Final report Malawi

Introduction

     During my 6-months stay in Malawi I was working on two projects.

     Pre-school project that is a part of DNS Chilangoma and DAPP Youth Club.

     Pre-school education provides an important foundation for learning and development.      It is essential to educate teachers and make sure that they have knowledge about child development, teaching methods and materials etc. however the knowledge of pre-school teachers in Malawi is usually quite poor.

     While working at the project we were organizing Teacher Training Days and meetings with the committee members who are responsible for pre-schools at their communities. We were introducing teaching methods like games, psychical education, songs and were making posters together. We were talking about the importance of planning the day, about sanitation and hygiene and natural medicine.

     After the Teacher Training Days we were going to pre-schools to make sure that the teachers are using the educational methods we taught them before.

     During the meetings with the committee members we were talking about the positive reinforcement and motivation of teachers as well as hygiene, sanitation and natural medicine.

     We were placing hand-washing stations at the territory of pre-school and talking about prevention of diseases connected with hygiene.

     We created a Data Base with all the essential information about the project to make our work more sustainable.

     We took part is poster project made by fellow DI and made some entertaining activities with children of pre-schools.

     The project requires a lot of work and ideas and is very interesting.

     Youth clubs give young people a low-cost place to go outside of school, offering them a sense of belonging. The activities and support from club leaders and volunteers allow young people to learn new skills and build confidence and resilience for the future, as well as have fun (http://www.ambitionuk.org/quality/youth-clubs-today).

     In total we held approximately 60 meetings with boys and girls from the community.

     We were playing games, doing sports, having seminars and lectures, painting, sawing, washing, cooking, making a movie and doing all type of other activities together.

     The main topics of our meetings were global warming and problem of deforestation in Malawi, natural resources, medical plants traditions and culture of Malawi, hygiene and sanitation, diseases.

     We held two open days where people of the community were invited. We could share our knowledge by using songs, poems, theater plays and games.

     During two open days clothes and sport equipment was distributed to the members of the youth club.

          It was extremely interesting to establish this project as I could engage in the life of local people more. It was a responsible work that required patience, confidence, some previous knowledge and a lot of motivation.

Pre-school Project

     I arrived to Malawi on the 11 of March and the first project I joined was pre-school project.

     Pre-school project is a part of DNS Chilangoma and is aimed on educating teachers of pre-schools that are cooperating with DAPP Chilangoma.

Pre-school Education in Malawi

     Pre-school education provides an important foundation for learning and development. The government of Malawi recognizes the importance of pre-school education, and encourages communities to set up their own pre-schools but does not support pre-schools financially. With no funds to support pre-schools, most of them are run on voluntary basis and are unregistered.

     Pre-school teachers in Malawi are mainly working on voluntary basis and are chosen by the community because of their previous experience as teachers or their good communication skills with children. Every pre-school must be supported by some members of the committee who are responsible for maintaining the school and the surrounding area; they need to make sure that the attendance of children is systematic; that pre-school has enough food for children etc.

      It is essential to educate teachers and make sure that they have knowledge about child development, teaching methods and materials etc. however the knowledge of pre-school teachers in Malawi is usually quite poor. The work of pre-school is highly important as every child in Malawi needs to attend this institution to be able to enroll to primary school afterwards. 

Pre-school Data Base

      When I arrived at the project there were four DIs working at the project under the supervision of three local men. We were supposed to visit one of our 45 pre-schools every morning. To go to pre-schools we were using bicycles. Every pre-school is working from 8 until 11 o’clock in the morning.

     The first aspect I was focusing on upon my arrival was re-constructing the system of work of DIs and supervisors at the project. DAPP Malawi has cooperation with 45 pre-schools. The list of pre-schools, map and descriptions were made in cooperation with project leader and supervisors. Pre-schools were divided in groups and equally distributed between DIs and supervisors of the projects. The guidelines of work of all the people involved at the projects were written. We gathered useful information including the description of social system in Malawi, forms for pre-school reports, materials about hygiene and sanitation etc.

     Together with fellow DIs we established a Data Base with information about the previous projects that took place at pre-schools we were cooperating with, all materials that are described above as well as some video and photo materials that are illustrating our work at the project.

