BIRTH OF THE MACADAMIA PROJECT
The macadamia project went well; I even think it was a bit glamorous. Really it was just one of those few, out of dozens of projects started, that somehow kept going.
It started with my library. I had loads of resource material. Those books, pamphlets, and magazines were stuffed into my backpack and transported up from Lilongwe. This typically took me 3 days by very uncomfortable types of transport. Food and clothing, being available in Chisenga, didn't fill my pack - the reading material did (and Indian spices). In my library you might find the curry scented Fuel-Efficient Cookstoves, a cuminy Forestry Act of 1997, and as many Horticulture in Malawi magazines as I could lay my hands on (they were fabulous).
You cannot imagine how many times I cursed inwardly (outwardly) about bad transport, a fancy white SUV (NGO/GO logoed) breezing by, 2-4 passengers comfortably-seated, staring ahead - blank faces on unmoveable necks, my downward palm waving faster, now frantically. Oh no, not that lorry. An overladen bicycle weaving by just in time to block the view of the next driver. Oh the despair, three hours down and still standing sun-beaten by the side of a firey-black road leading out of Karonga, or worse still the mango tree stage in Chitipa. That stage was a true nightmare. It was for those on their way to Chisenga, Wenya and Nthalire, where one could wait from dawn to dusk and fail, retreat back to the rest house, just to know you'd be walking back out to that mango tree stage at 6 AM the next morning. Well, I digress, yes about the library...
The library was in my home and formally kept, with logbooks and signatures. It contained forestry, agro forestry, natural resource management, PRA, preserving foods, macadamia, a myriad of information - and it was all open to any counterparts, farmers, and generally any reliable book-returning type of enterprising individual. One day, my forestry counterpart, Mr. Kennedy Ng'ambi, checked out and read the article titled "Macadamia: Malawi's Next Gold" in Horticulture in Malawi magazine. On returning the piece he asked me, "Do you think we can do this?"
I didn't know anything about macadamia at that point, but could see he was interested, so I replied, "I don't know; let me find out."
It started with my library. I had loads of resource material. Those books, pamphlets, and magazines were stuffed into my backpack and transported up from Lilongwe. This typically took me 3 days by very uncomfortable types of transport. Food and clothing, being available in Chisenga, didn't fill my pack - the reading material did (and Indian spices). In my library you might find the curry scented Fuel-Efficient Cookstoves, a cuminy Forestry Act of 1997, and as many Horticulture in Malawi magazines as I could lay my hands on (they were fabulous).
You cannot imagine how many times I cursed inwardly (outwardly) about bad transport, a fancy white SUV (NGO/GO logoed) breezing by, 2-4 passengers comfortably-seated, staring ahead - blank faces on unmoveable necks, my downward palm waving faster, now frantically. Oh no, not that lorry. An overladen bicycle weaving by just in time to block the view of the next driver. Oh the despair, three hours down and still standing sun-beaten by the side of a firey-black road leading out of Karonga, or worse still the mango tree stage in Chitipa. That stage was a true nightmare. It was for those on their way to Chisenga, Wenya and Nthalire, where one could wait from dawn to dusk and fail, retreat back to the rest house, just to know you'd be walking back out to that mango tree stage at 6 AM the next morning. Well, I digress, yes about the library...
The library was in my home and formally kept, with logbooks and signatures. It contained forestry, agro forestry, natural resource management, PRA, preserving foods, macadamia, a myriad of information - and it was all open to any counterparts, farmers, and generally any reliable book-returning type of enterprising individual. One day, my forestry counterpart, Mr. Kennedy Ng'ambi, checked out and read the article titled "Macadamia: Malawi's Next Gold" in Horticulture in Malawi magazine. On returning the piece he asked me, "Do you think we can do this?"
I didn't know anything about macadamia at that point, but could see he was interested, so I replied, "I don't know; let me find out."
posted by Cindy at 12/23/2004 11:20:00 AM
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