One of my friends whose passion for social justice equals or exceeds mine is artist and filmmaker Cy Kuckenbaker. He and I met in Jurmala, Latvia as part of Peace Corps Lithuania Group #9. He was the only guy who arrived in Eastern Europe without a jacket and I, perhaps, was the only one with an extra. He was also one of the only twenty-somethings whose hairline was receding like mine. This would become on ongoing joke (and concern) as two icy winters in Lithuania would see an island form at the top of our foreheads. Over those two years he and I would embark on a journey that would lend us the experience of teaching youths, discovering bitter truths about history and politics and surviving in a foreign place (a cold and dark one at that). At times it seemed like we were stranded on those islands between the stubborn follicles whose days were numbered. And other times we danced our last joyous days of youth and freedom obsessed with the idea of taking home a Lithuanian wife. (Neither of us did). Nonetheless, a rare bond between two passionate men was forged as the future waited to see what we had to offer.

When I decided to rejoin the Peace Corps in 2004, Cy was preocuppied with finishing film school, a Fulbright Scholarship in Lithuania and an accompanying thesis film. Halfway through the shooting and editing of that film, ‘The Orphans,’ he miracously found some extra money and a month to bring his creativity to the village of Zolokere. In May 2005 he found me tangled in a web of failed initial efforts, potential project ideas, village politics and general everyday life struggles. He and Gama got along from the go and Cy soon nicknamed him ‘Gama Sutra,’. He would replace that with, ‘G-Unit’ and cap it with ‘The Dalai Gama,’ the most fitting. Myself, Gama and his many names enjoyed Cy’s company. Once he started filming we made every effort to facilitate that process i.e. contacting people, setting up interviews, translating, bike taxiing him and his camera, cooking food and cracking jokes during his 24 hour skirmish with food poisoning. Our assistance coupled with Cy’s investigation and astute perspective on the local happenings resulted in ‘The Troubles in Zolokere,’ a short documentary that explores the relationship between culture, gender equality and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Cy would give both Gama and myself Producer’s credits which leave me humbled and honored, especially because it is one of the only products left of my collaboration with the late Gama.

It is important to note that the other Producer, my long time friend, Tony Paul Pereira funded the production of the DVD’s and was responsible, through their sales, for generating more than a thousand dollars that were utilized for the Khutamaji Primary School building project. Tony’s efforts being the exception, Cy seemed disappointed with the interactive response and the overall sales of the film. That didn’t deter him nor his craft from coming to Zolokere a second time for an additional three months, in December of 2006, the very heart of the rainy season.  This time Cy found me tangled but in a different web; a half-built school project and its maladies, soccer league controversies and the looming future of Malawi Jake after Peace Corps.  Throughout those three months Cy and the camera’s eye would pivot themselves on Tony Bomber’s Football Club following their games and standings in the second football league we organized. (The team was dutifully named after their sponsor, Tony Pereira.) The first league which we called, ‘Hewe Unite,’ ironically ended with violence climaxing in a 1-0 victory by Tony Bomber’s with rains of half-bricks thrown by the opponents’ supporters.  That event had soured my perspective and hardened my heart which manifested itself in my every day relationships, projects and at home.  But after nine months of constant persuasion by the locals I grudgingly decided to sponsor a second league, ‘Hewe South,’ excluding 7 of the 14 teams that had participated in the first league. (The brick throwers were first on the blacklist.)  The league commenced just in time for Cy’s arrival. From deep in the rainy villages of Hewe through the City of Mzuzu to the shores of Nkhata Bay on Lake Malawi Cy studied and filmed the team, witnessing their common struggles, issues and concerns which mirror those of most ordinary village-dwelling Malawians. Nonetheless, the resulting documentary film, ‘Bush League,’ and Cy are currently in Baghdad in post production.  He’s ironing out what he can in between work shifts, dashes to the bomb shelter and phone calls from Malawi Jake with the same bad news about the status of the translations (A year has passed since the tapes were sent to Malawi for translation and we haven’t seen a single page.)

