My first survey!!!

Well, it certainly was far from my first time administering a survey, but it was the first time I'd ever administered a survey I had designed and put together all by myself!

Last week my boss asked me to put together a survey/questionnaire based on a similar project conducted in high-density areas of Lusaka, Zambia. It basically follows families over a period of time, and it covers a range of issues poor households may or may not be faced with in their everyday lives - waste disposal, sanitation, access to water, access to adequate healthcare, shocks (e.g. deaths, sickness), redundancy, violation of labour rights, etc etc. Basically covering as many aspects of the lives of the poor as possible in order to identify what issues most urgently need to be addressed, and possibly make policy recommendations based on this.

I was a bit intimidated to be given this to do all by myself as I've been feeling a bit redundant in the office here, and this was a very sudden thing, and I wasn't really given much by way of a guideline. I got to it, though, and I tried to cover as much as possible without making it so long that the interviewees would get frustrated :-) It was big deal for me anyway - I felt like I had finally been given some responsibility in an area of our Basic Needs Basket programme, rather than just following others around.

As it turned out, I was more or less leading the group, and I loved it! I had to explain the the aim and purpose of the survey to the volunteers who would be administering it with me, outline what we were asking and why, and basically make thoroughly sure they understood what was expected, as they would ultimately be communicating all this to the interviewees. We chose three densely-populated areas around Lilongwe, and selected the houses at random.

It started off well - people were fairly receptive and I took plenty of photographs! The kids were predictably cute, I played peekaboo with them while they hung off the side of the car... LOL! They're adorable, the kids are one of the things I will miss most when I leave - not that we don't have kids at home, but the ones here definitely have an added... innocence or something? Maybe my perception is biased because I'm white, but they just get so excited about stuff! They were stroking my hair and giving me high-fives... it was hilarious!

So, that was the first town. The surveys themselves went without a hitch - I did notice some technical stuff I wanted to change about the way the questions were phrased, etc., but other than that it went well, and seeing as it was my first time doing anything of the sort I think it went pretty well :-)

We moved on to the second village. It was going well, just like the first one, only this time my skin, as always, caused me trouble... as I previously said, in Lilongwe especially - moreso than other Malawian cities, etc, I've been to - being white gets you a lot of attention. In most cases this is perfectly positive, as it was with the children. At other times, it's not so positive, and this was one of them. This drunk guy - there are a lot of these here - wandered over, absolutely pissed, saying he wanted to shake my hand. I looked at his hand. It was covered in some kind of yellow goo *grimace* I didn't shake his hand, but I said hello. I'm not shaking a gooey hand, thankyouverymuch.

Well, now.

He approached me on and off for the entire... I'd say, 20 minutes?... we were sitting there trying to do the survey, alternately trying to get my attention, shouting at me, asking me for money, telling me he was sick, and throwing tantrums because I was studiously ignoring him. I think he grossly underestimated my cold-shoulder-giving capabilities, because he seemed to think he could wear me down in time. Needless to say, I found him annoying, but I gave in to neither my urge to punch him in the face, nor my urge to tell him yes he was sick, but if he drank less beer he'd be doing much better. Fool. I just pretended he wasn't there, TBH, and eventually he teetered off because the locals were laughing at him and I didn't appear to hear him. Thank goodness.

Anyway - these things happen. I think I'm becoming a bit more acceptant of this kind of crap, really. Before I came here, it would have stuck with me for some time that someone had shouted at me, and genuinely left me upset. I was upset afterwards alright, but TBH I'm so used at this stage to things taking me aback that I get less disoriented by it. That's a good thing, right?

The last village was slightly less eventful than the previous two :-P not much happened besides the administering of more wonderful surveys (LOL!), BUT I did get covered in ants at one point... I was sitting on someone's front porch when I looked down, and lo and behold I'd sat on an anthill... again. (No, this is not the first time I've been covered in ants here) Cue me performing an impromptu version of Riverdance trying to get the hordes of tiny insects off my trousers... they seemed to find it amusing though, so that was good :-)And as per usual in Malawi, I had the stress of a long working day washed away by the entertainment that is wandering livestock... there was a mommy hen and her chicks wandering alongside the road, and I managed to get photos of them - they're on the Photobucket account I previously posted a link to if any of you want to look.

