A week in the Village

A little while ago I spent a wonderful week in a village an hour outside of Lilongwe. I was welcomed by Village Headman Tchale, his wife Dorothy, and two of their children Chifundo and Ida. I went to the village because Engineers Without Borders highly values learning directly from the people that we are aiming to help, and because I wanted to learn exactly how the organization that I am partnered with is benefiting farmers.

Because of the fuel problems in Malawi I arrived in Tchale village late in the afternoon. I was introduced to Village Headman Tchale and his family, and shown around his compound. VH Tchale and his family are quite well off by village standards. They have a small house, a nice outhouse, and an outside kitchen. They also have 20 chickens and two pigs that they are raising to sell for meat. After my tour an a little chat we had a nsima dinner and headed to bed around 8pm. The next morning I woke a little after everyone else (around 5am) and headed to the field to get to work. In Malawi, we are in the early stages of the rainy season (although we haven't had much regular rain yet) and the family was preparing ridges (check out the picture on the left of Dorothy - the ridges are to prevent the rain from eroding the soil) for planting tobacco. I was shown how to use the hoe to prepare the ridges and I set right to work. I think I lasted about an hour and a half, and then I had to brake to sort out the five blisters that I'd managed to grow on my left hand. I consulted with my trusty first aid kit and came back to the field kitted out in many bandages.... but sadly the family had decided that I needed to sit the rest of the morning out. I was pretty tired, so I took the opportunity to watch and learn as the pros made ridges at twice the speed that I had been working.

Around 10am we headed back to the house for a breakfast of tea and chikondamoya (a banana cake made with maize flour). It was delicious! Then VH Tchale and I headed to the tree nursery. VH Tchale has been working closely with the government extension agent in his area so he knows all about the benefits of trees and he and his village have started a tree nursery. We spent a couple of hours watering the baby trees and planting new ones (back breaking work as we were bent over planting seed in plastic bags of dirt). At the end of the planting process I was very tired and very impressed with the endurance of the people I was working with.

At about 1pm we were back and the house and eating a delicious lunch of nsima and fresh beans (I didn't know that was what beans tasted like when you ate them fresh from the plant!). After lunch, we were back to work. This time is was fairly light work... but good for my hand strength. We shelled groundnuts (like peanuts) for a few hours (see the other picture). This lasted quite a while, but it was fun and we got the chance to chat a little bit.

The sun began to set around 6pm as we sat down to our second nsima meal of the day. Again it was delicious and I was happy to eat well so that I would have lots of energy for the next morning. After dinner, we talked a little and I got to know the family a little better. We also listened to the radio for a while (no electricity so it was powered by batteries). By, 8 I was more than happy to curl up on my mat on the floor and get some sleep. A pretty fantastic, and exhausting day in the village all in all.