs to keep her 8 children in school. When the father passed away, they became victims of "typical Malawian culture" where the father's family took all the possessions from the family, including their house, leaving them with nothing. Forced by circumstance, the Mbewe family moved into a relatives house, where all of them are currently sharing one mud walled room with no electricity or running water, and living on borrowed time as they have been asked to leave already. The oldest son, Ligton, has left highschool to also find piecemeal work to support the family, while Maureen, the oldest daughter has overcome all odds to enroll herself into secretary college where she hopes to one day get a proper job to support her siblings.
Members of the Mbewe family, outside their relatives house
The Mbewe family inside their mud walled one room place
It was through the generous and thoughtful efforts of our friends Mark and Maggie ( from Toronto) that led us to meeting the Mbewe's. After their visit to Malawi, Mark went back to his company and raised $1200 dollars for a Malawian family through a Christmas toonie drive, and asked us to identify a needy family to whom it could be donated to. As 90% of Malawians could qualify as "needy", we approached our Pastor, Fr. Sax at Church to help us find a family to give the money too, and he immediately identified the Mbewe family, and their wishes for support for a house.
So with Mark's $1200 donation, and some personal donations from Fr. Sax himself, the Mbewe family and Fr. Sax started planning for constructing a new house. In Malawi, a house can range from a cardboard box, to a government state mansion with the average rural house constructed from mud bricks and a thatched roof. However, in the city, the average house is made from bricks, with a tin roof. With the small amount of resources we had, it was difficult to plan for a big enough house to fit the whole family, and we struggled with our decision on whether to build a small 2 room house with no electricty and plumbing, or to think big, and build them a proper, and adequate house, where the family could start a new life, and hopefully lift themselves out of poverty.
So armed with the Mark's inital $1200 donation, house plans were drawn up, and a local contractor was hired. After two months, many many hours of hard labourious work by all members of the family (including carrying bags of cement on their bicycles, fetching water and sand, etc) and some financial support from other parishoner's (totalling over $6,000), the structure of the house has been completed.
House as it currently stands
It has truly been an inspiring two months to see how much support from the community there has been to contribute to this project, the time and dedication that Fr. Sax has put into this project, and the efforts of the family themselves. Since all of the money has been finished (and carefully accounted for) it will require at least another $5000 to fully complete the inside of the house (including windows, doors, plumbing, electricity, ceilings, floors, and walls), the project has come to a standstill. While we have been discussing with Fr. Sax on other ways to find money to finish the house, news came in that he was to be tranferred to Zambia, where he was given the post of Chaplain for one of the universities.
Inside of the house - future living room
Inside of the house - future hallway
Since Fr. Sax is now gone, and our financial resources used up, we are really trying to find enough money to complete two rooms of the house, and basic electricity before we return to Canada. Our goal is to assist the Mbewe's move into part of the house, with the hopes that over time, they will be able to finish off the rest of the house themselves, room by room.
One of the rooms we are trying to complete so the family can move in
Our hope is that some of you would be able to assist us assist them to finish off two rooms of this house so they can move in before we return to Canada. This will cost around $1500. Any amount of money ($20, $50, $100, etc) will go directly to the construction and material costs for this project. If you are interested in helping us out, please drop us an email (tess.jim@gmail.com) and we will send you our bank details in Canada where you can transfer your donation. This money will then be collectively wired to Malawi.
If you have gotten this far through the blog, thanks for reading, and thanks for your consideration.
Jim, Fr. Sax, and some members of the Mbewe family
The year of bountiful harvest
After experiencing one year of drought and famine in Malawi, It has been exciting for everyone to have a second consecutive season with consistent rains and a bountiful harvest. As 90% of the population are subsistence farmers who rely on the annual harvest of maize for their year supply of food, maize is treated with great respect and seriousness. Nsima (maize porridge) is eaten with every meal, and tobwa (maize beer) accompanies every village ceremony. In a typical village setting, everything revolves around maize.
Since I have been in Malawi, I too have become slowly obsessed with maize. While I am still not a huge fan of the bland mushy texture of nsima, what fascinates me is the great amount of time and effort put in by the average person into growing maize, and the numerous environmental challenges faced in order to secure a decent harvest.
Starting in November each year, everyone is busy preparing their fields. Starting at the crack of dawn, men, women and children are clearing and plowing their fields by hand with rudimentary hoes, and forming ridges in the hard packed depleted soil. This back breaking work takes an average family 3 -4 weeks to prepare an average of 1 acre of land.
By December, the land is generally prepared, and everyone eekes out the last of their savings to buy seed, and eagerly waits for the rain. Rain dances and rituals are performed around the country in great anticipation.
