The smiles

"Smiling is like breathing to us"
        - suggested explanation on why Malawians smile so much.

The big and frequent malawian smiles are to me a clear indication that happiness and material wealth are quite uncorrelated human forms of richness. I think about that now during the Christmas season while I see on Facebook that gifts are being purchased and wrapped to industrial scales back home - and I feel that all I really want for Christmas is to bring back with me the smiles of Malawi to my family and friends, and just keep smiling.

So these are some of the smiles of my year in Malawi. Real smiles, not "smile to the camera"-smiles. I think I have seen millions of them the last year, and of course the best smiles have never been captured on camera.

Rediscovering the warm heart of Africa

A few weeks ago I was writing on a blogpost with the working title "The lost warm heart of Africa" - it was however never published and might or might not be published some time in the future.

This post is somehow related to the previous one about the bus ride, and think I have discovered that the best way of coping with a culture that is different than your own is to get as deeply into it as possible. Of course that takes some effort, goodwill and adventurousness, so it's not something you can manage in the lunchbreak between answering emails and setting up budgets. So I am happy to have had a bit of time the last two weekends to really get into it.

Today I woke up at 0600 all rested out (yeah, it's actually Sunday today), and decided it was time to get out into some villages. I chose to make my goal the Sani Hilltop in Nkhotakota, actually not a big hill, but the highest point within a reasonable distance, and I guessed there would be a nice view from there (yeah, I did not completely loose my Norwegian mindset yet).

I made it to Fish Eagle Bay, my chosen starting point and parking place. Immediately a local boy from the village beside volunteered to be my guide and we started off making our way through the villages, casava fields, pathways, burnt grass and rocks. Every hundred meters we met another person, of course with the usual ritual of "Muli bwandji. Ndili bwino kaya inu. Ndili bwino. Zikomo. Zikomo."* My guide, who was now already my friend by the way, was good in English and very interested in me, my country and not least my job with solar energy here in Nkhotakota. Making our way back down we had to stop several places in his village to discuss solar energy with his neighbors in Mbalame village, actually a place we are considering starting operations in with Kumudzi Kuwale. It seemed everyone knew about our company and I felt like a celebrity walking through the village. Everybody were super friendly and the only thing they asked me for except of solar energy was to take pictures of them. It's condidered an honour to be taken a picture of - and I'm sure they would be very proud if they knew that their pictures were to be published on the World Wide Web within a few hours.

When I was back in Fish Eagle Bay it was only 10:00AM, but I had already interacted and had conversations with probably close to a hundred people that morning. Where else is that possible?

Malawi - I guess after all your heart is still warm. I just have to get out of the mzungu lifestyle to discover it.

*Translation: "How are you? I am fine, and you? I am fine too. Thank you. Thank you." 

The time you need to take

Having a busy job, little free time and a car, I seldom get the chance to take in the real Malawi. Of course I live in it all the time, but a storm of thoughts and a wall of self reminders occupy my mind. I travel by car, and in weekends and holidays it takes me efficiently from one mzungu place to the next. I always thought that a car gives you the freedom to travel wherever you want and stop whenever you feel like it, but it might not be the best option always. Sometimes you'd better stop in the places you never even considered stopping.

This weekend I was coming home from my mzungu hangout in Nkhata Bay and for once I chose to take public transport. In spite of the slogan of the AXA bus service "punctual, reliable, friendly", the bus we were waiting for never came. So we ended up waiting four hours at the roadblock in Nkhata Bay, a place I would never have considered stopping if I were in my car. But so many others do, and it's a piece of Malawi I had never experienced. I liked it. And after four hours another bus came and we made it back to Nkhotakota safely.

The good and the bad

The most wise words about life in Malawi I think were pronounced by the young girl in this video which was recently made with youth from Nkhotakota: m.youtube.com/watch?v=ymXyWeDljEA

Life is so good, but sometimes it's so bad.

What I both hate and love about staying here is the emotional rollercoaster experience. You never know what to expect. A single day takes you up and down a million times.

Now, after a day of so many positive and negative experiences, I enjoy. I enjoy my beer, with my feet up, the warm stone heating my ancles and the moon rising over Lake Malawi.

Two eventful days in Ethiopia

Last weekend I was in Ethiopia. I had two eventful days with my friends Ellen and Øystein who live there since two and a half years and have even had a kid during that time.

