Chronicles of a Traveller

Itis yet another Friday.

I would guess that a lot has gone on ever since I last wrote. I actually haven’t had the luxury of following current news so the only things I know are that the NCHE has done something terrible and that Parliament is now in session. This article would have ideally been about the proceedings in the house we call our parliament. I am pretty sure that there were a couple of blunders worth a paragraph or two there but since I failed to capture that, I will tell you about my week instead.

I, for some reason happen to be writing from some place (which I won’t disclose for security reasons) far from the usual Lunzu.
I have been moving around the southern and eastern parts of the country trying to gather some facts for some international organization called World Vision. I never saw myself acting in the capacity of a data collector, but here we are. It is not so bad, after all. I have actually learnt a couple of things that I wouldn’t have known if I had stayed at home over this period.

I guess I would do you good if I paid you the courtesy of telling you what I am doing in the middle of nowhere. World Vision has worked with communities in the country for 15 years and the mentioned period accounts to a “phase” of some sort for them. The completion of such a period called for an evaluation of the projects and that is where brilliant people like me came into play (yeah, I said it). Here we are, on what was supposed to be a nationwide tour. That is it in a nutshell.

Evaluating the interventions of an organization as big as WV required a huge work force and that invited people from all walks of life. Well. We got together and right from the training some people reminded the rest on how not to act when in a group; unnecessary comments and questions, overdressing, pestering women and all the other bad things all Richie Online readers shouldn’t do. The first week introduced me to some of the greatest fishers of attention that I have ever seen. Some people just want to be noticed wherever they go and they would do anything to achieve that. In this case? Weird dress codes, those comments we talked of, unnecessary questions, jumping into chats and many other things I didn’t observe.

What happened during training wasn’t important, though. The period was just full of lessons of how not to act around people, like I said. The past week, however, has brought me in touch with some realities that I think I will live to keep in memory.
The first thing that I have come in contact with is the extent and magnitude of poverty in the country. I have written a number of articles about poverty but I did not know what it was like out there. The conditions that people are living in out there are not fit for anything human and people should be ashamed when they say that the economy is growing or whatever they say, because the situation on the ground is just not as reported. We have people who lack basic things like food and housing and that makes me feel like I am very privileged to be in the position of complaining about electricity. Words cannot describe it all, but readers, anthu akuvutika. The worst part about it is that the very same people lack the most basic social services and some have to cycle for more than two hours to get to the nearest health center. People are getting into primary schools with o idea of where they will end up after the eight classes. I think it is time we changed the approach to eradicating poverty, and after seeing what I have seen, I am afraid I don’t know what sort of approach we can take.
On a lighter note, interacting with people from different places has been a great experience. I come from a profession where talking to people is a daily thing and some of you who deal with people in your professions know how fun it is to chat with people. There are those times that you go out as a know-it-all only to learn a lot. Point? Never undermine anyone because you never know how much they have to offer to you.

I guess we left the sad stories bit a bit too early, because the week just taught me of how unprofessional people can be. Most organizations and projects have standard operating procedures to ensure a certain standard of the output and it is amazing to learn how people break these rules for no apparent reason at all. I have written about how people shouldn’t work solely for money and while I agree that money is the motivation for most of the work we do out here (except for writing on Richie Online because people don’t get paid for writing here), we should learn to have the aims of the person who hired us at heart. The spirit of workmanship has disappeared from many and it probably one of the most important reasons we are not progressing as a country. People just don’t care about the work, so long s they get the money. So many examples I would have cited, but I guess they are not important. I would probably be talking about the same things you do in your college or workplace, anyway.

This has been a hectic but rather fruitful week. The week has given me a reason to remind you that our country is still economically poor and that you and I need to do something about it. It has also given us all a reason to reflect on workmanship and to work the way we would have wanted someone we hired to work, even when the work we are doing doesn’t directly benefit us. I didn’t mention this but one of the things I have observed is the alarming rate at which the environment is being degraded. It is high time all of us became part of the solution.
By the way, we had trouble in Zomba early this week because people thought we were somehow connected with the mysterious blood markings that were found on the walls of some houses in the Chingale area in Zomba. You just got to love supersitition.

Happy Friday and blessed weekend everyone and a happy birthday to Charles Lipenga.