Despite the frustration of an inconsistent phone connection, from Baghdad to New Jersey Cy and I continue to provoke each other’s thoughts concerning our roles and our relationship to the developed and undeveloped world. Through these conversations we search for solutions to the problems that plague our friends in Zolokere. We scrutinize the efforts of the Malawian government and their approach that offers a system comparable to indentured servitude as farmers are subsidized to grow tobacco and maize that earns the government and companies millions while pennies trickle down into the calloused hands of the farmer. We are infuriated by the fact that a truck can reach the Hewe Valley once a week to deliver Coca-Cola’s sugar water but HIV/AIDS patients have to spend a month’s income for transport to town in order to take life-saving ARV treatments. We question the policies of our own government (among others) and their responsibility in developmental assistance like why a certain percentage of President Bush’s HIV/AIDS assistance is ear-marked for abstinence programs when its condoms that are saving lives. We examine the current practices, relevancy and potency of the projects of well-established development organizations leaving us wondering why, after 40 or 50 years and billions of dollars of investment, we see a regression rather than the opposite. Is it solely due to ineffective governance and corruption or are donor countries in the shadow of the blame? We speculate the impact of mobile technology and how Internet can change the lives of our village friends. How might some of the information on the web be designed and customized to benefit a small-hold farmer? While the questions are many, the issues are complex and the solutions are few and far between. Still more, we are as obstinate as we are passionate, some might say naive others impractical but we persevere. Thus, we have decided to begin a collaboration that we hope will stimulate the support for the project ideas that our discussions and experiences have instigated.  We will start small on Cy’s current blog (cysfilm.com) and proceed in the direction that our hearts and minds take us.

The journey to Malawi on which I am about to embark is a concrete example of what our conversations have precipitated. In addition to revisiting old friends and an old life in the village I will be making ethnographic recordings of church choirs, cultural celebrations, funerals, Vimbuza (a traditional Tumbuka healing dance), soccer chants, drinking circle rhythms and whatever else might capture the vitality and spirit of the people.  That spirit I will carry home for you as well as anyone else interested in supporting our development initiatives in Malawi. When I return in November the music will be mastered and produced but at this point, details are vague as to how it will be distributed. We are exploring the ‘Radiohead’ route, asking the audience to pay us what they think it is worth.  People could buy songs in exchange for a donation. Perhaps CD’s will be offered in local organizations, churches or businesses. Revenue would be used to sponsor small grass-roots projects in Zolokere.  With time, decisions will be made and details made clear. I am initiating this project as a result of Cy’s vision. He had posted some of the video of Zolokere’s Presbyterian Youth Choir on Youtube that generated some audience and interest. I immediately thought it was something I should explore when returning to Malawi which I had been saving and planning for already.  Over time and more encouragement I realized that the project, both financially and logistically, was viable. By April I had booked a ticket and began acquiring the necessary equipment for recording (some of which I already had.) On September 3rd I’ll board the plan with as much electronic equipment as the Hewe Valley has ever seen. When they see the extent of what I have they might actually think Madonna is on her way. She may not but Cy will join me there in October with plans to shoot an epilogue for ‘Bush League.’  I envision warm evenings beneath the mango trees in my backyard in an air of wood smoke and words between friends of the incredible impressions and how they will weave their way into our futures.

As I seek more clarity on many of these issues and subjects, my time in Malawi will at least provide a fresh perspective. I’m looking for new paints for the easel, so to speak. While the recordings will require many hours of tedious work and management, I will also be initiating some other small projects that, at the core, will establish a connection between my Malawian friends and acquaintances with people here in the States. These include a potential microlending initiative and a pen-pal exchange program with a local high school. I will also be visiting Khutamaji Primary School to assess the status of the school, its pupils and the community around it. I’ll be delighted to catch a few Tony Bomber’s soccer matches and gather with the team. I just hope that I’m not persuaded to participate in a practice!  And finally, on a more solemn note, we have intentions to visit Mulanje in Malawi’s southern region, the homeland of the late Epton Gama where we will offer our condolences to his family and enough cement to build him a respectable gravestone.

So I’m inviting all of you to join us; to follow this blog, our ideas, experiences and our journeys. I invite you to think, live and journey with us. Enjoy the pictures, videos, letters and whatever else you might find. Hopefully they evoke the sounds, smells, spirit and struggles of the friends we wish to assist. Join us as we progress. We dig the footings now knowing that someday soon we’ll start pouring the cement. When we do I hope that you will be part of that process, as well as our progression.

