First few days in the camp

The last few days have been packed! I have been so tired at night (and it gets dark at 6 pm and it feels like midnight at 8 pm). I have been going to bed around 7 or 8 every night and waking up with the sun at 6 am, which is a pretty radical schedule for me.

I came to Malawi for an internship with Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) as part of my Masters degree. JRS runs several programs (mainly educational) in Dzaleka Refugee camp, so the majority of my time will be spent in the camp, conducting qualitative research and working on various projects.

Monday was my first day at the refugee camp. Every morning, I come to the JRS office around 8 am, and we ride in a van (13 people packed to capacity) for about 45 min to the camp, which is located northeast of Lilongwe.

Monday was amazing. I lucked out big time in that JRS hosted a celebration for a woman’s craft group in honor of their accomplishments in the past year. This involved many speeches, traditional songs and dances (which I videotaped), skits put on by the woman, and tasty food. I got to meet the woman and learn more about the history of their cooperative, and the process they go through to make the products. I also had a chance to organize my first set of focus groups for this coming Thursday, so I have been busy preparing for that. The group is called Umoja wa wanawake, which means "union of women" in Swahili. The group is mainly composed of Congolese, Burundian and Rwandan refugees. I will devote an entire post (or multiple) to talk about this group of woman, as it appears the majority of my research will be with them. I will also be working on a savings model for the woman and helping them open bank accounts, if they choose to go that route.

I attended another ceremony in the afternoon to celebrate a different group of woman who had completed a quilt-making course in the camp. They showed off their beautiful, hand sewn designs and received a certificate of course completion from JRS and another association that purchased the materials for the course. I was lucky enough to purchase one of the quilts from one of the women who was willing to part with it. 

Tuesday morning, I had a tour of the camp from one of the refugees. I briefly met with the Red Cross officials and saw their facilities. We walked through the residential areas, the market, and I had a tour of the primary and secondary schools. I had lunch in one of the restaurants in the camp, which was basically a bowl of beans, some sautéed greens, and some flat bread (cost was about $.75). In the afternoon, I attended one of the classes for refugees that will soon be resettled all over Canada. We watched the film “God Grew Tired of Us”. This is a very touching documentary narrated by Nicole Kidman that shows the incredible journey of a few of the lost boys of Sudan, who were eventually resettled in the US. It was very interesting to watch this movie with a group of refugees who can relate to that journey, and will soon be embarking on a new journey of resettlement, isolation, and culture shock. I loved seeing the reactions and hearing the perspectives of the students to certain parts of the film. I highly recommend this documentary! 

The refugees are responsible for building their own homes by making bricks out of mud, waiting for them to dry in the sun for 2 weeks, and then assembling them to make a home. 

As we were driving back from the camp in the van, we were pulled over by the police. We were all wondering why and the driver was asked to get out and speak to the policeman. After several minutes, he came back into the car and said the policeman asked if JRS staff would be interested in playing a soccer match against the police soccer team...ha, I was not expecting that. After work, I met up with one of my housemates and her Rugby club. We played touch rugby for a couple hours, followed by a few beers. I’ve never played or even watched a game so I really had no clue what I was doing, but it was a good workout and a lot of fun!   

I spent Wednesday in the JRS office in Lilongwe writing a grant proposal to get funding for a photo exhibition in Lilongwe to highlight photographs that were recently taken by a professional photographer of the woman’s craft group. Her name is Emilie Reynaud (http://emiliereynaud.com/). Photos she took of the woman can be found here: http://www.emiliereynaud.com/fr/portfolio-11908-0-40-dzaleka-refugee-camp-malawi.html. Emilie and I worked with the program director on the plan and proposal for the exhibit, which would be an income generating opportunity for the woman, as well as local exposure and visibility. This event would coincide with the launch of the woman's craft group website, which would be created by refugees that are enrolled in a website development course in the camp.

Tomorrow, I am conducting my first two focus groups! 

Happy 4th of July! I don’t feel too left out because Malawi’s independence day on July 6^th!