After the first heavy rain fall, everyone rushes back to the field and plants seeds, and hopes that the rains will continue, before their seeds shrivel up and die. If they are lucky, and the rains continue, after the maize starts to sprout, the farmers take out loans and buy fertilizers to spread over their gardens. Fertilizers are now necessary due to the poor quality of the soil, which never lays fallow to regenerate. The rest of the rainy season (December to March) is spent weeding the field daily, and praying for more rain, yet not too much rain as maize seeds are also easily suseptible to drought.
At the same time, farmers continue to go into more debt as more money is sought to buy the second application of fertilizer, and many times insecticide for their fields.
By April, the tune of the rain dancers and prayer warriors change to prayers of sunshine, to dry out the maize and cob and prevent rotting. When the maize is appropriately dried, the farmers and their families spend long days harvesting their maize, and transporting it (generally by foot, and by bicycle if lucky) back to their homes.
Jim and I were asked by a friend of ours if he could use our truck to help transport his harvested maize from his field back to his home, which was about 7 kms from his house. So on Easter Monday, we spent the day painstakingly harvesting by hand an acre of maize with Thomas, Aurelia and their four young children, and his brothers in the blazing sun. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, sun burnt, with blistered hands and chafed skin on my arms from the plants. To Thomas and his kids, it was just another average day in the field. To me, it was but a small taste of the large amounts of time and physical labour expended in order for them to get their daily "bread".
It took us 3 truckloads of maize (about 1 ton) back and forth to Thomas' house to get all the cobs transported to his house. To us, the job was done, but to them, it was just another small step in the process. Next, Thomas and the kids will spend every evening for the next few weeks removing the kernels from the maize cob by hand.
After that long process, the maize will be further dried out in the sun on straw mats, before being taken to the maize mill, where it is ground up in to ufa (maize flour), then stored into bags (sprinkled with insectide) as food stock for the whole year. Every day for the next year, Aurelia will buy a few sticks of wood from the local vendor, then fetch water from the water point 500 m away, then boil the ufa with water, mixing furiously to make a batch of nsima for her familys meal. The nsima will be accompanied with relish (relish means anything from eggs, beans, cabbage, vegetables and a bit of meat when lucky), and served to Thomas first, to the kids second, and finally any leftovers for herself.
While Jim and I participated in just a small step in the whole process of growing and harvesting maize, it made me appreciate how much time and WORK the average Malawian puts into getting their daily meal. The simple fact that Malawians still hoe thier fields by hand (instead of with animals or tractors), and rely on unpredicatable rain fall (as opposed to simple irrigation technologies) demonstrates how much still needs to be achieved in terms of development.
Nsima with relish, enjoy!
Zanzibar Photos
28 hours on a Tanzanian "luxury coach" was definitely a bus ride to remember. Super hot in the day time, freezing cold at night, crowded, stinky, with 30 sec side of the road bathroom stops complete with police check hassles every 100 kms, and a free on-board roach infestation.
But the cheap ticket price, and destination was well worth the misadventure. Zanzibar is a archipelago off the coast of Tanzania, and a popular tourist destination for it's stunning beaches, coral reefs, and its historic "stone town" the only remaining functioning ancient city in East Africa, and a World Hertiage Site. It is well known for the spices it grows, amazing snorkelling and diving, and historically as East Africa's major slave trading port.
Below are a few photos of Zanibar.
View of Stone Town from the ferry
Stone Town archway
Side street in Stone Town
The Cathedral in Stone Town
Dhow sailing into the sunset
Yours truly, recovering from the bus ride
Kendwa Beach, north coast
Jim at Nungwi Beach, north coast
beach side art gallery
A tribute to Leilani Nolan DeVuono
It is with great sorrow and sadness to learn that a very dear and close friend passed away on March 10th in a tragic snowmobile accident in Winnipeg, Canada. Leilani and I have been good friends ever since high school, and it continued right through to today. Please keep her, her husband Chris, her brother Michael, and their families in your prayers, as they go through this difficult time.
Leilani was one of those rare people who left an indelible mark on everybody she met with her cheerfulness, positive attitude, generosity, and passion for life. Leilani will be forever remembered as a happy bride and wife, caring sister, daughter, classmate, colleague, team mate and friend to many. For me, our friendship started many years ago in highschool, and grew through so many days of riding the subway, causing trouble at hawthorn, and playing on sports teams together. Through our university and working years, we kept in touch through our many mutual friends, lacrosse, and summers of parties and laughter. While we enjoyed the good times, Leilani could always be counted on when any of her friends were in need, at any time of the day or night. She was an honest, reliable, supportive, inspirational and forgiving friend. She was a fighter, one who never gave up. I always admired her for her passion, and tenacity. She took charge of her own destiny, and lived her life to the fullest. While Leilani was an amazing person, together with Chris they were remarkable. Chris brought out the best in Leilani, and their happiness together was so evident. I am comforted to know that in Chris, she found true happiness and peace before her short life was ended.
Leilani, we love you. You will be greatly missed.
