local report
If Streets Around the World
Unite Hand in Hand
It Will Turn Into a Tremendous Power
Items Donated: Rice x 200kg; Maze Flour x 60kg; Potatoes x 50kg
There are always the smiles of the children & the songs in this place. On this visit, children welcomed us with a song as well. A happy moment.
One of the things that surprised me this time was the fact that their new building was about to complete on the ground that was flat & empty upon our last visit. This orphanage home only had 2 small rooms. About 120 children from age 1-6 were squashed in in those 2 rooms, no place even to sit. Their new building is made of bricks, and has a huge room. Using the 3 rooms would enable them to look after more children.
Mama who runs this place, has 2 other orphanage homes. Every home she runs is constantly full, and takes a lot of efforts & costs just with the food and clothing they proved for the children. But Mama made every possible effort to negotiate with various people, and as a result, the government now introduce this orphanage home to research groups from overseas, so compared to other orphanage homes, this home is in a better state, with more visitors & donations. Their new building was also built by UNICEF with support from the government. Total of 300 children. Still, when there’s less donations, they can’t afford enough to feed all the children. Upon one of my past visits, since they didn’t have enough money to prepare lunch for all, they were sening all children back to their homes before noon.
The orphanage homes in Malawi are basically a place to look after children during the day time as opposed to home for children to sleep & live. All staffs are volunteers. Children who lost their parents by HIV/AIDS & being HIV positive themselves, aren’t jut a few. But they are all healthy & bright, singing, dancing & drawing pictures.
To be honest, looking at the children in this orphanage home, you don’t really feel the “darkness.” Everyone listens to their teachers, and most of all, the place is filled with smiles. Although going back to their real homes, the environment isn’t something good.A child of Alice, the first Stage-4 AIDS patient I met (died in July 2006), is also one of the children that spend the daytime here, but his aunt who used to look after him & his siblings is now also in her last stage of AIDS and unable even to get up from her bed. She was at a loss, worrying about her nephews & nieces if something happens to her… At the orphanage home, Alice’s child was singing songs with other children with a smile like everyone else. But the actual life & state he lives in isn’t easy at all. This is the reality of the poverty in Malawi.
Affiliated Institution: Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic
Free Hospital Coupons Distributed: 500 coupons for adults; 1,000 coupons for children
Items Donated: Rice (1kg) × 70 bags; Maze Flour (1kg) × 40 bags;
Wheat Flour (1kg) × 30 bags; 500 condoms
Chembe Village, where time lapses slow & gentle, and red sun sets beyond a lake. This village is also called Cape Maclear which is registered as a World Heritage. Huge lodgings stands in line, lots of tourists from around the world visit the place. It is also said to be the cheapest place to achieve a diver’s license in the world. It’s a truly relaxing place where if I went to the village as a tourist, I would have just spend a peaceful time saying “what a great place...” But opposed to the peaceful-looking site, this village also has a huge darkness calledHIV/AIDS, which is deep in every possible ways.
Prior to our support activity in Chembe this time, I spoke with Janet, the doctor at the village’s Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic, and decided to stop the distribution of the free transport coupons in Chembe. The reasons being that due to the steep rise in fuel prices, the number of coupons we could issue out of the coupon budget is much smaller, and also because it is now possible for people to get proper medications for HIV/AIDS at Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic.
