"Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better."

Highlights of a summer in malawi

Conversations with Malawi

Please tell us where you grew up, and what influence your parents had on you?

 

I grew up in Chiadzulu district, born in 1973.  My father was an engineer and my mother was just a housewife.  I had 1 brother and 4 sisters.

 

My parents were hard working people.  Each one of us they managed to send to school.  I went up to secondary level and ran into financial problems.  I was studying mechanical engineering in college, but could not afford to continue school.  When Kamuzu (Banda) left office, I went to the school of driving and managed to pass.  I worked under the Minister of Health in 1998 (as a driver).  I then transferred to the office of Presidential cabinet.  For 4 year I worked there.

 

I had the opportunity to transfer to Lilongwe, but it was expensive.  I thought here in Chikwawa life would be less expensive, so I remained here.

 

Was life more difficult under Banda, than today?

 

Under Banda, life was tough, because ruling was almost like dictatorship.  Everybody was forced to follow his instructions without hesitating.  It was almost like you were a soldier.  He could report anything on you to the police.  With this ruling (democracy), I think, most of the people are free.  Speaking what they want, whereas nothing good, they do speak to everybody here, but that time, you had no chance of speaking.  So that is the difference.

 

With Banda, generally, food was not scarce.  Because there is so many agricultural farming units, food was not as scarce.  If you compare with the past government and too this government which has just entered, it seems like, food will not be scarce, as the time goes, because so many donors are providing pumps, water pumps.  If they can produce food throughout the country, where-ever there is water; I think hunger will be history.

 

Do you think countries like the United States are helping enough in Malawi?

 

Yea, but we as ordinary people are… we don’t see the profit of what they are doing.  Maybe the big bosses here, that can talk to those countries, here and there, now and then, they can see the help.  But we poor people, the people which are living in these villages, it is difficult to know that country is helping us.  Because, you know, most of the people are living in remote areas, like the people you have seen.  Otherwise they are brewing kachasu (home-made alcohol), like the people you have seen.  Do you think that person, if you ask him, “What is the government doing for you?”  What is he going to say?  He can say to the elder, I didn’t see anything.  Because the help which the government is receiving is not reaching to the real poor people in the villages.

 

I don’t know, maybe because this country is very big, I don’t know.  But if a country like America, helping Malawi, especially to the villagers, just giving a heavy pump, to pump this water in the river which you have seen, pumping this water into the villages.  And people started farming now and then, they can see this pump is not from Malawi, we have been given this pump from abroad, America.  So this pump is profiting us.  This profit is giving them what they need – its food.  Once they get food, they are free!  They can know, we have been assisted.  Rather than giving them goat or what animals for farming.

Because there is no companies here.  If you can see here, there is no companies, companies are very little.  Most of the people, they can farm.  So assist us in the farming, going into the farming, I think it will be a little bit better for these people who do not know anything.

 

Do people trust the government more or companies trying to develop the country?

 

For myself, if I am receiving enough money to assist my family and relatives, going to school and the like, I can prefer working.  If you get an opportunity to do business, you can do business as well.  But also business needs capital.  So most of the time, most of the people once they can get capital they can make business easy.  That’s the fact.  People can make business easily, once they get the money.  But people here are very poor, they can’t manage to make business.  Because their capital is very low.  Or even the salaries they get from working, they are very low, so they can’t even manage to make business.   The business which they can make can be unprofitable.

 

Are people being paid enough?

 

Here in Malawi?  Here in Malawi?  The people are not being paid enough.  The salaries are very low.  Even in the government.  Salaries in government are very low.  That’s another problem.  Because if we talk about the parliamentarians, once they got in parliament, they didn’t talk about the civil servant, the ordinary civil servant, the ones like teachers.  They think mostly about themselves, raising their salaries.  You know, they think about themselves, raising their salaries.  While, most civil servants are starving.  Like I’ve said, I’ve been working in government.  Without getting any allowance, or any tip, I can not survive well.   So an allowance, taken as an additional money on top of your salary.  With only your salary, you can’t survive.  You can’t feed your family properly.  Since your salary is poor, you can’t manage to feed them or even give them support.  The salaries are very little.  But as I said, the difference between a parliamentarian, or even a minister, with a civil servant – its very big.  It’s a very big times difference.

 

Do you think people in government, like civil servants can be corrupt because they have low salaries?

 

Yea, I can say, people in government, like the junior ones and the like, they are corrupted because they don’t have money.  You know corruption comes…say I have 500 kwacha, so for this 500 kwacha, my niece or my child needs to go to school, I need to eat, I need to pay rent, my relatives are starving.  So I find something, maybe if I take this one, I can manage to pay that kid to go to school.  I think that’s why some corruption comes.  That’s why some corruption comes.  Just to make yourself survive, to do those things you are failing to do and make.

 

What do you tell that American who wants to donate money to Malawi but is afraid of corruption?

