Photographs from Dzaleka Refugee Camp

Today, Dzaleka Refugee Camp was hosting a small music festival, so I went along to take some photographs of the surround.

Dzaleke is Malawi's only refugee camp - less than an hour's drive from Lilongwe - and is home to nearly 20,000 refugees who have fled conflict-affected states across central and eastern Africa - Rwanda and DRC; Somalia and Sudan. Many were forced to flee alone, leaving behind families who are now lost. The camp was formed in 1994, and is effectively permanent. One of the first jobs a newly arrived refugee has to undertake is to build his or herself a home out of mud-bricks.

Malawian law prohibits the inclusion of refugees in society: they cannot get jobs; they cannot go to university; they cannot become Malawian citizens. Stuck in a catch-22 - unable to return to their homelands for fear of reprisals; unable to build a meaningful future in Malawi; and unable to afford to travel on - most of the refugees have been living in the camp for years. Those I spoke to took a fatalistic attitude; just waiting for something to change.

Mostly I took pictures of kids, because they're a lot more expressive and like having their photograph taken.

 

 

The photograph below is my favourite. Every time I lined up the shot, this girl would stand to attention in her doorway with the most solemn face she could muster. Then when I showed her the photographs she would burst out laughing.

Visit to Maula Prison

Today, I visited Maula Prison in Lilongwe to hand over some clothes and toys, which had been donated by staff at the British High Commission, DFID and the British Council, to two small boys who are in prison with their mothers.



If a woman is sent to prison in Malawi - whether on remand or following conviction - and has a child under five, then the child will be kept with her in prison.

Maula Prison houses both women and men, who are kept in separate areas. Conditions are very basic, and the men's area is particularly over-crowded. But the atmosphere was positive.

Two members of DFID staff - Linda, our Justice Advisor, and Eleanor, a Rule of Law Advisor based in London, who recently visited DFID Malawi - came up with the idea, and I was lucky enough to join Linda when we dropped off the goods. We handed over some soft toys, some building blocks, a ball, a picture book, some dinky toys, and some clothes.

Thanks to all those who made generous donations. You put some smiles on faces!

Handing over some clothes

Gift, with a teddy

Prisoners resting under a tree in the prison yard

Playing together

Mother and son

Malawi at War

The opening naval battle of the First World War didn't take place on the blue-green brine of the North Sea. It took place in landlocked Nyasaland (now Malawi), on the shores of Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi) between two drinking buddies.

In 1914, Lake Nyasa separated the northern part of British East Africa (Nyasaland) from the southern part of German East Africa (Tanganyika - now Tanzania). The British and the Germans had only one gunboat each on the Lake - both of which were tasked with fighting the by-then-illegal slave trade. The two ships in question were - for the British - HMS Gwendolen commanded by a Captain Rhoades and - for the Germans - the SS Hermann von Wissmann commanded by a Kapitan Berndt. Both ships had been bought to Nyasaland in pieces a number of years previously, and reconstructed on the Lake. Apparently they would regularly bump into each other as they cruised around the Lake, with the Captains sharing a taste for whisky. 

HMS Gwendolen Source: Daily Telegraph

When Rhoades learnt of the War's outbreak, he set sail for the north of the Lake in search of the von Wissmann. Control of the Lake was vital to securing supply lines to Rhodesia and South Africa. The Gwendolen set sail with five Britons - including a Scottish shop assistant called 'Jock' who claimed he knew how to use the ship's only gun - thirty African stokers, and twenty-five African soldiers (known as Askaris) from the King's African Rifles (KAR) commanded by a 2nd Lieutenant Beaumont, an official in the Public Works Department, who wore a monocle and was known as ‘Champagne Charlie’.

They found the von Wissmann lying on the beach at the German-controlled harbour of Sphinxhaven, where it was being repaired. Rhoades commanded Jock to open fire, who - after a few attempts - managed to land a hit. A furious Kapitan Brednt, who had no idea that war had been declared, rowed out to the Gwendolen to confront Rhoades. Their exchange is alleged to have run as follows:

‘Gott for damn, Rhoades, vos you drunk?’

 ‘Afraid not old chap,’ called Rhoades. ‘Our countries are at war. Best thing you can do is surrender.’

‘Surrender be hanged. Come and have a drink.’

Rhoades' old house in Fort Johnstone (now Mangoochi) at the southern end of the Lake is now a shabby hotel called Villa Tafika, which I had the dubious pleasure of staying in recently. The gun which was mounted on the Gwendolen is outside Rhoades' old house, forming the centre-piece of a roundabout.

The British used their newly established dominance of the Lake to transport troops to the northern border of Nyasaland, at Karonga, in anticipation of a German attack. The invasion came on 8 September 1914, when 400 German-led Troops - mostly Askaris - crossed the border from Tanganyika. The newly-reinforced British-led troops repelled them in the Battle of Karonga, killing 150 men.

