Nov 29. 2014. I. Farmer’s Market

WV staff Mari told me there would be a farmer’s market this Saturday, and we went to the market place. It was an interesting and small market that anyone can open the outdoors market. There were many foreigners and local people who were enjoying Saturday morning. Since this market is held once a month, sellers may not have to be desperate(?) to sell their items. Many people were from NGO, and they were selling fruits, vegetables, bags, peanuts, honey, dumplings, drinking water, and many types of souvenirs for Christmas. Wow, the 2014 has only one more month, December, and I was surprised that Christmas is just around the corner. 

I will spend too short period of time to get to know the country, Malawi, so I have not had many chances to meet people. I thanked Mari that she took me to this place and be a good colleague for me. There was a NGO from Korea, Chismo Miral Community, which helps the disabilities get primary education and job training. I said hello to them, and asked if we could meet to have a meal on that first meeting. (because I am leaving Malawi so soon!) They would invite me for lunch next Saturday. They were so kind that they will cook Korean food for me. This must be a great attachment between Koreans who are in foreign countries. Wherever I go, I can have a strong mind because Koreans who I have never met will kindly greet and help me. Banding together with people who share the same culture somewhere in home country would be the best way to keep motivation of staying in the unfamiliar place. 

The Korean NGO team consists of 4 people, and one guy who was at that market enjoyed Malawi life and would extend one more year for volunteering. I was so moved by their pure mind to help people in Malawi. 

I said to another member, “I really appreciate your work in Africa.”
She smiled and said, “Somebody would have to do it!”

How great the answer is! They had a wonderful mind. I reflected myself again that how much I still have a pure mind to be with African people. I have been with World Vision more than half a year, and trying to think how to keep consistency and contribute to World Vision (WV)’s work even after I complete my duty. Nobody knows what would be going on in the future, so I may not know whether I will come back to WV, but at least, I can share my experience with other people in Africa and help organization to develop fellowship program and the best way to serve people in developing countries. 

I wished I could stay more in that market, but the operation time was 10 am to 1 pm, and I needed to go Lake Malawi with WV WASH team in the afternoon. Under the warm sunlight, I enjoyed the picnic in Malawi with nice people. 

Nov 26. 2014. Normality & Abnormality

It has been a while since I uploaded the last blog post. When I was in Sierra Leone and Tanzania, I wrote at least one story every day. My passion for the blog has been waned slowly. Whenever I go to different African country, I had to go through the same steps. “Please let me go!” situation in every immigration checkpoint, buy Internet modem SIM card and charge the credit, find out whether there is micro-SIM card for my cell phone, go to the lodge and check if the place is fine with the budget cut, fight with wi-fi in the lodge and ask people “Why it doesn’t work?,” wait for reimbursement for living expenses, wait for driver to take me to the office and home, fear for unidentified bugs…

In Malawi, I could not still get cell phone micro-SIM card. It seems that I have to cut the standard one into the small size to make “micro”. When I barely finished exchanging money, too much time has already passed, and the driver looked tired of taking me to the other place. I felt bad and said to him, “I will do it next time.” I still have no access card to get inside of the office, so I wait until other staff are in and out. 

It must be the timing that I have to get used to be generous for “slowness,” but I can be never fine with that. I did not even realize that I am just pure Korean who always need fast fast 빨리빨리 process. If there is something that does not go well, I become quickly exhausted mentally, and fall into despair. My life is not to put off anything tomorrow what I can do tomorrow, which means I am doing something right now even if I can do it later.

I am learning about computer file size in Africa. In South Korea, it recently became possible to download a movie for 8 seconds. It must be 2GB for one movie. Can I download that file capacity in Africa? If it would take one or two whole days, I can wait. But the problem is Internet become on and off frequently, so downloading is failed at halfway. In that case, of course, I get mad. Youtube streaming is not impossible, but the Internet speed relies on random connection situation that I cannot quite notice the best timing of using Internet. Anyway, modem credit is so expensive, so I have to avoid searching any video or high definition picture. I charged 10 GB in the modem last Friday, and it cost about 50 US dollar. I cannot check the balance, and I am just hoping that those GB should be enough until I leave Malawi.

I miss the place where uploading and downloading is done within seconds. Today, there was 11 megabyte file that I need to send to professor. I overstrained myself that the file was not uploaded for a long time in the email. I wanted to be professional without making any mistake, so I checked several times if I am ready to send it. It took one hour and a half to “upload” and send.J Actually, I am not still sure the file has been sent appropriately. I went to Sent Items box and tried to “download” to check if receiver will actually see it. I failed to download it multiple times. Should I email again? Or what should I do?

I would like to talk about “normality.” If I have lived in the global Internet powerhouse almost entire life, my normality would be up&download just for seconds. On the contrary, If I have lived in the rural region for a long time, my normality would not even care about up&download something. It is just impossible for me to abandon my normality from the deep bone, and change my life style into opposite. Since I do not want to make any excuse for my “abnormal” situation, I am getting too uptight about the daily life in Africa.

