It was both refreshing and heartening to celebrate Easter here in Malawi last weekend. Absent were all the commercial trappings and media distractions to which we have become so accustomed in the UK. No eggs, no rabbits, no self-aggrandising celebrities. The focus was solely on ‘the reason for the season’ – Jesus Christ.

More generally, life is a lot less cluttered here. Societal superficialities like materialism and hedonism do not hold much sway. And, with these stripped away, it becomes clearer to discern what people truly value. The focus is on people, not things.

For Malawians, relationships are vitally important. They possess intrinsic, not instrumental, value. People are interested in and value each other. It’s not restricted to family ties and bloodlines. Nor is it about maintaining a façade of friendliness, or making a connection in order to grab a deal in the marketplace. Anything more than an exchange of pleasantries with a stranger in England and we automatically get suspicious. ‘What are they after?’ ‘What’s their motive?’ But here, people go out of their way to build relationships, willingly sacrificing their time so that they can get to know you.

Malawi is heralded as ‘the warm heart of Africa’, owing to the friendliness of its citizens. After spending nearly 2 months here, I can certainly affirm this sentiment. Without wishing to sound judgemental, I do believe that it is something that we can learn from in our own culture. Don’t get me wrong, things are far from perfect here. Yet, in spite of the daunting problems that face Malawi, its inhabitants still exhibit a measure of contentment, fulfilment, even joy, that I rarely encounter back home in England. I think a principal reason for this is the investment that people make in relationships; poverty may preclude the pursuit of possessions and pleasure (as we conceive them), yet the people here are not dispirited. Far from it, for they treasure something else instead – each other. 

Observing the overwhelming need that exists in Malawi, it is all too easy to become disheartened. The problems are myriad, the solutions seemingly elusive. Poverty here resembles the hydra of Greek mythology: cut off one head (or tackle one issue), and two more appear in its place.

In light of this pessimistic outlook, it seems natural to adopt a defeatist stoic position, to accept the status quo and acknowledge the futility of trying to effect change. Anything else seems just a rose-tinted view of reality or wishful thinking.

But this in itself illustrates part of the problem of poverty. It enslaves its victims mentally as well as physically. This can take several forms. Poverty can breed a mindset of hopelessness and negativity, which begets only despair. Often, the communities we encounter here have the wherewithal to change their circumstances, but they lack the belief, the courage and the initiative to do so. Alternatively, the communities here demonstrate a subconscious acceptance or acquiescence to poverty; things have been like this for so long, that is how it will always be.

Breaking these mindsets and empowering communities to take responsibility for their problems constitutes a significant proportion of our work here. We don’t want to provide unsustainable solutions or foster false hope, but we do want to bring people to a simple realisation:

To acknowledge what is real, without accepting that what is real is also final.

Our present does not need to dictate our future. We can take a stand and refuse to be victims of circumstance. We do not ignore or discount our problems, but we instead focus on solutions.

This may appear straight out of a business seminar or even a church sermon (though, as for the latter, I feel more than justified since it is Easter Weekend). The validity of the principle, whether you endow it with secular or religious overtones, remains unaltered. Moreover, its scope is universally applicable, relevant as much to England and the rest of the Western World as it is to Malawi.

God bless, and Happy Easter :)

This week, I wish to focus on one specific project, which aptly illustrates the difference between dependency-inducing aid and sustainable development.

The project in question concerns a particular village within the Salima District. Despite bordering Lake Malawi, the area is very susceptible to drought. Most people rely on subsistence farming, but if the rains are insufficient, then they have neither the food to eat nor the means to obtain it. This project, by providing a secure income source to the villagers, acts as a safety net if the crops fail; the villagers can use the profits to supplement their nutrition, and thus avoid starvation.

So what is this project? Well, this ‘income source’ comprises the manufacture and retail of fuel-efficient stoves. The charity we’re working with (AGREDS – Assemblies of God Relief & Development Service) firstly set up a loans and savings scheme within this village. This enabled the villagers to purchase the requisite equipment for making the stoves. Using only readily available materials (namely, bricks, soil and water), the stoves can be churned out at a rate of 60 per day. These are then purchased by the charity at a fair price and sold in local markets.

Already, the villagers have repaid their start-up loan and have set aside all their profits in a bank account. This money will then be distributed to the village as and when the need arises.

To the village itself, the impact is obvious. Its inhabitants do not live in fear of food shortages, as they now possess the resources to compensate for any shortfall in their maize yields. They are also able to look after themselves, rather than having to rely on handouts from the government or relief organisations. This new self-sufficiency in turn enables them to pursue more fulfilling lives: the adults have the capital to invest in enterprise and business; the children have a greater likelihood of receiving a full education.

But what difference does such a project make to the wider community, to the region as a whole? Happily, the benefits are not monopolised by this single village. Everyone in this area relies on charcoal for fuel, which is made by burning timber. Charcoal is becoming increasingly hard to obtain, due to deforestation, rising costs and the droughts (which prevent new trees growing to replenish those felled). By supplying fuel-efficient stoves, the local community can maximise the usage of its dwindling charcoal resources. In conjunction with an extensive afforestation programme, this is delivering economic and environmental benefits.   

It is projects such as this that make a real and positive difference to people in Malawi. Charities and NGOs may abound here, but this nation remains one of the most impoverished in the world. We want to help these people to help themselves, rather than fostering a dependency on foreign aid. I’ve seen with my own eyes just how projects like this can achieve this objective, and in so doing empower the target community to break out of the poverty that grips it.