I'm too lazy to post the link again... *sticks out tongue*

Love you all. Even more so now because I've had wine...

Lilongwe Hat Party!

Well, I had a very eventful night Saturday night! In both a good and a bad way...

I was invited sorta last minute to a house party in Area 43 in Lilongwe. It was in the home of one of the girls I met on the cultural training course in Mua - she said she had been trying to call me and text me to invite me last week, but had never been able to get through to me for some reason. Funnily enough, though, I decided to go into town that morning to do a little shopping, and I met her by perfect chance outside a shop in Lilongwe on the day of the party! She invited me to come, and of course I haven't had much opportunity to socialise since I came so I jumped at the chance! It was going to be a "hat party". I wasn't sure what one was, but the premise is simple enough :-P you have to wear a hat, basically! Bit self-explanatory, eh?

I arrived early for the party, which was meant to start at about 5pm with a barbeque! I'd brought pork ribs to put on the BBQ, so of course the minute I came in the gate the 3 guard dogs came shooting out at me wuth the smell from the meat :-) the guard had to more or less beat them off me all the way to the door! It was quite funny, although I kept thinking I was going to trip over one. I help chop the meat and salads and so on with my friend, with the dogs running all over the place. At one point we went out of the room for a second, only to discover that a big hunk of cheese had gone missing off the counter, and my friend suspected that the dogs had nabbed it - I loved this, it reminded me so much of Anchorman -

"Baxter, you ate a full wheel of cheese? I'm not even mad, I'm impressed"

*LOL*

The other guests arrived bit by bit throughout the evening, some were late for the BBQ and just came for the music and drinks, etc afterwards. The food was absolutely divine! Pork ribs and chops and sausages... *drools* and of course, plenty of Carlsberg! I was in my element, naturally! I probably overdid the ribs and I certainly overdid the beer (my head told me so this morning...), but I was enjoying myself! There was a fantastic mix of people there working for various NGOs and organisations, and different nationalities both foreign and Malawian, so it was a good mix! I got on really well with a lot of people there, and I even got a few phone numbers too, so hopefully I can extend my social network a bit here :-)

Of course, everybody else was enjoying themselves as much as I was, and as the night progressed and so did everyone's state of inebriation, I had to fend off more than one rather overenthusiastic would-be "dancing" partners. By "dancing", read "thinly veiled excuse to grope woman". No, I do not want to go back to yours, "to see your house", thank you. You want me to admire the architecture of it, no doubt... Get stuffed. I wasn't quite sufficiently drunk for that sort of thing, and TBH I just found them extremely annoying. Some guys just don't understand anything more subtle than "get lost, ye gobdaw". I tended to gravitate towards other women for most of the night, for the aforementioned reasons!

The entertainment, though, it must be said, was superb! They had a DJ to begin with, which I was impressed enough by, with a big sound system and great music. We all danced in the garden, it was the cat's pyjamas as my folks would say! Just when I thought I couldn't be any mroe impressed, I realised they had actually booked a band for later in the evening! Not an orchestra, you understand, more of a girl group. They were wearing next to nothing, but sure they sounded good anyway and I suppose the fellas were distracted then so I was happy out :-P LOL!

So, I had a superb evening all in all... until I went to get my bag, and realised someone had been into it while I wasn't looking :-( They'd stolen about the equivalent of 50 euro - which is a hefty enough chunk of my monthly allowance, let me tell you. I was gutted, though mainly angry with myself, I think, for not being more clued-in. My hosts were terribly embarassed about it, cue much ringing of the police and trying to decide what to do. Apparently someone had stolen a CD/DVD player fromt eh house aswell, and while I thought surely it would be obvious if someone had electrical equipment on them, we eventually decided that the cash would be untraceable and there was little point pursuing it. This was quite late on in the night and the culprit had probably left anyway :-/ Cue much crying and sniffling and wanting to go home, of course.