As you can see, fuel prices have risen remarkably in Malawi like any other countries, it is now JPY130 (= approx. US$1.30) per liter. Due to the rise, all local transport companies also pulled up the transport fees higher. The Chembe - Monkey Bay return ride used to cost MK300, but it costs MK400 now. A rise of more than 30% the original price. So-called power relationship exists here as well, if the transport company says it’s MK400, everyone has to follow that order. Although unlike the cabs in Japan or Western countries, they take bunch of people in a pick-up like truck per ride, and drive the same distance too, so such rise in transport fee seems very unfair. At the end of the day, it only lets the transport companies get their easy profits… In addition to that, I also heard that the 4 transport companies in the area are now fighting over JAG transport coupons. If the coupons are causing such problematic state, we figured we should simply stop distributing the transport coupons, and increase the number of free hospital coupons instead.Luckily, since earlier this year, Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic has become capable of giving proper HIV/AIDS medications, and they have also built a new bed ward for their patients as well. They showed me around their new facilities, but they had shower rooms too, which is more than great compared to other clinics & hospitals in Malawi. Lots of doctors & nurses from Europe work there as volunteers as well. (..it’s a bit sad to now that there wasn’t any Japanese…) FYI, I you are to see a doctor at this clinic, it costs MK150 pre visit for adults, and MK50 for children, the medicines are given to the patients for free.
Seems extremely cheap to us, but most of the people in this village can’t afford such small amount of money either. Nevertheless, I think the village is still lucky compared to others. Actually, having a situation that various oversea NGOs making temporary visit to this village, people have become used to receive support from outside, and it’s not very impressive to see the villagers in such state.
Since we have stopped the free transport coupons, coupons are now wholly and solely handled by Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic, which released us from being worried about dishonesties & injustice with the coupon distributions. It is also extremely grateful the fact that the clinic also agreed to give food supplies donated by JAG Project such as rice, maze flour & wheat flour to their patients in malnutrition.
VSponsored Free VCT（HIV/AIDS blood test）
Free Transport Coupons Distributed (Msaka-Monkey Bay):
40 coupons for adults; 10 coupons for children
Free Transport Coupons Distributed (Msaka-Mangochi):
500 coupons for adults; 100 coupons for children
Items Donated: Condoms x 1,000
This is the village where we sponsored the free VCT (HIV/AIDS blood test) upon our last visit. As a result of the VCT, 26.8% was diagnosed to be HIV positive, and we immediately started distributing the free transport coupons.
8 months since our last visit. A lot of the people who were found to be HIV positive from the last VCT who weren’t in their late stages of AIDS, have went to the hospital and got proper medications, and are now actually recovering, even resumed back to their works & came to us to say “thank you”s. (Unfortunately, most of the people who were in Stage-4 have died…) A lady who was having difficulties even to move, was now plowing her farm, and her son who had to look after his mom & wasn’t able to go to school, is now back to school. They looked really happy. Everyone had their smiles back on their faces.
Until I actually started this support activity, I never thought that the medicine for AIDS would be so effective to cure the disease. Taking the medicine constantly every day would make people go back to their everyday lives. And the earlier the disease is found, the more effective. Upon our first VCT in this village, a lot of the villagers were saying “I’m not feeling well, but I don’t want to know that I’m infected to AIDS. It will only make me feel hopeless. Even if I know I’m HIV positive, I won’t be able to afford to go to the hospital anyways…” Although looking at the people who took the VCT, received the free transport coupons & actually recovering from the disease, people’s minds & thoughts have changed. I think this is a great big change & a huge step forward.
And so on our visit this time, we sponsored the 2nd VCT, and made further research on the state of HIV/AIDS infection in Msaka.This time round, due to the fact that the village chief is also the principal of the local school, a lot of students came to take the blood test. Fortunate & to our relief, no one under 20 was found to be HIV positive. The chief VCT staff told us that this is actually a very important thing. Here, a lot of people start experiencing sexual affairs from age of 14 or so, thus infection rate of 0% means a lot for a hopeful future & betterment of the situation.I truly hoped that they learn proper knowledge about the disease, and to use condoms when having sex. …but on the other hand, the infection rate of people over 20 is once again more than 25%, extremely high.
This village has lots of fishermen, and in fishery seasons, fishermen go to other villages to sell what they have caught. In Malawi, the infection rate of fishermen is said to be very high, and that not only one of the main reasons for disease spread are caused by fishermen raping women, trading women for fishes in the villages they visit. In fact, the infection is said to have spread in Msaka due to such reasons. It would be most ideal if we could speak to the fishermen’s union of all the villages surrounding Lake Malawi, and have a VCT done in all villages at once. In addition to that, it should be even more effective if we could hold some enlightenment meetings to convince them to use condoms and to let them know how effective the AIDS medicines are.
