Long Time

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and with good reason. I’ve learned more in the past month than I have in a long while.

I just want to get thoughts straight to you, so I won’t be writing in a very organized fashion.

FOOD

With very few exceptions, lunch and supper consist of nsima and relish. Nsima is basically maize flour mixed with boiling water, and you keep adding more flour until you get something with the consistency between pizza dough and mashed potatoes. You take small amounts of nsima and roll them in your hand, then dip it in the relish. There are many different types of relishes – cooked beans, eggs and tomato, boiled rape leaves or Chinese cabbage and tomato, telele (they use okra, and it has the consistency of runny egg white), chicken, goat, tiny fish fried up, big fish fried up – the list is endless. But something really interesting is the nutrition guide in Malawi… Animal fat and cooking oil are consumed here, whereas in Canada, we’ve got the George Foreman grill trying to knock it out of our diet.

For the very few exceptions, nsima is replaced with good old rice. Maize is the traditional crop here in Malawi, and its origin goes far back past Malawi’s independence.

Either way, it can be the tastiest food at times, and at others it can be the heaviest. But it’s pretty awesome if you ask me – fresh local food.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Moving Beyond Hunger – CPAR Malawi has just completed year 1 of 3. The project focuses on providing inputs to allow 500 beneficiaries to grow the crops and raise the livestock of their choice in order to establish food security in GVH Kambalani – an area within TA Kabudula, Central Malawi, consisting of 33 villages where farming generates well over 90% of the income in the area. Inputs include training for livestock farming, some construction materials for livestock housing, livestock, seed, fertilizer and tools.

Soon to happen is the distribution of 46 solar driers in the area along with training to improve the preservation of vegetables. The training will be emphasizing nutrition and conserving the nutrients in the food being preserved.

It is nice to see collaboration among NGOs – Probec, a branch of GTZ, is promoting clay stove making as an entrepreneurial initiative in the area. 20 residents will form a club and will be trained on how to make them, which will hopefully generate more income for those 20 residents. As well, since cooking with clay stoves is more efficient than the current 3-stone fire, it will save firewood (firewood = time and money) for those people who purchase one.

My role in this project is to assess current processing and preservation methods as well as markets and make recommendations on how to best improve food security through those areas. So I have spent two weeks in GVH Kambalani to assess the current situation.

I worked with Steve, a remote CPAR employee based in the area, to interview farmers. I am planning on putting together the findings of the assessment as a case study for anyone interested.