     The aim of the Data Base is to establish a link between DIs who are presently working at the project and DIs that were working before. It was necessary to establish this link to make the work of DIs more efficient as they are able to have some background information about the project as well as guidelines of their work. It is also essential for the project to be sustainable and Data Base is a direct way how to do it. I felt that this work was essential as upon my arrival there were no organized materials or guidelines and it made my work in the beginning quite complicated.

Soap Bubble Action

           In the beginning of my work usually two DIs and one supervisor were going to one pre-school in the morning to talk to teachers and ask them about their difficulties. There was no real interaction between the children and DIs. Most of the children were getting anxious as soon as they saw white people approaching, some of them were crying and the teacher’s couldn’t calm them down.  One of the reasons of such reaction was the lack of communication between white people and the children as it DIs were not able to visit all the pre-schools constantly because of the big amount of pre-schools DAPP is working with as well as weather conditions that made the work of DIs less efficient. During the rainy season the condition of roads is quite poor and it is difficult to reach some of the pre-schools by bicycle.

     One more aspect that contributed to forming a gap between DIs and children is a mentality of Malawian people. Some parents are using White People as a threat when they want their children to behave well. “Stop crying, otherwise azungu (white people) will come and take you.” Such conditioning is explaining the anxiety of children.

     After acknowledging this problem I decided to make an activity with children to make them feel more used and safe with us. We were making soap bubbles out of glycerine, water and dishwashing liquid. After the common action children were more willing to engage in contact and were less anxious

.

1 photo. Soap bubble action at Kacheye pre-school.

Poster Project

     Next project we were working on was established by our fellow DI Jorge Cosme. He fundraised money to make posters of body parts and place them in every pre-school DAPP was cooperating with. The posters are intended principally to facilitate the implementation of a study program that allows pre-schools to have a common program. Their contents have didactic nature and are aimed to target themes that are part of the pre-school curriculum, such as the environment, the month of the year, days of week, colors, letters, numbers etc. Together with fellow DIs we were distributing posters to pre-schools as well as explaining how to use them efficiently.

2 photo. Poster distributing team.

Sanitation and Hygiene

     Sanitation and hygiene are important aspects that need to be improved in most of the pre-schools we were working with. To improve this aspect we were making hand-washing stations together with supervisors of the project, teachers and some representatives of the community. Hand-washing station was made out of two pieces of wood with one brunch in the middle that was used as a structure of the station. The bottle for water with two holes was tightened to the brunch with the rope and could be removed in the end of the working day. One more brunch of wood was connected to the bottle so it could regulate the flow of water by stepping on the brunch. Bar of soap with the rope was places to the bottle. The hole was made under the bottle of water and the rocks were placed in it so the hole doesn’t get bigger from the water.

3 photo. Building a hand-washing station at Malaina pre-school.

     It was vital to place hand-washing stations together with representatives of the community so they would be more motivated to use it after as well as inform them about diseases that are connected with hygiene and the ways to avoid them by washing hands.

     We also made a poster about hand-washing and created a story of how to do it suitable of children so the teachers could use it at their work.

4 photo. Hand washing poster “The way to church.”

Teacher Training Days

     Every three months we had training days at DAPP Chilangoma for all the teachers of pre-school we were cooperating with. The purpose of the meetings is to educate teachers as most of them don’t have any education and knowledge about children development and other vital topics. We were presenting information about sanitation, hygiene, making schedules and day planning, teaching different educational activities like games and songs. After teacher training days we were visiting pre-schools and helping teachers to apply this knowledge at their work. The biggest challenge in this aspect was motivation of teachers as most of them are quite passive.

5 photo. Teacher Training Day. Explaining some educational activities for children.

 

                      6 photo. Practicing some games.                        7 photo. Making posters.

Meeting with Pre-school Committee Members

     Every forth months we had meetings members of the committee who are responsible for work of pre-schools. Together with some students of DNS we were explaining the teachers the importance of motivation and positive reinforcement, gave examples of different ways how to motivate teachers of their community. It was illustrated by a theater play by students of DNS that made the meeting more live and easier to process. Motivation is an important aspect of work of teachers at pre-schools as most of them are working on voluntary basis however the work itself is fundamental in establishing healthy future for the next generation of Malawians.

8 photo. Making suggestion about the ways for motivating teachers.

