Returning from my other world

My return from the UK to Malawi was warm and welcoming. Our village, named Sam’s Village (8km from the Kamuzu International Airport) greeted myself and George (work colleague) with a poster made out of connected maize bags and writing. 

This was now my home. It was an incredible journey of reflection and learning back in the UK. A well-deserved break, if I may say so myself! I collected inspiration from my slightly confused more cultured mind and direction / advice for my path ahead. My main worry was if my role as the architect for the NGO Landirani Trust would be taken seriously and seen as professional in the ‘Western world’. I called up my tutor from Oxford Brookes University who then said ‘What is professionalism? I sighed in relief knowing I had learnt so many different roles including budgeting and project management. I had written many notes that I would collaborate into work diaries from my past and present experiences.  

Yes I was happy in Malawi. I had taken the plunge and my job satisfaction levels are still rewarding despite the everyday challenges of culture and hierarchies. I have continued drawing buildings to be erected this year. Our environmental training village has expanded. I helped to finish:

Visitors Accommodation: I helped to site manage and finish this build taken over from a guy called Simon Zipata Gates, He designed the house to have the first curved rammed wall in the region.

Visitors Accommodation

 Library: George Phiri was working alongside building the first community library in the whole region. This is nearly filled with donated books from all over the world!

Community Library with bottle wall

 Compost toilet: After realising there were plastic bottles coming from the aeroplanes off the 7 flights a day I started cycling across to collect them to be used as a building material. The rainwater is collected and stored off the roof. 

Plastic bottle compost toilet

Workshop: This was our first 2 storey earth build with a welcoming inward slanted wall and viewing section above. 

Workshop

Training Accommodation: Another 2 storey build with narrow tall windows (better for structural stability) to follow the sun rising and setting paths.

Our aim is to create opportunities training people in vocational skills. Many people can visit and stay for a price that will reimburse back into the running of the project. The buildings work hand in hand with the landscaping and permaculture which is grown with many different types of plants to promote nutrition in the surrounding villages. It will also be a commercial farm in the future once we have secured the irrigation system to gain money for the running costs.

I have struggled to try and build a plastic bottle wind turbine (after gaining inspiration from reading the book, the boy who harnessed the wind). This highlights the need for improvement in my electrical knowledge. I researched this wind turbine would have to spin 1000 times a minute to charge the car battery it was connected to. This is a side project still in working progress!

Thatching Training Accommodation

George and I joined the conference Clayfest which was held in Errol, Scotland where we learnt the science and explanations into rammed earth. A good ratio of different soils mixed with a small amount of water binds as strong as concrete and acts with the same properties but is more breathable and climate responsive. It was really refreshing to meet like-minded architects, anthropologists, engineers, historians and sustainable characters who understood and were passionate for a change in mind set. 

Rammed Earth with Rowland Keable

Fibre and Clay Sculpture

 In Malawi like many places worldwide people believe concrete is stronger or more suitable for building than using the local natural resources. People in Malawi look at their grandparents skewed houses that are on the breach of collapse with the thin rammed walls (200mm) and decide fired bricks are more durable.  The rammed earth structures code of practice ICS91.080 highlights walls should be a minimum of 300mm thick. Small changes can ensure this technology is more robust.

We know earth is cheaper and more environmentally friendly but the costs for the large high capacity buildings at Sams Village are still incredibly high. This year and next I continue to research and look into affordable durable sustainable homes. This will be a big challenge but after an exciting break I am determined to come up with a solution to resolve one of the many issues of poverty.

Coming back to Malawi I can once again cycle down my 2 roads to work and greet people who respond with waves and smiles. People have a different energy that I collect for my inspiration.

A few fun volunteers from Landirani made a road trip to my favourite place Nkhata Bay for my first weekend back, this was for a biogas meeting in Mzuzu. I happily jumped in the back of the car heading north trying not to get too stuck into a routine on my return. 

 Patrick and I squashed into the boot of the car

Nkhata Bay Bay

 Sunset in Nkhata Bay

 

Butterfly Space Nursery

Chikale Beach rockscape

 That bank holiday was for the Malawi Independence 51 years ago. There is another bank holiday this weekend due to Ramadam. Any temptations to go to Lake Malawi have been put aside as I realise I need to find a house to live in before my mum arrives in 2 weeks time. Her only request was for a hot shower so I will also have to paint a bucket black and make some sort of pulley so she feels comfortable!!!! Fun times. 

Mum's shower!

 

 

Down came the rains its all happened again

This is a beautiful time of year when the hot dry dusty earth revives to life with plants and the smell of damp freshness.

