Life in Lilongwe (Malawi Story – Part 3 of 3)

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It’s 5.30 pm here. My last evening in Lilongwe. I am lying in bed trying to relax before I hang out with colleagues at La Cantina, around 8 pm ish.

It’s all calm and peaceful here. I can hear the birds chirping in the trees. The weather is getting chilly. I love the weather here, sunlight with a chilly breeze. I wish I could package it to my village.

I get up to look out the window in a bid to find the birds. Ah! That explains the chilly breeze I am enjoying. The windows have been opened by the housekeeper. Bless his heart. I draw the curtains but can’t see them. Uhmm….where are the birds? OK! I need my spectacles. I wear them but I still can’t see the birds. Great! My eyes are not that bad after all. I take a seat in the armchair beside the window. This gives me a beautiful view of nature. “I can sit here all evening, enjoying the chilly breeze, listening to the birds chirping away in the trees and watching the sunset,” I whisper to myself.

With that, I put my feet up and enjoy the sunset on what has been a good day and a fruitful week.

The week started with planning meetings and ended with a debriefing with the project team. In between that we validated the findings from our extensive research into gender-based discrimination, abuse and harassment at the workplaces in Malawi; facilitated a task force meeting to discuss the short to long term plans to tackle it; and trained public and private stakeholders on measures to eliminate gender-based discrimination, abuse and harassment at the workplace. There were also meetings with EU Delegation, ILO, and NABW, as well as coffee chats with Senior Officials from the Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Gender, MUTC, ESCOM, NASME, and other ECAM members and partners. 

Overall, it’s been inspiring to see both public and private stakeholders in Malawi come together to work towards a Malawi, where everyone, regardless of gender, is able to freely access better jobs in a safe workplace. For that, I am glad that ECAM asked the ICR Facility to deliver this technical assistance, and grateful that I led the work.

It’s almost sunset. I close my eyes to enjoy the final moments. I hear a noise. Yep! The Anopheles family has misinterpreted the open window to be an open invitation to wine and dine with me. I quickly shut the windows to keep the remaining family members out. Come 11pm ish, when I return to my room, after the evening out, they will be singing to me, ‘Hey, don’t sleep don’t sleep… wake up….collect your bite…

OK! Let me respond to the emails requiring urgent attention, freshen up, and get ready for La Cantina. There’s a mocktail with my name on it waiting for me to savour it while I chat and laugh with some wonderful people….