In Msaka, Mr. F who worked in Chembe as a volunteer used to check all the money for our transport coupons, but since he is now back in Japan, so we decided to ask the village chief, local social workers & volunteer people to form a local group to administer the coupons instead. Although not by handing all the money for the coupons at once, we have asked Mackie, who is also from Malawi & has been helping our project since our first visit to Malawi in April 2006, to visit Msaka every 2 months, check the distribution list & the money, report the results to us, and give the next set of coupons & money to the Msaka staffs as we direct him.
As for the villagers of Msaka, since they scarcely have the experience of receiving supports from oversea NGOs til now (they did have their school built & medicine for bilharzioses distributed once a year), they see our JAG activity to be extremely thankful, and everyone knows that if they do something wrong, the support will be gone. That’s why when Mr. F was handling the coupons, there wasn’t any injustice by anyone. …but a case like this time where support being made with administrative consisting only of local people, is a challenge. We’ll have to see whether the coupon system would work without any cheatings & have the distribution done in fair manner….
The ideal state we have in mind for the future is for the local people to make their own NGO, affiliate with JAG & pursue support activities. The challenge this time is the first step towards such ideal state. Because at the end of the day, people will have to make their own efforts to solve their problems….
Distribution of Condoms:One of the things that people appreciated a lot upon our activity this time was the condoms donated by ladies working at night spots in Japan. We gave another 1500 condoms to the clinic & VCT staffs to follow-up the 1500 we donated upon our last visit. The Japanese condoms are received extremely well by the local people, when the staffs of the first VCT distributed them to the people who came to take the blood test, a lot of the people came back & asked for more. We were also told at the clinic that “everyone would start using the condoms if they are all made in Japan!!”
In a lot of the African countries, men have an overwhelming power & authorities over women. The situation is same amongst people in lowest financial class, and whether to use condoms or not upon intercourse strictly depends on men’s decision. Up until now, men refused to use condoms because condoms are “rubbery smelling” and “very uncomfortable.” But with Japanese condoms, they say that they would use it. A great discovery!! It is true that the reputation of Japanese condoms is high all over the world. A lot of western tourists buy them as souvenirs, even the African men from poor districts would say “excellent!”
But if quality of the condoms is what’s keeping the people from using condoms, then Malawi should improve their condoms which should give great effect in reducing the HIV/AIDS infection rate… If Malawi is unable to work on the improvement alone, they should call out to all the other African nations to work on it together, which I feel isn’t impossible…Taking AIDS medicine promptly is indeed important, but it’s something that needs to be done after being infected, and unless they carry out a drastic reformation on the root of this whole situation, I don’t think the problem can really be solved…
Now as the standpoint of Japanese ODA is at the center of attention, I honestly hope that they give good thoughts & considerations to what the people really need before they give any actual support (especially the point of what they could & should do in order for the people at lowest financial level to be able to live on their own, to be independent), as opposed to accepting all requests made by the government of the country in need & just providing people & funds to be wasted, but with regarding this condom issue, if Japan could provide a technical support, I think it’s perfectly possible to improve the African condoms. Japan has such skills & methods that could be proudly presented to the world.
It would be excellent if in future not so far away, condoms in packages with rising sun design get sold & used in poor districts all around the world. Or is this something not as easy as I think?
＜ＶＣＴ＞After I made actual visits to Malawi, I realized how important VCT (blood test for HIV/AIDS) is. Currently, the medicine for AIDS is showing a great improvement & progression, if you are able to find out yourself to be HIV positive at early stage, you could live your normal everyday life by taking the medicine daily. The disease still remains something that cannot cure completely, but it’s not “AIDS=Death”
anymore.What’s troublesome abut AIDS is that it takes 6-10 years (depending also on living environment) after infection, until it starts to show symptoms. Because you don’t see or feel anything wrong with your body during such latent period, there is a huge possibility of infecting the others without knowing it. That unconsciously, you may be involving the lives of the other people into the HIV/AIDS epidemic. That’s such a sad state.