Ethiopia is a very interesting country and has a different mindset than most other countries I've been to. They are extremely proud of their country and their cultural heritage, to an extent that I have only seen in one other country I've visited so far - the other one is Peru. I got to see some of the Ethiopian culture and music in a show that was set up in the complex of Alliance Francaise - a fusion show with experimental jazz and punk mixed up in a jam session with traditional Ethiopian music and dance. The dutch band The Ex was the core of the event - really cool.

The second day we set out with a group of British people on a picnic and hike. We drove out of Addis Ababa, and after about one hour we reached the edge of a deep escarpment with a waterfall. A magnificent view. Some local Ethiopians were there, and followed us arround seeming to be interested in what these mzungus were up to in their village. We even saw the gelada baboons, the only monkey that live strictly from eating grass and live in groups of up to several hundred individuals. The local villagers were very interested and wanted to practice their english. I am used to this from Malawi, and went along with my friendly tone in a conversation with a couple of the youg girls. Walking back to the car, the girls started asking for money. I am also used to that, and of course I never give money to anyone in exchange for a conversation. When approaching the cars, the crowd accumulating around us were becoming bigger and bigger. I am used to this from Malawi also, but when we had sat down in the cars and wanted to drive out of there the situation became tense. The locals demanded money and started banging on the windows of the cars. Some of them picked up stones and rocks, threatening to throw them against the cars. We managed to get out of the chaos, but it was not a nice experience. My friends later told me that this is what Ethiopians do in the rural areas - they threaten you and throw stones after you. Not a very good strategy to attract tourism to a country which has so much to offer.

We stopped in a more quiet place for a picnic. Also this time a few locals spotted us and a club of young sheperds decided to take a break in their herding and stood and watched us while eating. These guys were more peaceful, and honestly interested in seeing what strange food these whites had brought to eat here among their cows and teff fields. It felt a bit weird eating with such a public, but no signs of throwing stones this time.

After the picnic a few of us went out for a bit of hiking. Rolling and lush hills and with the deep escarpment on the side - a beautiful landscape. Being just north of equator the rainy season has just ended in Ethiopia now in October, and the landscape is green and sprinkled with flowers of different colors. The dark and fertile soil is an excellent foundation for different crops. Ethiopia has a lot of endemic crops - species that were cultivated for agriculture there and due to the special climate some of them are still almost only found in Ethiopia. Fortunately one of them have caught on in many other places in the world, and every time we enjoy a cup of coffee we can thank Ethiopian farmers from thousands of years back for cultivating the bush that gives us this wonderful drink.

Italy as seen from the eyes of a turist from Malawi

I have taken a week off from work in Malawi to go and visit my wife in Florence, Italy.

Before going to Italy I was dreaming about how it would be: Wine, tons of tasty food, architecture, art... I have been here before, but sitting on the very basic countryside in Malawi imagining Italy became like a dream to me. How had they managed to build all those cathedrals? The cities, the roads, the railroads, the museums? From Nkhotakota it seemed amazing, like the result of a miracle. I thought I would do nothing more than stare with wide eyes and an open mouth for the ten days in Italy.

Now that I'm here I know that there was no shock in the end. I never caught myself with my mouth open and I quickly adapted my regular ignorant manner of strolling by amazing buildings and cathedrals without even lifting my eyebrows. But I anyway appreciate the perspective that my dreams of Italy seen from Malawi had given me.

Solar energy companies from Malawi excel in SEED Africa Awards

Three social enterprises working within rural energy supply received international recognition at the SEED Africa Awards symposium in Nairobi, Kenya on September 10, 2014. The three companies are Kumudzi Kuwale from Nkhotakota, and Electricity4All and Powered by Nature based in Blantyre. Honey Products Industries from Lilongwe also received an award for empowering honey-producing farmers. The SEED Initiative, initiated by the UN Environmental Programme, identifies and supports promising small scale social and environmental entrepreneurs who work towards a greener economy and tackle poverty, marginalization and social exclusion.