Chi-Trump

Today is  wonderful Sunday. The sun is almost at full intensity in Zomba and it looks like we will be having a hot day today. I hope the weather will be “stand-friendly” as I look forward to the all-military soccer game between Red Lions and Moyale Barracks. Those of you who know me know which one I will be supporting.

Before I continue my hibber jabber I have to extend a word of apology; not for not brining an article on Friday, but rather for not telling you why. In short, forces combined and put me out of the writing business for the past two days. I was not certain they would settle so I did not want to promise anything. I just wanted to throw the link when it was ready. It will probably happen again, but be sure it won’t be intentional. Sori.

Last week someone spent some time talking about how Trump defied the odds and won the presidency when prophecy had stipulated otherwise. I must say that last week’s article was one of the best I have read on this blog. I hope you agree.

The US elections brought in a lot of controversy and attracted a lot of attention (not mine, of course). Immediately after Trump’s victory we saw a lot of Trump-related things circulating around the social media. Of course I had some favorites namely the Trump Bar and the video of the President elect beating sanity into someone outside a wrestling ring (looks like WWE Smackdown, but I am not sure). That is just one of those things, anyway. We all circulate these things and more. Some of you have even been all over sharing a video of my daughter, Angie (now known as Abiti Frozy) on Whatsapp.

The Trump fever coincided with the announcement of the ne K2000 note and when the names for the note were suggested (others being nyamakazi, robust, Frozy etc) the Trump name seemed to outclass the others when it came to popularity. I will not be surprised if “chi-Trump” becomes the official name of the K2000 note come 19 December. That reminds me of the Osama Bin Laden milk scone in the early 2000’s.

Let’s talk about the new note, shall we?

Just when I thought they went too far with the notes when they released the aloe vera, the Reserve Bank has released the K2000 note.  The announcement has generated a lot of reaction and I just want to point out what a couple of criers said and why they deserve to be heard. 

The first group is that of the praise and worship team for the country; those people who speak in favor of every proposed change from the “gaffment” side. As usual (like with the issues of the flag change) they have gone on and praised the Reserve Bank for the new note citing that it will relieve the burden of carrying cash for those who need to. Sounds like a valid argument. Chi-Trump will allow you to carry almost two times the amount of money in almost the same space you carry the aloes. Sounds like a fair deal, but I don’t think they considered the possibility of losing the money. I remember the fear that came with the K500 note (we didn’t have much of it when the K1000 note, but this K2000 note will have the same effect, I am sure). My parents stopped sending me to the market for a while for the fear of having me lose the big note. Valid concern, considering my track record. Imagine losing the K2000 note. That is a KFC meal, or a 1GB bundle or food for one week or a return ticket from Zomba to Blantyre depending on whether you are mwana ofewa or not. I wouldn’t want to lose it, so I would rather not have it. I mean, I will continue to take my chances with the bulky aloes.

The other people who commented on the new note are those who need to give change a lot and conductors in particular are worried about what is coming their way. We pay K150 between Chirimba and Lunzu and someone will throw the joker and pay the big note for the same distance. He will need his change in no time and I am not sure the conductor will be able to provide it in a short time. That is just one of the situations and I am sure you know other examples.

On a more serious note, the new note is an indication that the value of our money is going down. Bingu probably saw this when he fought the devaluation. We will soon wake up to a K5000 note if the trends continue and that will be a bad indicator from my little knowledge of economics. I hope we will not get there.

All in all, the coming of the K2000 note should be a wake-up call. The value of our money is getting down and now that our highest note has just been succeeded by something two times its value, we probably need to find strategies for making two times the money we make now. Just to keep up, you know….

Happy Sunday, everyone.

OF TRUMP, PROPHETS AND OPINION POLLS

It's great to be accorded another opportunity and share some thoughts on the trending local and global issues via this Blog. I still enjoy reading your positive feedbacks when I wrote back on this same platform.