Nevertheless, Japan is the one & only “advanced country” that AIDS is still showing its expansion. It’s been reported that 4 people are being infected by HIV everyday, but considering the fact that VCT still hasn’t been penetrated in this country, the reported number is a mere underestimation. But how could we have people here to take VCT, and seriously face the AIDS epidemic…?
The HIV tester used for VCT in Malawi is the one shown on the photo above. It’s not available at local drug stores in Japan, but could easily be purchased at the stores in US. I personally purchased the same type of tester through oversea mail order, but the procedure is extremely simple. Place the device with a needle pointing at your finger tip, press the button & the needle stings your finger tip. Press you finger tip, and place a drip of your blood to the tester. The minute you drip the formula that comes with the kit, you’ll see the result.
Currently in Japan, the only ways you could get HIV blood test is to go to health center and certain examination centers, or order the tester kit via net, send them back for examination & receive the result few days later either via net or by post…In other words, if a person is HIV positive, that person will be notified his or her fatal reality by a total stranger. I wonder whether such way of AIDS examination would spread amongst people…?
So I gave it a thought & came to a conclusion that more people would take the disease more seriously if the home tester kit is available at stores in Japan as well…First, you test your blood yourself. If negative, “phew.” If positive, you will have enough time to accept and face the result before you go to the hospital for a proper examination… Just like the pregnancy tester kit.
I don’t know why any home tester kit still isn’t available in Japan, but just like with condoms, if the tester kit becomes purchasable from vending machines, I think that people would be able to find the disease at its early stage, and should also prevent the expansion of the infection as well.
As I stated above, the medicine for AIDS is showing huge improvement. By taking it daily, it keeps the disease from progressing further, you could recover to the point where you could live your everyday life just like everyone else. Many of the patients in Malawi that I know of are also showing some great recoveries by eating and taking the medicine properly. Some of them who weren’t able to get up from the bed, are now working in the farms by taking the medicine.
At any rate, what’s most important is to KNOW whether you are being infected or not. No one would look after you or your precious ones, you have to protect yourself!!Whether you recognize any possibility of you getting infected by such virus or not, take the VCT, for your own self, and for your loved ones…
I honestly feel that Japan seriously need to put some more efforts into educating people of the disease & the campaigns, and unless such efforts are made to increase awareness to the disease itself as well as the ways for prevention & report trustworthy cure and result of the latest medication, etc, we won’t be able to keep the disease from making its expansion in our country.
Bagging maze flour to be distributed to the poor patients who can’t afford to buy food.
On March 7 of 2008, we went to a local market to purchase rice for the orphanage home.
The price of rice was skyrocketing. Upon our previous visit, 1 kg of rice was MK60, but it now costs MK130. More than double the former price. I asked the reason for such rise, and was told that due to lack of maze flour (corn powder) which is their staple, the rice got expensive as well. Last year the corns were said to be a bumper crop enough to feed the nation, so it was a real surprise.
So I went to ADMIC where the government administers the maze flour. ADMIC is located everywhere throughout Malawi, and people go there to purchase maze flour.
When I asked for maze flour at an ADMIC, they said it’s out of stock. We went to several of them, but they all gave me the same answer…unbelievable. Maze flour which is supposed to be wholly controlled by the government is out of stock at ADMIC.
In Malawi, people grow corns in their farms, dry & powder them to be sold to the government first. The government put a price to them, distribute them to ADMIC throughout the nation to be purchased by public. They still have dozens of days until June, July when this year’s maze flour would be available.