The representatives of the solar energy enterprises in Malawi that won SEED Awards, from left: Deus Byson, Martina Kunert and Trygve Mongstad 

“It is clear that the unique energy situation in Malawi spurs substantial innovation within the energy sector”, explains Martina Kunert from Powered by Nature. “When around 90% of the population still lack access to electric power there is a great potential and a need for enterprises like the ones we represent.” Kunert is also the Board Chair of the NGO Renew’N’Able Malawi which is helping to  coordinate civil society and private sector actors under the UN Sustainable Energy 4 All campaign. “We hope that these awards will help us progress, and expect the governmental bodies to provide their support in further development of the renewable energy sector in Malawi,” she adds. Solar energy solutions and energy efficient cookstoves may provide a stepping stone to increased standard of living, enhancing health, education and economy for rural Malawian families. “Our technologies can also contribute greatly to reduced pressure on Malawi’s highly depleted forests and forex expenditure on paraffin, as well as better agriculture efficiency”, Kunert mentions.

All three companies are, independently, working to promote and sell solar energy solutions and clean cookstoves, and emphasize on access to clean lighting and charging for all as their goal. One of the technical solutions under exploration by the enterprises is the construction and operation of battery charging stations in rural villages. The villagers, rather than buying a complete system, only purchase or rent a few LED lamps. To power the lamps, batteries are rented and returned to the charging station. “When the villagers don’t need to undertake the cost for the batteries and the solar panels, the investment is within reach for most people, even in remote villages. We charge about K5,000 for connection of a couple of lamps and later the customer pay about K300 weekly for charging the batteries”, explains Trygve Mongstad, the Norwegian general manager of Kumudzi Kuwale. “The villagers are extremely grateful for our program, and we hope we can show that after our pilot phase we can operate the stations with a profit”.  

“We are bringing in quality, affordability and after-sale support, which has been lacking in most of the energy products that Malawians have been buying up to now” states Deus Byson from Electricity4All. They focus on developing the solution of battery charging stations further, in what they call Energy Kiosks. The company already operates four Energy Kiosks in the Mulanje and Thyolo districts, with plans underway to distribute solar home systems to all over the country.

There is also an increasing demand for offgrid power solutions for business, industry and agriculture in Malawi, as this example of a solar-powered water pump installed in July 2014 by Kumudzi Kuwale.

In general there is a great interest for solar energy services in Malawi. “Our solar expertise is also wanted by many businesses in the region, and we see an increasing demand for off-grid electricity solutions,” states Mongstad. The three awarded entrepreneurs, who together believe in a bright future for solar energy in our country, are grateful to bring the SEED Africa Award home to Malawi. They appreciate the support to the Malawian winners by the government of Flanders, Belgium.

Hell yeah, we have won an award!

I think I have reason to be a little bit proud today - the company that I am working with (and, to some extent, I have created) has won the "SEED Africa Award" for being a very promising enterprise in social and sustainable entrepeneurship in Africa. The price is a lot of fame, consultancy in further developing the business plan and five thousand dollars to develop the company further.

That said, even without the award I am very proud of Kumudzi Kuwale. Since I came here in January, the company has grown from one part-time to now twelve employees. And most importantly: Good employees! Some have the impression that Malawians are lazy and not very well educated, but these guys are a really hard-working crew. Not to speak about the things we work with. I can see it in the eyes of my colleagues - they can feel that they are doing something important, coming to work every day with a smile even after knocking off late the day before. Something is happening in our small office - I think I can say that we are changing Malawi - at least we are starting. People are starting to notice Kumudzi Kuwale, and I can hear people passing by the office exclaim "Kumudzi Kuwale, eeee", assertively acknowledging that here is something that is finally helping Nkhotakota to come forward.

Winning an award now is the result of a few years of work, in an FK Norway-sponsored project, with contributions from the Norwegian FK participants and a lot of effort from the staff of Nkhotakota Youth Organisation to map out the energy needs in off-grid villages and later starting up the company which is now Kumudzi Kuwale Limited. Since I came, we have also been so lucky that we have capital to start developing models for electrification of villages in Nkhotakota, granted by The Royal Norwegian Embassy of Malawi. Thanks to all of you, and I hope that we will show us worthy of this award in the future - bringing power, empowerment and employment to the people in Nkhotakota and soon the rest of Malawi.

Me and some of my colleagues from Kumudzi Kuwale in our office. A great crew, worthy of an award!

Map of Kumudzi Kuwale's projects in Malawi

I've compiled a map to show the projects that we have been working on so far with solar energy and efficient cookstoves in the Nkhotakota region in Malawi. It's not a bad track record for a one-year old company! However, I beleive that the map will fill up even more within the coming year.

