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| News September 10, 2008
Following up on this project's interest in Africa, development and policy, I went on a scouting mission to compare the opinions of our two Presidential candidates on such issues. Here is what I found. On Barack's website, under the issue of Foreign Policy he has a section 'On Africa" where we outlines a plan for the US's relations with the African continent. This plan includes doubling our annual aid investment to the continent from $25 billion to $50 billion, adapting the UN Millennium Challenge Goals and offering debt relief to the poorest nations. On McCain's website, foreign policy is not included in his list of issues. He includes national security where he talks about terrorism and the size of our armed forces, but no where on the website does he mention aid, development, Africa or foreign policy beyond military strategy or defense. August 25, 2008 We made it home safe and sound! Ian landed in Queens this morning and went straight to BJP to start his new job as a middle school social studies teacher and MaryAlice is just about in Tacoma with her family. Thank you everyone for your supportive emails during our trip. We will post more as we begin to decompress from the trip. Overall, it was successful beyond our expectations and we are excited to begin editing! August 18, 2008 It's been a few days between blog posts here. Appologies all around, but we've been very busy here in Namitembo and are getting ready to head up to Lilongwe and say goodbye to everyone here. Last week was exceptionally productive. After speaking with the director of Ubwino wa Amayi we got a chance to sit down with a few of the students who are been sponsored by the organization. We also returned to the small village of Denes to give them a few small gifts and interview a woman there (the woman on the right in the picture above). Our interview with Mimi Gentry (the Peace Corps volunteer here) went extremely well; we broke the three hour interview mark! She opened up to us and was exceptionally honest about the work of the Peace Corps in Malawi. We continue to tour the different agricultural projects here. After spending time at the Agro-Forestery site we were able to visit a few different farms using new treadle-pumps. The pumps are man powered and can push water up to fifty meters. This allows farmers to grow food during most of the year. We have also been able to meet with the headmaster of the Namitembo secondary school and the administrator of the Namitembo Trade and Agricultural School. Both of these educational professionals were extremely proud of their schools. Lastly, on Sunday we were able to sit down with Father Phillip Mumbulu, the Malawian priest here at the mission. Our interview with him was eye-opening and we here honored by his willingness to open up to the camera. During our last couple of days here we are trying to get as much footage as we can of kids in the schools and the teachers working with their students. Keep us in your thoughts and feel free to email us any questions you may have! August 13, 2008 We are still doing well. August 12, 2008 Hey all, I'm John Duffell, a volunteer originally from St. Bridget, Namitembo's sister parish in Seattle, now living and working here in Namitembo. As of Sunday, I'm also the fourth member of Project Malawi's crew, and so far I'm quite enjoying myself. My title is Site Director. (I don't really know what that means either – but to give you an idea, I've been suggesting possible interviewees, setting the stage for a few of the interviews, and occasionally, shadowing MaryAlice and Ian while they conduct the interviews, throwing in a few questions here and there.) The filming process has been an eye-opener for me. I've been living here for over eight months now, and many of the interviewees are friends and colleagues of mine. The thing is, due to the basic inquisitive nature of documentaries, I'm actually learning more about some people during their 45-minute interviews than I have during the past eight months. It's really made me wish I were better about starting discussions with my friends and neighbors about their personal histories, and opening myself to their stories and the lessons they have to offer. It's also given me a good deal of respect for the whole documentary process – particularly when I think of the amount of pure information that Ian will need to sort through when editing these interviews! We've had an interesting last couple of days. Yesterday morning we met with Mr. Aubrey Semu, who heads up an agroforestry project funded by a parishioner at Namitembo's sister parish, St. Bridget. He took us around the project's greenhouse, seed bank, and demonstration fields, and explained and even demonstrated tree grafting. In the afternoon we drove south to Blantyre to interview Diane Calisse, co-founder (with Mary O'Neill) of Ubwino wa Amayi, a girls' scholarship organization active in Namitembo Parish. The scholarships are provided to young women who have dropped out of school due to an early marriage, unexpected