Shouting in Whispers

This is two things at once.

One, it is my explanation of why I think our work is important, and a request for donations to support it, if you are able. EWB is a non-profit running on a tight budget, and delivering awesome results from that. We’ll keep delivering awesome results, but can be even more awesome- doing even more – if our budgets are a little less tight. You can make a donation at https://perspectives.ewb.ca/kristinanilsson.

Two, it is my explanation of why I’m here and what I believe, which I want to share with you even if you aren’t thinking of donating to EWB because I think it is an important thing to communicate,and  I’m not sure I’ve explained it properly yet. I would love to talk more about this – on or offline.

Here goes.

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Shouting in Whispers

Malawi is a noisy place. Motorbikes roar, buses gun their engines, cars wear out their horns. People are everywhere talking, vendors shout, children chant. Wood is chopped, chickens squawk, roosters crow, dogs howl, and ducks make weird chewing noises. Wind and rain thunder on metal roofs. Radios whine, TVs buzz, and cement walls echo it all back again.

This background drone makes it hard to hear any particular voice well. I have to ask “What? What? What??” but not because of accents or language: “Your mouth is moving, but all I hear is everything else going on all around us.”

All of this noise contrasts with a fascinating technique of Malawians: whispering to get attention.

       ”TSSSssss.”

I don’t know how this noise cuts through everything else. No louder than a whisper, and maybe half a second long, it is unexpectedly effective. It catches the part of my brain that sees movement in the corner of my eye, the reflex that slaps a fly away, and the attraction to bright light (shiny!). It means  anything: “Look, I want to sell you this,” or “You dropped something,” or just “Let’s talk.” The goal is to meet eyes – the rest will follow. And it works. I can’t help but pay attention.

A whisper in a roaring world, but a whisper louder than a shout.

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That’s what I and the EWB Water and Sanitation team are doing in Malawi – we’re shouting with whispers.

Malawi is full of well-intentioned organizations building wells and latrines to help people be healthier. Everyone has their own slightly different ideas, creating lots of debate – what kind of pump or toilet latrine to install, how communities are engaged in the construction, methods of repair. Sometimes the debate is won by shouting and fists thumping tables. By sad before and pretty after photos. By befriending the highest boss. By graphs showing dramatic increases in short timeframes. Or, more often than not, by spending the most money. But the debate is missing the real issues of Malawians.

Wells are falling apart, unusable for years on end, because no one knows who is supposed to fix them. Latrines are changed into storage rooms and chicken coops, because people haven’t been convinced of the benefits of good sanitation.  NGOs take government staff away from their work for days or weeks at a time for “trainings” irrelevant to their needs. Boreholes are built side by side, when other areas have to drink unsafe river water. District governments don’t have the authority to make decisions to serve their community, let alone the resources to follow through on them. Inefficiencies. Hypocrisies. Waste.

EWB wants to change the conversation. We don’t have money to bribe people to attend meetings, we don’t like the degrading before and falsely bright after photos, and our team of 17 can’t shout louder than the hundreds of other voices. But we can whisper through the noise.

       ”The system is broken.”

We see a better way. We’re pointing to creating a service model, where permanent institutions – government and businesses, not NGOs spinning stories for donors – are able to build and sustain the water and sanitation services people need. Where missing links are fixed and redundancy is removed. Where communities, governments, businesses, and NGOs have a shared understanding of a problem, a solution, and their roles and responsibilities towards an impact that truly lasts. EWB is whispering to the people who make decisions about how to build a smarter system.

It’s working. We’re cutting through the noise, and being recognized for our creativity and logic. The government has asked for our help to build a national system for monitoring water and sanitation. We’re showing what happens when communities want to invest in their own sanitation solutions. NGOs are turning to us for advice on supporting water pump mechanics. And we’re bringing together the people who were shouting  to listen, share, and coordinate.

We’re shouting with whispers, and we’re being heard.

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That’s why I’m here in Malawi. I’m seeing, and I’m part of, the results we’re creating. Slowly, we’re working to reshape a whole sector that affects the most basic daily habits of 15 million people. It’s not a fast fix – but we can build changes that last for generations. We need investment in our ideas, so we can keep learning, and keep whispering what we learn to the people who can fix this system.  I love my work, and I hope you can offer a bit to support me and my belief in a better water and sanitation system for Malawi.

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With love from the warm heart of Africa,

Kristina