Not officially verified but it is certain that one name has been widely spoken, tweeted, pasted and snarled than most over this fading week, Trump. Donald J. Trump's monolithic triumph against perhaps the most over-qualified candidate in recent years, one Hillary Rodman Clinton who was backed by both the media,  Hollywood Celebs, zombies, Pop stars,  Silicon Valley billionaires and of course even former enemy, the Bush clan. Mr Trump has reignited the feeling that an impossible mission can sometimes be a cakewalk if your trumpcards also contain  both jokers (the e-mail scandal and, just being a Killary- don't mind this one). Many Russian sponsored media outlets are salivating with the win calling it a mark of holy triumph over the evil establishment that had relegated Russian influence to a miniscule millipede. Some have even put his accidental road to the White House as resemblance of how Leicester City hoodwinked the so-called giants and eased to their first title in a century. It's a waste of time for an African, especially those of us shunted in the earthly hell of Nyasaland to start arguments on whether his win was merited or not. Our plot in the south-east of Africa (some historians still think Malawi is in Central Africa) ergo, will be affected by the events of last Tuesday in the US. Many have put it that Clinton's win was as good as delivered as was a feeling of most Golden State Warriors bandwagon fans when they took a commanding 3-1 lead in the NBA final last July. Most Malawians I know rooted for her, in a way of avenging their loss that self-exiled former presidente who failed to nail down her toes at Sanjika after being handed a life line by the sudden death of one fake Ngwazi. Well Hillary was thoroughly defeated even in previously Democrats' stronghold states. She has failed to join an ivy league of women leading big economies that include Britain's Theresa May, Berlin's Tsar Angela Merkel, and of course scandalous South Korean's Park Geun-jung. She miscalculated her chances, and Trump will go on to calculate our mediocrity and try to arrest the vice bleeding billions of Kwachas into bottomless pockets of local political cronies.

Well, in his usually trashed campaign rhetorics, Trump promised to evaluate USA's position and aid to Africa after noting that most of the green bucks were being channeled to other  eensy-weensy projects (I'm afraid if I will not forget BEAM Trust windfall from NAC). Trump said Africa need to be recolonized to remove the vice of greedy useless western educated professors with a longer than usual CV that include Karate lessons. There will come a time when having a green card will be a requirement for one to stand (we should start using to sit or walk) for president in Nyasaland. Trump is hated by Africans political Hitlers...

Well maybe not only the country rats are dreading the iron-fist rule of the grey haired fellow. The election razmatazz  also fascinated both seers, Popes, Sangomas, Prophets, Apostles and not forgetting archBishops. It's not surprising especially in Africa, where we have more Churches than there are hospitals, that religious leaders took the opportunity to cement their invincibility in as far as professing heavenly oracles is concerned. Some even challenged their toung-speaking audiences that the sun will rise from the West if their man/woman fails to stamped into the marble house in Washington DC. The name of Mbona/Yahweh/gods was used to emphasize authority over their oracles. To devastating effect, a large number of these seers have lost their reputation, if at all an iota of it was still there. In one reply to the BBC, one Ntaba speaking on behalf of his master conman in Lagos reiterated that there was a misspelling mistake over their written official prophecy, civic-educating that "it should have read Woolman not Woman... " refering to the grey hair of the winner. Fantastic. I have to say there is a thin line seperating a prophecy and a prediction which our fellow spiritual fathers and founders have exploited. Trump didn't need a prophecy to pass through a Hillary test, she was the worst candidate of the two in my opinion so much so that it would have been a mud and waterslide victory had Trump checked his mouth over many months of the battle. Officially I'm prophesying that Trump will be inaugurated on the 20th of January 2017.

And worse than prophecies were opinion polls and popularity indexes manufactured by various media outlets. We still remember the Afro-barometer which invaded the land in 2014 by producing two opinion polls in a month with varied results. Another creditable NGO hoarded everyone who could care that PPM was destined to an obvious triumph so long as the Axa bus fairs remained affordable, myopia at best. All celebrated Western Media polls gave Hillary Clinton an easy win, amd she maintained a healthy 10% exit-poll lead over the billionaire if you trust the CNN. We were meant to believe that the Republican Party had messed up big time to nominate hot bloodied Trump for a post as big as this. They have eaten their words. The media can be bought, that has always  been a fact, and Mrs Clinton was primed to a futile victory by CNN, Fox, BBC, CNB, C-Span, VOA and Dzimwe Radio in Mangochi. Its a lesson for our own half baked broadcasters to mantain integrity and not check popularity index at a mental institution.

Enjoy the weekend folks.

Random Thoughts on Communication

Another awesome Friday.

