Nkhata Bay Natural Way

I didn't do my promised trip to Usisya, the main centre of Nkhata Bay North, but I did get to Kasasire, a remote village in the uplands area. There are about 150 villages in the Nkhata Bay North area, which is divided between the lakeside area next to Lake Malawi, centred on Usisya, and the uplands area which lies west of Lake Malawi.  Temwa staff were going to Kasasire as part of the launch of the new Nkhata Bay Natural Way (NBNW) programme and I joined them as part of my induction.

Usysia is north of Nkhata Bay - Kasasire is west of Usisya

Village women at Kasasire - the woman on the left is wife of the group village headman

NBNW (I hate acronyms but I'm going to have to get used to using them!) is funded by the Big Lottery Fund  and is a four year programme that Temwa is running in partnership with the International Tree Foundation (http://internationaltreefoundation.org/) and Deki which raises funds to provide micro-finance loans in poor countries (http://www.deki.org.uk/).

The programme builds on the work that Temwa is already doing in Nkhata Bay North, supporting agricultural and forestry development, helping local people develop income generating activities (IGAs), providing micro-finance loans, and supporting local ownership of development activities through Area and Village Development Committees (ADCs and VDCs).  In villages, lead farmers take responsibility for spreading good practice on crop variety and rotation which helps subsistence farmers feed families all the year round, Village Natural Resource Management Committees (VNRMCs) take responsibility for leading on the planting of trees and protection of forests, and VDCs take responsibility for prioritising loans.  Community extension volunteers from villages will take responsibility for  ensuring community liaison and mobilisation, acting as link persons to relay information about the programme to community members and beneficiaries.  (Note: Readers will be tested on acronyms!)

There is a close connection between each of the main projects - for example, the Deki loans in many cases will go to support development of forestry based businesses such as bee-keeping and mushroom farming.  There is also a close connection between NBNW and other activities that Temwa undertakes. Temwa already aims to support development of sustainable farming and forestry and will continue to do so in the villages not covered by NBNW. A key aim of Temwa is also to support sustainable governance in the area so it can move its focus of activity to other areas that need support and the work being done to strengthen ADCs and VDCs as part of the NBNW programme, including 50% female representation on them, is crucial to this.

The target beneficiaries of the Temwa projects and NBNW are also the same - families are prioritised for micro-finance loans and other support if they are headed by females, elderly people, or younger adults, have members who have HIV/AIDS, are large or are orphan hosting.  Technical and financial training is given to people applying for loans and organisation of the loans process through Village Loans Schemes is aimed at ensuring collective ownership of the loans process.

A tree in leaf in Kasasire

Kasasire football pitch

The school at Kasasire

Our visit to Kasasire was part of the 'sensitisation' (awareness raising) programme for NBNW. Temwa is already well known in the villages so this is building on the relationships that already exist. Each of the 18 group villages (the local structures already include grouped villages with a group village headman)  covered by the NBNW programme are currently receiving information through 'sensitisation' meetings and they will then determine between themselves who should take on particular roles (for example, community extension volunteer and lead farmer) and also help with the process of determining access to micro-finance loans.   There had been some confusion about time of the meeting at Kasasire and it was poorly attended (around 15 villagers when other meetings have had 50 or more).  The business of the meeting was conducted in Chitumbuka so I was somewhat at a loss about what was being said ...but the atmosphere in the meeting was very creative and positive with engaging presentations from Temwa staff and lots of contributions from the villagers.

Efrina, one of the Temwa project officers, explaining the NBNW to villagers

A villager makes her point at the meeting

The journey to Kasasire itself was eventful.  The drive was two hours from Mzuzu, mostly along rutted dirt tracks. We arrived in the village just as the children were finishing school so were the centre of attention for a while.  Because not many people had turned up at that stage, we decided to drive to see one of the tree nurseries that had been planted nearby.

Unfortunately, our 4x4 broke down about a kilometre away from the village. We waited there for some time as Moyo, the Temwa driver, tried to fix the engine.   After a while we all went back to the village, carrying with us the fizzy drinks and biscuits which we had brought as refreshments for the meeting. When we got back to the car after the meeting, Moyo was still trying to fix it.   It gets dark at 6pm in Malawi and Moyo had got no further at fixing the engine.  At this stage we contacted the Temwa office to arrange for the other 4x4 we have to come and fetch us.  This arrived just before 8pm, together with two mechanics from Mzuzu. They spent a further two hours trying to fix the engine.  Eventually it was decided to tow the broken down vehicle back to Mzuzu (which was pretty hazardous given it was pitch black and the roads had huge ruts in them).  Unfortunately the tow rope broke after a little while and in the end the two mechanics were left behind to stay the night in the broken down vehicle with a view to trying to fixing it in the morning whilst the rest of us were driven back to Mzuzu in the rescue vehicle.

We arrived back at Mzuzu at midnight.  It was a great experience for me - the beautiful sunset, the clear dark star lit sky, the bird song,  distant village noises in the bush, and the camaraderie of all the people - but, despite their good humour, it must have been a strain for the staff who have to put up with this kind of thing quite regularly and had to be out at 8.30am the following morning to do three more sensitisation meetings in another part of Nkhata Bay North.

Moyo (in yellow) trying to mend the engine, watched by Benson, Maria and Greham

One of the village women carrying refreshments from the broken down 4x4 to the meeting

Benson, Beatrice, Maria, Anne, Efrina, Greham and me waiting for the engine to be repaired

Me posing for the camera (with mechanic looking on) - I know nothing about engines!

In future blogs I will talk about living in Mzuzu and also the work I am doing to support the finance team (I'm a bit clearer now though I need to be here longer before I can be sure how I can help). I'm also hoping to get down to the lake shore at Nkhata Bay when Liz arrives - it is meant to be truly amazing - and no doubt will be sharing experiences from there.

More to follow in future blogs....