Best to All,

Still Malawi Jake

cysfilm.com

http://web.mac.com/chiphaliwali

I hope you are all doing well and look forward to hearing from you.

Jake

Khutamaji Junior Primary School is finished! Or at least as finished as it could get while I was there. There were a few odds and ends I would have liked to complete before I departed but the school is standing. In fact its functioning along with one teacher’s house. As I was leaving, Grade 1 students were busy in the school learning and the grade 2’s were planning to get started. In some of the photographs you will see some of the students as well as their teacher, Mr. Chavula. You’ll also see photos of his house, kitchen and bath, which he has already moved into. The last day I was at the school my friends were busy installing the windows in the house which you will also see in the photographs. The other photos included are the soccer and netball goal posts as they were being painted and installed which were gifts from members of St. John Nuemann’s Catholic Parish. I have to admit that this small project required more time, money and effort than I had anticipated and I was busy painting up to the very last day I was in the village. Nonetheless, the fields are fitted with new equipment and the people are proud and happy, as they should be.

While the goal post project offered its challenges it certainly couldn’t compare with the complexity, scope and intensity of our school building project. Again, it’s hard to anticipate some of the difficulties one encounters when taking on a project of this nature. At times it seemed that everyone and everything was against me; the chiefs, workers, roads, even the weather. But when all said and done, the project continued as trouble-free as one could expect taking into account the conditions we were working in. To give you one example, the building site was 65 kilometers (approx. 35 miles) from the town where I was purchasing the building materials, even the stone for the foundation and footings. So if you could imagine, with such distances, dirt roads and unpredictable weather to deal with it took us close to a month just to get the stone to the site. And that was after three trips per day rotating three drivers. If it rained we didn’t go anywhere, sometimes even for a few days, as the roads were impassable even with our Toyota 4×4! At one point in January there was so much mud on the 3 km road between my house and the school that I didn’t get to the site for three days! But while it may have been difficult for us on the ground, the same difficulties we were dealing with are the very same reason we decided to build a school where we did, so that the youngest children wouldn’t have to walk through floods to get an education. I had to keep reminding myself of that. And I did and eventually the project got finished. Of course there were other setbacks and unwelcome situations but that isn’t why I’m writing to all of you.

I’m simply writing to you to share these photos and to express my gratitude to all of you who, through support, understanding, trust and generosity, enabled the project to come to its fruition. Our goal has been realized, the Grades 1 and 2 students of Khutamaji have a building to learn in, furnished with 30 desks and 4 blackboards. Furthermore, the community itself has a community center for other activities i.e. church services, committee meetings, dances, etc. They have something to be proud of, thus so should you. Without your commitment none of this would have been achieved and I do hope you realize this. From a personal standpoint, you made my life easier and more interesting. I can assure you that all of the experience that I have taken from this specific project will certainly be used by me in future projects of this sort and scale. So once again, as the voice of the children and community of Khutmaji and from the voice in my heart, thank you kindly. Tawonga Chomene! (That’s Chitumbuka for ‘We are very Grateful’)

Malawi Jake

Ps while I can still be recognized as Malawi Jake, sometime in the near future the website will be changing in order to coincide with the changes in my own life. I’ll be sure to update you.

Here are all the new photos

Here is the full set http://public.fotki.com/dohunt/jake_-_peace_corps/

Here is the full set  http://public.fotki.com/dohunt/jake_-_peace_corps/malawijake_060706/

Dear Sir:

ESTABLISHMENT OF JUNIOR PRIMARY SCHOOL

We humbly ask for the establishment of a Junior Primary School at Khutamaji Village.

The population of the village is 1,600 with a number of 360 pupils at Zolokere Primary School. Others do not go to school because of:
a) Floods - small children cannot cross
b) Distance - last house from Zolokere School is 4KM away.

The community has moulded 50,000 bricks and is now moulding 50,000 additional bricks. The first lot of bricks is burnt.

The community is composed of Mwakhuni Village, Zgepuzgepu Village, Chipendo Village and Chithutu Village.

