Camp Sky

I am currently at Camp Sky in Kusungu at the Teachers Training College. The camp was started by Peace Corps Malawi’s Education group and it invites the top students from all over the country. These students are taught a variety of subjects at the camp, from biology to cooking. It’s a great camp, running from the August 18th to the 26th, and requires a immense amount of logistical planning (especially in Malawi). Kudos to the Camp Director. I’m here to teach business for the entire 6 days of the camp.

We had our first classes yesterday and it was great. Although only about 3 kids seem to be keen on business and are very sharp, the class is still going well. The students have been assigned a project of creating a business plan for their mock businesses, which they will present to the class at the end of camp. The most difficult part of the whole lesson was trying to push students to think outside the box. When we asked them to come up with a creative business idea, for a product that is not made in Malawi, they all wanted to grow and sell vegetables.

The problem is that every person in Malawi grows and sells vegetables, it’s the most available product. This is what you find in every market in every village in Malawi and for these students, most from agricultural areas, this is all the business they know. So its understandable that this is the idea they embrace. A majority of other goods all come into Malawi from other countries, and thus the wealth that’s generated in Malawi often leaves Malawi, leaving the country poor and citizens scratching their heads on why that is.

The answer is simple: make the goods locally, make them in the country. Instead of buying cheese and other “exotic” products from South Africa, make it in Malawi. Malawi has wide diversity of land and they can produce virtually any product they want right here. Malawians have this perception that because a product is from America or China it is better than what they make here. For example clothes, bulk come from Tanzania, but also China and America. These clothes can easily be produced in country. After all, Zambia is major cotton producer and it’s right next door.

Hopefully, by the end of camp we can coax these students to think outside the box, think of creative business ideas. Anyone that understands some basic business tools and has a good idea will make a lot of money in Malawi. The country is ripe with opporunity and there is major development happening concurrently. We will see how the first part of the assignment goes later today when we review homework.

The camp otherwise has been awesome. I met a lot of great education volunteers that I had never met before. And those that I had only briefly met before, I saw a whole new side too (Yay!ger). Everyone is nice, fun, and they are all great teachers. They have a patience with students I could never fathom. Last night it was Anasol’s birthday and we had cake and sang happy birthday. Cake! Such a rarity, it was tasty. Also, Ben taught salsa dancing to all the students. The power went out just before dinner, so we lit the hall with candles and everyone danced to music played from small battery-operated iPod speakers.

The new education group also came to the camp as part of their training. All them are really cool and me and Peaches were dicussing the interesting mix of people in Peace Corps. In Malawi I have more diverse mix of friends (personalities and geographically) than I have ever had in my life and its wonderful. Not to discount my friends back home, but Boston breeds a certain of person as does New York. But here the volunteers are from everywhere and they all have the same itch. Some have a streak of adventure, others are quiet, and others fiercely independent, but they are all good-hearted, have geniune desire to help, and are compassionate. Though each is incredibly different we get along well and became very close very fast.

Camp Sky has been a good reminder of why I joined Peace Corps. The experience is unlike anything else I have done before with the most interesting, quirky, unique, and simply awesome people I have ever met. After Sky we head up to Karonga for Karonga’s Women 2 Women Workshop to teach another business class. Last week Karonga II went back to America due to medical reasons. I hope she will be alright, she will be missed.