I'm a friend of Jeremy's and Melissa's, and they were kind enough to have me out in Malawi for a full week. The only thing that they asked of me is that I write a little blog entry about my experiences. I promptly forgot about this -- until now, two weeks later -- but here goes...
For those who haven't had the good fortune of traveling 35 hours from Philadelphia to Lilongwe, Malawi, here's a rundown of what life is like for Melissa and Jeremy. First, Jer and Mel have elephants and hippos for pets, and they see antelope before breakfast each morning...That's not true, actually, but for my first two nights there they brought me to a national park, where we went on safari and saw elephants and crocs and zebras and baboons and something that Jeremy told me is a "pig monkey." The animals were all just feet away, which was amazing and slightly terrifying. When we returned to the Goods For Good (or G4G, as the kids call it) headquarters/house, the schedule was strict: Melissa and Jeremy wake up at ungodly hours each day, because there's constant work to be done. Here's a snippet of some of the things that Melissa and Jeremy accomplish in a single day:
- Jeremy teaches the area of a rectangle to 66 8th-graders and Melissa reads them Charlotte's Web.
- Jeremy and Melissa hear about an elderly couple whose huts burned down, destroying all of their clothes, personal items and food that was stored up for the rainy season. So Jeremy and Mel go to the market, reach into their own pockets, buy 404 pounds of maize and four blankets. They then drive the goods deep into the bush, where the shocked and thankful couple slap their hands together in heartfelt thanks.
The mode of transportation: Jeremy is cruising around in a blueish Nissan SUV with a G4G sticker on the side. He's driving on the left side of the road, handling the manual transmission and dodging random goats, chickens and children with ease. He might be the toughest man alive.
- Who needs a ride to town? Come on in. Whose little baby daughter needs a lollipop from the glove compartment? Here you go. Who needs a smile and maybe a hug? Smiles and hugs all around.
-Back at home, as soon as we scream in horror, Jeremy reacts. He kills 7 bugs larger than my head. He really is the toughest man alive.
-Jeremy tries to clean the virus off the nuns' computer at St. Mary's. Since there's no Internet at St. Mary's, the source of the virus is unclear. Jeremy does his best, but the nuns think he knows way more about IT work than he really does. The virus won't go away. He feels terrible
-Mel tutors four girls in English for an hour. She has a million other things to do, no one is making her do this, but she does it anyway. This is the only schooling they're getting.
-Jeremy goes to the airport to pick up packages for kids at the orphanage. I find out that government agents who handle import/export don't like video coverage of their operation. Oops.
-Mel, Jeremy and Brigitte meet with other NGOs and community groups to get a better handle on the specific needs in specific places. G4G's operation is totally grassroots. They're not saying, "Here, this is what you need." In fact, much of their time is spent in meetings and on the phone communicating with community-based organizations run by Malawians. G4G asks them how they can help -- "How many shoes can you use? How many school uniforms can we provide? Could the orphans at your school use school bags?"
- Mel speaks on the phone for an hour with Allison at the New York G4G office, sharing what she has learned from the community organizations and making arrangements for more partnerships in America.
-Jeremy drinks a container of Chibuku, the native Malawian beer, which might be the most foul-tasting beverage in Africa, or the world. Jeremy, of course, finishes it. I spill half of my beer on the ground to make it look as if I'm nearly as tough as he is.
And that, from the outside looking in, is what G4G life is like. There are some variations, of course. There's Tuesday, which is Internet day, and Thursday, which is Market Day. There's also plenty of Pizza Days at Mamamia's in Lilongwe, where Jeremy wows the wait staff with his tremendous appetite.
But what really struck me most about my week in the country is the work that the G4G team is doing that goes beyond the stated mission of their group. They are building relationships and making connections in sustainable ways that will hopefully help lift this place up. This is a shockingly impoverished nation, the most densely populated in Africa, with needs that run deep, from clean water and basic medical care, to shoes and shelter. But Malawi is also peaceful and generally politically stable, meaning that organizations like G4G can operate safely and without excessive governmental interference. The work they do and the impact that we can have with G4G as our conduit is remarkable. I hope they're as proud of themselves as the rest of us are of them. Zikomo!
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