What's wrong with volunteers?

It might seem completely contradictory that I am about to lay into volunteers, given that I a) spend a lot of time being one and b) lead trips of young adults to Malawi. But volunteerism has just exploded in the last few years, and whilst on one level it infuriates me having to listen to people explain how they've built a classroom in a really remote and rural village school in Tanzania, it also has some very serious implications for development.

We need to pay attention to it, because 'volunteering' can be as much of a hindrance as a help to development efforts. We also need to address the growing number of young people seeking to volunteer abroad, and try and harness their enthusiasm into positive energy; doing something that does more than bring them back home buzzing about their new found love for Africa.

True, civil society relies on volunteers and in our home context - in the West - volunteering can and is a fantastic way for charities to reach out to people and do great work. Those volunteers however, tend to be long term older professionals (think care givers, social workers etc). The kind of volunteering that I am critical of though, is of the 'i'm 16 years old, I can change the world and I am GOING to Africa'. True, we all have to start somewhere, and in many cases these volunteering experiences are a springboard to a hopefully more enlightened career in various sectors. (And it's great that young people give a damn). True also that there are some fabulous organisations out there that have years of experience on the ground in the country they work in; organisations that recognise the needs of both projects and volunteers and who place people accordingly with thought and consideration. Say what you will about VSO but they are (or have been) one such organisation.

Different Types of Volunteering

1. Short term tangible volunteering.

Volunteers that go from their home country (in the West somewhere) to a developing country (in the South somewhere) to work on a specific project such as building toilets, classrooms, painting. Sometimes they raise the money to pay for the project, sometimes they just pay for their own expenses.

Why is this detrimental to development? Well, what happens when the volunteer has left? You would think it is widely understood that teaching a man to fish is a better, more sustainable investment than giving him one. But organisations continue to operate along the one fish line! Why does a volunteer need to go and build a school when local communities and labour can be used (and even trained), not only creating a sense of ownership for the local community but also providing a job for someone.

Construction/tangible projects are also problematic because all too often clinics/schools etc will be built with large injections of cash from NGO, but with no set up or training for local people to manage and continue the running of such facilities. I have seen several clinics in remote Mozambique and Malawi that are shiny new thanks to the hard work of pioneering volunteers.... gathering dust because they didn't bother to build relations with anyone on the ground and leave the project in their hands.

Many people have written much more coherently on this than I, but the point is fairly obvious I think...

Can it work? Yes! If the community is on board with the project (actively involved not just 'consenting') then there is less risk of projects occurring and then being left with no support. If teams fund the project, this can arguable be good too as a source of funding for core needs.

2. Short term intangible volunteering.

Short term volunteers going away to say, teach English in a primary school in Tanzania, or solve the HIV/AIDs cultural impasse in Malawi through football (yes it really does exist....http://tackleafrica.org/what-we-do/uganda/hivaids-awareness-football-coaching-2007/ GREAT example....)

Often detrimental when constant change occurs and young kids are exposed to volunteers who aren't committed to improving the child's welfare. Lack of consistency does nothing to build trust. Time is wasted continually briefing new volunteers rather than retaining existing volunteers for longer thus maximising their impact. As with the construction argument, why teach kids English? If you are a qualified teacher or you have your TEFL (i.e. a tangible and useful skill to offer other than just an A level in English literature....), for goodness sake go and work with a parent teacher association, or teacher group and HELP THEM in their own English skills, lesson planning etc. Your impact will be sustained once you have left, operating this way. It infuriates me that more of these kinds of placements don't exist with the big volunteering schemes.

Can it work? Yes; when done through a smaller organisation that has local knowledge and solid relationships, it can often serve as encouragement to local communities who often feel forgotten about. I know this because I have asked plenty of farmers/youth workers/village chiefs who I have taken volunteers to. It also works when people go off the beaten track and search for volunteering opportunities in schools for example that aren't supported by a massive i-to-i style organisation. I did this with an old link school in Kenya. It doesn't always work out but you have a better chance of having an impact and building relationships because chances are, if you're willing to go off the beaten track you're probably the kind of person interested in genuinely helping without the frills and hand holding that other organisation's provide...

3. Long term skill sharing volunteering

Bloody brilliant. I have no bad experience of these types of volunteers bar the occasional peace corps fruit loop that slips through the net. The simple concept of someone with a developed career, and a tangible set of skills, taking them to a context where it is beneficial to share these skills and educate. Typically taken up by nurses, doctors, teachers, physiotherapists and so on. I have a lot of respect for people willing to give up their time to train local people in difficult professions in difficult contexts, and not get paid for it.

