Rob in Malawi

When I finished my placement as a Junior Fellow with Engineers Without Borders Canada at the end of last August, I didn’t expect to be back any time in the next few years. Being able to come back just four months later is a pretty remarkable experience. I’ve spent the last week seeing old friends and coworkers, exploring how Malawi has changed, and following up on where I left my work back in August.

My first few days were spent running around to the market and seeing other Canadians who had recently arrived or who had spent their holidays in Malawi. It’s incredible to see how the water and sanitation team has changed – a few people have returned home to Canada, a few people have just joined, and the team strategy is much further than when I left just a short while ago. I’ve also had the opportunity to see a lot of Malawian friends, occasionally just by bumping into them on the street in Lilongwe.

When I last left Malawi, I was struggling with the question of what I had actually accomplished. I felt confident in the recommendations and lessons I had communicated to my host organization, but wasn’t sure if anything had resonated. In the last few days I’ve been catching up on reports and documents created in the last few months, and I’ve seen the studies I worked on referenced a few times. It didn’t appear that very much of what I produced had been acted on. Starting work this week, however, I’ve seen where a few of my ideas have gone. I made a number of recommendations on how to better support and promote hand pump spare parts retailers, and some of these ideas are now being tested in the district of Kasungu. As well, many of the critiques I made on Inter Aide’s pilot monitoring system in Mchinji have shown up in other reports, and will be acted on when the system expands to new districts. Most rewarding, however, was the opportunity to see my old counterpart Macmillan working at his office in Lilongwe and in the field. Macmillan was already an incredible individual when I arrived in Malawi, and seeing him eight months later he’s managed to go even further. I attribute this to his dedication to work and desire to learn, but I’d like to think that I played a small role in helping to facilitate his personal development (even if it was just by spending time with him on a computer).

Change anywhere is constant, and I’m just beginning to see how places like Lilongwe and Mchinji have grown since August. I’m excited to continue this exploration, and to travel back to all of my host-villages and see how they – and their people – have changed. I’ll save that for another blog post though! If you’ve got questions or comments, feel free to post on the blog, shoot me an email, or give me a call at +265.0.993.274.020 (skype is cheap, and so are SMS!).

cheers,
Rob

Hey folks! So, it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged, but as I get ready to hop on a flight to Malawi tomorrow morning, I thought it would be a good time to start up again. I’m travelling back to Malawi to work with Engineers Without Borders Canada for the next three and a half months, and as this is a bit of a unique situation, I’ll touch on how this came about before diving into my personal reasons for going back.

The Engineers Without Borders Water and Sanitation team in Malawi has set some pretty high goals for the next three years. They are hoping to address a range of issues related to rural water point functionality and the capacity of district governments to implement water and sanitation programs. However, the team also has a lot of questions and hypotheses around issues in the water and sanitation sector. Due to a lack of resources at the moment, the number of tasks that need to be done exceeds the number of available volunteers, so the team decided to get creative. After a lot of exploration it was decided that getting one of the Junior Fellows from this past summer to come back might be a good way to get the ball rolling on some of the team’s hypothesis testing and data collection. My erratic Waterloo coop schedule lined up nicely with the needs of the Water and Sanitation team, so I was invited back to help fill the gap.

Last summer I had something of an exploratory placement working for an NGO called Inter Aide. My experience with Inter Aide was pretty exceptional, and it was decided that I could leverage this relationship once again to help create a second successful placement. This time around I’ll be partnering with Inter Aide to perform a comparative study of rural water access Operation and Maintenance systems in different districts. The goal is to create a blueprint for implementing a successful system in a new district that is capable of achieving 100% hand pump functionality, and to compare how different hypotheses play out in different geographical regions. I’ll be based with one of Inter Aide’s partners, Baseda, that runs a fairly successful system in Lilongwe west. From there, I’ll also be visiting systems in Zomba and Mchinji, combining the best aspects of each system to develop a more successful hybrid. It seems like a daunting task, but having worked with Inter Aide before, I’m confident that they’ll support and push me to reach this goal.

