Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 15

A journey to meet ARI graduates in Zambia & Malawi, 2024

We are sharing with you a series of travel logs written by ARI staff member Steven, who visited Africa in August.
Today’s trip also reunited them with many graduates.
You might feel culture shock at Malawi’s interesting culture and people’s way of thinking.
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day 16】

Off to Zomba
Today we head to Zomba! Not Zombi, but Zomba. It’s important to keep that straight. After a quick discussion with Mac, we decided to change our plans and cut our visit to Blantyre in the south. The schedule was too tight, and we needed some time to rest and recover our health. So, we are off to Zomba and will come back here tomorrow.

“Care for creation”
The first stop along the way was the Chilema Lay Training Center, run by the Anglicans and the Presbyterians. MacDonald was stationed here before going to Malindi. It is the residence of the newly installed bishop, Bishop William Mchombo, who took the position just four months ago, after the excommunication of the previous bishop and all the drama involved with that. He kindly met with us for a brief and pleasant chat, during which we learned that caring for the environment, or “care for creation” is high on his list of church priorities. It comes within the four pillars of the diocese, which are (1) Evangelism, (2) Liturgy, (3) Investments for diocesan sustainability, and (4) care for the environment. He seemed to have a good understanding, or at least appreciation of the work of ARI, and we spoke about training more people from the diocese. He himself mentioned sending women to ARI, explaining that the coordinators of the women’s groups are very passionate and dynamic. This was music to our ears, as it is always a challenge to recruit women leaders.

After the meeting, MacDonald told us that after ARI, he was assigned to the diocesan farm where he started to introduce organic techniques. He met a lot of resistance, with people saying they need fertilizer for quick profits, and was eventually transferred. This is something we should discuss more with the church leaders here as we consider future applicants, but I can already see that their attitudes toward organic farming are changing.

Tito and the other side of the story
Next, we went over to Tito’s house (2012 ARI Graduate). I didn’t expect to meet Tito because he was strongly on the past bishop’s side during the big church fight and ended up getting himself excommunicated. More about that will come, but let’s take things in turn, according to how he told us his story, which he shared in his living room as we enjoyed popcorn and ground nuts from his garden. By the way, the popcorn was delicious. I didn’t know that it is made from a special variety of corn and many Malawians grow it. I wish I could tell my dad about this, because he loved popcorn!

When he came back from ARI in December of 2012, he was assigned a church near Lake Malawi in a place called Nkope (in the Mangochi area). The soil was sandy, so he built it up using composting and bokashi techniques he had learned at ARI. People were surprised to see crops growing in places they thought impossible to farm, but he showed them how he was doing it, and they began to follow. He taught women and youth, not only from his church, but from other churches and the Muslim community as well. He also started a ministry for the blind, setting up a hostel for blind girls and boys.

In 2017, Tito was moved to Malindi, where Mac is currently, and given the position of rural dean. He planted Moringa trees and started an organic garden, in which he used bokashi, wood vinegar, and other techniques brought from ARI. Two years later he was again transferred to Chilema, where the bishop resides. Then on October 23, 2022 (that date is fixed in his life forever), he was ex-communicated together with the bishop and 13 other priests. He didn’t go into details about it, just saying that he supported the bishop and didn’t join with all those raising their voices and protesting. From that day on, he had no salary or stipend of any kind and was also given an eviction order. Fortunately, he and his family were provided with another house and some land on the compound property, and so “to survive, I used the land.” He proudly walked us around the garden that had become their means of survival. It was lush with casava and vegetables. In the style of a good organic farmer, he showed us his bags of chicken manure (from 30 chickens running hither and tither), corn bran, ash, and rice husks which are all used to build the soil. With a stick, he expertly knocked a couple of papayas out of a tree and presented them as a gift.

Over a lunch of beans and dried cassava, Tito explained that, while he was in ARI, he had written in his reflection paper that the peak experience in his life was the death of his mother. But now “my peak experience is excommunication.” Citing what he learned in Japan, “Don’t give up. I am a servant leader!”

His status in the church is currently under discussion by a pastoral committee, and there is a good chance he will be reinstated soon. He is waiting to hear their latest decision and expecting it next week.