4. and many combinations of the above....

What future for volunteering?

The passion is clearly there; so many people feel deeply convicted to help put an end to global poverty and limit human suffering in its many forms. Which is great and deserves recognition in a world with plenty of people who are more preoccupied with typically 'rich' problems. Where it all falls apart is that efforts to coordinate and channel this passion into something productive, are not good enough. Perhaps there needs to be a coordinated effort to guide and advise young adults in how to effectively volunteer, helping them to avoid volunteer tourism....

Volunteering in your home context? Great. Reflects so much better on your commitment to your own community and helping out on your back yard. Volunteering to build something someone else could do in half the time, for less money and with a longer lasting sense of ownership and care? Not so great.

As with much of aid and development, too much focus is disproportionately placed on accountability, and funding. At the end of the day, there aren't THAT many people who are interested in going to India with an organisation to simply 'learn' about development, soak up the culture with great humility and become enlightened as to how they might individually be equipped to make a difference in the future. What people really want is to play with cute children (it's hard to resist!) and come back knowing that they can tick off the 'build a school for poor kids in Africa' box on their CV. You pay your £2000, and you get in return a very tangible end product without ever looking back. And the result? A continued cycle of dependence on aid in those countries receiving volunteers, whilst organisations continue to send cart after cart of volunteers encouraging them in their bid to rescue people that neither need or want to be rescued.

comment and let me know what you think.... am I being fair? Or am I being unreasonably critical of volunteerism?

Leaving Malawi....

Dear friends,

 

I am sadly/not sadly, returning to the UK in September. I'm done with Malawi just yet though, so there are a few more tourist visa stamps to be had in my passport from the wonderful chaps at immigration... 

 

There is still so much need here, and it’s easy to forget that Malawi is one of the ten poorest countries in the world, with over one million orphans. AIDS, Malaria and other diseases continue to cripple many communities, despite sweeping interventions from some of the larger aid agencies. Many of the 13 million people living here still exist on less than $1 a day. NGOs come and go, leaving little motivation for people to help themselves because everything is handed out and done without consulting and involving local communities. To make matters worse, the political situation here worsens daily and the relations between the Brit and Malawi governments is growing increasingly sour. Tax is going up on almost everything, quotas have been extortionately increased for fines the police need to collect from motorists, visa restrictions grow tighter, the fuel crisis continues to cripple the country and the blackouts/power shortages are bordering on ridiculous. Who would have thought a few weeks ago, that Malawi would erupt into political turmoil for 2 days? Peaceful protests led to violent riots, looting and vicious targeted attacks.

 

BUT! We’ve had a lot of successes and positive progress in our community development work so far. We are improving the quality of life for a lot of people here in Malawi, living around the farm estates. That much is true. From the feeding programmes, to the disability clinic we’re setting up, to the adult literacy circles and the work we do with smallholder farmers building capacity and improving their access to markets (and many more activities); we have undoubtedly improved rural livelihoods and our 60 year leases on the farms prove that we’re in it for the long haul unlike many other aid agencies and NGOs. But the harsh realities of being a business and the need to earn money come first before the priorities of community development. There are some awesome and incredibly inspiring people/organisations who are making such a difference in people’s lives here (*cough* the Mollers *cough*!) so the picture is definitely not one of doom and gloom.

 

I find the future is uncertain, and it’s hard to know where God is taking us sometimes, and why. But I have had such a great time pretending that i’m not a tall blonde white-y, and that I am in fact Malawian... There have been up’s and down’s, but on the whole, I have absolutely loved every minute of my time here and I leave knowing that I have made some life long (and unfortunately, soon to be, long distance) friends. Africa is a beautiful, special, frustrating, random, awe inspiring place, and you have to live that through your own eyes to truly understand what that means and feels like. For now, here are a few final photos of the work i’ve been doing and the amazing people I get to work with every day....

 

These are workers at our Mchinji farm; the young boys carry fumigating packs and the women bring their children to work as they work on de-seeding the maize cobs. We want to set up creche’s on some of the farms so that the children can be looked after in a more healthy/safe environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

for me, very special pictures, of the children who attend the Mangochi farm’s feeding programme. Florence and I have become good friends and it’s been wonderful getting to know each of the children. Mangochi is a very poor area in Malawi and as such the children are visibly more malnourished than their peers in other districts. Though not without fault, it’s great to have a feeding programme in place which is reaching out to these young kids, battling to improve their nutritional status.

