Malawi is a small, land-locked country in the southeast part of Africa. Bordering countries are Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
From May 14 - June 14, 2009, I was in Central Malawi, in the capital city of Lilongwe and rural areas surrounding it.
Why Malawi?
The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to devastate social lattices, as families, communities, and an entire country must compensate for breakdowns in traditional structures.
It is a crisis that heavily affects children. At the end of 2007, an estimated 91,000 children in Malawi were living with HIV. In a general population of about 13.5 million, almost one million children are living without one or both parents due to the virus.
Every hour, eight people in Malawi die of AIDS-related causes. The country’s rate of HIV prevalence is among the highest in the world. It is the leading cause of death among adults, and is a major factor in the country’s low life expectancy of just 43 years. HIV/AIDS, poverty, high rates of maternal mortality, and recent famine have created a heightened vulnerability to preventable diseases, food insecurity, low literacy, trauma, and violence.
What did you do there?
My focus on child-headed households expanded to include many facets of life within the communities. This work consisted of:
- Visits to homes, community-based organizations, and clinics
- In-depth audio interviews with children and youth, families, health workers, teachers, and others
- My photographs and video of participants
- Documentation by the participants of their everyday lives through the use of disposable cameras
Thanks to the support of friends, family, and people I had never even met, I was able to raise the funds and gather the materials needed for my work in Malawi. Funds went toward:
- food and lodging
- transportation into communities
- interpreting
- disposable cameras for participants
- development of participants’ photos in Malawi
Why the title “Sometimes We Dance”?
Sometimes we dance. We make our bodies feel free.
-Martin Kwambe
Martin, a member of Paradiso Home Based Care’s support group, added this comment to another member’s detailed description of the group’s activities. To me, his words sum up a lot. While in Malawi, I really valued the opportunity to watch local groups use both traditional dances and ones they had created to teach communities about staying healthy, the rights of girls and women, and the importance of education.
Through Martin’s words I am also reminded that the we is just as importance as the dance. Like HIV, dance is universal, and there is power in a group of people bringing something that can be so isolating, stigmatizing and private out into the open.
Though one can’t rid the body of the virus, maybe it’s worth following this group’s example: take care of yourself and those around you, educate and protect your community, and take the time to let your body dance.
What’s going on with the project these days?
I am very excited to be selling photos online. Proceeds will go to The Pendulum Project. Please visit kathrynstein.smugmug.com
When I was in Malawi, I had the disposable cameras developed in Lilongwe and gave the prints to the photographers while I kept the negatives. Back in the US, I printed many of the pictures that were taken with my camera, including ones by me and by some of the Malawians interviewed. A woman who went to Lilongwe in December to do work with The Pendulum Project carried them with her and got them to the appropriate individuals and community-based organizations.
I am now producing a weekly radio show with Radio Yako, an online Malawian radio station based out of Orlando, Florida. The show is called “Tiyeni Tipewe,” which means “Let Us Prevent it” in Chichewa, and airs live every Saturday at 6:00 pm.
CJ Suitt from the Sacrificial Poets, North Carolina’s only youth poetry performance team, has written a poem inspired by this project. The Sacrificial Poets and I are in the process of creating a video which will feature CJ’s poem and some of the photos from Sometimes We Dance. Please stay tuned, as it will soon be available on Youtube.
What are your goals for Sometimes We Dance?
- Raise awareness about how issues related to health, education, and food security are impacting families, and how local communities are responding.
- Generate discussion with Malawians and non-Malawians about these issues.
- Share and honor the stories of Malawians I met.
- Raise money for the work of grassroots organizations supported by The Pendulum Project.
- Join the conversation through this blog or by emailing me at stein.kathryn@gmail.com
- Buy photos. Proceeds go to The Pendulum Project and the local organizations it supports. Visit: kathrynstein.smugmug.com
- Host an event. Please email me with your ideas.
- Tune in to our weekly radio show. Tiyeni Tipewe airs each Saturday at 6pm on radioyako.com
- Contribute to the Resource Exchange, a place for us to network and gather information related to Malawi.