Everywhere becomes green and fruitful although unfortunately the rains were not long enough, many plants have been stunted and dried without producing the maize plant. This will have severe repercussions for the 80% of Malawian rural dwellers that depend on this food for their livelihoods. Lessons of permaculture and all year round edible crops gives some crucial knowledge to overcome these issues.

http://www.neverendingfood.org

My NGO The Landirani Trust use permaculture joint with sustainable building to compliment eachother to ease the cycle of life in the rural villages. The projects are going well. I could blame my work for the 3 month gap.  I have been designing, budgeting and redesigning while collecting recycled materials for some personal projects, creating, making and now we it is the end of March!

Meanwhile I have moved into a new home.

It was only in January , new year when I decided it would be best to rent a house that I realised I’d never had a space of my own. I had always been the person you find staying at everyone’s house on the couch, especially in London and the habit automatically spread to Malawi. I stayed in Landirani accommodation most of the time but found myself dotting around. It was a big decision to move house and stop saving so much money but I have never looked back. Instead of my money going towards UK expenditures I realised I would benefit more here by making a proper home for myself in Malawi. It is not a plot of land but that I can only dream about that at the moment. One step at a time!

It was quite hard to decide where I wanted to live. I knew I wanted to keep the true Malawian vibe and live with people who could teach me more about the language and culture. When I first came to Malawi I had started the intense sessions in the rural village which I absolutely loved then when I came to town I was put into a house with a tall brick wall and guards for high security.

As I kept searching for a house I found a man at the roundabout who was interested to show me the house next door to his. I was happy, there were 2 rooms in the house and a toilet and washroom in the nice spacious courtyard.

 

I immediately planted some banana trees!

I was also excited to find out the man had 5 daughters that lived next door, I had missed girls. Coming from a family of 4 girls and ending up in a construction job has minimized girl talk.  The man then introduced himself and told me he is the group chief of area 3.  This solved the security issue as people would never burgle the row of houses next to the chiefs house. I remembered when we cycled Cairo to Cape we stopped just before dark to stay in the local villages. People would always start by introducing us to the chief and would then tell us to camp next to his house for security measures.

So I count myself lucky.

I was introduced to 2 guys that lived around the back, Auga and Luxon who are friendly people and then the kids started poking their faces around the wall as I played guitar. These kids live in the 4 houses on the one street. There is no brick wall just tall maize as a barrier from the main road then fruit trees and other vegetation shading the front spaces. All life takes place in the courtyard behind each house. As people became more open and used to me we all started making briquettes, clay ovens or a gutter out of juice cartons.




I have always been interested to see what can be made out of recycled materials. Another incredible factor is that the landlord has said I can do whatever I want to the house as he will be knocking it down in the next 6 months. This is every architects dream! I have one room for sleeping with a storage space and one room for the kitchen seating area. The house and size is perfect. The simplicity and minimalism with my few items means I know where everything is. It is very refreshing and my creative bubble has once again sprouted.I have personalised the spaces in each room.

I have built a rammed earth bench and made my dishes drying rack slanted so the water drops into a plant below.


 

We made a clay oven. I had the intention of giving some people jobs that have come to my house to ask but I haven’t got as far as setting up the bakery under a tree in the busy road at the front yet.

Now the dry season is just beginning I can start cutting into the corrugated iron sheets to fix plastic bottles with bleach and water to disperse the light through my 2 rooms. The hot season needs a shaded courtyard so I will be making a suspended shaded carpet out of sewing old cement bags then planting many climber plants around to create a green outlook. I am in heaven.

I spoke to my mum once who asked if I was lonely and like in the village, the social culture continues so I am never alone. In fact I enjoy the peace and quiet when everyone is out and I can find time to sit on the veranda and read my book or play guitar.

Let the fun times continue,  I couldn't be happier

Chasing Clouds

My Christmas holiday started with a 4 day bike ride from Lilongwe to Nkhata Bay. It had been a while, the last cycle from London to Devon with my sisters August 2014!

My sisters kindly taking control and trying to map read!

It was ofcourse as memorable as the last – John O Groats to Lands End 2013 for my birthday. I had a few friends join me, including my dad!

Alice Maggs and Ny cycling Liverpool to Bristol 2013, www.ukactionadventure.blogspot.com

 which took me back to when I had cycled through East Africa in 2011 on a heavy duty touring bike (www.nysbikeride.com).

Cycling along the Nile , Egypt 2010, www.nysbikeride.com

Being pushed by kids, Ethiopia, www.nysbikeride.com

This seemed like a life time ago now but was probably the one step of fate that had brought me to live in Malawi.