I may have to realize how to endure “abnormality” that everyone around me in Africa considers it as “normality.” I must be some kind of weirdo who acts silly here only because of up&downloading. I still scream (or struck dumb with fright) whenever I see giant cockroach in my room. It is just big, so big. If it stretches its antennae and leg, the maximum length would be the same size of my hands. I cannot just ignore them. I cannot be with them! So I have to either kill it or get out of it from my sight. If I have no insect spray, I throw my shoes to it. Now I see lizard as a cute buddy. They are crawling on the wall (giant cockroach as well), but I leave them because they do not look so hateful.

I do not know right now if I could take my “abnormality” as my new “normality” soon enough. It has already been half a year since I started Africa life, but I find myself that I am still struggling with those abnormalities. The level of controlling my mentality in Africa comes close to that of keeping patience in the military.

“Let your desires be ruled by reason.”

I still have risk of another diarrhea or typhoid fever, I know how horrible they are, but I dare to keep eating local food. I cannot let my transient emotion conquers my reason. I should not forget the reason why I am here in Africa. Typhoid? Come on yo! I am afraid not. I will be immune to the contagion. It must be a natural vaccination, and I bet I am stronger little by little when I eat this goat meat.J

Nov 13. 2014. Malawi

After a long 9-hour driving from Lusaka, I arrived at Chipata, eastern province of Zambia. I spent one night in Kwa Manda lodge. It was interesting that everywhere I went, there was a lodge no matter what the place was a vast stretch of land. After a lot of turns and twists during the last 6 months, I just went forward as I planned. On the one side, I felt a load off my mind when I finished Zambia presentation, and I am now ready to move on to my 4^th African country this year, Malawi. Sun rose at 5am today. It was a 1-hour drive to get borderline between Zambia and Malawi. Before passing the border of Zambia by road, I said good-bye to Davison and Doreen. They came here with me to see me off from 9-hour driving Lusaka. Thank you so much. I will keep in touch.

Borderline between Zambia (leftside) and Malawi (righside)

As I concerned, there was an issue at the immigration checkpoint. Every time I tried to leave the country or pass the border, they did not allow me to go with different reasons. Going African countries here and there with foreign nationality was punctilious. In those cases, I had to be poor Charles who eagerly wanted to go. Luckily, it worked again! I took the World Vision Malawi vehicle and headed to Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi.

Malawi is a landlocked country that is located in Southeast of Africa continent, bordered by Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique. The geography of the country looks thin and long, and there is Lake Malawi alongside of the eastside of the border. It has the highest human population density among African countries; the population size is 16 millions with 121 pop./km² and 313 pop./mi². Malawi’s land size is 1/7 of Zambia’s but its population size is the same as Zambia’s. In this most-densely populated country in Africa, 85% of population lives in rural areas. 90% of export revenues come from agriculture, and it highly relies on economic aid from International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and other countries. Malawi has a high HIV/AIDS, 11.9% of the population, and high risk for infectious diseases, malaria, plague, diarrhea, typhoid fever, rabies, hepatitis A and schistosomiasis.

I met staff in Malawi, and I would start working with Malawi WASH team from tomorrow. Fresh start is always good because I gain a new motivation to survive in the new environment. However, I am under the pressure from memorizing new staff's name and adjusting to the new place within short period of given time. It has been already half a year since I came to Africa, and the year 2014 is almost over. All’s well that ends well. I hope I will spend the rest of 2014 without any regret in Malawi!

Nov 5. 2014. WHY are you doing this?

If someone asks me why I am stubborn to stay in Africa, how would I answer? To be honest, I cannot say now, “Because I really love Africa!” From my deepest honest mind, I would want to say, “I don’t recommend you because it is so hard…”

If someone throws back the question, “So then, why are you undergoing all sorts of hardships in Africa on purpose?” how do you think I would answer?

What is an explicit answer to satisfy people who feel questionable? While some of my friends are awed by my bold adventure and exclaim, “Wow, awesome!” my parents never understand me and always admonish, “Why are you doing this? Come back home!”

Come back home… Seo Taiji, who is called cultural president in South Korea, incorporated his social criticism into the song, <Come back home>, and say to delinquent boys, “You must come back home!” I feel like I am committing juvenile delinquency because I ran away from home for a long time. I went to the place where is teeming with Ebola virus, flied to East Africa, and now I am in southern African region, appearing West, East, and South.

Adding one more African country into my travel list may be not that helpful to boast my career. Deserting my pillow whole night to fight with mosquitoes would never be fun experience forever. Sunbeams make me spiritless, and dusty winds always annoy my contact lens. Nshima causes indigestion, and rice is lack of water. Electricity is on and off, and Internet is gone whenever I was eagerly looking forward to taking online lectures. Unidentified ugly big bugs do nothing harm to me, but they do frighten me. Like this, everything makes me sad. Recently, I have thought hundreds of times, “Yes, maybe they are right. Why am I doing this? I will quit!” I am mentally and physically exhausted. I could hardly be free from grudging feeling that I already have met school requirement, and I did not see good benefits of pure volunteering.

