OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi: March 22, 2008

Before we left the village on Saturday, March 22, we did a quick tour of the local primary and secondary schools and also met with the representatives of a Kasungu based group called Tiyanjane Organization for the Disabled.

The primary school has no electricity and every classroom except one has no chairs. Students sit on the floor or take classes outside.

The local primary school

The only classroom with chairs

OPSEU meets with the Board of Trustees and members of the Tiyanjane Organization for the Disabled. The number of people with disabilities is increasing in this area due to different factors, including deformities from birth, motor vehicle accidents, strokes and HIV/AIDS related diseases.

Our last day with the Makupo villagers was a very sad one. The people from this village are wonderfully warm and treated us like close family members. We will have amazing memories of their hospitality, their music, their food and their laughter. We hope to continue working in solidarity with this community and said our final “Zicomo” (“thank you” in Chichewe) with tears in our eyes.

OPSEU pins became favourites to wear as earrings

OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi: March 21, 2008

Early on Friday morning, we rose to begin working on the installation of the solar lights in village homes. OPSEU brought these solar powered lights from Canada – purchased from a Calgary based group called “Light up the World” Foundation. The first priority was the outdoor kitchen, then the guest house.

Small solar panels waiting to be installed in the homes at Makupo village

President Smokey Thomas hands Zack Lavigne
the materials to install the lights.
Zack was an amazing teacher, patiently explaining how to
install the lights to the local youth

Village youth installing the solar panels on the roof of the kitchen

Bwerazani proudly displays the solar panel atop a village house

While Smokey, Ron and Zack continued installing the solar lights in the village, the rest of the group went into the town of Kasungu to buy supplies to be given out to every village household.

A procession in the streets of Kasungu commemorating Milad an-Nabi
– the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad

Sister Miriam Nkosi supervises the buying of fresh supplies to share among the village families

Dried fish is essential for protein as there is no refrigeration in the village

With OPSEU funds, every village family was given a package of sugar, soap, oil, tomatoes, onions, dried fish, mosquito coils and maize flour.

In the afternoon, Doug Miller drove us in a four wheel drive vehicle to a plot of land he and his family purchased with funds raised in Montreal, Canada. The size of the farm plot is 40 acres but it is 44km away from the village – the only piece of land available for purchase at the time. There is nothing else for the young men in the village to do except to farm which is what they know best anyway.

Walking to the farm plot

Kenny (one of the young leaders in the village farm project)
outlines the plan for the farm to OPSEU

President Smokey Thomas and Executive Assistant Ron Lavigne
with three of the young men who will run the farm

The problem is, of course, transportation to this farm plot. Not only is it 44km away but it is across very difficult terrain, through frequently flooded areas and rough rocky ground when dry. Makupo has identified five young men committed to farming this land and their plan is to build housing adjacent to the farm land so that they can live and farm there without having to worry about daily transportation to the area. From there they can then cultivate for the village and make a small living for themselves and perhaps provide for their future families.President Smoky Thomas promised he would raise the issue of special funding for this very worthwhile project upon his return to Canada.

OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi: March 20, 2008

On March 20 we left South Africa and flew from the vibrant city of Johannesburg, South Africa (with a population of 8 million in the greater Johannesburg area) to the very hot and much smaller city of Lilongwe (less than a million people), the capital of Malawi.

At the airport we were met by Doug Miller, Montreal based Coordinator of the Makupo Development Project. From there we drove north for two hours to a small village called Makupo – near Kasungu, Malawi.

Upon our arrival at dusk we were greeted by the
villagers who were singing and dancing to celebrate our visit.

The Makupo village women greeting OPSEU

We quickly learned to adapt to village life – at a much slower pace and with no modern amenities at our fingertips. We stayed in the village in modest accommodation with no running water, no electricity and only outside toilets. Nevertheless because of a recently constructed well – built partly from OPSEU funds – there was plenty of water available to us for bathing and washing.

Makupo women now have 24 hour access to water with
the newly installed pump at the well.

We stayed in the village for two days and two nights and ate the traditional food - “nsima” - with our hands usually for both lunch and dinner. Nsima is a maize (corn) dough – stirred into boiling water until it reaches a dumpling-like consistency. We were taught to scoop up a piece of nsima and then dip it into the various sauces made of spinach, tomatoes, pumpkin leaves, etc. with our hands. We were usually treated to chicken stew – made from freshly caught free range chickens – as well.

Women plucking chickens for our evening meal

The Makupo women sorting through pumpkin leaves before cooking our meal.

OPSEU Social Justice Funds have been used to construct a new outdoor kitchen for cooking communal meals. Almost every house or village uses wood in an open fire for cooking and heating water for baths, etc.

The newly constructed outdoor kitchen with double roofing for
better air flow from the open fire.

Our accommodation in the village

Village kids hamming it up around the well

Village women wearing their OPSEU donated Canadian flag head scarves

Montreal based Makupo Development Project Coordinator,
Doug Miller (whose wife, Nellie was born and grew up in Makupo village)
with some of Nellie’s relatives