The lake flies of Lake Malawi

One of the craziest things of this crazy country is the lake flies. The first time you see them, you think it is the smoke coming from the chimney of a big ferry. Then you realise there are no big ferries in the lake. It must be smoke from some big fires in Mozambique? No, the black clouds rising from the lake are actually flies. Millions of millions of flies, rising to the sky in a celebration of life and reproduction. They have lived as larvae deep in the lake their whole life, which is about to culminate in a day or two of swarming before they drop dead to the ground. The phenomenon can be seen from June and a few months time every year, almost every day.

Fascinating from a distance, but some times the swarms will drift in over land. The flies will be everywhere, they fill your eyes, mouth, nose, ears... And they smell. Strong smell of fish, I've never even thought insects could have an odour.

Fortunately, Malawians have found a use for the flies. People will run around with plastic bags, mosquito nets or whatever can be used to accumulate the flies, or even sweeping them up as they are found dead on the ground. The flies are then used to make a sort of buns, I'm not quite sure how they are prepared, but after a fly invasion the black fly buns will be seen on the market.

The immigration office

In the last post I mentioned that there are some difficulties in obtaining a drivers licence for an expat in Malawi because it is more or less impossible to obtain a valid residence permit, which is a requisite to apply for the former.

Malawi issues a 30 day tourist visa when you cross the border for the first time. This can be extended by going to one of the immigration offices - a relatively simple process where you get a new stamp in the passport the same day. The extention of the visa can be of one or two months, and after that you have to apply for a "temporary residence permit" (TRP).

The application for the TRP can be done in the immigration office of any of the big cities in Malawi. You go to the office, fill out some forms and pay some fees. Then you get a receipt and you get to know that your TRP will be sent to you in the mail within a months time. That, of course, never happens, so the receipt of the payment is the effective residence permit. For how long that is valid I have no idea, it probably depends on you abilities to argue in a amicable way with the border control.

Today I went to get my visa extention in the immigration office of Mzuzu. It turned out to be a long process, so I was happy to be "on vacation" and have the whole day available for this:

12:00 - I get to the immigration office. There is a huge crowd in the corridor leading towards a certain office. I choose a more or less random different office of which the door is open. I am lucky - I get a form to fill out. When the form is filled I am told that the cashier is closed for lunch so I can come back after 13:30 with two passport photos and a copy of my passport. I go out of the office. A random guy approaches me and greets me. I tell him that I need to take a passport photo and ask where I can do that. He says he can take the photo. He pulls a blue cloth out of his pocket and tells another random guy to climb on top of a fence and hold it up behind me as a neutral background. He fishes a camera out of a different pocket, snaps a shot and takes me to a photo-shop where he can print the picture.

13:40 - I'm coming back to the immigration office with my freshly printed photo and a photocopy of my passport. There is a huge crowd accumulated in the stairs and there is an angry guy in front of the door that seems to try to scare people away. I choose to ignore the whole thing and clear my way through the crowd. After visiting a few public offices in Malawi I know better than just joining a queue when there is one - generally it is for something else or maybe even the people there don't know what the queue is for.

13:50 - I'm back in the same office where I started before lunch. There are two officials there: One guy sitting behind a desk talking to people that seem to be sitting around in the lack of anything better to do and a woman playing a computer game on what is probably the only working computer in the immigration office. The talkative guy takes a look at my form and the letter that I brought from my organisation in Nkhotakota, and brusquely observes that my boss has written that he suggests that i get a "Work Permit" instead of a "temporary residence permit". That puts a complete stop to the whole thing and I understand that some action is needed on my part.

14:00 - I go out to the car and take out my computer to modify the letter from my organisation. I go to a nearby copy shop to print it out.

14:10 - The crowd from the stairs has now moved to the corridor, making it almost impossible to navigate to the office I have identified in the end of the hallway.

14:15 - I get back to the office. The woman on the desktop computer is now comparing different models of dresses on a photo on the computer screen with some other women that have accumulated in her vicinity. The brusque officer, now in an uniform, continues reviewing my papers and when he gets to the point "sufficient funds for subsistence in Malawi" he asks if I have brought a bank statement. I say "No", and appearantly that is sufficient information for him this time. Next he comes to the point of "return flight", and I again say "No" and elaborate that my return is in more than six months from now. The officer leaves the office.