However, my anger “I will quit!” actually makes me sadder. I am not done yet, there should be no end, and above all, I do not want to betray myself. If I throw all away right now and come back home to eat kimchi and bulgogi, I may feel so wonderful for a while, but I may not overcome tsunami of regret later, “Why couldn’t I bear?” How can I be different? I do not want to do it with eagerness of hoping something. Pure volunteering is surely hard because it may not guarantee anything.

No matter how much a sense of duty is strong, I am still easily exhausted by environment, and I fret myself into everything just because I am in Africa. If I were in the U.S., I would not have to worry about Internet, food, fitness club, laundry machine, and all stuff, and I would enjoy school class by saying with smooth-tongued, “What is the future of public health?” There might be more better condition and opportunity that would be much helpful for my future. Of course, I long for being in Geneva, LA, New York, and London. Comparing to city life, it is surely justifiable for me to think sense of confusion, “What am I doing here?”

Nevertheless, I can never deny my reason of being in Africa. Nobody can feel the lesson from the deep heart if there is no direct experience. I had heard of no-electricity, no-water life in Africa several times. So what? I let those words go in one ear and out the other because those things were always available to me. I had always complained what I did not have, not appreciating what I already had. Finally in Africa, I realize again, even right this moment how lucky I am. I am a student. How lucky! I am a volunteer. How lucky! I can speak in English. How lucky! I drink clean water. How lucky! I sleep in the lodge. How lucky! These lucky series would be endless if I keep enumerating them. I realize I am the person who is privileged to have everything that many people do not. This is just unfair. I could have been born in this rural area, Choma, as a seventh kid in needy family, starved every day and no school.

If someone asks me “Isn’t half a year enough for you to be in Africa?” I would say, “No.” Helping people is not easy. I have not found answer for that yet. Should I just give them money? Distribute food? Teach mathematics? If I do all of that, will they feel thankful to me? Or, do I help them while wanting their appreciation? Did they really ask me some help? They look happy anyway, and it does not seem to be desperate. If so, what should I do? Should I just ignore them and enjoy my own life? Because I am busy with taking care of myself? Until I find the right answer, I need to be here. I want to find this concept; how can I make them happy while I feel comfortable as well? What is the true equality? I will not give up on being with Africa. Although I still have high risk of contracting malaria, I am praying that my physical condition would be okay as long as I am with Africa. Rather than thinking helping people, I would think being with people. I hope people around me, furthermore, all people over the world become concerned about and feel happy to be with and in Africa. That was how my blog title became <Africa with Us>.

If someone asks me now “Do you like to be here in Africa?” I would say, “I am trying to love to being here. What I can say now is that I have to be here, because this is what I can do very well, and it must be me to let people know about Africa.” I do not have to be the best, but I do want to be different. Keep going! I have things to do.

In Mbeza ADP, Zambia

Oct 31. 2014. Monitoring Boreholes

My lodge is quite new one, and construction laborers have been still laying bricks in the other compounds. The good thing is that the office is almost next to this lodge. I can walk there within 2 minutes. Sun rises early in Choma, Zambia. I went to the office in the morning, at 6:30am. Soon enough, Zambia WASH (ZWASH) in Southern region manager, Dorothy, arrived and said “Hi!” to me. 

“Wow, you came so early!” said to Dorothy. 
“Yes, because I will go to the field for monitoring boreholes at 7am.”

I thought for a while, and said to her, “I want to go there too!”
She also for a while, and said to me, “Okay!”

We waited for Mbeza MDP manager, Nathan, and we actually departed at 8:30am. Mbeza ADP was 1-hour distance by driving from ZWASH office. We looked around 5 boreholes, and ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines in that area to ensure the maintenance. In every place, community members and committee for boreholes greeted us. The community that has a good case of managing a borehole has a fee collection system to repair it, had a fence around it, and a soak pit was connected to drain water in the distance. 

When we were talking with committee members around the borehole, people frequently came here to draw water. Then, they pumped the handle to pour water into a water jar and carried it on their head. Some people were drinking water at this place. Even animals, cows and birds, were enjoying drinking water that came from boreholes. I looked around the borehole. It was a dusty area with dry weather from every quarter, and I could not even see the evidence of a drop of water besides borehole area. This borehole must be like a place of heaven, oasis, to every household. Once again, I realized the preciousness of water. 

While Dorothy and Nathan were pointing out something that should be improved, I could say nothing because they spoke in Tonga, the Southern province language. Since I have been moving around so many places since last June, I have already lost my interest to learn foreign languages. A ma’am greeted me “아부가부티! (How are you?) in Tonga so I said “I’m good!” in English. Then, everyone laughed. 

It was a hot day, and I was quickly exhausted. Staff work during half-day on Friday, and we went back around 3pm. It was a good experience for me to see how community people actually use boreholes in a daily basis and maintain it.