There hasn't been much going on around me and as such I actually had no one to pour a rant on. That makes writing a bit hard because like every other Malawian fault finding is all I am good at. Luckily enough, I still thought of something important to share.

We recently had issues with the rumours surrounding our leader's health to an extent that some sections of the social media killed him. One guy was so sure about the death that he actually offered another a K10 000 sum to be produced if the president showed up alive. He actually showed up in not so robust health anyway, but I don't think any 10 grand exchanged hands following his return.

A lot of people have done a lot of finger pointing over this issue of the rumours. Some have blamed this Malawian spirit (or is it African) of killing our leader's before they are actually dead. The side I stand with, however is the one that blamed the secrecy surrounding the presidency. I personally believe that a president is "public property" (forgive the choice of words) and us such the citizenry is entitled to the knowledge of his whereabouts and probably about his health. While me might not need to know if he has a brain tumor or a urinary tract infection or nyamakazi, we are entitled to know if he is not feeling well at the very least. The whole secrecy is what leads people into rumour-mongering.

I believe in proper communication in every setting and lackof communication has a lot of negative effects.  This whole "killing the president" issue is just one fish in the sea of examples that many of us have seen and it should probably teach us to say things the way they are when we need to. There are a couple of elements of communication that need to be examined from this story.

The first thing is that of the negative side of secrecy. I have every reason to believe that if we had been told where our dear leader was we wouldn't have had any reason to speculate and post on the social media about his death. We would have had no basis, but the deafening silence gave people some informal justification, however unwarranted to say whatever they wanted. It was probably just a way of squeezing the truth out of those responsible, anyway.

The same clouds of secrecy surround many people and they do not open up to others to share whatever is going on in their lives. Good things are hardly ever concealed and even if they are, no one suffers much for not sharing (except for those that get bewitched, if you believe in such things). The hard stuff that is not shared, however, eats people from the inside if not let out and that is probably why people invented the expression "suffering in silence". It is probably the grandiose attitude that people have or the fear of burdening others that sees people on the wrong side of this whole thing when they shouldn't.

The second element? Unnecessary mouthing. There are many of us who speak when we actually should stay silent. Badmouthing, providing unsolicited comments and advices, rumours, gossip and all the other things. From the look of things some people just feel compelled to be heard even when there is something to be heard. The worst of these do it in groups, probably just to grab some attention and on the other end of the group are those people who tell their stories and air their problems to anyone regardless of whether they "qualify to hear them" or not.

A look at these two sides of the same coin gives a rough idea that while it is important to talk to people about issues to avoid having a mist of uncertainty and a sense of unreleased pressure within, it is good to be cautious in choosing who to share our lives and their secrets with. One person once said that it is not wise to share problems with people because 80 percent of the people do not care that we are in trouble and 20 percent are glad we are in it. No one way of going about it, right? Yeah. None. Just like everything else. This is probably the animal called wisdom comes in (my friends who like Bible language, I am talking discernment).

The levels of communication in a family, society and any other entity determines how things because if people are able to communicate, they are able to give each other feedback and to advise one another on the way forward. No or poor communication leads to broken families, societies and countries. Some of you can relate to this because you have had people expecting you to do something without actually telling you to do it only to hear from a third party that someone expected something you could have managed when it is too late.

We have heard stories of people sitting on communications for others in institutions, consequently making them miss important and life changing opportunities. We have lack of transparency and accountability that is costing foreign taxpayer's money which is siphoned into people's pockets through NGOs because they do not tell us the whole truth of what they are doing in our areas. I shouldn't talk about the access to information bill.

On the same practical side, we need to know that there is only so much freedom we have when and if we are to talk and there is only so much we can say to particular people in particular situations. Judgemental and emotional statements are some of the things that need to be erased from our mouths along with profanity and derogatory comments. It might sound obvious to some of you, but for the rest, it is possible to correct someone who has gone wrong without calling them an ignoramus or any related word.

This piece of writing could go on and on, but the main point is that we shouldn't find ourselves in the loud or silent ends of communication. The middle does everyone good and it is probably where everyone should be. As usual, some will continue to be in the extremes because they haven't read the wise writing of the great Richie. Bear with them and patiently show them the way to the middle.

Nice weekend to all.