14:25 - The officer comes back with some random TRP applications and shows me the printout of their flight itineraries. "You need this" he informs me. I go out again to my computer to find the itinerary of the flight that I am planning to take out of the country for a meeting in a months time. Ironically this flight out of the country will nullify this whole TRP application process as you are not allowed to leave the country while waiting for the TRP to come. Of course it never comes, so nothing really matters anyway.

14:35 - I have printed my itinerary and try to enter the office again. This time, a crowd has accumulated in front of the main entrance and an angry guy is trying to fight off the crowd and asks everyone to show their already filled in forms before entering the building. After waiting for two minutes at the back of the crowd, the man suddenly disappears into the building and of course the whole crowd follows after.

13:50 - I'm back in the same office where I started before lunch. There are two officials there: One guy sitting behind a desk talking to people that seem to be sitting around in the lack of anything better to do and a woman playing a computer game on what is probably the only working computer in the immigration office. The talkative guy takes a look at my form and the letter that I brought from my organisation in Nkhotakota, and brusquely observes that my boss has written that he suggests that i get a "Work Permit" instead of a "temporary residence permit". That puts a complete stop to the whole thing and I understand that some action is needed on my part.

14:00 - I go out to the car and take out my computer to modify the letter from my organisation. I go to a nearby copy shop to print it out.

14:10 - The crowd from the stairs has now moved to the corridor, making it almost impossible to navigate to the office I have identified in the end of the hallway.

14:15 - I get back to the office. The woman on the desktop computer is now comparing different models of dresses on a photo on the computer screen with some other women that have accumulated in her vicinity. The brusque officer, now in an uniform, continues reviewing my papers and when he gets to the point "sufficient funds for subsistence in Malawi" he asks if I have brought a bank statement. I say "No", and appearantly that is sufficient information for him this time. Next he comes to the point of "return flight", and I again say "No" and elaborate that my return is in more than six months from now. The officer leaves the office.

14:25 - The officer comes back with some random TRP applications and shows me the printout of their flight itineraries. "You need this" he informs me. I go out again to my computer to find the itinerary of the flight that I am planning to take out of the country for a meeting in a months time. Ironically this flight out of the country will nullify this whole TRP application process as you are not allowed to leave the country while waiting for the TRP to come. Of course it never comes, so nothing really matters anyway.

14:40 - I arrive to the same office again. The woman on the desktop computer is now bored with the computer and has started playing a game on her phone. The officer with the uniform can't manage to pinpoint any more mistakes in my paperwork so he staples the papers together and tells me to go to the office next door to pay the fees. Unfortunately that seems to be the office that the whole crowd always is crowding towards, but again I assume that the queue is not for me, so I just fight my way through the crowd and come into the office. Once inside, I observe indeed that the queue is splitting into different queues - one for a set of counters for which I don't know the purpose - that is the big queue - and a small queue for the cashier. There are only three people in front of me. The cashier woman is entertained by a friend of hers that has come to show some pictures of a party or wedding of some form that appears to have taken place recently. When she finishes that, she attends to the three people in the line and after that me. After a random guy with a tie sends me to an empty counter together with a Malawian man and we are more or less told to wait there until something happens. The small office is probably about 10 square meters, but there are about 100 people standing around making queue in different directions. Suddenly an angry man comes and chases about half of the people out of the office. Mostly smart-looking men with suits and ties remain in the room. All the time I am the only white person in the office. A big woman suddenly comes and takes my papers. She looks at me, smiles, and looking me in the eyes she bangs a stamp on the paper with such power that I can almost feel the building vibrate. That's it for me.

15:30 - I come back to the first office with my papers. I sit down on a chair with the papers in front of me on the desk of the uniformed man, who is not there. The woman with the desktop computer is looking into the air and appears to be recalling an important moment in her life. After five minutes the uniformed man comes and looks at me, then at the papers. He appears to be surprised. He gives me my receipts, stamped with the heavy stamp of the woman. He looks me in the eyes and says, brusquely, "We'll call you". Of course they will never call me.

15:35 - I leave the immigration office.

Driving in Malawi

Driving in Malawi is pretty different from driving in any other place in the world. In Malawi, you normally don't worry so much about the other cars - I've been driving for more than an hour on the main roads without meeting any other car. Here, there are other obstacles: Bicycles, people, goats, chicken, kids, dogs, roadblocks, police, potholes, and tarmac crumbling away from the edges of the road.