This was the only significant engagement of the War fought on Malawian soil, but thousands of Malawian's signed up for the KAR to fight in the East Africa Campaign. While numbers are hard to come by, it is estimated that nearly 20,000 Malawians served as Askaris during the First World War, with approximately 3000 dying in service. But the impact of the War on Malawi went beyond those serving as Askaris: 200,000 Malawians are believed to have been called up as porters (Tenga-Tenga) to transport military hardware and provisions, with many dying from disease during the course of their service. The War in East Africa also led to acute food shortages, which weakened populations and facilitated the spread of diseases which killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Nearly 30,000 Malawians joined up to fight in the Second World War. with most being recruited into the KAR Battalions. Malawians fought across East Africa during the War, securing a number of victories against the Italians in Ethiopia and Somaliland, and capturing Madagascar from Vichy France. In 1944, four KAR Battalions from Malawi were sent to Asia to fight in the gruelling Burma Campaign.

Both Wars had a long-lasting impact on the social and political landscape of Malawi. Malawi's involvement in the First World War was one driver of the failed Chilembwe Uprising in 1915, which is seen as a watershed moment in Malawi's path to independence. After the Second World War, a revived nationalist movement - supported by many returning soldiers - led the way to independence in 1964.

Today, Malawian soldiers serve in UN peacekeeping operations around the World.

The Karonga War Cemetery contains eleven Commonwealth War Graves and six German burials
Source: tracesofwar.com

Further reading:

Victory on Lake Nyasa by Janie Hampton for History Today
The Battle of Karonga by T. Cullen Young - available on JSTOR
The Chiwaya War: Malawians in the First World War by Melvin E. Page

Full House; Life & Death

It's been about three weeks since I picked up Nepear's family - Melifa, Robert and Patience - from their village and brought them to the house. Travelling with us were five chickens, one cockerel, and an inordinate quantity of maize.

From left: Patience, Melifa and Robert at the house

After some initial teething problems (dogs chasing chickens; dogs chasing kids) everyone's settled in just fine. The kids and the dogs have adopted a policy of mutual distrust and the chickens have learnt that the safest place for them to be is in their pen. We had two escapees from the pen in the early days - the first (the cockerel) we managed to rescue from the dogs for the loss of just a few feathers; the second (Nepear's prize chicken) wasn't so fortunate, and met a grisly, puppy-related death. The chickens get 'yard break' for one hour a day, when we tie the dogs up and let the chickens wander around the garden eating insects and the like. We normally let them out at 5pm, because when the sun sets they helpfully round themselves up and troop back into the chicken hut.

Chickens 

Yard break

I've since bolstered the flock with four extra chickens, provided by Paddy, as part of his burgeoning village-to-city chicken import business - which involves sending his sister to his Mum's village to bring back live chickens to Lilongwe to sell at inflated city prices. He's used the proceeds to buy himself a radio, which he listens to the football on. The last of the four chickens was a gift to me from his Mum, so we've christened it Yona (Paddy's surname). The only other chicken to thus far acquire a name is 'Ebola' - who had the misfortune of falling ill with 'fowlpox', but seems to be recovering.

We've undertaken a chicken vaccine programme against 'Newcastle disease' - named after Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which suffered an outbreak in 1927. It's fatal (for chickens...) and has been doing the rounds, so we thought it best. The vaccine programme involved catching the chickens one-by-one, opening their mouths, and pouring two teaspoons of medicine down their throats. Some were more amenable to this than others.

I caught this chicken with my bare hands

The chicken hut now has all the mod-cons: wooden nest boxes filled with grass; bamboo perches; under-floor heating. It's been christened 'Sunbird Chicken', after Malawi's ubiquitous, state-owned 'Sunbird' hotel chain. The hard work has paid off and last week we were rewarded with our first - and thus far only - egg, which we have left in the nest in the hope that it will hatch.

Sunbird Chicken

The egg in Nepear's hand-made nest

Robert and Patience seem to be enjoying themselves. They like swinging in the hammock, playing football, and being squirted with the garden hose. They've started at a local pre-school, which they attend on weekday mornings. They don't speak much English, but Robert managed his alphabet today. On a Sunday night we try to all watch a DVD together - so far we've watched an episode of Frozen Planet, and an Episode of 'Tribe' with Bruce Parry (the one where he goes to Gabon, takes lots of hallucinogenic drugs and retches everywhere...Nepear's choice). Maybe next week we'll watch Toy Story.

Relaxing

School uniform

First day at school

A Night at the Goat Races

Last night, the Alendo Cricket Club hosted their annual fundraising goat race. It's a pretty big fixture in the Lilongwe social calendar. The Malawian Royal Ascot, you could say. 

There was everything you would hope for from a big racing fixture - a paddock where you could admire the goats; ladies with hats; photo-finishes; tote-betting. The lot. There were eight races in all, with the most alert goats being selected as the runners. I reckon I broke even by the end of the night.

To keep the goats focused on reaching the finish line, they were herded around the course by a troop of Malawian handlers.

In the paddock, pre-race

Rounding the final bend

Goats racing

A woman in a hat

The evening ended with a perfectly dignified girl race. No herding was required.

Girl race