The decision to go back wasn’t easy. The first time I went to Malawi with Engineers Without Borders I was able to justify the investment in me by focusing on the experience as a personal development and learning opportunity. The second time, that justification was more difficult. However, I still believe that this is an incredible experience that can help me to grow as a person and can help me to connect Engineers Without Borders’ overseas work back to Canada.
I am also passionate about the work that the Water and Sanitation team is doing in Malawi. My decision to go back will help the team to accomplish some of it’s goals in the area of water point functionality, and the opportunity to contribute to this was too difficult to pass up. My being there will help the team to fill a gap that would otherwise go unfilled, or would have been filled at a much greater expense to the organization.

Of course, I have selfish reasons for wanting to go back too – connecting with old friends, being part of the overseas team once again, and having a coop experience that is truly unique. However, I believe that my being in Malawi can help Engineers Without Borders to have an impact on the way that low water point functionality is addressed, and that factor alone was enough to make up my mind to return to Malawi.

I’ll be arriving in Lilongwe in just a couple of days. I’d love to hear from all of you in the comments, by email, sms, or phone (+265993274020). Give me your feedback on the blog, questions you have for me, things you’d like to hear more about…absolutely anything! Until next time, tionana (see you later in Chichewa)!

cheers,
Rob

Hey folks! So this I’m wrapping up my placement, saying farewell to friends and family, and packing my bags for Canada. I’m hoping to write a little bit about my placement impact later this week, but that’s an issue I’m still reflecting on. For now, though, I thought I’d throw out a quick blog post with some packing advice for future JFs in southern Africa.

A tiny camera. I brought my SLR with me, thinking I’d be able to get much better pictures than with a small point and shoot. Was I ever wrong! As soon as you take a camera out in the village, kids go wild. I was taking a picture of my friend Mango on the weekend, and a swarm of children ran at us from across the village shouting “Jambala! Jambala!” (“Picture! Picture!”). Future JFs should make an effort to bring the smallest, most discrete camera possible. You will attract less attention that way!

NO white clothes. This key piece of advice was definitely not passed on to me before coming to Malawi. I showed up with six pairs of white socks, and have regretted it ever since. When I wash most of my clothes, I can usually do a passable job. The dirt I don’t manage to clean is usually pretty unnoticeable, and my family doesn’t mind. However,whenever I hang my white socks up to dry, I can be sure that someone will take them down and rewash them as soon as I go to work. Future JFs coming to Malawi should know that dark fabrics are your friend!

Clothes that make you feel comfortable. Back in Canada JFs were advised to leave flashy western clothing at home, in order to ease the process of integration once overseas. In Malawi, however, most people wear western clothing, and much of it comes from Canada (I’m typing this while wearing a UW Plant Operations shirt I found at the market). Looking back, the type of clothes I have worn while in Malawi were probably the least of my integration worries. As an azungo (white man), wearing local clothing isn’t going to make you stick out any less! Future JFs headed to southern Africa: wear what makes you comfortable, and preferably, what is easy to clean!

USB flash drives. In Malawi, almost all electronics cost a ridiculous amount. At around 2000 Malawian Kwacha ($16.00 CAD) per Gigabyte, USB flash keys are no exception. As owning a computer is something far beyond the means of most Malawians, everyone that uses a computer for work or communication relies pretty heavily on USB keys. And, if you have a few, they make great gifts for friends, family, and co-workers.

Western treats. Bringing some food from Canada can go a long way to making a good first impression on EWB Overseas Volunteer Staff (OVS). When you get off a forty hour plane ride, feeling groggy and disoriented, you might not be your normal self. However, having a ready supply of dried fruit, trail mix, and granola bars will make the OVS forget this very quickly!

If future JFs heed this advice, they should be ready to rock out an amazing placement in Malawi! That’s it for now – look forward to hearing about my placement impact and some post-placement reflections later this week!