Yours Sincerely,

Kondwani Ngwira_ Secretary

If you are still interested in making a donation, please send an email to Jonathan.Donahue@ge.com. Donations can be made out to St John’s Social Ministry, PO Box 455, Califon, NJ 07830. Please note that it is for Jacob Wilson’s Malawi Project.

http://www.ccsjn.org/ActivityPages/JakePages/MalawiJakeProject.htm

We realise that charitable donations are a very personal decision and not everyone has the financial resources to spare. Donations in the form of prayers, thoughts and sharing this email with other people are priceless. If we are fortunate to raise over $15,000, we will establish a fund to make micro-credit loans to villagers to help them become financially independent through entrepenurial ventures.

This project will take 6 months to complete. We will be sending out periodic emails and updating the website with pictures and other information. In July, Jake will be in the US and we will be hosting a reception for him and everyone interested in learning about his experiences. Please let us know if you are interested in continuing to receive emails or if you would prefer to be removed.

Sincerely,

Jonathan & Jessica Donahue
11 Cloverly Circle
Norwalk, CT 06855
203 831 9117

My name is Spencer Mallard and I’m a friend of Jake’s from Virginia Tech. If you read Greg’s recent journal entry “In the Back of the Beyond,” I’m the guy who works for the “African Strategic Defense Command” and am also the guy who may or may not have had a little problem one morning in Zolokere while Greg was being attacked by a giant, killer rat.

Concerning the ongoing fundraiser, I just quickly wanted to let you know that Mr. & Mrs. Tom Kreutzer of Woodbridge, VA, good family friends of mine I’ve known my entire life, have just put a check for $1,000 in the mail. The check will officially be on behalf of the Rotary Club. Mr. Kreutzer had been asking me for a while if I knew of any grassroots organizations or groups in Africa to which he might be able to make a donation, and your mention of Jake’s most recent effort immediately came to mind.

I gave Mr. Kreutzer my highest assurances that this money would go a long way in making quite a lasting difference in Jake’s neighboring village of Khutamaji. If he had the opportunity of actually meeting Jake, I’m sure he’d be even more convinced. I know Jake will only be back in the States for one month this summer, but I’m going to try and convince him to come down to DC for one or two days and perhaps give a talk of his past, present, and future efforts to make the Rumphi district where he lives a more prosperous, pleasant place to live. I’m sure Mr. Kreutzer and his pals at the Rotary Club would be keen on meeting Jake and hearing from him. And given my job and current position within the government I could most likely widen the audience a bit and perhaps get an official from the Malawian Embassy here in DC to participate.

This idea is only in the initial stages and is admittedly dependent upon Jake’s willingness to share his efforts/views to a crowd and his availability during his month off here in the States. I certainly don’t want to ask Jake to do something he doesn’t want to do, but I think a lot of folks would be surprised at how many people in the DC area would be willing and excited at the prospect of meeting Jake and hearing what he had to say. Having worked Africa issues for close to three years in DC, I can tell you that although the community is quite small, it’s also one that is really engaged and eager for positive news, whether it be the building of a school in a small Malawian village, or the eradication of terrorist activity in Algeria. Both are important victories.

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled on enough, but I really hope you achieve your goal of $15,000. Please keep in touch (via e-mail or Jake’s website) and let everyone know how things are going.

Take care,
Spencer

————-

Spencer -

Thanks so much! I did get an email from Mr. Kreutzer and thanked him for his donation; however, I didnt realize how generous it was. My father is a Rotarian - I may see if his local club will want to donate as well. I am going to ask Jake if he would be willing to speak at the Rotary as well in Moorestown NJ.

Greg -

Please post this email to the website and forward to Jake.

Thanks again Spencer!

Jon

Also, I spoke with Jake today and he should have some new writings to post for everyone soon.

My brother-in-law Jacob Wilson is in the Peace Corps in Malawi, Africa.
This is his second tour in the Peace Corps and he has been there for
over a year. He has been focused on helping the village become more
self sustainable by helping establish tree farms, sunflower oil
production and chickens whose eggs can be sold to create income for the women in the
village. While he has been there, he has found the people to be
wonderful,
but their needs are great. An impoverished country is subject to many
different issues but the root cause of almost all of them is a lack of
educational resources.

