Chadika's Youth Group
Wow. I can’t even put into words how this week has been going so far. It’s been incredible, crazy, confusing, educational, stressful, rewarding, delicious, wonderful. It has been wonderful having Ken here (yay!) and I have already learned so much listening in on how the projects are going and the process on how things get done. Malawi itself is also going through some crazy times; the gas crisis is worse than ever, making it harder and harder for people to get around, and with the foreign currency problem not improving, I’m not sure when the crisis will end (the normal exchange rate is about 165 Kwacha to the USD, except on the black market, where most people exchange money, it could be up to 250 Kwacha to the USD). The vendors in Malawi are also getting in trouble by the police for selling on the streets instead of the markets; and the vendors are very unhappy about this; so they are rebelling by attacking women who are wearing pants, approaching them and tearing them off, saying that is culturally unacceptable (as someone who is very much pro-gender equality, this does NOT make me happy). At first it seemed to just be the Malawian women, who were targeted, but apparently people made comments at me today for my pants; I guess I have to whip out the one skirt I brought! Work has been a challenge but also rewarding. We’ve been interviewing the Youth Group members to get their basic information but to also see how the Youth Group plays a role in the community. Chadika has such a strong base, and they are so enthusiastic and have a great sense of community; when I asked to go to see the Youth Group’s garden, I thought that maybe one or two of the members would take us. Instead, everyone who was present at the community center, probably about 50 people total, came too. Today I told them how this is such a big learning experience for me; sometimes I feel like they think I know what I’m doing and that I have the power to change the community forever; and that is sort of scary, I’m the same age or younger than half of the Youth Group! I really love what I’m doing though, every minute; and it gets better everyday. And the people who work with Face-to-Face make it even more worthwhile; Ken, Mike, Arichie, Aubrey and all of F2F’s friends, just wow, I can’t say enough good things!