pregnancy, lack of money for school fees, or combination of those factors. Ubwino wa Amayi is also providing the school fees for some of the female students at Namitembo Trade School, and they're paying for the construction and upkeep of a daycare and nursery school in Namitembo, which will be built next month. Due to the length of those interviews and the long travel time to and from Blantyre, we could only fit in two interviews yesterday. Today, we focused once again on the mission itself. In the morning, we went out for a community mass with Fr. Frank Loughran, the 93-year-old parish priest from England who's spent most of his life in Malawi. Out here, the Catholic Church is built upon the "limana" system. In every parish there are a number of small churches where people meet to pray on Sundays. Each of these churches is made up of several "limana" (small Christian communities) which meet regularly to pray, and to look after those in need in the community. Each limana has its own chairperson, secretary, and treasurer which look after the limana's affairs. Here in Namitembo Parish, there are over 70 of these communities. In addition to their regular meetings, the three parish priests also visit each limana in turn, to celebrate small community masses. Today we visited the limana of Denes, where Fr. Loughran said mass (in Chichewa, of course). About 15 women and men (mostly women) sat on a large reed mat with their children, some of whom listened attentively, while others allowed their attention to wander – often to us. After mass, we ate a delicious meal prepared by a few of the women of Denes: rice, served with boiled eggs in tomato sauce. Upon returning to the mission in the afternoon, I left the group to attend to a few of my responsibilities while Ian and MaryAlice continued with their interviews: first, a sit-down with Fr. Loughran, followed by an interview with Mimi Gentry (likely the first of many), the Peace Corps Volunteer who is working at Namitembo Secondary School, teaching English and Life Skills. Although she works independently of Namitembo Mission, she is very much a part of our community here, and we're extremely lucky to have her here with us here at Namitembo through the end of 2009. In between all the journeys, interviews, meals, and praying mantis sightings, we three have had dozens of discussions, on topics ranging from celebrities' influence in charitable giving, the history of the Church in Africa, the roles of NGOs, local government, and for-profit industry in rural development, and whether antioxidants are a hoax dreamt up by smoothie bars. Okay, I made that last one up. Point is, for me at least, this has really been an opportunity to inform and challenge my philosophy on charitable work, and on how to make it practical. I won't bore you with the details (yet), because I'm just another schmuck with a BA in an irrelevant field, but if I come up with anything worthwhile, I'll be sure to let you know. For now, I'd really like to thank Ian and MaryAlice for coming out here and taping the stories of Namitembo, and also for making me a part of their team. I'm having a lot of fun! August 10, 2008 The last two days have been almost entirely devoted to Father O'Donnell, the parish priest here at Namitembo. Yesterday he gave us an extensve tour of the growing trade school and other development projects nearby. And today we twisted his arm to talk on camera further and he offered stories and insights from his many years here. The highlight of today, however, was the joyous first communion mass. While Ian ran around the large, overly full church hall, I, MaryAlice danced in the back with cheerful women and children and enjoyed the energetic choir. Tomorrow we begin with a tour of a plant project here at Namitembo, where an agriculture expert has been working to teach locals about the benefits of growing beans and nitrogen fixing crops alongside their usual maize. In the afternoon we head into Blantyre, a major city about two hours away to meet with another NGO started by British ex-pats, which works to help young mother go back to school. Overall my camera hand is getting to be more steady and Ian has almost mastered his sound equipment. We are well, beyond well... we are learning and having a lot of fun! August 7, 2008 We've arrived! After four days and three nights of travel we have finally made it to Namitembo. For those of you who know us well, you will be happy to know that we caught the new X-Files movie in Johannesburg. Moving on to more important matters, we landed in Lilongwe on August 5th and spent the night there. Early in the morning we left and five hours later, 1.5 of which where on the dirt road, we made it to the Namitembo Mission just in time for lunch. John Duffell, a volunteer here from Seattle, greeted us, feed us, and gave us a tour of the area. Although extremely rural, the mission is big. The main area includes a primary school, a secondary school, a trade school, housing for teachers, a large church, a youth center, parish offices, a mill, and multiple houses for people living at and visiting