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!