The few other cars on the road though normally choose between two different driving styles: Insanely slow or insanely insane. I think I have never driven before or behind any other car for a longer period of time, here everybody choose their own speed, so it's about overtaking or being overtaken. The most scary is to drive at night - africans are hard to see in the dark, roads are narrow and when a 100-ton truck comes towards you with blinding lights at 100 km/h - the road is 4 m wide and the shoulder of the road is a crumbled precipice of 0.5 m you wish you would have started off earlier. So we try to avoid driving at night as much as we can.

Below is a video I took last weekend while driving through Dwangwa, a town some 50 km north of Nkhotakota. That gives an impression of how it can be.

Another interesting thing about driving in Malawi is that, as I have understood, the international drivers licence is only valid for two months after your arrival to the country. However, to get a Malawian drivers licence you need to have a residence permit. A recidence permit can be applied to after three months, and the processing will take another three months. Or more. We applied for the residence permit in April, and now by mid July we have still not heard anything about that. So, you just have to talk your way out of it when being stopped by the traffic police when they ask about the drivers licence. And the traffic police will stop you...

Testing testing

*Nerd alert*

When I came to Malawi, I repeatedly experienced people talking about the problem of low-quality products on the market for solar lights and solar energy in general. Innocent as I were at that time, I assumed that it could not be so bad. Everywhere you find low-quality products, but the good thing is that they are cheaper, so in the end it might be adviseable to buy the low-quality product.

To have power in a house in the middle of nowhere in Malawi, you need basically two things: A solar panel and a battery (+ some more things, but let's keep it simple). Before I came to Malawi, I assumed that this world was straight forward - a solar panel is a solar panel, and a battery is a battery. To make life even easier, the solar panels and batteries have numbers on them that tell how much power they can produce or how much energy they can store.

How to power your offgrid home in Malawi...

Anyway, I went to my new existence in Malawi carrying my experimentalist background, and soon started to test different solar panels to see if they performed well. I just did simple measurements with a general multimeter and the sun as the light source, and I soon discovered that the power of the solar panel that was written on the back of it not always was in agreement with the actual power. I acknowledge that my measurements were not 100% accurate, but with some reasonable assumptions and simplifications, I found that the power of some of the panels was as low as 70% of the rated power. I imagine it would be difficult to sell Coca-Cola bottles that are 70% full, but with solar panels it's not so straight forward to see, so they sell anyway. 

Performance of a few selected panel sizes and brands available in Malawi.

I knew quite a bit about solar panels before getting here, but not as much about batteries. Since I did not know so much, I was even more naive about the batteries. It took me a while before my experimentalist drive made me also start testing batteries. That was, however, even more shocking. Many of the batteries appeared to have a capacity of only 30% of what was claimed on the information printed on them. I could not believe my own measurements, but after spending a few weekends recording battery voltages every hour I was quite sure about what I had found. No-one would ever go back to a gas station that filled your tank 30% up and charged you for full tank? But since almost no-one ever bother to measure the capacity of a battery, people are beeing ripped off every day like this.

Actual battery capacity for a few different brands of small household batteries available in Malawi. The ones that perform well are hard to find...

Battery discharging: voltage as a function of time when discharging small household batteries at a current of 0.32A. The battery is empty at 11.5V - after less than five hours for the worst batteries, whereas the best can last for about twenty.

It seems that products that have failed quality control or something are the products that reach Malawi. The prices are low, but not low enough to justify the performance.

Simple tools in my improvised lab - but much can be done with a multimeter and a few bulbs!

I am also testing solar light bulbs for battery operation. The salespeople in the shops are totally amazed when I come with my multimeter to test the actual power consumption of the bulbs they are selling, and look at me as if I was a sort of magician. Last time I was checking I found that a certain bulb was rated 3W according to the box, on the bulb itself it was written 1W, but measuring I found that the power consumption was actually 8W.

If anyone interested solar energy in Malawi ever reads this, take note: Be very careful when you purchase products, especially batteries. The brand ECCO is the worst, but unfortunately also the most popular - it is the cheapest. 