Jake has taken on an initiative to build a school for a village he
supports and Jessica and I have promised him we would raise a minimum
of $15,000 to build it. The village has all of the key elements for
success - land, support of the village to provide all of the labor and
a desire to build the school represented by 30,000 bricks that have
already been made. We have attached a letter from Jake that describes
the need, the village and his plan. We have also attached a link from
his church that has pictures and stories.

If you are interested in making a donation, please reply to this email.
Donations can be made out to St John’s Social Ministry, PO Box 455,
Califon, NJ 07830. Please note that it is for Jacob Wilson’s Malawi
Project.

http://www.ccsjn.org/ActivityPages/JakePages/MalawiJakeProject.htm

We realise that charitable donations are a very personal decision and
not everyone has the financial resources to spare. Donations in the
form of prayers, thoughts and sharing this email with other people are
priceless. If we are fortunate to raise over $15,000, we will establish
a fund to make micro-credit loans to villagers to help them become
financially independent through entrepenurial ventures.

This project will take 6 months to complete. We will be sending out
periodic emails and updating the website with pictures and other
information. In July, Jake will be in the US and we will be hosting a
reception for him and everyone interested in learning about his
experiences. Please let us know if you are interested in continuing to
receive emails or if you would prefer to be removed.

Sincerely,

Jonathan & Jessica Donahue
11 Cloverly Circle
Norwalk, CT 06855
203 831 9117
jdonahu2@optonline.net

The complete letter from Jake is below (a copy is attached):

Dear Jon, January 20, 2006

A belated happy holidays from the green, lush and rainy village of
Chatumbwa
here at Zolokere. I hope you and the girls spent the holidays warmly and
that you were able to relax from work as much as needed. My Christmas and
New Year were spent here in the village for the second time in as many
years. I had the notions to travel but the rains have kept me busy
cultivating and planting and unable to take a break. I’m beginning to
learn
the rhythm of life here in Malawi, when the rains begin to fall the country
is reborn from a long and dusty dry season. Thus, all of the farmers, who
comprise 95% of the population, are also alive and are too busy to do
anything but farm. Since I’m slowly evolving into a farmer I find myself
in
the midst of a number of agricultural-related projects: sunflower for
cooking oil, soy for chicken feed and consumption, trees for fertilizer and
reforestation and peanuts, tomatoes and maize for my own diet. Without
going into great detail, just know things are going as well as they can and
I did at least find the time for some bottles of Carlsberg on Christmas and
New Year’s.

The nature of this letter is to present to you a project that you
should be familiar with and I understand you have even discussed with
my father. It relates to the building of a junior primary school in a
neighboring village. The name of the village is ‘Khutamaji,’ which in
the vernacular, Chitumbuka means “full of water.” The reason, as you
might imagine, is that in every rainy season part of the land floods
out, which at times leaves the road or the village inaccessible to
outsiders coming in or insiders going out. These insiders, of course,
include the school children who learn here in Zolokere which is
situated about 5 km away. (My recent inquiries have revealed that a
large percentage of the student population at Zolokere Primary School
actually come from Khutamaji.) At this point, we have to break the
surface of the culture a bit. As much as Malawians believe in and
respect the value of education, they at the same time are very poor.
Education is an expense for them in terms of buying simple things like
pens,
paper, school clothes, shoes, etc. It is also something expendable. In
other words, if the family is really struggling they can cut that expense
and keep their kids at home, especially girls who aren’t expected to finish
much past the eighth grade, when they are ready for marriage. Now, when
the
distance to school is great, the road is flooded or the school is the
center
of a different community the family feels less connected and is more likely
to prioritize other things like farming, hunting, housework and the like.
Thus, children stay at home and may never even go to school.

