The weather is hot. We're expecting the rainy season to start soon, and let me tell you it will be a welcome respite from this heat. Although, it will probably still be hot, and will just add some humidity. It hasn't rained (aside from the odd spittle) here in about 6 months. Malawi, according to the department of water only has 1500 cubic metres of water per person per year in ground water and river systems, which is less than the 2000 cubic metres stated by the United Nations as required for human development. Malawi's situation is unique. What happened? My friend Graham's visit to a Stephen Carr shed some light on the situation.
Who is Stephen Carr,? you ask. He is an elderly gentleman who has been working in development throughout Southern Africa for the past fifty years. He's something of a food expert in these parts. Ol' Stevie said that one of the things that makes Malawi unique is that it has a high population density with only one rainy season. Other countries in the area either have lower population densities or have more than one growing season.
So, what do we do? Malawi needs its irrigation schemes to be developed. But how, you ask, when the water is too little for full development? Hmmm, good questions. Luckily that number doesn't include the lake, which, if you include it, pushes the number up to 3000. But, that lake would have to be used quite extensively, and the infrastructure would be enormous. All the problems seem to be magnified and compouned through and through. But I guess that is life.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Straight for the cliff
Funny thing about human nature. We see these disasters coming. Yet we do nothing to change, always hoping that we’re wrong, that it will all work itself out. The funny thing is, if we act as change agents to avert catastrophe and succeed, others will laugh at us, pointing out that the catastrophe never happened. It could very well be that the change agents prevented it.
In Malawi, the rate of deforestation is increasing. There are many parts of the country where there are very little trees. The reason that the deforestation is happening is that people use firewood to cook, to heat water, and for whatever purposes fuel is needed. The widespread deforestation is so bad that government has banned the sale of charcoal.
However, in the face of an alternative, the ban has no teeth, and people continue to use charcoal or firewood to cook. What else can they do? There is no electricity where they live, hooking up solar panels is too expensive, too complicated, and would probably not provide enough electricity to power a stove.
Eventually, Malawi will run out of trees. What then? There is a lot of talk but no action. We’re heading straight for the cliff, and we’re not even applying the brakes. I shudder to think what will happen to the family I stayed with in the village when the wood runs out.
In Malawi, the rate of deforestation is increasing. There are many parts of the country where there are very little trees. The reason that the deforestation is happening is that people use firewood to cook, to heat water, and for whatever purposes fuel is needed. The widespread deforestation is so bad that government has banned the sale of charcoal.
However, in the face of an alternative, the ban has no teeth, and people continue to use charcoal or firewood to cook. What else can they do? There is no electricity where they live, hooking up solar panels is too expensive, too complicated, and would probably not provide enough electricity to power a stove.
Eventually, Malawi will run out of trees. What then? There is a lot of talk but no action. We’re heading straight for the cliff, and we’re not even applying the brakes. I shudder to think what will happen to the family I stayed with in the village when the wood runs out.
Friday, October 17, 2008
A call to arms
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the global credit crisis. About Malawi. About food production. About energy. About change.
Malawi is a mono-crop culture. They grow maize, and they grow a lot of it. This becomes a problem because there is no crop rotation and no fallow. There is only one rainy season and very little irrigation. When you have a small plot that you need to feed your family with, and you live in a staple-food culture (nsima, made from maize), well, it’s obvious what you are going to plant. The government has tried to fix this situation by subsidizing fertilizer, and in reality, its working. Maize yields are up this year and it is unlikely that there will be a food shortage. However, a problem may exist because much of this fertilizer is petro-chemical based, i.e. it comes from oil. With the market tightening for oil, it is likely that we will be seeing farmers’ dependence on fertilizer as a constraint to long term growth. A bag of fertilizer costs around MK9000 per 50 kg bag. (When subsidized, farmers can buy it for MK500). Ten years ago, it cost MK6500 per ton. In the long term, farmers may be fighting a losing battle. So, while I understand the rationale behind subsidizing fertilizer (people need to eat), I am also concerned that the problem is being avoided, being pushed into the future.
We, in the West, are not so different in our thinking. This credit crisis has shown how fragile our economy is. In reality, it likely points out how our growth rates over the past years have been largely fraudulent. We have gotten by on borrowing and consuming and borrowing rather than producing. We’re trying to fix this with changes in taxes, tweaks to borrowing rules, changes to regulation and corporate bailouts. Perhaps we’re doing the same that Malawi is doing. Look at the environment. We continue to pollute, continue to drive large vehicles, live in large houses, and degrade the environment. Most of us are environmentalists until it encroaches on our comforts, which we somehow believe we deserve. We appear to be pushing our problems into the future rather than facing them. We are going to need a dramatic shift in the way we live.
