My new house was located right at the entrance to the village. There were three bedrooms, a kitchen and a small living room. Where would the bathroom be? Good question! Right next door. It’s called a Chimbudtzi. This small shelter had a curtain as a door and a small round hole on the floor. In our “modern” way of living, we would have a large bathroom, with a sink, big mirror and obviously the toilet, where we flush down, great volumes of water. Isn’t that a waste of water? The shower routine went as follows: the woman of the village would boil us water, put it in a blue plastic container and I would carry the water and my soap to a shower house. I had the best showers there! I loved to take them in the morning, while the village was waking up. I felt so relaxed in the showerhouse; I could have spent days there just taking showers.

Everyone, not just the villagers from Makupo, but all Malawians I crossed path with and greeted would return the greeting without question. Here, if we say hello to a stranger, there would be an awkward silence. Why is it like that? Why can’t we be able to greet everyone and be greeted in return? In Malawi, I never felt stressed. What I did feel was calmness and relaxation, which were feelings that I maybe experience for an hour each month here in Montreal—this fast paced city.

The objective of this trip was to learn about education in Malawi. Every morning, the Vanier study team would separate into three different groups. One group would go to the Chilanga School for the Blind, one to the Chilanga Primary School, and my group would go to the Chilanga Community Day Secondary School (or what we all called the CDSS). We would attend classes like any student and write notes about the content of the class. The school was comprised of seven one-level buildings; four classrooms, a small library, a teacher’s lounge, two boarding houses and one kitchen for the students boarding the school. Each form had its own classroom. It was interesting for me to be in a classroom with 80 passionate students and only one teacher. What I quickly noticed was the high level of respectability that a students had towards their teacher. I never saw a student being disrespectful to his professor, by either insulting or talking to a friend during a lecture.

I was interested to find out about the life of a teacher so I prepared some questions and decided who my subject was going to be. I chose to interview one teacher I particularly liked named Mr. Frank Kasawentha. Mr. Kasawentha  is a very  entertaining teacher, who could always turn his  Math course into a very fun class to be in.

Frank Kasewentha loved school when he was young and his favorite subject was English. In Secondary School, he lost interest in the subject because it seemed repetitive to him and he became bored.  He was born in Zambia and his family and him moved to Malawi when he was 14 years old, for financial reasons. When he moved from the Zambian educational system to the Malawian one, he noticed that English was much more concentrated in Zambia than in Malawi. Teaching wasn’t his dream job. He started to like mathematics and, because of this, wanted to be an accountant, but the education to have an accountancy degree was too expensive. He therefore went to the TTC (Teacher Training College), because it was free of cost.

At first, he only wanted to be a teacher because it was the easiest way to get income, but throughout his five years of teaching, his interest in his profession has grown. He has a primary school teacher diploma, but because of the shortage of teachers in secondary school he was placed at the CDSS as a Math teacher. Mr. Kasewentha has two children; one is in Standard 5 and the other in Standard 2. There are 8 Standards in primary school and 4 Forms in Seocndary School. His next struggle will be when his oldest child will reach Form 1, because education isn’t free for secondary students. His wife does not work and Mr. Kasawentha is the only income earner in the family.

Mr. Kasawentha told me, “When I’m in class I do hard marking and try my best help students individually in their work”, but it’s really hard for him. He has between 70 to  90 students in each of his classes. There are six classes per day, and each class is 40 minutes in length. I asked him what the worst behaviour he has ever seen throughout his five years. He answered, students making noise was the worst behaviour of his students. In Malawi, there is a great deal of respect towards elders. For example, when a student approaches a teacher to ask him something, the student kneels to the professor and talks with extreme politeness. I have never seen this in my 11 years of education. As the last question of this interview, I asked him what he would do if he had the power to change or modify something in his life. He answered:

“I would change my diploma for a degree, so I may have more knowledge for my students and a greater income for my family”.

I would have never thought that I would get the opportunity to experience a trip like this. Since I was young, I always wanted a big house, a Lamborghini and a lot of cash. Then from the beginning of College to now, my mind shifted from one dream to another. I feel that this trip has triggered something good in me. I am becoming a more mature human being, who is more respectful of his surroundings and grateful to live without any real concerns. This evolution has puzzled me; it’s made me question what I really want to do with my life. I have never asked myself so many questions about my future plans. I used to have it all organized.

In Africa, I felt very relaxed and able to put pieces together in order to  better understand myself. Coming back here, I didn’t have the same feeling. Everything came too fast— in an instant! I was urged by work, school, parents and friends to get back to my original way of living. I really didn’t like that, but I didn’t express any revolt. I never was able to express myself orally or by writing.

From primary to secondary school you are taught many things. What I experienced during those three weeks in Malawi was turned into knowledge; stronger and more real knowledge than I had acquired throughout my 11 years in the educational system. I didn’t just learn the definition of financially poor, I saw it. I didn’t just learn the definition of ambition; I saw perseverant fire in young student’s eyes. I didn’t just learn the definition of happiness, I saw and felt the most pure and basic pleasures of life. I would never exchange those three weeks. Neither for fame or fortune!

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