The Chingale Community
In the late morning, we headed out to meet with 2016 ARI graduate, Towera. The bishop (new bishop) kindly provided a good car and driver to navigate the rural roads. Towera works as a Program Officer for a local NGO called the Chingale Neno Recovery and Development Program which was started in 2007. Simon, a participant currently studying at ARI, is also from this organization. To our surprise we found that he is the son of the founder and current director, whom we met with briefly in his office. Dad seems to be getting on in years, so he is thinking of handing over his duties, but he didn’t talk about that. Rather, he spoke of “the fruits of your institution,” (ARI), saying to Towera, “Before you went to Japan, you were not like this.” To which Towera added, “I was lazy before, but after ARI I am a very hard worker.” After her return she was promoted from project manager to program manager, and it looks like she is in line to be the next director. So, I guess Simon will not follow a hereditary trajectory, as I had been thinking.

Their eight staff work in the sectors of food security (farming, I assume), livestock, village savings and loan, child survival (I think that is to do with nutrition for young kids), psycho-social (maybe gender-based violence), youth recreation, and the disabled (identifying them in the community, and if needed sending them to a place that can better care for them). I’m sorry for not giving more details on these. It was a very quick meeting. One thing they were proud of is that all employees can work in all sectors, so they cover for each other if needed. “Even the driver can go to the field!” exclaimed the director. The organization received funding from Growing Hope Globally from 2014-2016, and they were the ones to introduce them to ARI. Now they are supported by the Presbyterian Development Agency.

Feathered surrogate moms
One cool thing I learned about poultry raising while talking with the staff is that you can collect their eggs. (Wait, I’m not done with the story yet!). Any fertilized eggs you want to hatch, you can give to other hens that are brooding. In this case they put them under the bums of the local chickens, who will happily provide all the motherly love needed to bring the babies safely out of their shells. Any farmer worth their salt would know this, and I’m sure I even knew it at one time or another, but it was nice to learn it again.

A gathering of the Cheputula women’s group
Next, we headed out to one of the 300 villages they work with. As per their wonderful custom we were greeted with singing and dancing, and how can you not feel great after that! This was the ten members of the Cheputula Village women’s group, which also happens to include a few men. As we all took seats under the shade of a tree, I counted more than ten people, but decided not to ask about these details, and let them get on with sharing their activities. These include a “passing on the gift” goat project, introduced by Towera. They are given two goats and the first offspring they must give to a neighbor, but the ones that come after that, they can keep. Each household aims to reach 20 goats. There are less goats in the village overall right now because they are being sold to buy food. Normally their fields would be providing them with their daily needs, but the drought is not allowing that. Towera’s own maize farm is irrigated, so she could get a good harvest. Few farms in Malawi are irrigated, though there are many good water sources, like Lake Malawi which runs along much of the length of the country. This is one of the ever-present topics of conversation; that if the government supports people with irrigation the country wouldn’t be one of the poorest in the world, still having to struggle for food every time it doesn’t rain (or rains too much, as it did in 2023 when cyclone Freddy hit!).

They also have a Village Savings and Loan group. The interest rate is 20% and they need to repay a loan after two months. At the end of each year the accumulated interest is counted and distributed among the members. I may have gotten these details wrong, as they are very different from the other VSLs I met, but one good thing about VSLs is that the group members themselves create their own protocols and bylaws, to suit their own needs.

Dancing with the Nyau
As we were talking, some kids started walking by, and then more kids and then people carrying drums and chairs and things. This was the makings of a village gathering and it was meant for us. They formed a circle and started drumming and dancing and inviting us to join them. It was a great time for videos, and as I was taking some, they pointed me in a certain direction and out from behind a building came two elaborately costumed mask dancers called Nyau. The dance they were preforming was called the Gule Wamkulu a tradition of the Chewa people. They were a hit with the villagers as well as with us visitors – a truly electrifying African experience.

The Chapweteka Village “audit”
Almost as fast as they arrived, the dancers vanished and the villagers dispersed. Then we met with another VSL, this one from Chapweteka Village. As if we were auditors, they started the meeting with the treasurer opening up their books and reading us their accounts. Such was the level of transparency and trust they wanted to foster, or they have been taught to foster in their group. It went like this:

In 2020 we started the group with 16 members.
Accounts closed in December with the following:
Shares – 500,000
Emergency fund – 320,000
Interest – 180,000
Something else, I couldn’t catch – 40,000
Total – 1,020,000 (hmmm, they seem to be 20,000 short. Maybe I missed something. Good thing we aren’t really auditors!)
This is when funds are distributed among the members.

In January 2021 we reopened the bank
December 2021 we closed accounts with the following:
Total shares – 320,000
Emergency fund – 150,000
Interest – 150,000
Something else – 120,000
Total – 630,000

Hmm, it doesn’t add up again. Maybe something to do with the “something else” I couldn’t understand. But don’t start thinking any fishy business was going on. All the members know every detail of these accounts and that is the power of a VSL. The people are in control, and they are the ones to benefit. They continued reporting their accounts to the present, noting that in the year of the cyclone amounts were down overall because their money had to go for repairing their houses rather than being saved.

