Aids
Diving Head First Into Malawi’s Arts Scene
We went to Senga Bay on Lake Malawi last week to do some narratives with some locals part of this NGO “Nyumba ya Thanzi: House of Good Health.” This NGO operates in this little village and their aim is to provide 34 AIDS orphans gathered from the nine surrounding villages with ARVs and three good nutritious meals every day. They also teach the kids songs and have a range of creative activities such as games and interactive theater performances centered on HIV education.
We had the good fortune of getting some narratives on HIV from two of the Malawians who run this organization as well as five mothers who have children in the program. To comment on the word orphan: orphan in Malawi can also mean having only one parent. Many of the orphans that are enrolled have mothers but the fathers are conspicuously absent. Men, at least sedentary ones, seem to be few and far between in the village we saw. Many of the men once they reach adulthood go off to work as fishermen fishing Malawi’s enormous lake or seek work in South Africa. Even walking through the village it seemed to be mostly women and children. Indeed men and marriage were important themes in our discussions with these women. At the end of our discussions in a big display organized for our benefit, the 34 children sang “are you sleee-ping?” from “Frère Jacques.” Then they sang us a piece in Chichewa and some of the village youth came in to perform a theatrical comedy on HIV awareness. Very unexpected and very well done.
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New Year, New Country
The long wait is over…..I am in Malawi. The rains have finally come and everyone is giddy and grateful. Flying in to Lilongwe I could see two distinct thunderstorms on the outskirts of the city separated only by a ray of sunlight and a patch of blue.
I met Peter Mawanga in person and feel like I have now formally snipped the red ribbon on the project. Peter is even more articulate in person and we’re both really excited about what this project is, could, and will be. Malawi is a warm country (in more than one way), in fact travel guides will refer to it as “the Warm Heart of Africa.”
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Do It With A Kick-A$$ Song
I had a great chat with Peter Mawanga a few days ago. It turns out he’s been traversing Malawi up and down the last two weeks in promotion of his new album Paphiri Ndi Padanga, which is getting lots of good press in Malawi. People are calling the radio stations daily requesting to hear it. He did an acoustic show with some of his bandmates for a live album promo recently… from the way he described it, I’m imagining Eric Clapton unplugged. Picture that concert but with a laid back Malawian guy in a perfectly placed stylish ball-cap strumming away to an entranced audience (…sometimes my imagination takes its liberties…) Check out a review of the album HERE.
I’d like to introduce myself beyond just the little blurb on this site. How did I become interested in Malawi? AIDS? Concept albums?
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Goodbye For Now…
For my final blog entry, I will provide an overview of the work I did while in Uganda, discuss project sustainability and future plans, and share a few lessons learned from my Fulbright experience.
The Overview
One Hand Stand
The goal of my Fulbright project was learn how the Hip Hop Therapy Project (HHTP) could be strengthened to better serve the young people participating in it. In this effort, I conducted a needs assessment exercise with the aim of using the findings to inform the project’s growth and development.
After speaking with over 30 young people and meeting with other project stakeholders I decided to focus my efforts on:
members
information for project members
Two Weeks Before Heading Off To Malawi
It’s two weeks before I head off to Malawi and I am buzzing. I am currently trying to read everything ever written about HIV/AIDS in preparation and the reading list just seems to be getting longer and longer. I am definitely “hooked” on this subject.
I recently got a CD of Peter Mawanga’s “Zanga Zo zama,” the primary musician who I plan to collaborate with in Malawi. Peter’s music is hard to get in the states and he actually arranged an inter-continental rendez-vous between myself and a mutual friend who gave me his CD. I closed my eyes yesterday and listening to the whole thing from start to finish and was left salivating at this guy’s breadth of musical knowledge. He rocks.
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Up to four awards will be available to pursue projects around an aspect of international contemporary or popular music as a cultural force for expression. Preference will be given to creative projects that are conveyed in a dynamic fashion and are accompanied by a feasible plan. In addition to presenting unique projects on music as a global force for mutual understanding. Deadline to apply is March 1, 2012.