The end of a term or a year must be closed with many collected thoughts so I decided it would once again be best to fix my bum to a bike saddle. I felt this was the perfect opportunity to open my Christmas holiday and the much preferred form of transport compared to the hot sweaty compacted 12 hour bus that I recalled from last year. I cycled with a friend called Nick. I met him down the road, at Mabuya backpackers and got the vibe that he was also a keen cyclist. It was the way he talked about his bike for some amount of time and the bike expeditions he had been on, especially in the Alps in France. He had even managed to bring over 2 stunning road bikes from the UK. It was very rare to see 1 of these bikes let alone 2! We both worked in Lilongwe and lived in close proximities in Area 3. It was great to find a partner in crime and adventure to cycle with. In Lilongwe we spoke of a budget and accommodation. As the frugal person I thought it was very wise to discuss this before we started. I explained we could stay anywhere down the lake in rest houses.

We began our cycle on Saturday 20^th and our first stretch was Lilongwe to Salima, just before the town there is a junction. It reminded me of the border towns: everyone in your face trying to befriend you for your money. We found a guesthouse which was also a local pub. This was the lowest on our budget, we were both happy. Cheap and cheerful:  a hole for a toilet at the back of the courtyard, unfortunately there were also holes in the mosquito nets covering the bed. As I lay on the bed listening to the African beats competing against one another my thoughts took me back to my cycling travelling days in Africa. If we weren’t rough camping we would stay in these cheap fun hostels where the loud music would go on until dawn.

Ofcourse we were on holiday so we joined the people in the local bars on that one stretch of road. Now I lived here I could see straight through this stereotypical chat as the final sentences always asked for money. I was a stronger and wiser person and decided I did not want to drink much between all these annoying conversations. Finally I managed to direct Nick to a much quieter spot, the local restaurant! After the Lilongwe to Salima road of many undulating hills my cycling legs felt like they had been activated. We were both exhausted and in bed by 8.30, so much for a Saturday night dance that we had planned on the bikes on the way there!

As we cycled we were waiting to see the Lake Malawi to jump in it and swim but the further we cycled we realised the Lake was some way off from the main Lakeshore road. It was hot but if we kept moving the wind was great natural ventilation.

Lakeshore Road

For our second night we made it to Nkhotakhota. I was very impressed; the accommodation was all hidden down to the Lake from the main road which explains why the area was untouched by tourism. We found a massive colonial house, Sitima Inn. It was designed like a ship with light wells and openings on each side and a gorgeous balcony / bar and restaurant on the top floor. The food was also incredible. The dorm had raised our budget but we were happy to find hot showers and a toilet with a seat. We were right on the Lake waterfront so we stepped out to swim before bed and early in the morning before cycling on. The beach was sandy and quiet filled with locals getting on with their daily lives. The kids and ladies all lined up removing sand from the Lake and piling it up to sell. The people didn’t hassle us at all, it was a dream compared to the Salima junction.

After all of the great food we managed to cycle approximately 140km on the Monday 22^nd December. We reached Kande Beach by nightfall although this was really stretching ourselves as we hadn’t even made time to swim. It was always so hot we were constantly chasing clouds for some shade. The heat was quite overpowering, at some stages the lakeshore road was not what I thought it would be and certainly not what I remembered. Although I realised any recollected memories had phased out and blurred into the many different countries that I had once travelled. The Lake was only close on a few snippets, other than that we could have been cycling on a hot summers day in Europe stretching through green flat plains of vegetation.

Lakeshore Road

Kande Beach was a great final stop catered for tourists. The beautiful thatch dorms were very spacious for our wet smelly cycling kit to be spread out to dry. Waking up to the relaxing sounds of the Lake waves, this was also accompanied by the rains: heavy downpours, thunder and lightning, it was a real treat.

Kande Beach

Kande Beach

Our expected time of arrival to Nkhata Bay was met. We had sweat out any bad liquids ready for the Christmas season.

Nkhata Bay for me is a magical place, where my creative mind expanded and ran wild. I oscillated in different positions of the jamrock reggae / rock music band (while in practice). The band played on Christmas Day at Mayoka tourist lodge and I was delighted this came with a buffet Christmas meal that I couldn’t have dreamed of even though I was just dancing with a percussion instrument beat.  Music was fun and I also had a burst of poetry ideas and went back to a few weeks of trying to write songs. I stayed with my creative friend Zion who constantly had many building projects going on, luckily this second Christmas I was invited to stay in the Chikale music house where I found lots of creative inspiration.