Sustainable Malawi

Last weekend I had the interesting experience of meeting a group of the volunteers of the American Peace Corps who work with environmental issues in Malawi. One of them was especially outspoken, and I had an inspiring conversation with him. For the sake of the story let's give him a random American name, let's call him "Bob". Here is a summary of the conversation:

"Bob": I don't like to take the word "rape" in my mouth, but some times you have to.
Trygve: What do you mean?
"Bob": Hey man, we are raping this planet. We are raping the nature.
Trygve: Yeah, I guess I would agree with that. What are you thinking about specifically?
"Bob": These Malawians, they are cutting down the trees, fishing all the fish, illegally burned charcoal is everywhere... You should see the mountains where I live in the dry season, they are on fire! They hunt animals by burning down their habitats, and they fish the even the smallest fish using mosquito nets to catch them.
Trygve: Yeah, that sounds bad.
"Bob": YES! They are raping the nature. However, I hope this new president can make a change to that.
Trygve & "Bob": Bla bla bla about Malawian politics and politicians.

...after a while....

Trygve: But "Bob", I think it is not only the Malawians who are raping the planet. How about the way people live for example back in America?
"Bob": What do you mean?
Trygve: Well it might be that your forests are more protected and you are not fishing with mosquito nets, but I mean, the American lifestyle has some impact on the planet as well, dosn't it?
"Bob": Yeah, it might have...
Trygve: I mean, all the things you consume over there, they come from somewhere, don't they? If all people would live like Americans we would be completely fucked up, would we not?
"Bob": Ehhhm.... OK.... (Screaming) Who wants some Jack Daniels?!?!?!

So that did not compute for "Bob". But I would say Malawi is actually one of the most sustainable societies I have seen. Let me give some examples:
- Food is produced and consumed locally.
- Bicycles and walking are the main forms of transport.
- I would guess less than 1% of the population has a car.
- As good as no-one ever uses airplane transport.
- Most malawians eat vegeterian food most of the time.
- (Almost) all garbage is recycled or reused and put to use locally.
- Almost all energy use is renewable: Electricity comes from hydropower and bioenergy is used for cooking.
- Houses are constructed using local materials and the houses are relatively small.
- Almost no energy is used for heating or airconditioning of houses and offices.
- Most people use second-hand clothes and other second-hand consumer items.

The most non-sustainable about Malawi I would say is the overpopulation and the continued high population growth, which explains the observations that my friend "Bob" had made.

Of course, my own observations can be traced back to the fact that Malawi is a very poor country. But anyway, the Malawian lifestyle is so sustainable! If everybody lived like Malawians we would probably be able to fit about 100 billion people on this planet without over-consuming.

Personally I do hope that Malawi can develop their economy without leaving this sustainable way of life. And I hope that Malawi can inspire the rest of the world to adapt their lifestyles more to live like they do. But unfortunately, it is not too popular to live as a poor person.

Being poor is not something people strive for, typically, but let me mention a last self-observed indicatior of sustainability in Malawi:
- Malawians are the happiest people I have ever seen anywhere in the world.

There are still some forests in Malawi, but all seem to agree that deforestation is a serious problem.

These nets are used for fishing at the lakeshore. Nothing but water is filtered through!

Small fish left to dry in the sun.

Transport of bioenergy with bicycle power! A common sight in Malawi.

Happy small fishermen with their catch of the day.

Rice is grown and consumed at the lake shore of Malawi - some is also exported.

Most people live in small houses constructed of locally found materials.The bricks are made from the clay soil that is readily available almost anywhere.

Transport of locally produced food - on a bicycle of course.

Malawian kids - so many - and so happy. No need for Toys'r'us, Lego or videogames, just hanging out with your friends and family in the village all day, and perhaps improvising a ball or a toy car from some garbage. Low carbon footprint kids!

Elections in Malawi

Today is the day of the elections of Malawi. We have been awaiting this day for a long time. Millions of dollars have been spent on the campaigns, tons of freebies have been given away, presidential candidates have been riding around on trucks filled with people screaming over loud music for days on end, and thousands of supporters of the parties have been paid on a daily basis to be extra supportive. Even so, the last few days have been surprisingly quiet, at least here in Nkhotakota.