And, Jon when I personally assess the future of Malawi, it looks bleak.
Despite the simplicity and smiles, the purity and warm hearts; the
society, which includes every individual family as a whole is being
torn apart by the HIV/AIDS crisis, which I consider Southern Africa’s
modern-day Bubonic Plague. Again, saving you the details, the hard
truth looking down the road
15 years, I see an entire country of orphans, which already number 900,000
in a population of 12 million. History and common sense reveal to us the
unfortunate truth that many orphans are likely to become criminals or at
least commit crimes as they seek whatever means of survival. It is not a
far cry from now that this ‘Warm Heart of Africa’ will become the ‘Burning
Hot Heart of Africa.’ The reason I’m including this bit is because when I
study the behavior and its incidence for change, I’m perplexed. In regard
to the use of contraception or prophylaxis, or the decrease in level of
promiscuity or the prevalence of polygamy I see no change at all. I see a
population of people who aren’t educated, mis-educated or don’t believe
what
education is telling them. (Just today, for example, there are 3 funerals
in the Hewe area. One happens to be for Senior Group Village Headman
Khutamaji, who was the chief of the area where we want to build the
school.)

These observations of mine are screaming something at me very loudly:
The educational system is inadequate!!! If in a country where 25 % of
the adult population are infected with HIV aren’t changing their
behavior there is most definitely something wrong. So my natural
tendency is to look at the schools, the very place where all of this
information should be related. The first step I take into one classroom
I find the answer or at least one
of them. The classes are overcrowded and the teachers have no way of
controlling, let alone teaching them. At Zolokere Primary there are 70
students in Grade 8 who are being taught by one teacher. When we look
at the lower grades we find even higher numbers. This year (school
just opened on the 9th) there are between 90 and 100 students in both
grades 1 and 2. The teachers are taking on a workload 4 or 5 times the
size of what it should be. As many of them are already sick or
infected themselves (civil servants comprise the highest rate of
infection) or are just poor and tired in general, their lessons aren’t
effective or beneficial to the students. Thus, none of this VITAL
information can be related to the students or ever applied in their
everyday lives and behaviors. So, essentially the idea is simple or at
least lets keep it that way on
paper: If we can help the community of Khutamaji build a junior
primary school for grades 1 thru 5 we would be actually serving two
communities. First, as the school would most likely function as the
center of their community, there would be a natural increase in the
interest in education. We would either be opening the doors or keeping
them open for a large number of children. At the same time we would be
lightening the load of the overburdened teachers at Zolokere Primary
School allowing them to do a more effective job. Thus, the students
would retain more information with particular regard to HIV. Second,
there would be no trouble for smaller children in terms of
rain/floods/etc. as the school itself would be in their
home village. Finally, as noted above, schools here in Malawi not only
function as centers of education but centers of community. Most village
meetings take place at the schools, they often serve as clinics for the
local health officers and, at times, they are even used for church
congregations.

Now that I’ve tried to establish the need for the school allow me to
introduce you to the community of Khutamaji. As you know I live in an
area that borders a National Game Reserve known as ‘Vwaza Marsh.’
There is a river that flows into the marsh called ‘Hewe.’ Hence, the
river valley where I live is known as ‘Hewe.’ (HeyWay) Zolokere
happens to be the name of the main chief in the area so his side of
Hewe is known as Zolokere. Taking the road to the game reserve from my
house about 4 to 5 km we find the last settlement before the park
begins, Khutamaji. Flower and Fauna, trees and birds are abundant and
the people are blessed to have very good soils. Up to 20 years ago
before they were all poached out elephants and buffalo roamed the
valley in great numbers. The fields just at this time are full of
maize, tobacco, peanuts, sweet potatoes and my 2 acres of sunflower.
The community has a population of 1,600 people and there are 8 Village
Headmen who serve as their leaders. A large majority of the people are
Protestant or Roman Catholic and belong to the congregations in
Zolokere. I’m lucky to have a strong familiarity with the area and its
inhabitants because it is the home of one of my work counterparts,
Songwe Nyimbiri, who I’ll refer to as ‘Chatwa’ which is his nickname.
Chatwa is a 34 year old tobacco farmer with a family of three (just
like you he has 3 daughters). He is the captain of our football team
and the manager of the team’s garden. He is also the larger reason of
why I’ve been able to keep these egg-laying chickens. He and I are
farming the sunflower together as we are looking for ways of making oil
on the local level. In truth, almost everything I’m involved in, so is
he as he’s been a vital part of my efforts here. As I look down the
road at this school project and see that he will be an integral part of
it I offer you this about him: he is educated, strong, hardworking and
honest. These are four qualities that one possesses if and when they
harbor my trust and confidence.