 

 

 

Gandali Primary School, where we have set up a link school in the UK. The classrooms are being renovated with cement, and our team of volunteers will help to paint the walls with whitewash and blackboard paint. The teachers are inspiring in their commitment to improving the quality of education for their students, and not being a party to the usual handouts. They provide their own bricks and sand using local labour and get the students to contribute towards some of these costs. I’ve been blessed to build up such a good relationship with them, and it was touching on the last few visits when students remembered my name and when miraculously I could understand conversations in broken chichewa!!

Of course, it hasn’t all been long days in the office and hard days on the road... what brilliant adventures i’ve had with such good friends! (hahaha sorry Kat, couldn’t resist, love you!)

 

 

Prayer points: please pray for our team of volunteers coming from the UK TODAY! Please pray for courage, humility and grace for all of us, that we might be able to make a positive impact in the work that we do and the people we work with. Please also pray for God’s provision, that we would have enough fuel to get to where we need and so on.

 

So onwards we go.... thank you for your kind words of support and prayer, and I hope you have found some of my mutterings interesting.... I hope to write to you all again living in another exotic paradise somewhere in the world, but until then...

 

tionana mawa

 

Love and blessings

 

Hannah

Rumours are just so good at instilling fear into people....

This information courtesty of Sam Kawale, a business owner in Lilongwe, determined to set the record straight about damage caused. There's a definite balance to be had but the situation in Malawi is not life or death OR generally riotous. The city is once again largely peaceful, and shops are beginning to open again today.

Here is what Sam had to say on Lilongwe Chat - an online messageboard we use here... like I said previously, photos speak for themselves, and some awful things have taken place in this otherwise peaceful and stable country in the last 2 days. But likewise, people enjoy exaggerating facts and claiming things as true that definitely are not.

Sam Kawale	View profile	More options Jul 21, 4:07 pm

After spending the last two hours back and forth in Lilongwe, the situation
has not changed for the worse as THERE IS STILL A LOT OF CALM.
Chilinde, Nchesi, Biwi are all very calm. A lot of people are home and
businesses still closed. Nchesi street (where they sell coffins and
window/door frames) is also very calm and vendors are open for business.
Across the bridge on this side it is still very, very calm. Nothing has been
broken as earlier reported by some people. Only Peoples shop in Kawale is
the only one I saw burnt down to the ground. I have attached pictures of
some of the buildings that were said to have been damaged (I was using a
phone camera so the pix might be poor).
Let me repeat: Chipiku, Game, Shoprite have not been damaged, and so is our
shop, JDS COMPUTER CENTRE and PRINTER SYSTEMs near Chipiku, its ok (so you
can come and buy computers or have them repaired anytime, or come and have
your t-shirts screen printed or embroidered. We will serve you).
As for fuel, NO PETRO STATION OPEN. Don't bother going around.
As for groceries, sorry, you will have to live on left overs tonight J, no
grocery shops open, so are all take away places (mostly because their
workers cant come to work as there is no public transport).
More update will follow if I hear anything contrary, but for now, stay away
from area 25 and Likuni. I hear tension is still high.
There is a higher level of Malawi Army presence in all the streets. This has
helped quite a bit, and I hear they are now going to Area 25 and Likuni to
bring calm there.
Thanks for reading this and let me know if you have any more questions or
concerns
In HIS service Together
Sam Kawale
JDS Investments/E-3 International
P.O. Box 2129
Lilongwe
+265-888-308-798
+265-999-600-345
If your vision does not scare you, then the Lord is not in it.

deserted Lilongwe bridge.jpg 52K View Download

Deserted Mosque area.jpg 45K View Download

deserted National Bank.jpg 46K View Download

Chilinde, just before traffic lights.jpg 81K View Download

Chipiku stores intact.jpg 58K View Download

deserted Game stores.jpg 55K View Download

Deserted Indian Town.jpg 53K View Download

IMG00039.jpg 54K View Download

JDS Computer Center intact.jpg 45K View Download

road to main bus terminal.jpg 57K View Download

Vendors in Nchesi out for business.jpg 53K View Download

Wulian, Chinese shop not damaged.jpg 57K View Download

There are still problems in Area 25 and Likuni areas of town but to reiterate - these are not the safest parts of town at the BEST of times, so it's wise to avoid these parts at all costs. As for the rest of town, there is a strong army presence and they are doing what they can to keep the peace. Shops are opening and life is returning to normal.