the mission. In the evening we celebrated the birthday of Fred Scragg, a visiting priest, with some single malt scotch. Today we started early with a visit to the mill, talking to people using the machinery to ground their corn into flour. After, we met with the education coordinator for the entire Zomba District (the county equivalent in which Namitembo resides). He oversees approximately 90 schools and approximately 80,000 students. Of those schools 72 are primary schools with 73,000 students. Most first grade classes have over 250 students with one teacher. We spent the rest of the morning watching Phillip, one of the mission priests, baptize 30 kids. The service was lively and colorful. After lunch we explored more around the mission interviewing the woman who runs the mill, a trade school teacher, and a few students. Everyone we have met has been helpful and eager. We finished the day filming John's computer class and had a very successful interview with one of his students who works for the local government health center. So far all of our equipment is working well, though as I write this the power at the mission is out. We are adapting to the time zone and enjoying wonderful expatriate British food! While we are clearly still awkward during interviews and struggling to keep crowds of camera-crazed kids at bay, we are consistently learning and improving. Overall we are doing well, feeling good, and eager to talk to more people. We ask you to please keep us in your thoughts and prayers (especially those centered around peace and nonviolence between Ian and I) and thank you again for your continued support! July 17, 2008 We are getting ready to leave! All of our equipment is in good order, tested and ready; we've made all of our hotel reservations and procured a car to drive while we are in Malawi. Our NGO interviews are in good order and we are excited to announce the involvement of the Peace Corps and LuziCare. Both organizations will offer deep insights into the culture and people of Malawi as well as the different ways of providing aid. We'll keep you updated whenever we have new information for you. June 12, 2008 We began production today! Well sort of, we had our first interview today. We will not begin full production until we are in Malawi. But today we interviewed Deacon Denny Duffell of St. Bridget's Church in Seattle, WA. Denny has played a crucial role in developing and maintaining the relationship between the Namitembo Parish and St. Bridget's Church. His interview touched on a number of topics varying from his own experiences in Malawi and the broader implications of the charity model he has created. Most striking was his emphasis on building a relationship between community and community wherein each party is treated equally and benefits equally from each other. Thanks to Denny and stay tuned for more updates. June 10, 2008 We are making progress contacting NGO's in Malawi. We have confirmed interviews with Peace Corps volunteers, the staff and priests at the Namitembo Mission, and are having conversations with World Vision and Save the Children. We have also completed our equipment list and only need to purchase our tripod and MiniDV tapes. Thank you for your continued support. June 1, 2008 We at Project Malawi salute our fellow Seattle Filmmakers who were recently detained in Nigeria. Sandy Cioffi writes about the experience in the latest edition of Seattle's Stranger. We are happy they are home and look forward to seeing their documentary. May 13, 2008 It has been a few weeks between news updates, apologies all around to our readers. We are currently in full research and pre-production mode. Our focus is on contacting and selecting NGO's to compare to the Namitembo Mission. We ask that anyone who has experience in Malawi or operating with NGO's (in Africa or elsewhere) send us his or her ideas and suggestions. Thank you for everyone's continued support and help. April 30, 2008 This news is only a little exciting for most of our readers, but for us it is thrilling! We are buying some equipment this week thanks to all the support we have been receiving. We purchased our first external hard drive (500GB!) that will transfer all of our footage to each night in the field. We will probably end up bringing at least three of these with us. We also purchased some audio equipment, the Beachtek DXA-2s. This little piece of equipment will allow us to connect high quality microphones directly to our camera. What this means is that the audience will able to hear the movie, which we think is a good thing. Once again, thank you to everyone for your support! April 27, 2008 Plane tickets are purchased! We are leaving New York City on August 3, 2008 and flying directly to Johannesburg, SA. We spend the night there and then fly into Lilongwe the next day. Very exciting. April 26, 2008 Wesite is launched! Today we launched our website and began our fundraising campaign. Take a look around and let us know what you think. If you have any questions please contact us at info@projectmalawifilm.org. Thank you for all the support. |