“Broken” schools

By Cullen Mackenzie | September 27, 2011

The CIE's Julie Dawjee and Cullen Mackenzie are conducting an educational needs assessment in the Mangochi Diocese of Malawi. They are working with the national education secretary for the Episcopal Conference of Malawi, Cleopas Mastara; the head of the Unit for Justice and Peace/Education at the Catholic Relief Services, Thomas Hollywood; and the Mangochi Diocese education secretary, Cyprian Tambala. This is the field diary documenting the research team’s experiences:

Day three and we are in the Machinga District, which is further south than Mangochi. It is far from water, electricity, and places to fish. This time there was no gathering in a parish hall, like there was in Mangochi. There was no singing. But there was hard, solid, honest work. The communities we spoke to today have a need to survive, and this lent a sharpness to the words and ideas that they chose to share with us.

As before, we had to start with meeting the district education manager at the district offices, who smiled and graciously welcomed us. He offered his apologies that he couldn’t stay and have a meeting with us, owing to a surprise visit from the First Lady. With repetitions of “zikhomo” (thank you) and “tutaonana” (see you again) echoing behind us, we left the offices to begin our work.

Kaombe, Napere, Namwini and Mikachu are all primary schools in the same district, but it took us a day to traverse the potholed roads and wooden bridges linking them. It was a day of hunger and distance and thirst, driving alongside dusty gum trees, past one-room houses with half-finished roofs that symbolised the needs and hopes and far-off dreams of the people of these communities. We interviewed and met with about 30 people and some community members described their schools as “broken”. We will process all that they told us, and hopefully someone will take this information and work some magic.

Hopefully someone will bring back hope to the men, women and children we spoke to today.