For some strange reason, though, they didn't quite take all of the money in my purse, they left about 1000 Kwacha, about 5 euro. For the taxi home, I don't know, LOL! They were obviously a more thoughtful calibre of thief... and sure, perspective is all I suppose. I'm able to be a bit more philosophical about it now. All my cards etc were intact, and my phone, and I had had my digital camera in my pocket - which is worth a lot more than 50 euro! - and if that had been taken it would have been a huge loss, so all's well that ends well I guess... Plus I got the number of one of the girls from the band, and another girl who works for the EU, they were really really lovely to me in the aftermath, so I'll text them soon to say thanks and who knows I might have new friends! That's worth more than 50 yo yos any day.

:-)

Hello everybody!

I’m sorry it’s been such a while since my last post. I’ve been fairly busy, as usual, but in a good way I think! It’s certainly better than filling the traditional “work experience girl” role and essentially spending 6 months making coffee and fetching doughnuts…

I’m really adjusting to life here in Lilongwe, I think. I still get a bit lonely, especially in the evenings as I’m quite isolated, but in a way I expected that so it’s ok. I’m starting to get used to the heat, the darkness, even the insects! The giant wasps, the hornets, the fire ants… they’re all becoming a part of my life here. The one thing that continues to bug me is the almost incessant blackouts. The power supply here is erratic, to put it mildly, and every 2 or 3 days there’s another blackout. Sometimes for only an hour or two, but sometimes for the whole day and that’s a gigantic pain in the heiney, let me tell you. You truly do not realize how much we depend on electricity until it’s taken away! I can’t use my laptop for work, can’t contact anyone (except by phone), can’t watch anything, and if it’s at night it’s even hard to read because I run out of candles so frequently. rolls eyes

But, we shall soldier on!

I haven’t been on any more field trips since the one to Mkanda about a week or two ago, but today I was asked to design a survey all by myself! The boss liked it so I’m well chuffed, I did it myself from scratch. We’re going to use it next week, apparently, to collect data and people’s case studies around Lilongwe. We’re going to ask them some more detailed questions about their lives and how they cope in food shortages, etc., so that we know what issues to focus our advocacy work on, for example. I’m delighted. I kinda feel sometimes here like I don’t contribute anything much to the Centre’s work, so I was actually really proud to be able to do this. Sounds silly, but it’s a big deal to me. It was one of my aims coming out here to be able to have more confidence in my own abilities, so this is like a little step down that road.

Having said that, I’m still learning at a rate of knots. Do any of you know that the average life expectancy in Malawi is 37 years old, as of 2004? And it’s been steadily declining since the late 80s, so it could be even lower now. It’s a frightening thought – if I was Malawian, both of my parents would in all likelihood be dead now. I’m sure my parents would never admit publicly that they are over 37, but I suspect they are… Ha! I’d be middle-aged, myself scream Obviously this life expectancy is somewhat distorted in that well-off Malawians and those in more urban areas would live to much more standard ages, but it still scared me. I hope I’m not becoming in any way desensitized to poverty… I see it every day here, and yet every now and again I learn something new that really throws me. That was one of them.

Quite a few of you have got back to me to say that you liked the photos, which I’m glad to hear! I will hopefully get to take some more soon for you to enjoy! Being the kind of girl that I am, however, I regularly forget my camera when I might need it, so I don’t get to take as many as I’d like due to being a scatterbrains. A lot of people have said that Malawi is a lot greener than you would have expected – and one or two thought I was in a jungle! But alas, I have seen no jungles as of yet I’m afraid! And no crocodiles… though I’m much gladder for not seeing those. I have also learned in my adventures here, that it is a very bad idea to poke a hippopotamus with a stick. Or, as I would have called it as a young wan, a “poppalamus”. I’m not sure poking it with a stick would be the first thing to spring to mind if I met one, but apparently people have done this… and got hurt. So – note to anyone planning on visiting Africa. If you see a hippopotamus, don’t poke it. You WILL be squashed, apparently.