The violence here throws up much broader discussion on governance and democracy in this country, and for the first time ever in Malawian history, we have made the international news and social media networks are a hive of activity with people who have otherwise not taken an interest in this country, now talking about what is going on. I'm glad things are returning to normal, though with more extreme protests planned again for 17th/20th August, things are far from over.

In other news, the nyasatimes website is now back up and running and the radio stations are once again broadcasting. The government tried it's best to censor the newspapers and radios by taking them offline/ off air, but what a fail! The sheer volume of twitter coverage highlights the pressure we have all put on different organisations leading to much more widespread international media coverage of the protests here.

Hannah

Day 2

Day 2 and we were hoping for a peaceful day back at work.

We arrive to the office this morning, which is in the centre of Lilongwe, to looters running away through the bush opposite. We shortly hear reports from colleagues and friends that violence and trouble continued long into the night in certain districts like Biwi, Kawale and Mchesi. Reports that the Metro and Chipiku were being looted were confirmed true, and moments later we could hear noise from Chipiku (which is behind our office) as well as teargas being fired into the crowd. The gunshots that followed were all we needed to decide to close the office for the day (10am) and head home. Leaving the office was nerve wracking as it was unclear where the mob would move to and our offices are in the middle of town, but once we were on our way things were fine. Lilongwe is very quiet, but some shops like the mighty foodworths continued to stay open and they reported no violence or trouble at all.







Here's what the BBC have to say on the matter:

President Bingu wa Mutharika said the protesters were "working for Satan".

"Each time we have a problem, is it a solution to go to the streets and demonstrate? I don't think so. Those of you who have started this, I know you," he said, in a state of the nation address.

Correspondents say lorry-loads of soldiers and riot police are patrolling Lilongwe's city centre, clearing barricades that protesters had set up.

The city centre is deserted with shops closed while there are reports of looting in neighbouring townships, correspondents say. "

However, their report is somewhat watered down. We have seen the lorry loads of soldiers racing up and down streets with our own eyes, and though the city centre is now a ghost town it was a different story earlier this morning. Though reports can often be under or over exaggerated, I find it's quite hard to deny or exaggerate photographic evidence... here are the latest from friends/twitterati. As you can see, most people wanted to protest peacefully and many were happy to be able to exercise their freedom of speech. However some of the photos below are quite graphic, and show how easy it is for these situations to deteriorate rapidly from peaceful protests into violent, malicious acts of hatred.

We are hoping for a peaceful day tomorrow; there has been a much heavier armed military presence on the ground today and with any luck those who had their scores to settle have done so now. History has been made in this country - nothing like this has taken place for well over 45 years, so enough is enough - stop torching cars and looting in the name of 'protesting for democracy'.

It has to be said, this situation is really only bad in the centre of cities in Malawi. On the outskirts of Lilongwe, and in much of the country, the same peaceful, quiet and slow way of life continues to plod on much like it always has and much like it will do for years to come. I hope no one cancels trips here or rethinks a visit. Just like in Kenya, in the elections a few years back, the violence and problems are internal and domestic - and not aimed at tourists or expats. You just have to be sensible at avoiding the dangerous areas. This just occurs to me, as I realise family and friends read this blog.... my passion to show what is going on comes from loving this country and loving the people that are wanting to fight for better democracy and governance....it is not intended as scare mongering. Most of these photos have been taken in already slightly dodgy areas of town, and though not unaffected, we are all safe and not overly worried (and that's saying something, coming from the world's worst worrywort...)

We'll see what mawa brings...

Hannah

so what's been going on?

It's finally made the international news http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14217148 and people are noticing what has been going on here in Malawi.

After being boxed in all day we grew restless and decided to see for ourselves what was going on in town. We drove through an alarmingly deserted city centre; shops are shut, very few cars on the roads and even more extraordinarily there aren't many people on the streets. It felt a bit like driving through a ghost town in a Western movie....

We caught up with some friends to hear their experiences, and they had actually cycled through the worst affected areas earlier on and not been affected. The violence has been coming mostly from thugs (from both sides) targetted at one another.

We eventually ran into the march, which may seem intimidating but despite the heavily armed guards and the mob mentality, it was relatively peaceful. It's been quite a day, but putting the blog to bed just now...

Hannah.

latest pictures from Malawi

Demonstrators in Malawi:



Protestors in Lilongwe:



Someone has torched a DPP vehicle:


peaceful protestors.... dressed in red:

latest pictures from Malawi

This is a fire that has been burning near Mchesi, Lilongwe area. Details unclear but the photo says it all.



Photos of protestors in Blantyre.