Donahue Fundraiser For Malawi Village
Dear Friends, Family & Colleagues,
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