Pre-school Storage

     During my stay in Malawi we found out that there is a storage that contains the materials used by previous DIs at pre-school project so our goal was to organize the storage, make an inventory list of things that were kept there as well as thinking of the most efficient way to use those things at the project.

Conclusion about Pre-school Project

     Small projects that are mentioned above were established and finished successfully however during the whole period of six months there were many other ideas and strategies that I was willing to implement however didn’t manage to do it. The major difficulties at our work at the project were connected with different perception of time of Malawians as well as lack of motivation. Sometimes things that in Europe could be done in couple of hours, take weeks because people are less engaged and less organized however in the end our goals were reached and the project was successful. Also it takes time to understand how to approach people correctly and what method to use for things to function efficiently. Not speaking the local language is a big disadvantage in working at the project as you need someone to help you with translation and sometimes the meaning of every word is important and translation is changing the power of the message.

     While working at the project I learned how to take time and be more patient; how to motivate people and find the solutions for different unexpected difficulties; how to work as a team and take opinion of people into consideration; how to express my opinion confidently and be persistent.

Youth Club Project

     During school holidays in spring 2015 our project leader suggested us to open a Youth Club at the campus of DAPP Chilangoma. I became interested in the project and decided to start it.

     A Youth Club is a low-cost place where young people can gather to socialize, share their experience and emotions, meet new people, do sports, learn new skills and knowledge, learn about the discipline and responsibilities etc.

Preparations for Starting the Project

     The first essential thing for establishing the youth club was preparing the room there the gathering could take place. There is a place at the campus of DAPP Chilangoma that used to host youth clubs before however it wasn’t used for a long time and served as a storage for the pre-school next to it. I had to prepare the place by moving all the unnecessary things and clean the space.

9 photo. The meeting place for DAPP Youth Club.

     The next step was to find a person who could permanently be engaged at the project and would be helping me out with translations.

     I had to promote the youth club so the youth from the community could start attending the meetings. Together with a local person we were inviting boys and girls from the community. We set the age limit from 13 to 23.

Youth Club Program

     After we started our gatherings twice per week and later on four times per week.

     Gatherings took place at 15.30 as this time was suitable for most of the members of the youth club.    

     In the beginning there were around 6-7 people who were attending the meetings. And later on the amount of people was growing.

     We started our meetings with sitting in the circle and sharing our thoughts and experience since the last meeting as well as expectations about the future gatherings. However after some time this system was changed as I noticed that the people didn’t feel comfortable with sharing these things in front of others.

     First meetings started with establishing some rules of the youth club, making team building activities, handicrafts and sports. However after we started educational meetings on different topics. We were playing games, making activities, had guest lectures about global warming, problem of deforestation in Malawi, natural medicine, hygiene, sanitation, diseases, had sawing and washing classes.

10-17. Different activities at the youth club.

First Open Day

     We held two open days with the purpose of sharing our knowledge with other people from the community. The topic of the first open day was environmental issues. We invited children from Stephanos orphanage to participate in the event. There was a theater pay, songs, lecture, games and poster making activity during the event. In the end of the gathering we were distributing some sport cloth and equipment for the guest as well as members of DAPP youth club. Football and netball tournament also took place at the end of the open day.   

17-23 photo. Activities at the First Open Day.

Second Open Day

     The topic of the second open day was hygiene. Two more youth clubs from the village nearby were invited. There were several theater plays, games, posters, lectures, songs and clothes distribution at the end.

24-27 photo. Activities at the second Open Day.

Youth Club Register

     We also made a register of people with description of their position and responsibility at the youth club. It was necessary because at certain point there were too many people who wanted to join the meetings and it was less efficient for the participants.

Movie Created by Youth Club

     We also made a movie about the traditions of Malawi. We were filming everyday life at the house of one of the members of the youth club, at the church, market, barber shop, football field and also made a traditional dance performance at the youth club.

28-30 photo. Movie shooting.

Conclusion

     In total approximately 60 meetings were held at DAPP youth club.

     The difficulties I came across with were connected with passivity of girls and being not able to express their opinion freely. Boys and girls were normally working separately. Also according to my observation it is difficult for Malawians to show leadership and sometimes it was making my work more challenging. Perception of time was influencing our work as well because many people were constantly late and it was interrupting the work of the rest of the team.

    I would like to conclude that the youth club project was very successful and members of the club got a lot of new knowledge in different fields, made many new contacts and learned new skills.