Sharing food…
When we finished up, we all walked down to a roadside stand where they had prepared several local dishes for us to try. There were small dried fish called Usipa (something like sardines), nsima made from sorghum (which is a good idea because sorghum is more drought resistant than maize), maize nsima, sweet potato leaves, a fermented drink of some sort that they called sweet beer, and two kinds of cake. One cake was made with maize, flour, soy, and sugar, and another had banana in it. Being such a huge banana lover, I went for the banana cake, which was delicious. Unfortunately, I neglected to ask how they made it, if they used clay or earthen ovens. They urged us to try all the dishes, which we happily did, taking in the different flavors and textures. Just in case you are confused, nsima is the same as nshima. Only the pronunciation differs between Zambia and Malawi. I deeply appreciate the rare chances I get to eat food prepared by villagers, together with the villagers. It allows me to experience their culture with all my senses, including taste and aroma, and give reality to the words Takami sensei spoke often at ARI, “Sharing food is sharing life.”

WOG Ministries
For our evening accommodation, John’s brother, Geoffrey, kindly offered his home. John is a 2013 ARI graduate, who is now working with his brother in the organization he started called the Will of God Ministries, or WOG. Geoffrey was excited to host us and connect with ARI. The Will of God Ministries International is a faith-based NGO, and their approach is to “study, do, and teach.” Following the line of Ezra in the Bible, they study the scriptures to understand and apply them and then to go out to teach and evangelize. As you can guess they are heavy on evangelism, but recently they have started a component of social-economic development and this is where ARI (and his brother, John) come in. Geoffrey is an electrical engineer by profession and his wife is the principal of a nursing college, having obtained an MA in health promotion and a PhD in nursing in South Africa. Their father, who was born in 1933, also resides with them. The first 31 years of his life, this country was still a British colony called Nyasaland. I wish I had been able to ask him about all he has seen in his 91 years.

When we arrived at the house, we were kindly received in the living room with snacks and conversation, but the only furniture was outdoor plastic chairs. I didn’t think much of it, because each household has its own character. However, about an hour later, a truck pulled in and several couches and comfortable chairs were brought in, immediately transforming the atmosphere. Then the truck left and returned with beds for us to sleep on. Geoffrey quickly explained that all this was meant to come before our arrival, and I remembered that in this culture, it is a sign of prosperity and hospitality to have a comfortable sofa set in the living room.

…no time to waste
In his slow and methodical way, John told me about his experiences at and after ARI. He was one of three Malawians in the training program that year. The things that made the biggest impression on him were servant leadership, organic farming, and the Japanese culture of being hard working. “In Malawi, we waste time,” he explained, “but in Japan there is no time to waste!”

“I visited places in my life I never expected, like Hiroshima and Tokyo Tower,” John continued. “We went to ARI to learn, and we learned…how to be humble, how to be self-reliant. We learned how to live together with people from other countries – That We May Live Together. But the main was organic agriculture.” After returning home he started implementing organic techniques on his father’s land. It wasn’t fully organic, as he used fertilizers and hybrid seeds, but he introduced bokashi, making it from chicken manure, ash and corn bran. He also raised pigs and chickens, “like I learned from Jil and Uncle Timo at ARI.”

At that time, he was also still employed by his sending body, Hygiene Village Project (HVP). That organization helps people set up ecosan toilets, like what we saw at Enet’s place. From these toilets, you can get fertilizer for the garden. Unfortunately, his contract ended in 2019 and wasn’t renewed due to lack of funding. Without a steady income, he really struggled, but still volunteered for HVP from time to time. From 2021, WOG employed him as a program officer, to look after their fields. They have a lot of land, including one piece that is 20 hectares. They want to develop this land for income for the organization and for training purposes and are looking to John, and ARI, to help. John ended his talk with me by saying that his future plan was to progress more!

Written by Steven Cutting (Graduate Outreach Coordinator)
Travelling with Kai Shinoda (Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator)

Click here to read the series of articles

Vol.0 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Prologue】

Vol.1 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 1-2】

Vol.2 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 3】

Vol.3 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 4】

Vol.4 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 5】

Vol.5 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 6】

Vol.6 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 7】

Vol.7 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 8】

Vol.8 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 9】

Vol.9 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 10】

Vol.10 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 11】

Vol.11 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 12】