As I spoke with people on the streets, they told us that “maze flour somehow found its way to local markets and are sold at extremely high price,” and that “the government is selling maze flour to Zimbabwe when the nation is running out of stock…” People are unable to hide their angers. I don’t know what the truth is, but it was surely a fact that their staple food - the maze flour - isn’t available, even if it is, it costs a fortune for the local people.Having no other option, we went to a wholesale market called Limbe Market, and purchased both rice and maze flour. 50kg of rice cost MK5,900 and as for maze flour, 100kg summed up to MK8,075. In July, 50kg of maze flour is normally available at MK800, so 5 times the regular season price…In addition to that, this wholesale market only sells rice from 50kg, maze flour from 20kg, so people in poverty aren’t able to purchase any of them from this market even if they want to.
Middle to upper class people seem to purchase maze flour in a huge amount in July & keep their stocks, but poor people and/or those who suffer in diseases obviously can’t afford such money.Some of the HIV/AIDS patients that African JAG have aided & went to hospital actually recovered & went back to their regular works at one point, but due to the steep rise in prices of maze flour & rice, they are now unable to eat properly, and are in bed again by drinking strong medicine in empty stomach.
What would happen if the rice suddenly costs 5 times its normal price in Japan? People would be raged, stand up & holler out their anger, the whole media would criticize the government, would end up in a chaos. …the government would most likely to do something before it turns into a chaos though. Is this the difference between the so-called advanced countries & the developing country?
Currently, prices of grains are globally making steep rise. The causes vary, but we must all remember that the worst victims of such situation are the poor people of the developing countries, and that unless immediate actions are made to solve the situation, the lives of such people would disappear in a matter of time.
One of the problems that we felt a need of immediate actions for solution this time was “garbage.”In poor districts of Malawi, high number of deaths by Malaria & Cholera are being reported every year.
Upon our visit to Malawi this time, we went to the area called Ndirande in Blantyre for the first time. It’s an area where both poverty class & middle-upper class people live, and the place we visited was more of a poverty class district within that area. It is also a place where drunkards & violent people roam about, and a high rate of crimes such as robbery with knives is been reported.
By the time I got there, it was past 5pm & getting dark. A lot of the people on the streets were deeply drunk, they actually kicked our car & harshly booed at us. Malawi is rather safe & people gentle compared to most of other African countries, but this area seemed to be an exception.…and what freaked me out the most about this area was… the garbage. Every narrow street where cars can’t go in was filled with garbage. From corn cobs, chicken bones, fish bones to plastic bags, ripped tires & worn-off clothes…etc. Tons of garbage is being thrown out & left on streets. Especially the place where it used to be a river, the water has died out, and was now a river of garbage. In addition to that, drunkards pissed to that garbage river. Stench filled the air. The worst state.
It wasn’t only Ndirande that’s filled with garbage. Msaka Village that JAG currently aid is as worse. Msaka also suffers from Cholera & Malaria, losing a lot of lives every year. In this fishery town of Msaka, lots of fishermen from other lake-shore villages come for trade, so extra amount of garbage gets left in the village. Village’s consciousness for environmental pollution is extremely poor as well. They have been repeatedly warned by the government’s sanitary department every time Cholera explodes in the village, but there seemed to be no improvement. …regardless of such fact, the village is a part of the National Park….
With Ndirande, JAG isn’t able to make any immediate move, but with Msaka, we plan to give the villagers some precise & detailed suggestions for sanitary improvement starting from our next visit, and make actions in cooperation with the local volunteers & mothers in the village. We also plan to speak about environmental pollution to the children at schools, spread awareness amongst children & carry out a “clean-up operation” with them.
The population of Msaka is approximately 10,000 people, but they have no hospital, no telecommunication network, no ambulance. Their AIDS infection rate is high, and with booming Cholera & Malaria on top of that, the number of deaths can only increase. And in such situation, women & children become the worst victims. I honestly would like to have the villagers properly understand that by improving the sanitation of the village, crisis can be reduced, and fully carry out the understanding into actions on their own.
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