There have been a few polls prior to the elections, but they have been showing a different result every time so nobody really knows how it will turn out. There are four candidates that seem to have a chance. The most probable seems to be the current president, Dr Joyce Banda. She was vice president when the last president passed away about two years ago and she then took over after him. Since that Malawi has been through a few financial scandals and hardships, so many of the people I have spoken to are very critical towards her as a president. However, she has spent tremendous amounts on her campaign, reaching out the even the most remote villages with her loud music and shows, her orange flags and chitenjes and her piercing voice roaming out of every radio in the country every day. Two weeks ago she visited Nkhotakota, flying around the country in helicopter on the final stage of the campaigning. Quite a luxury in a country where most people strive to survive on less than a dollar a day. According to the Norwegian ambassador of Malawi, Asbjørn Eidhammer, her campaigning funds originates from wealthy supporters overseas. Personally, I think she has overdone it a little.

Of the other probable candidates we have Peter Mutharika, the brother of the belated president Bingu Wa Mutharika who passing away left the presidential office to Joyce Banda. He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under the period of his brother. Then we have Atupele Muluzi, a 35-year-old courageous candidate who wants to give cash payment to all the poor in the country and free fertilizer. Finally there is Lazarus Chakwera representing a conservative party in Malawi with a not so conservative agenda. Actually I do not know what is the actual difference between the politics of each candidate, and I doubt that the average Malawian does also.

This morning I went with my friend James to have a look at the voting at a school nearby. The elections are coming along quietly, apart from a few impatient voters starting riots in the larger cities due to delays in opeing the voting offices. It will be very interesting to see the results coming up the next few days. Who will be the winner of the “big presidential erection”? - as they say here, with the Bantu impediment of distinguishing “R” and “L”.

My friend giving his vote in the local elections.

The voting slip for the Malawian presidential elections.

The election officers explaining about how to fill out the voting slip.

A local woman giving her vote.

Election observers from the German organization GIZ. The two girls in the car were not German, but at least they had come in from Lilongwe.

James' wife showing his voting identification.

When I asked James how they would know if he had given his vote or not if he came a second time to the voting office, he showed me his right index finger covered in ink. "Can't you just wash it off?" I asked. He just chuckled and smiled as an answer.

Battery charging station under construction

The biggest project I am working with this year with Kumudzi Kuwale, is
a project funded by the Norwegian Embassy (or Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, actually). The goal of the project is to develop solar energy
as a viable alternative for lightning and other energy needs for
villagers and businesses in off-grid areas in Nkhotakota.

There are many reasons for using solar energy in these areas: Firstly,
currently villagers are using kerosene, candles or battery powered
lights, which generate in- and outdoor contamination. Indoor pollution
is one of the greatest health problems in Malawi due to use of lamps and
fireplaces indoors. Secondly, the consumption of kerosene, candles and
batteries is very expensive for the villagers, a great part of the
family's income is spent on these products. Also, by going over to solar
energy, we are creating sustainability - less fossile energy is
consumed, but the communities also become less dependent on imports and
transport of high-cost energy products. One might also add the time that
is saved, when villagers do not have to travel long distances for
purchase of the mentioned products.

However, the challenge in implementing solar energy is mostly related to
the investment: A quality solar product can cost around 50,000 kwacha (a
bit more than 100 USD), while the people that are lucky to have jobs
mostly earn between 10,000 and 20,000 kwacha per month. Most people
don't actually have income-generating jobs at all, except for farming
which will give some income during the harvesting season.

That's why we are now trying to develop a model which can make solar
energy accessible to the people. We are developing a model where the
villagers only have to purchase lights and appliances, while the
investment of the battery and the solar panel is left with our company
Kumudzi Kuwale. The way of implementing this is to build a village
charging station, where villagers can rent batteries that are charged
from a solar panel array on the building.

We will build charging stations in four different villages in
Nkhotakota. We are these days just finalizing the first, so it is an
exciting time. The construction of the building itself was started on
March 25, and it is now already almost finished. During the last two
weeks we have, with help from students from NYO vocational skills
training centre, installed lights in 23 houses in this village. We were
expecting to have 30 village customers, but now we have a list of more
than 130 interested customers. The villagers are extremely greatful for
the project, even though some think that our prices are a bit high.

This week I also brought the Norwegian partner group which is visiting
us in Nkhotakota for the yearly review, and we were received with a
spectacular festival of singing and dancing. I take it as a sign of
thanks from the villagers. The dancing and singing truely deserves a
separate blogpost, but it will do with a few photos this time.

Within a week or two we will start renting out the batteries, and it
will be very interesting to see how it goes from there.