 

This time, I think there are some restrictions, that this money is going to do such and such kind of work.  If there are restrictions on that, I think money will not be stolen or taken away from anything.  But if that money comes to pick up those who are very low, pick up even their salaries, I can say for those civil servants, others who are just working, lending…They don’t have proper houses.  The houses which they live in are not proper.  International donors come and say we are going to build houses for these civil servants, to the lower civil servants, to have houses instead of paying rent.  That money which they are paying to rent can go to something else instead of paying rent.  So that donation should really go to specific things, not just giving the money, “oh we will see what you do with the money”.

 

What kind of things should money go to in Malawi?

 

In Malawi, you can send the money with distinction, this money is for such and such and say, look after it!  What have you done with the money?  I said this money, you should build dams for the irrigation, building houses for the what-what, or building schools for these poor people, and go and see what this money is doing.  Because the only people who are rich, they are the one’s who used to steal the money.  Because I myself as a junior, I can not manage to monitor someone who is on top.  I cannot manage to monitor.  So the one’s who are on top are the one’s we should monitor.  That’s why, this guy Bingu wa Mutharika is very serious on corruption.  He is very serious.  So because of that, he is very serious.  Most of the others, the lower ones they see pressure, I think after awhile they will receive good thoughts on that.

 

Do you have any advice for someone from the US coming to Malawi?

 

To someone coming from abroad to help this country?  My advice is very simple.  My advice is that he should, monitor everything which he is doing.  Somebody who is very rich, he cannot manage to think about someone who is very low.  So if help comes, even to me, I am so poor.  I do live with the poor people, in a village.  I know where to go with the help.  Here in the village, I know where people are starving, because of this, because of this, because of this.  I can give an example:  A President, or anyone who is in a higher part, lives a flexible life.  A fresh life.  He can do anything on his house without going to anyone’s house.  He can’t know what somebody in the village, like here in Chikwawa, like we have seen, is brewing beer, in the sun, no shade, no water, just to get 60 kwacha for a can of coca cola.  He can’t know.  But if that help goes straightaway to that village, finding people who are so starving, but they went to school, they know something, they can know, they can know where to go.  Where to start and where to end.  That’s the problem.  Because some people…a person who has suffered is the one who knows the problems of other people.  But someone who is just living happily, good life, everything else…he can just be a monitor.  But the ones who can say let’s go do this, let’s do that - they are the one’s in the village.  That’s the problem.  The help comes and gives to those people who are already doing fine.  They don’t mind themselves with somebody who is sleeping with hunger in the village.  They don’t mind.  They just think of what they are doing.  Maybe the help might come, but taking time for that help to reach the poorest in that village…because he doesn’t feel bad or hungry, he is free.  He is free or she is free.  That’s the problem.  That’s the problem.

 

If you could ask one question to America, what would it be?

 

The question which I can ask you, you have been in this country, you have seen.  Even yesterday we have been together, we have gone through, seeing people, seeing houses of the people, how they are appearing like, or even if you can compare with the animals which you have seen in the national parks and the like – What do you think you can help here in Malawi?  As you have seen, without regarding that you are here, you are staying here, everything here is almost like a comfortable life, without regarding that, but just seeing the other people.  Or even these workers who are working here.  What help do you think you are going to assist here in Malawi?  Because here in Malawi, people do go to school.  The access of going to school without clothes, or they can go to school without food.  Or if you go to their home, this person is sleeping here, in a place which you will not want to sleep.  There are so many problems.  While there are some who are living very happily.  If I can compare even myself with these others, I am better off.  I went to school, I know what to do.  My wife is a teacher, she teaches at a primary school.  Getting that little salary we are talking about as civil servants.  To you, what can you do?  With the little help, what do you think you can help, here in Malawi?

 

We suggested harnessing the power of water irrigation from the river. 

 

This water here is from Lake Malawi just flowing into the Indian Ocean.  Without any profit here, just flowing into the Indian Ocean.  So people around here, they don’t have a means of access, of taking that water to their field.  If they have an access, they can profit, along this river.  There are other people, who don’t have a river like this one.  You can go to Chiadzulu, where I was born; there are small rivers, which you can not say, “pump the river into irrigation area”.  That’s the problem here in Malawi, people don’t survey.  They don’t survey, they just give the money without surveying where it will go.  So that’s why some rich people who receive the money, they just take the money into the area where the money is not necessary.  Without knowing, they don’t move to see how the people are starving in that area.  Or if you go to the north, what are poor people lacking in the north?  Each and every part, there is a special thing which those people lack.  Here, if we get support of such and such a thing, maybe we are going to develop.  But their first thing in Malawi, once I am working here, once I have my own food, the money which I receive here, I can go to the other area.  Or even send my child to a good school, or assist my parents, or my relatives who are starving.  I think that is why poverty still exists here in Malawi.

 

If you give an opportunity to a person living in Blantyre, to go and monitor people in Chikwawa for irrigation.  He can stay there even a month, without going to Chikwawa, just writing reports.  “Ah, things are moving in Chikwawa.”  He’s free, in Blantyre.  He doesn’t feel any harm to him.

Peter Mkanga August 2006

B. 1973, Chiadzulo district.  Private Driver

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