I’m actually in the office as I type this. It’s five to 3, but for me to be kept busy until 3 is practically a miracle. I get on fantastically well with my colleagues here, but unfortunately I’m not sure that my role is really defined enough. I get the odd thing to do like making that survey and analyzing data, but these jobs are sporadic and I find it pretty frustrating to go into the office every morning at 8am and really not know what I am supposed to do… I keep asking, and being given odd jobs, but I’d love to have more of a sense of purpose here, rather than just “helping out”. I’m not really sure where I fit into the equation. I suppose I could have worse complaints about my job, though, so maybe I shouldn’t moan too much!

Photos, at long last!!!

I can't seem to transfer them on to here, so i'll just give you all the link to my Photobucket account to see them. They're from a variety of different trips and places in malawi, and I hope to upload more over hte coming days, Photobucket's uploader seems to be the only one that's working...

:-D

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd97/GracieMac_2007/Malawi/

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Happy birthday, Daddy!!! Imagine, me remembering someone’s birthday! I know it’s not exactly the right date, but I’m going away tomorrow for another field trip, this time to Michinji, so I might not get another chance soon, and phone is pretty temperamental – like myself!

Happy multiple-21st, Diddy-Papa, hope you have a good one!! I don’t know how you manage to be the same age every single year, but I guess it’s just because you’re special? Have good day anyway, I hear the weather at home is magnificent right now so get out there and enjoy it! Maybe cycle to visit me for a while? Might take you a few months but it would be nice! You’d get a marvellous tan as well...

So – right. What have I been up to lately? Well, good question. Mainly I’ve been preoccupied with being eaten alive by a variety of small insects. Mosquitoes, ants... you name it, it’s probably bitten me. My left ankle, in particular, now very closely resembles a Martian landscape. All red and bumpy... I’m afraid to count them, and the itching is driving me demented, slowly but surely. But sure, it’s better than being bitten by a snake.

I’m trying to keep things in perspective here.

Work-wise, I’m knackered. I have been on more field trips than I can think of off-hand, and boy am I tired. I’m feeling a bit run-down to tell you the truth. It’s been go, go, go for the last few weeks at least, and now I just feel like lying down in a cold and darkened room and hibernating. I’ve had a niggling headache since Sunday evening and I feel roasting hot sometimes and freezing others. Very weird. And my back is sore. And I’m a bit of a “Moaning Michael” today (no offence, little bro!) as a result.

I’m feeling better than I was, though. I think for the last few days, especially, I was just really exhausted emotionally and a bit lonely. I think you never realise just how much you rely on friends and family for support and comfort until suddenly you are utterly without any of them. It’s tough. I’m coping ok though, and I think my mood has picked up a bit today. So thank God for that! I’m feeling a bit more positive.

On a lighter note, though, my good old German buddy is back from doing a tour of various parishes around the country, and one of the dogs here has had a litter of puppies!! Anyone with so much as the vaguest acquaintance with me will know what a sucker I am for anything small and/or fluffy, so you will well know how excited I am by this! It’s almost too much cuteness to behold in one go! There’s EIGHT of them! Not ONE puppy, but EIGHT!!! Eight little fluffy balls of cuteness and love. And the crazy dog is gone – we used to have three adult dogs in the parish, two male, one female, and one of the males was more or less the canine equivalent of a raging sociopath. Seriously, he’d bitten people really aggressively about 4 or 5 times before they eventually got rid of him. I was terrified of him, he was totally loco... but now he’s gone to stay with someone else. Don’t laugh at me! Seriously, he is. That’s what they told me.

Oh, and I’ve been thinking lately about how much I simply CANNOT believe I have been here for over two months already. I think it bodes well for me that it feels like I touched down yesterday – I’d say ye’re all having a ball at home without me, but it surprises me how much time is flying at my end! I have only three and a bit months left here... it’s really strange to think about, because when I left, it felt like I was going to be away for aeons. Turns out time really does fly, when you’re (mostly) having fun.

Mad Ted.