The idea of the building project is not mine at all. Its been 10 years
now since the community has been organizing and positioning themselves
to construct a school. There is a committee established that has
notified the government on several occasions of their need.
Consequently, they have already prepared 50,000 bricks to begin the
project. I should add here, in projects of this nature in Malawi it is
usually the expected contribution of the community to provide the
bricks and the labor i.e. carrying water and wood, molding of bricks,
kiln construction and firing. It is then the work of the donor group
or respective government institution to finish the project from there.
More specifically, the builders, laborers, materials and transportation
are covered by the donor or gov’t. The idea is that the community
should share some of the responsibility, have feeling of ownership
so they will respect and take care of their new property. In my mind, this
particular project seems worthy because of the community’s own interest and
initiative to build a school. If it were me bringing the idea to them I’d
certainly question the credibility of interest and the integrity of the
project as a whole. But because the people of Khutamaji have identified
their own problem and have begun taking steps to solve it I credit to them
my own belief in their idea. Hence, I myself am willing to donate a great
deal of my own time and energy taking on and completing the project.

I don’t want to dive too far into details and specifics in this, the
first of our correspondences. What I do want to do now is briefly
highlight some of the potential problems we could face so that you
FULLY understand some of the risk you might be taking, as well as some
of the setbacks that could confuse the project. I think its worthwhile
also to list some of the obstacles so you can have a realistic idea of
what I’m going to deal with. The first is politics, which is something
one must deal with no matter where
or what kind of organization one works in. Its human. Initially, I had a
tough time with this one because I was in the dark s to how it works here.
Now that I’ve been here two years and the lights have been turned on I’m
aware of the different ways of dealing with them. Mostly here, the best
option is to stay quiet and smile until someone crosses you. When that
happens you must act harshly but rationally and they are likely not to
repeat it. (You have to remember that this country was ruled by Dr.
Hastings Banda for over 30 years who was dictatorial and known as a
‘no-nonsense’ man.) The second problem relates to the willingness of the
government to supply the school with worthy or qualified teachers,
especially if I bypass them on the building contract (another form of
politics). Thirdly and logistically is transport. As you may know I rely
on ‘public transportation’ which consists of the back of a pick-up truck
that drops me 7 km from my home. When I buy goods, chicken feed or other
things in town I either walk with them on my head or use a bicycle with a
carrier. Now imagine trying to build a school in that manner? I would
probably take us two years to carry the concrete. Also, fuel here is very
expensive and continues to rise affecting any and everything. So the more
we use a vehicle the more money we spend. Finally, once we’ve built our
school where do the teachers stay? In Malawi all government teachers are
offered accommodation. So id we build a school for four teachers do we
consequently build four houses? Do we leave that to the community? To the
Government? Or what about books and materials? These are all legitimate
questions and concerns and that is why I’m verbalizing them, to extend my
version of transparency.
I think finally, I should offer some specifics, or better said, general
specifics on the logistics of the building project. In terms of cost I see
four things that will consume most of the appropriated money: concrete,
lumber, metal sheets for roofing material and their transportation. Of
course, a number of other expenditures will slowly add up such as tools,
nails, door locks, frames, windows, lime for whitewash and paint. If
bought
according to quality standards some of these things can be very expensive
with particular regard to tools and paint which are imported and more
expensive than at home. When all said and done, I’m guesstimating that the
finished would cost about $15,000 USD. In order to get a more precise
number and idea of what would be spent where I’m going to meet some
builders
and contractors and draw some varying budgets. I’ll then send them to you
via e-mail so you can begin to take on your part. I’ll be returning to the
village on the 22nd of this month so figure by mid-February you’ll have
more
specifics.

In the meantime Jon, just know I appreciate any effort you make to
realize this goal and assist these communities who truly need the
assistance. I’ll be coming home in July, as you know, at which time I
can share with you photographs and stories; some faces and familiarity
with the community you will possibly be working with. I’d also be
happy to meet and encourage a meeting with any other prospective and
interested parties. Until then please keep in touch and give my love
to the girls.

Yours,
Jake