The Great September Summary

Dear Everybody,

Firstly, I apologise for not being in better contact with you all. We have had sparse internet where I live and work and life is hectically busy. However, as i’m missing everybody and it’s been eight months since I arrived here, I thought I would update and summarise everything for you. I also just received an email like this one from a friend (sarah) which gave me the push I needed to write…

So i’m not sure who knew what about what i came out to Malawi for, but I came to Natures Gift Permaculture Centre back in January for a six month internship. The centre is part of a 650 hectare farm, owned by a South African family, who have donated the land, time and money to the permaculture network of Malawi. It is sort of their ‘social responsibility’ and they want to conserve the trees and wildlife on the farm and thought what better way than this. So it is a centre for sustainable living, renewable energy, diverse food and nutrition, environmental education, research, trainings, demonstration and much more in between. And for us permaculture is an approach to using resources and creating sustainable ways of living in Malawi…On the farm there is a dairy, lodge and ‘cultural centre’ which hosts parties and is the Chewa Heritage centre of Malawi. (Chewa is the indigenous peoples belief system). I enjoy going for walks at sunset around the farm and down to the river as well as the beauty and peace of a farm in the middle of Africa…

My internship consisted of many different things, from being another hand-on-deck to a new NGO, to learning as much as possible about organic food production, to working on the activities and being a counsellor at ‘Green Camp’ and developing the community, volunteers and internship programme. During these six months, I was living in a small but rather lovely thatched horse stable at the centre, which slowly felt like home. Throughout the first few months, I spent time in Lilongwe centre schmoozing with expats and friends of friends and partying, but after a little while I decided to spend more time on the farm, at the centre and in the village. Lilongwe is not a nice city and definitely not the best part about Malawi, and now I only go when I need to. We are about 8km from it though, which does become useful to top up on supplies or go for a beer…

As a result of making friends in Lilongwe, there were many weekends spent at the beautiful Lake Malawi and many people were very kind in showing me a very different side of Malawi to that which I’d experienced before when I was here in 2006. However, unfortunately it wasn’t really for me and I missed the humble village life and beauty of the farm more and more. So gradually things changed, people came and went, and by about June we had a pretty awesome community feel on the farm at the centre….so I decided to stay a little longer…There are about 8 of us from around the world living here (though people come and go) including a Wisconsinite farmer, three ex Peace Corps volunteers, an architect from S.A, an English accountant, English director and of course Stevie!!!!  We also live with a Malawian family and then about 7 staff/gardeners come in daily. It is an amazing team to be a part of…

In June, I was offered the role of Market Garden Manager at the centre and my own little wooden, thatched house just a little way from the main buildings. I jumped at the opportunity. Although it was not the ‘education’ side of things that I saw myself doing, it was a much needed role that after six months I had the skills for, and thought I could stay on and do this and then explore the education routes later. So i’ve been doing this job for three months now, and its going really well. We’ve just started a CSA veg box scheme which is very popular, and Raising Malawi wants to send apprentices to learn techniques from the garden for their orphanage. Recently also, an ex Peace Corps gal has come to work here, with much experience with Malawian schools, so we’re working together on an environmental education curriculum and schools visits to the centre. Without going on about it all too much, it feels like everything is really taking off! And one of the best things about where I work is that everyone else is doing amazing, exciting projects too, all with a similar aim….

My parents came to visit a few weeks ago, and we visited the lake and national parks. This is such a beautiful country, and it was wonderful to see more and share it with my folks. There is a marathon happening in a few weeks which I’m planning to do 5km of (a token effort) and tomorrow i’m going to one of our gardeners/friends villages to meet his family and see where they live. I’m really excited about this because he’s getting married soon and I really love the warm and friendly welcome that rural villages give. I will take some seeds with me, stay for the day, learn about their lives, practice my Chichewa (the local language) and invite people to come to the centre…

My plans at the moment are a bit up in the air. I’m thinking about what to do after Christmas, as i’m coming home mid-December. I’m really missing art as I haven’t been making much, and there aren’t really any galleries here so I’ll be heading to London at Christmas. It is difficult finding a project as challenging and close to what I want to do as where I am at the moment, but I am looking for somewhere closer to home. Will try to keep you all posted with any decisions…and I welcome any offers!

Finally, without making everyone too jealous, it is wonderful living in a country where the sun shines everyday! You can pretty much imagine a very wild setting when you think of me… It’s very dusty around and i’m surrounded by forest, though i do look forward to the rains coming back in November! I’m enjoying communal living (despite the state of the kitchen) and i’m still learning so much about Permaculture, Malawi, myself and where i’m heading…

I really hope this emails gets to you, wherever you may be, and please email back about what you’re doing and enjoying.

Much love and missing you,

Charlie

xxxxxx

global slackers come to malawi!

http://www.global-slacker.com/1/Malawi.html

interning

This post is for anyone who wants to know what i’m doing day to day out here in Lilongwe (its a bit old now)….

This permaculture centre is one year old and so everyone is working towards it becoming a sustainable organisation. One of our major areas of development is in the Commercial Garden where we’re trying to provide organic and local varieties of vegetables and herbs to local restaurants. We’re showing that there is a way to provide a large amount of food in a small area, that you can extend growing seasons through water management and that it can be income generating. We’re also trying to make this as productive as possible by creating a fool-proof rotation system.

