Monday, January 9th

Today we got back into the "school" types of things. We started with a tour of new city center. It looked totally different than the rest of Malawi. The Chinese decided to build a 5 star hotel for some reason..., the parliament building was nice but we didn't go in. We stopped at the clock tower first and a man was there to tell us about it. It was a memorial for Banda made by the president now, Mutharika. We got to climb the clock tower which was really fun. I bit sketchy, but really fun. We visited Banda's tomb after that. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and it didn't seem like we could ask him a question that he couldn't answer. We learned a lot about Banda while we were there. Banda believed in 4 disciplines: loyalty, discipline, courage, and obedience. The four large pillars around the replica of his tomb had those words engraved on them.

After the tours around town we came back to the compound. A man named Alex came to talk to us about the nonprofit called Jewish Heart for Africa. They work on putting up solar panels in rural areas to power water pumps and give electricity to health clinics. Clinics usually had to depend on kerosene lanterns or candles to do work at night but with Jewish Heart for Africa they had electricity and refrigeration for vaccines and medicines. JHFA makes the project sustainable by working with the community and setting up a cell phone charging station through the solar panels' power. They charge for each person to use it and then that gives the community enough money to replace batteries and other parts when needed. So by including the community in the project it is kept up by them and also sustained by the community. No outside help needed if successful.

January 6th, 7th, and 8th

This weekend we went to Zambia to go on Safari! We went on three different safaris throughout the weekend (2 night 1 morning). I was very surprised at how nice the accommodations were at Croc Valley. We got treated very nicely and it was more like a vacation than a study abroad trip. We saw all different kinds of animals. I'm going to list them. Elephants, giraffes, zebra, impala, puku, crocodiles, eagles, rabbit, mongoose, female lions, leopard, wart hogs, water buck, hippos, birds, nocturnal "cat" (forgot its name), baboons, and other things. It was a trip of a lifetime. I LOVED seeing all of those animals in the wild. It was so much cooler than going to a zoo. The best part was that it seemed like all of the animals had babies. They were so cute!

Croc Valley talked to us the last morning we were there. Or night? I don't remember. They told us how everything that they do supports the local economy. They buy building supplies and food from the nearby town and their employees are also from the local area. Many of the other camps around do the same thing as well. The locals can train to become a game driver and guide in the town as well. They have to pass a test and then they are allowed to take tourists on tours. The money that the tourists bring in to the area have made the town grow and made the locals have a better financial situation. I like how everything is based locally. You know that you are helping the locals by just being there.

Thursday, January 5th

Today was pretty interesting on the environmental side of things. We visited a family "organization" called Never-Ending Food. It works on permaculture in the region. They originally came over through the Peace Corp to work on aids but found that the Malawians thought that food security was a bigger problem. They researched the native species that past generations used to eat for nutrition. When Banda was president he decided that he wanted Malawi to be known for maize production. That was the beginning of the stigma against the native "poorman food" that they need to eat to be healthy. Their yard looked like a jungle and they knew many ways to make the most use out of a little piece of land. So many plants are edible that have survived in Africa for centuries. The  most interesting stories were about how people would approach the family asking for food because they were starving and then would refuse a whole basket of mangoes because it wasn't maize. This trip was really interesting to me because I'm always interested in the environmental things and gardens. It was great to go there and see everything they are doing.

Wednesday, January 4th

Today was our trip to Wimbe Village where William lived as a boy. He wasn't there today but his family was more than welcoming. We picked up a man named Blessings who was William's tutor for English. It was such an honor to be able to meet him. He is one of the most amazing people I have met. He's one of those people that I won't forget. When we got to the family compound, we met William's father, sister, and Geoffrey. I was so excited to meet his father and Geoffrey. His father (and mother) are responsible for who William is today. Geoffrey was a huge help to William's project. Blessings, Geoffrey, and William Sr. gave us a tour of the compound and where William hooked up his electricity. His first windmill was so exciting to see. It no longer worked but I didn't care. It was still amazing. He has since added other windmills and solar panels to his family's compound. We finished the trip by getting some signatures including all of the children. This experience was so amazing. It is going to be hard to beat.

We finished the day with a Chichewa lesson. It doesn't seem like a very hard language but we won't be here long enough to be able to find out. Kichubachi was a great teacher and helped us learn how to say simple things that we can use to greet people that cannot speak English. It is small but I know that they appreciate us trying to respect their culture by using their language.

Tuesday, January 3rd

Going to bed at 9:30 last night really helped a lot. But... I got up at 6AM. Today we had a guest speaker named Grace come to the compound from the Ministry of Education. She was a real sweet heart. She taught in primary school for a while but now she teaches HIV/AIDS education. She promotes having good nutrition so she works to have schools grow fruit trees and vegetable gardens for the students. She helps children live a good life that are HIV positive, and being positive herself, she knows what they need. She teaches them that their lives aren't over, they are not dead, and that they can live their life with this disease. She promotes education by putting HIV education into the arts. The children are more likely to get it and they can perform it for the older generation as well. Grace was a lovely woman and I love everything that she does.

NGOs

1. Two important achievements in Malawi by NGOs are AIDs education and environmental education. AIDs has wiped out an enormous amount of people in Malawi and through education, the people are less likely to spread the disease further. Environmental and farming education is important because of the degradation in most parts of Malawi. They can be taught how to take care of their land to keep it more fertile so they can produce more food to survive.

2. NGOs are most likely to disband or fail when there is a lack of outside financial support or when the NGO has trouble with their existing mission statement. Other organizations may find a way to support the same mission statement more effectively causing funds to decrease. With these problems, NGO's could consider organized abandonment.

3. It is harder to manage cash flow in a non-profit because they it is harder for them to determine to expected cash flow from year to year. Businesses can compare profits of other businesses to help predict their cash flow for the next year. Non-profits have to rely on fundraising to get from year to year.

Sustainability

A sustainable process is one that can sustain itself. It is maintained using a long-term well-being concept so that when concerning resources, it is sustainable when humans take without depleting or permanently damaging a resource. Many definitions of sustainability include meeting the future's needs in addition to the present. If a process is sustainable, it does not deplete or damage a resource. When deciding what is sustainable, we must figure out what is fair between the present generations (intragenerational) and the future generations (intergenerational). Equity is encompassed by sustainability between the present and future generations when we decide to begin a sustainable process. By sustaining what we are using now, we ensure that there will be enough for the future generations to use as well.

Sustainability and sustainable development differ in the fact that sustainable development encompasses development, while sustainability is more closely tied to resources and the environment. Some principles of sustainable development include human development, food systems, energy systems, water systems, systems of social and environmental justice and change, etc. The development seems to be in the area of developing new systems that would be better for both humans and the environment. Sustainability alone seems to be the whole idea that sustainable development is based upon. Through sustainability, sustainable development can work to make the changes that it desires.