Sticken Around!

I think you all know by now by now that I am extending my contract in Mwazisi. I recently submitted my application and one of the sections asked me to explain my reasons for wanting to extend, so I thought I would post my answer to fill everybody in as to why I want to spend another year of my life in Mwazisi.

These past two years have been a whirlwind, and if I left Mwazisi right now I would consider my Peace Corps service to be a successful one. However I also feel that if I left right now and wasn't replaced then many of the projects I started with community members would most likely begin to putter out, and eventually be forgotten. This is just the nature of most community/group projects here in Malawi. Community projects designed to generate income generally need to be pushed through the first few business cycles in order to work out the kinks of working in a group, and give the parties involved enough of a taste of success to encourage them to continue the project. Peace Corps volunteers are in a unique position of being a part of the community, but also still enough of an outsider to provide a more objective perspective. We are also in a good position to take risks without getting burned both financially and socially if things don't work out.

For me two such projects are the continuation of the Mwazisi Beekeeper's association that I helped start, as well as several tree nurseries from Chitanga to Kwaswamesenga. Both of these projects have seen some success and are building momentum, but I fear that if I leave now these projects will stop functioning. I'm sure that a replacement would keep everything afloat, but I don't want to rely on somebody else to finish off my projects. Additionally a replacement would have the period of adjustment, learning, and finding there place in the community to go through. I will be able to just carry on with what I've been doing so far in my service and have the experience of the last two years of working in Mwazisi as a valuable tool. This experience and understanding of the community dynamics will help me to be an even more effective volunteer in my third year.

Another professional reason for me to extend in Mwazisi is the encouraging development of the Mwazisi Agriculture EPA project. I have been very happy to see how the community has come together to make our project goals a reality. I am especially impresed by the dedication of individuals who have been coming to work on the project day in and day out. For example Matthews Kavisepo Gondwe, a leader in the community came almost every single day for about three months to mold bricks, and continues to help with the construction as a builders assistant, and with digging the fish ponds. The little compensation he has received certainly is not equivalent to the time and effort he has put into the project, yet he still comes each and every day because he wants to have an agriculture office with a competent staff of extension workers in Mwazisi, so that he and his children can benefit from seeing and learning new things. I owe it to people like Kavisepo to stay in Mwazisi and see that the project is finished completely and the EPA gets off on the right foot.

In addition to seeing through our original project goals, in my third year I will also have an opportunity to build on what we have started. For example, if this year’s fish ponds turn out to be very profitable, then we will already have the know how to expand and dig more ponds next year, and we could stock them with the fingerlings from our first pond. Another example would be if the universal groundnut sheller generates a lot of income this year than we can reinvest the profits to buy an oil press to make an even greater profit from the groundnuts we buy off of the farmers. Having a designated agriculture extension area will give us a good base to start new projects like the rearing of dairy goats for a heifer project to distribute goats to responsible interested individuals. There are so many different things I would like to do with the positive social deviants I have identified in Mwazisi. Our previous experience working together will make starting new projects together much easier.