Which brings me to this idea. I was reading a document written by Donella Meadows on Leverage Points, where to push to affect change. Number 12 on her list is constants, parameters numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards). Tweaking these, she argues, are the least dramatic ways of producing change. She says that changing parameters can be important in the short-term, but rarely change people’s behaviour. Number 1 and 2 on her list deal with paradigms, and creating paradigm shifts. Changing the way people behave or think about things is bound to have dramatic effects.
Perhaps, in Canada, we need to have a paradigm shift. We need to rethink about how we want our economy to work, about how we want our Canada to work. Perhaps in Malawi, Malawians need to rethink about maize as a staple food. Perhaps there needs to be no staple food. Or irrigation needs to be increased, so that in the current ‘dry’ season, nitrogen-fixing crops can be planted (maize is nitrogen-consuming) and thus better maintain soil quality without the use of fertilizer.
I’m no expert on farming or planting, so perhaps my words shouldn’t be taken so seriously, and I know I’m severely simplifying the problem.
But I think, regardless of where we are and what we’re doing, we need to be open to change so that we take into consideration both the current and future effects of our behaviour. Who knows, if future generations will look back on us and admire our ingenuity, or scoff and wonder at our stupidity?
Change will not come easy, but if this is a call to arms, discipline is necessary.
Malawi is a mono-crop culture. They grow maize, and they grow a lot of it. This becomes a problem because there is no crop rotation and no fallow. There is only one rainy season and very little irrigation. When you have a small plot that you need to feed your family with, and you live in a staple-food culture (nsima, made from maize), well, it’s obvious what you are going to plant. The government has tried to fix this situation by subsidizing fertilizer, and in reality, its working. Maize yields are up this year and it is unlikely that there will be a food shortage. However, a problem may exist because much of this fertilizer is petro-chemical based, i.e. it comes from oil. With the market tightening for oil, it is likely that we will be seeing farmers’ dependence on fertilizer as a constraint to long term growth. A bag of fertilizer costs around MK9000 per 50 kg bag. (When subsidized, farmers can buy it for MK500). Ten years ago, it cost MK6500 per ton. In the long term, farmers may be fighting a losing battle. So, while I understand the rationale behind subsidizing fertilizer (people need to eat), I am also concerned that the problem is being avoided, being pushed into the future.
We, in the West, are not so different in our thinking. This credit crisis has shown how fragile our economy is. In reality, it likely points out how our growth rates over the past years have been largely fraudulent. We have gotten by on borrowing and consuming and borrowing rather than producing. We’re trying to fix this with changes in taxes, tweaks to borrowing rules, changes to regulation and corporate bailouts. Perhaps we’re doing the same that Malawi is doing. Look at the environment. We continue to pollute, continue to drive large vehicles, live in large houses, and degrade the environment. Most of us are environmentalists until it encroaches on our comforts, which we somehow believe we deserve. We appear to be pushing our problems into the future rather than facing them. We are going to need a dramatic shift in the way we live.
Which brings me to this idea. I was reading a document written by Donella Meadows on Leverage Points, where to push to affect change. Number 12 on her list is constants, parameters numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards). Tweaking these, she argues, are the least dramatic ways of producing change. She says that changing parameters can be important in the short-term, but rarely change people’s behaviour. Number 1 and 2 on her list deal with paradigms, and creating paradigm shifts. Changing the way people behave or think about things is bound to have dramatic effects.
Perhaps, in Canada, we need to have a paradigm shift. We need to rethink about how we want our economy to work, about how we want our Canada to work. Perhaps in Malawi, Malawians need to rethink about maize as a staple food. Perhaps there needs to be no staple food. Or irrigation needs to be increased, so that in the current ‘dry’ season, nitrogen-fixing crops can be planted (maize is nitrogen-consuming) and thus better maintain soil quality without the use of fertilizer.
I’m no expert on farming or planting, so perhaps my words shouldn’t be taken so seriously, and I know I’m severely simplifying the problem.
But I think, regardless of where we are and what we’re doing, we need to be open to change so that we take into consideration both the current and future effects of our behaviour. Who knows, if future generations will look back on us and admire our ingenuity, or scoff and wonder at our stupidity?
Change will not come easy, but if this is a call to arms, discipline is necessary.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Vacation
Yesterday, was a day off, to celebrate Eid, a Muslim holiday after Ramadan. I didn't have much to do so I just hung out around Lilongwe, and eventually met up with some other Canuck's at Ali Baba's for some tasty treats. The rest of the crew had Pizza while enjoyed some chicken kebab and fries. Not what you expected in Sub-Saharan Africa, now was it, but its there. Its amazing the difference between the city and the village. Life can be weird at times.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Eng Conference
I spent the last few days in Mangochi. I was attending an engineering conference. Funny thing, engineering conferences are boring here too.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Cool irrigation system
We jumped into a mini-bus on Saturday morning, and we were off. Okay, that's not exactly true. We waited in the back of the mini-bus for 2 hours before it took off. You could look at it that everything takes long here, or you could say that we were just too early. Regardless, you need to overestimate how much time it will take for you to get somewhere.