Another thing i’ve been asked to work on is how internships are run at the centre. As one of the first interns they’ve had, they feel i’ll have good ideas of how to improve the system and get committed people coming in on a regular basis to develop the centre. This, i’m finding really interesting since i believe that you can get alot out of an internship if you have clear goals and work hard to learn as much as possible.

We are going towards working with the eight surrounding local communities in initiatives such as beekeeping and treeplanting. We are also inviting local schools to come and see the animals and yoghurt-making at the dairy, and the processes we use at the centre such as composting and chicken tractors.

So all very busy here and day by day we’re getting there!

sister project

www.neverendingfood.org/activities/school-gardens

School Health and Nutrition Permaculture Programme Pilot- schools program working with Ministry of Education to incorporate a Permaculture Curriculm and design systems into Malawian schools.

This is the place i first saw permaculture being used in the community in Malawi. It showed me that it was possible, and beautiful.

green camp

Nature’s Gift Permaculture has just held its second successful green camp! We had 8 participants and 4 counsellors all of whom put in enormous energy into making it six fantastic days to remember. We went for night safaris and bush walks, held campfires and enviro-cricles, competed in orienteering and recycling races and made our very own green spaces at Kumbali Village. On the Saturday night we showcased a ‘Strictly Recycled Fashion Show’ where everybody made their outfits out of recycled materials and bits from nature. Around 30 friends and families attended, and it was a great chance for the campers to show and explain their ‘eco-cities’, ecological footprint analysis and green spaces! The week was filled with activities and games all with the intention of reconnecting children with nature and helping them make the connections between the environment and their lifestyle. We introduced terms such as ‘sustainability’ and ‘permaculture’ and each student gave a presentation on ‘where stuff comes from’, focusing on the resources needed to make a mobile phone. All in all, we had a brilliant week and alot of interest in another camp. Everybody was supportive and co-opeartive and the atmosphere at the camp was really great. We hope that each student, parent and friend that attended will take the message of sustainability back to their community. Thanks everyone!!

progress

Sorry to everyone if this blog has gone a little quiet recently. Things have been extremely busy here at the centre with all the work to be done. We’ve receieved a late set of rains this year, it was quite a dry February, but has picked up in March and everywhere is looking so green and luscious! It’s hard to imagine several months away carrying water in cans around the many gardens. The sun is still shining everyday, we’ve had a fair few visitors of snakes and monitor lizards to the farm. It’s been really nice to have volunteers coming in from Belgium, The US, England and Denmark, which has brought alot of fresh energy and enthuisiam to the centre. The food forest is now complete and in a few years will be abundant with many different fruits and edible plants. We’ve begun implementing the new successive planting plan in the market garden which is looking great, despite the rains. We’re starting to see the benefits as it seems having a plan means alot less work for alot more reward!

Everyone is very busy getting the centre up and running. We have trainings today and over the next few months in Permaculture design and Ecological Sanitation. And we’re going towards becoming a registered not-for-profit organisation…best make hay while the sun shines!

its a long way to lilongwe…

I thought of the name of this blog whilst flying somewhere over the African continent and liked it so much, that three weeks later i’ve got round to writing it. So this is the post which i meant to do when i first got here, and im doing it retrospectively in order to stay up to date. I haven’t had writer’s block, and we have had some good access to internet, but i’ve just been incredibly busy getting into malawian speed and culture and ‘orienteering’ myself as the new intern at Nature’s Gift Permaculture.

My first thought, first impression on returning to this continent is best quoted from a book i was given for Christmas, ‘The Shadow of the Sun,’ by Ryszard Kapuscinski: ‘More than anything, one is struck by the light. Light everywhere. Brightness everywhere. Everywhere, the sun. Just yesterday, an autumnal London was drenched in rain. The airplane drenched in rain. A cold wind, darkness. But here, from the morning’s earliest moments, the airport is ablaze with sunlight, all of us in sunlight.’

The ‘all of us’, in my case, refers to around two hundred travellers and passengers in the departure lounge at Nairobi. It is the first time i realise i am on my own. After very little sleep on the plane, i am somewhat daunted by the prospect of just about everything ahead of me. So i lean over and start chatting profusely to the girl next to me; she is Somalian, studying at LSE, on her way back home for the holidays. I am at ease talking to her, and make comments about the Safari advertisements on the lounge TV. Apart from this encounter, my panic manifests itself with me jumping up at every announcement, grabbing my bag, passport, coat and water bottle and going over to one of the airport staff to check if this is my flight. The reply is always, “No Madam, please sit down and wait some moments.” So i do.

Some moments later, after another stop at Lusaka and alot of cleaning of the cabin, we touch down in Lilongwe. I have a few problems understanding how to leave the airport but then realise its through a very unofficial customs gate. And then i wait in anticipation at Arrivals to meet whoever they’ve sent to pick me up, looking out for signs with my name on, and asking too many people if they are from Nature’s Gift Permaculture…

(Will try to write up in the next few days about my last three weeks at the centre.)