The 360Life training that I’ve just delivered in Malawi has been wonderful in so many ways, as well as giving some valuable insights into the reality of life in this country.
The training was primarily for 45 community counsellors who work across 3 different rural communities based within 30 miles of Lilongwe and are all part of a Malawian non-profit called Abundant Life Centres (ALC). There were also 5 participants from a sister organisation called Seeds of Promise, that also provides community counselling as part of its portfolio of projects, but in a different location to ALC. Both Abundant Life Centres, and Seeds of Promise are partners of Links charity (www.links.charity) and it was thanks to my links with Links (excuse the play on words) that I got linked with ALC and SOP.
The participants included about 10 clan chiefs. These individuals have an inherited role, although they are not always the first born in their family. It is a role that includes a significant amount of conflict resolution as they are called on to help resolve disagreements between members of the clan. These might be around issues relating to property rights, relationship breakdowns, inheritance claims etc. A lot of wisdom is clearly needed to be a chief, and it was very special to have them as part of the training, and just sitting alongside the others, with no sense of hierarchy or expected privilege.
The location for the training was one of the ALC communities, and it was fab to be out in the rural community rather than in a city. It was also really good to be delivering the training at the heart of where ALC started, and to be able to look around at the programmes that are delivered by each of the ALC hubs. These include feeding programmes, empowerment programmes for youth, widows and single mothers, pass a pig forwards, and community counselling. As a result, the background hum to the training was a mix of children playing, goats bleating, pigs squealing and birds chirping. A very rural and beautiful mix!
The training went so well. Yes, 50 participants in a simple brick building with air temperature of late 20’s at least and no electricity for fans or to run a projector does make for a fairly intense time, and required some last minute creativity in adapting my presentation style. But the participation was really good and the room buzzed whenever I asked them to get into small groups to chat about the learning and contextualise it to their situation.
The dedication to the learning was humbling – the groups from the two ALC hubs that were further away came on bicycles. I later discovered that one group came from 20km away and the other from 32km away. So that’s a good 2 hours of cycling, in flipflops, with a sarong wrap around their waste. And they must have started by 6am to get to the training venue in time – what dedication, what determination to receive the training.
As I travel to different countries, delivering the training to different nationalities, I always find it fascinating to see what the different perceptions are about the causes of trauma. Sadly, there are some that always crop up – domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse, childhood traumas. And there are others that become unearthed as participants start to understand more what the concept of trauma incorporates – those hidden away traumas, the ones happening behind closed doors, the ongoing microaggressions etc.
But there are also the traumas that are more specific to one country and the nature of what they are or have recently been enduring. In the case of Malawi, the traumas that were being named as current in the lives of so many are those relating to recent episodes of drought and also to floods that have resulted in ruined harvest, loss of food security, and increased poverty for many. The financial situation for many was also cited – in part due to the food shortages, but also the repercussions of the increase in fuel prices around the world, and due to job insecurities that come through living in a country that is high on the list of countries struggling with endemic poverty. Cyclone Freddy was a specific incident etched on the mind as a traumatic experience. Corrupt politicians and the impact that they are having on the day-to-day function of the country was another issue mentioned by many as causing much stress and upset to all.
And now a big and very stressful situation (which some call traumatic in its repercussions) is the fuel crisis. Essentially the nation has almost no fuel, and so all the petrol stations stand empty except for when the occasional tanker comes through. Cars, motorbikes, trucks and minibuses all line the roads around the fuel stations, hoping to be one of the lucky ones to be able to get to the front of the queue to get fuel when it arrives. Some of the fuel stations run organised queuing systems, but in other places the battle for the front of the queue is less dignified. There is also a growing market in illegally sourced fuel, which is selling at 4 times the price. For those who can afford it, this is turning out to be the preferred way to find some fuel and so keep their vehicles going. But for the bus and minibus drivers, the way to afford it is to put the ticket price up, and so the ripple effect of this crisis goes way beyond the vehicle owners.
Whilst not all of these issues might technically be called ‘traumatic experiences’ in the purest sense of the term, there is no denying the hugely negative impact that they are having on the mental wellbeing of the Malawians. And the lack of light at the end of the tunnel for this country as it battles these issues makes it even harder for them.
Sitting with the participants and talking with them about these issues, and also sharing with them about what it means to have a more trauma-informed perspective in their counselling and programme work, there was no doubt in their minds just how useful and timely the training was. It was an honour to come alongside these wonderful folks, and input into their work in even just some small way, and I pray that through the training, a little more rays of hope will shine in this beautiful but struggling country.
No comments:
Post a Comment