My name is Peter. I was born in 1958 in Vancouver B.C. Canada, a G7 country. A place where we can get fresh drinkable water by just turning a tap. A place where Hospitals and Doctors are not in short supply. Where education and basic infrastructure is plentiful and through different government and private agencies, food , housing and even money are available to those in need. A place that boasts an average life span of 80+ years. Where mountains meet the sky and sea, a truly wonderful place to live. Mind you we pay dearly for it. More on that later.
My business takes me to many countries around the world and lets me interact with the people there. In Jan 2007 I was in Malawi, in South Central Africa and what I saw there was quite traumatic for me. I had a hard time processing what I saw. All the things that we take for granted had disappeared. And from my comfortable White European G7 perspective, I was shocked and angry – at first. The Poverty and lack of infrastructure was appalling, to say the least. I spent a short 30 days there. When I went back in December 2007 my retrospection and struggle to come to terms on how these people lived, resolved itself to a slightly clearer picture. I re-visited and re-connected with the people that I had met on the first visit in January. It was enlightening.
What was once seen as a very poor country with no infrastructure, with very few Teachers and Doctors and “starving people on every corner” was re-visited. Yes the latter was true to a degree and yet the people were re-defined as warm and friendly people, generous to a fault with an incredible sense of community. Your automatic knee jerk reaction of “what do they want from me” is replaced with the acceptance that people are curious by nature and it seems Malawians even more so.
Of all the things that I really miss of Malawi (besides the friendships that are there), is that fierce sense of Community. I believe it to be their most precious commodity that they posses. I began to realized that these people were not victims but strong vibrant and for some bizarre reason some of the HAPPIEST people on the planet. No really. Ask anyone that has been to Malawi (4th poorest nation in the world according to the UN) or any 3rd world country what they thought of the people -Happy is one of the first words they will say. Now I know that not everyone in Malawi is not Happy, it is the “average”, the impression, that I am talking about.
So here I am, with the big World Wide Web, trying to make people aware that we can make a difference in someone else s life. That our small sacrifices (a coffee a week) can be huge to them. To help people directly, not through me (as an intermediary) or an agency. Where you can be in contact with the person that you are helping or Village for that matter- one on one by setting up a portal in Malawi – a laptop and a camera with some funds for internet time.
So that is about me – trying to make it all happen.
Cheers
Peter
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