Enam, Graham and I got off the bus in Ntcheu, where our friend Megan lives. We walked around and found ourselves at her house, with her not there. Her roommate, Loti, let us in. Megan would be another couple of hours, he told us. She was stuck in Blantyre. No big deal. We made ourselves at home, and though we wanted to take a nap, we couldn't because Megan's bedroom was locked. We went for a walk instead. We looked at the stunning scenery. A path meanders through the village, passing houses and broken down structures. It descended down in the distance, where we could see a green forest. Beyond the forest was a lot of bare dry land. As you followed it with your eyes, you could see it touch the foothill of a mountain. The mountain then rose high creating a horizon. It was a stunning view.
Graham suggested that we walk to the forest because there was probably a river or stream there, as the greenery stood out from the dusty parched background. We walked along and we did indeed find a stream. At the stream, very low at this time of year, some women were washing some clothes. We said our hellos and crossed. As we crossed, we found ourselves in a football field beside a school. We walked beyond and were surprised to see some greenery, although this was an agricultural plot, at the foot of the mountain. It is strange to see plants at this time of year, so there had to be some irrigation system.
We walked along the fields and thought that perhaps people watered the fields with buckets. This seemed unlikely as the distance to the stream was too great and the fields were quite large. We did notice an old aqueduct system, but it seemed to be in disuse. However as we followed the system, up the mountain, we noticed that it was not quite as ancient as we thought. We saw evidence of use, in little puddles in the aqueduct system that hadn't quite evaporated. People must be using this system.
As we walked further up, we saw a large tank that had a valve at its base so watering the aqueducts could be done in a controlled fashion. This was a pretty complicated system with the ability for changes in water direction throughout the system. Impressive. But what was feeding the basin? As we walked up further, we found our answer. An underground spring feeds the basin through a series of pipes.
The villagers share the land as a co-op and use the water to grow vegetables in the dry season. Irrigation is one of the major impediments to relieving poverty in Malawi. Good nutrient filled soil is another, but that is a story for another day. This story is about a cool irrigation water system. I wish I had taken my camera with me.
Friday, September 26, 2008
We all look the same to you, don't we?
You remember that Seinfeld episode when George tells his boss that he looks like Sugar Ray Leonard? And his boss replies, "We all look the same to you, don't we?"
Well, its funny, but there is a woman in Malawi who repeatedly goes up to Azungus and tries to trick them specifically on this premise. She's tried with me. Here's the scam. I almost fell prey to it except that Megan (a fellow EWBer) had warned me about it before it happened.
She'll call you from far away, and she'll be waving and smiling. She has a baby strapped to her back. Now, because you've met so many Malawians in the last few days, you can't exactly remember all of them. She'll be smiling and say hello. Now, you start thinking to yourself, 'Oh crap, where do I know her from? I can't remember. This is so embarrassing. Should I just come out and say that I don't know her? No, I'll play along and see if I can figure it out.' Now, she looks like a woman that comes to the office once in a while. "Hi", she says. "Hello", you reply.
"You don't remember me?" She notices the stunned look on your face.
"Yeah, I remember. Sure I do."
"You know my brother, Mr. Banda."
You start thinking to yourself, 'Banda, Banda, yeah I know a Banda' (there are a lot of Banda's in Malawi, I currently know at least 10). "Yeah, he works at City Centre with me. At Department of Science and Technology."
"Yes, exactly."
Again, because you don't want to offend her, you start offering information to prove that you know her and she just smiles and nods approvingly. Whew, disaster averted.
Then she says, "My baby is sick, and I need to buy some medicine at the pharmacy. It only costs 1000 kwacha. My brother will give you the money tomorrow at work." Okay, this makes you a little uncomfortable, but you have met her before and you do know her brother. You reach into your pocket to get out the money, but then it finally hits you, Megan's warning. You remember how she explained this scam earlier. Somehow the woman sells the medicine somewhere at pockets the money. You actually start to admire this woman, it's a good scam, and she plays the part well.
"Uh, sorry, I don't have that much money on me. I can't help you." Then, as you walk away you start to realize that today is Saturday and there is no way you would meet her "brother" the next day.
The interesting thing is that this woman has approached me with the same scam twice more. So, it got me thinking. When I first got to Malawi, I had a hard time distinguishing between people. I think the reason might be is that when you first meet someone in Canada, you don't have to pay a lot of attention to distinguish them later on. They might have different hair lengths, hair colour, skin colour, eye colour etc. So, you start to use these as triggers. But how do you do that when everyone has the same skin tone, and hair cut. You have to use different triggers. I think the same works the other way. In a world full of Malawians, being an Azungu means you stick out. Therefore there is no need to identify them based on anything else. You simply look for the different person. Maybe that's why the people in my neighbourhood kept confusing me with the Japanese volunteer down the street...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