In the quiet mornings I could follow the trail down to my own private rock and small bay where I washed, swam and collected my thoughts. Fresh (for 2 minutes) my day was filled walking up and down the bays inland roads. I met my friends and jumped from the local to tourist bubbles. The sweat began before I even reached the top of the hill so I often split the day with a few swims. I designed 2 houses on the bay by the hospital for my friends Zion and Christa. These local material low cost houses would be places I could stay in next year.

Unfortunately I had to take a friend to hospital 1 night. It was like I was in a horror movie. The rains and lightening deafened and blinded any senses on the windows. There were shrills, screams and crying on 3 accounts, when people had passed. Any ill body frames lay still and were often skeletons on drips with one person close (a family member) who looked after them all night. The people were constantly flapping towels for mosquitos and heat. There were no mosquito nets to be seen in a place where malaria was much more prone. I was bitten many times laying waiting during the night, but I still have not had malaria (probably jinxed myself now).

Dancing, music, playing with friends kids and swimming on Chikale beach were the highlights then New Year’s topped it all off. Jamrock opened with the live band and I bounced from one bar to another until midday January 1^st preparing myself for the sober month of January!

My second home in Malawi will always be Nkhata Bay as the place now encompasses true friends and family.

Home will make encounters, feelings and reflections

It is the place you find yourself in all of the connections

And lives of others intertwined around

Circular dreaming’s can apprehend and take you to places you have been in

But where your heart and home is there is always friends, family and meanings

And you become close to certain characters as you empower both believing’s

For you can never walk alone as society is for teachings

And problems arise and those are to deal with

And sometimes you must hold your mouth and go kneeling

And you learn about people and who you can lean on

Cleaning your sorrows, uprising and seeing

The changes, the culture is all part of being

But I have made my nest, a home to fly in

As an energy has drawn me and balanced my healings

Perhaps there is reason why I am over the other side

But I have always been one to fly

Not for my selfness but for questions, testing’s and social apprehensions

But my home has transformed and given me a place where I belong

So this is where I shall stop and focus on true minds alike

And enjoy peoples’ fights

As love is so close to hate, we amalgamate

Finding any excuse to celebrate

And make whole new lives

This is my home

What are your problems are my own

And your strengths, mine to learn, spread and show

And my knowledge for all to know

As we live and learn together and create a life forever

This is home

I have come back to Lilongwe with energy ready for the many tasks: work, a new house and I will be collecting many more build inspirations joining this earthship build in Mzimba for 4 days. I can guarantee the next few posts will be about sustainable architecture. I am still constantly debating and questioning the solution as their are many factors to make something sustainable.

Landirani Training Village Workshop

Permaculture: planting trees as the rainy season commences

Cycling and recycling

Library Entrance Mat, glass bottles

A few weeks back, I had not even thought about Christmas. There were no signs in the shops, no decorations. Thinking about it; perhaps I hadn’t been to the shops.

Last week, me and the girls decided to have a movie night and watched ‘The Holiday’, very cheesy, great Christmassy chick flick. This sparked off the Christmas vibe.  I suddenly clicked that it was going to be December in one week’s time. In the office my boss decided to bring her Christmas carols album out. What was the next step in my culture: presents, of course! I was very fortunate to have such a wide selection of different original Christmas presents in Malawi. People were very creative in an African, colourful, recycling inventive way. If I had money my house would be filled with the arts and crafts market from Area 3, Lilongwe. This was my first stop, then area 2, then of course Chinsapo. I cannot describe the presents as that would spoil Christmas but they are on their way! A few friends of friends came over from London and were heading back to the UK in December. This was my chance to be very organised and buy all Christmas goodies and a belated birthday present for my middle sister. 

Malawi keyring crafts

Besides presents everyone had started talking about their Christmas plans, this was our first official 2 weeks off in the whole year. It was only then I realised how minimalistic my plans were, and that I hadn’t really organised anything. Recently a friend Nick (a teacher from the International Bishopp Mackenzie school) had mentioned his love for cycling and explained he had a spare bike.  I went on a 50km bike ride with him one morning to check we were relatively similar in speed then agreed a bike ride would be brilliant for Christmas. It had been a long time since my last long distance bike ride. This was from London to Devon with my fun loving sisters to see my Gran. I had remembered how our different characters had shone through and how enjoyable the journey was. Another bike ride on the way made me very excited. I would cycle to Salima and follow the Lakeshore road up to Nkhata Bay.  The bikes were speedy and we chose to stay at friends’ houses or backpackers so our weight would be minimal. It would be a fun trip 100km a day, perhaps more, but ending at Nkhata Bay for New Year’s Eve. I had 2 great weeks their last year, teaching music to kids, swimming, walking and meeting some lovely people.

