Ndalama

Ndalama. The largest and smallest bills in circulation, and a 5 MWK coin. In total, worth slightly over $3.

It’s a fun word to say, and I hear it a lot. Ndalama. Money in Chichewa. It is an ongoing theme – not surprising, given where I am. Call Malawi a developing country, or the 3rd world, or the majority world, or, as the CIA does, rank it as having a per capita GDP worth $800, putting it as one of the 10 lowest in the world. Malawians themselves understand this is how they fit in the world – I often hear them describe their country as poor, and developing, while Canada is rich and developed. I disagree – development is a process, not a destination, and we all have (lots of) room for improvement – but that’s beside the point. Money is on people’s minds.

I have a bunch of stories about how I’m interacting with money here, and I’ll post them over the next couple days. I’m starting off with begging.

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There hasn’t been a day since I’ve arrived in Malawi when I haven’t been asked for money. It might be a kid asking for change – “Give me money!”, or (this is kind of funny, or possibly a strategically mis-taught phrase from English class) “Give me my money!” – and they might be skipping to their private school in a freshly ironed uniform, or they might be wearing the remenants of a t-shirt and collecting plastic bottles from the ditch. It might be someone sitting on the ground beside a wheelchair in the middle of a busy pedestrian way with a silently outstretched hand. It might be a man pointing at his stomach and asking for money to buy food. It might be a duo taking their bike taxis home after a day of peddling people across town asking for help to send their little sister to school. Or it might be a friend who wants to expand their business, or restart after a devastating theft or fire.

They might be asking for 3 cents, or for 150 dollars. And they might legitimately need money, or they might just be just looking for something for free.

Thinking about each case individually was too much for me – partly that I wanted to spend my mental energy on things other than figuring out the appropriate answer in each individual case, and partly that people asking seem to be good at taking advantage of a moment’s hesitation to build the complications and feelings of guilt. As a coping mechanism, I set up rules for myself – when I will and will not give money. I’ve figured out the circumstances in which I will suck it up, say yes, and perpetuate the idea that all azungus have tons of money to throw around. And the circumstances in which I’ll say no, either plain and simple, or with a joke.

I can’t ever know who truly does and doesn’t “need” it (and how to define “need” is another question entirely).  I can’t know what it would be used for – is the story I’m being told true? And what right do I have to think it matters? And I physically can’t give nearly as much money as I’m asked for day to day (my salary of $19 per day covers my expenses of living, travelling, phone, and work, but that’s about it – and the requests are endless). So I have my system, and stick to it. I’m sure it’s far from perfect – that I miss people who truly do need help, and give to people who don’t need it, but I decide to let that fall outside of what I worry about. Instead, I focus on my work, and try to push the slow improvements I think will, in the long term, have longer lasting change for Malawians than my monetary gifts to individuals ever could.

 

Not coincidentally, I’ve also got money on the brain these days. I’m joining EWB in our annual fundraising drive, to support our continued work in Canada and Africa. Maybe you have rules for donating too – if so, feel free to send me an email at kristinanilsson [[at]] ewb [[dot ]] ca with any questions you might have, I’d be more than happy to chat about what EWB does and doesn’t do, and whether we fit within your criteria. You can also check out http://www.ewb.ca/reports/ for hard evidence of EWB’s approach , or this soft evidence of our approach and my work http://kristinastories.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/shouting-in-whispers/ Donations can be made at https://perspectives.ewb.ca/kristinanilsson Thank you for your support!