Nkhata bay

It would be great to spend my time there, I had not found any time to go back. I just remembered the 12 hour bus journey last year and decided cycling would be much better.

Cycling and recycling seemed to be the top activities in my week, besides working: supervising and drawing up the new office designs.

Recycling was definitely installed into the Malawian culture but in different ways. I have a challenge to change people’s perspective of what they think is rubbish. Yes I know you cannot change a culture in 2 days (this was a phrase my dad repeated regularly)! So how do I bring wheelie bins of paper to the village and get people to realise tearing the paper and soaking it for a day can make briquettes that are slow burners, free and don’t take chopping down a tree to make a fire for cooking food. It seems very simple and logical but unless people see the result and understand the briquettes work as a substitute for wood people won’t use them. Since a young age everyone would always collect firewood and use this to cook. Tearing, soaking and pressing the paper is time constraining. Without intuition and wanting to do the task it is very hard to get people to start. The daily routine has many other chores which do not include making briquettes. I started making briquettes with the school opposite and told the teacher to continue taking a class twice a week, making briquettes.

Making briquettes

Having designed and spent much of my time in town in the last few weeks I noted the teacher had stopped coming.

Perhaps the long process was off putting? Without people wanting to do it themselves there will be difficulties. I must start from the beginning: I believe it is probably most important to raise awareness first, a recycling workshop. We now have a system set up with many materials being brought to Sam’s Village (the landirani trust sustainable training village) from town. I made a chain with the Bishopp Mackenzie International School opposite the office. They now bring paper, milk bags (for seedling holders) and glass bottles. These things are delivered to the office, which then go to the village. Many materials are naturally being reused and recycled with other ideas that I had not thought about. This was a great learning process for everyone including myself. Hopefully my recycling enthusiasm will work in a positive way, but I think it will take time.

There has been some process in the office. As the paper was sitting outside in a wheelie bin the guards started asking how to make briquettes. We started making some in the weekends, when I had a bit more time to play with. Overtone has now been taking paper home to build more briquettes at home with his family, kids and the wife and they have enjoyed the free paper charcoal.

A lovely weekend back in the village

After working in the office on a computer all week I knew I needed to go back to the village to see how everyone was: to enjoy the peace & quiet and start making things with this collection of recycled materials. So I remade and set plastic bottles on this wind turbine,

Plastic bottle wind turbine

... hand scrubbed my bed sheets, read my book and relaxed in a quiet place. It was bliss, so peaceful. When I had had enough down time I would walk and immediately be met and greeted by all of the people in the village. Half were my construction team, others kids and people that knew me but I hadn’t acknowledged their faces and names.

Lady in the village

Many people spoke of getting information so I explained the library was now open. Other ladies complained about the long days farming and getting little money in return and I explained about the Landirani workshop. There would be facilities for carpentry, tailoring and other activities.

Workshop roof structure

This would be open for many people in the village to share, learn and create all types of devices to sell at the local market or Lilongwe. I do wonder about the depriving economy in the village, even the markets. I remember staying in the village as a volunteer and the money I had always went on different items of food. As I headed to the local market every Friday afternoon I would walk 30 minutes just to buy mandazi’s (fresh donuts) and that was all, then we’d walk home. It will be interesting to see if there is a small market for people who are keen to buy sustainable devices like solar ovens and energy efficient kettles. Perhaps if the material was recycled from town, people could sell them cheaply.?

I came up with my own design projects, and mixed these with the skills of the locals so everyone could benefit. I created a website: http://cargocollective.com/malawicraft/

I am lucky to have an international bank card (unlike many people here), so the economy is vast. All payment proceeds to the correct people who manufactured the product... so if anyone is not organised now is your chance to buy handmade products from Malawi.

Back in town

I started designing energy efficient kettles having noted the design of a kelly kettle back in the UK. The chimney flows in the middle of the water container so the heat spreads around a large surface area heating up the water quicker and therefore using less firewood.

I went to the making metal market in Chinsapo with some drawings and measurements. These guys collect old metal and bash them into shape and weld them into other items which they then sell. It is one of my favourite places to watch and learn the skills of these practically minded people. They fine tuned an energy efficient container for me!

Malawi kelly kettle

Organising thoughts and designs in town will be very beneficial for some workshop ideas next year.

Thoughts, designs, nearly Christmas: life is all very exciting.

Sundown in the village