Music
I'm islanding frozen, you know I ain't here
I'm islanding a little frozen for two
I'm islanding a little frozen
First impressions of Malawi, it's a beautiful country, really it's nice, all the people
we've met are really friendly.
They're so friendly, so I can pass them and they'll say hello.
I couldn't get over the actual landscape, how beautiful it is and especially the people
too.
They're really lovely and it's just all been a really really positive experience.
I love seeing everyone come out of their little houses and cheer you on or high five or whatever
so it was brilliant to see the locals and to see the amazing countryside.
Country is amazing, beautiful children, really really friendly and really kind of interested
in what we're doing and always jumping out of their heads and say hello.
Very hilly country.
Absolutely beautiful, it's so lush and green, didn't expect it to be so green, really hilly
as well.
Also here you are welcome.
Thank you, thank you.
You are welcome.
Because here in Malawi there are no conflicts or even war here, it hasn't.
It's a very young nation and in spite of all the problems that they've had over time there's
a lot of hope.
In fact now they have a female president, I mean America has never had a female president
so they are progressive.
After 27 hours commuting we took three planes, started in Dublin, went to Frankfurt and then
flew down to Ethiopia and then from Ethiopia we flew into Malawi and then took a four hour
drive.
It's long, flights are long and tiring but it's good enough to go here.
The journey on the way over was long but I got the chance to kind of get to know everyone
a little bit better and eventually got there.
Really really surprised at the group, I think that's one of the most amazing things because
every single person gets on really well with each other and like we're just, it's something
I haven't experienced before, the fact that we didn't know each other at all coming into
this but everyone is so encouraging and so like are you okay, even I was this morning
I wasn't feeling well but everyone was like you know clapping along and we have some characters
definitely and we have a laugh and the group has been absolutely amazing.
I don't know, like a couple of people were just a real inspiration to me, like Birven,
something else like, I don't know if she's a legend, she walked over to the side of
the road, picked up and just got back on the bike and kept going, I was all right, I better
keep going as well.
You couldn't take a break after that.
No, no, it was like right, shit.
That's great.
Great being with a group of people that you kind of baby know from work and now got to
know them a lot better.
I knew Maeve quite well and another few of the guys we've all gotten to know each other
well over fundraising and things like that and their training days that we did.
Yeah.
So it's been great Jess because I've known them each other forever.
The group that I've come with have been brilliant, I think we've all had our good moments and
our bad moments and we've all kind of spread each other on.
I didn't necessarily know everyone beforehand but they have, I think we've all got to know
each other intimately over the last few days so it's been great fun.
Cookie, cookie!
Cookie!
For me almost the best part was like today even we all grouped off in the bikes and everyone
was just pushing each other on because everyone was really tired you know.
This group of concern which came to Saiko here in Malawi just was fantastic.
Everyone was working as from one family, it was like a good team, I really liked it and
I would miss them.
Very tough and we were a little bit concerned about, there was a couple of falls but nothing
serious so that was a good thing.
Including me.
That was good and actually we, oh you're such a nice group you guys and we really enjoyed
it and we didn't hear any complaints so we were very, very, we were quite comfortable
with these two places.
This concern makes a difference by working through the communities instead of just coming
in on their own and I think it's really worthwhile.
Charity, we came on the trip to celebrate the success of the Conservation Agriculture
Programme that Accenture have been sponsoring for the past couple of years through Concern
and really looking forward to going and visiting the farm tomorrow and seeing the difference
that the Global Giving Grant has made.
So really through the Corporate Citizenship Programme we have in Accenture, they sent
an email asking for people to volunteer to come out to Malawi to cycle and raise money
so I signed up.
This trip from an email from Jean and Mark and just thought it sounded really interesting
so I decided to sign up.
I'm Manu Maipopo, I'm the Assistant Country Director for Programs in the Concern World
of Malawi, in Malawi we work in three major sectors, livelihood, education and health,
particularly health and nutrition.
We have about 59 staff in all the three sectors and particularly in the education sector we
work in one district in Sanjay district and the money that has been raised by Accenture
is going to help us a lot, particularly in procuring desks and textbooks for pupils as
well as for the teachers.
When the opportunity came up within the company and it was a need of concern, I had no doubt
kind of going for that because the new was well established, really good organization
that our money is going to go to whoever, the people of Malawi and we can see that first
hand.
We've seen first hand the poverty here so it really kind of drives home where our money
is going.
Do you remember Vincent?
Yeah, the guy lost his sight to German measles and I mean that's something that we just
take for granted, vaccinations as you're growing up and then he started chatting about his
family and the mortality rate here is something fierce and HIV is a real problem and I mean
like prophylactics and family planning, that's so cheap, it should be freely available and
I know there's buyers there in relation to religion and stuff but I don't know, concerns
working really hard in a way with a partnership just like we have in relation to the guys
that we've been working with on this trip, it's been such a great help.
Everyone's got a smile for you, it's just something else.
A real eye-opener, it's quite rural here and it seems like a lot of people haven't
seen tourists that often so it's nice to come and meet and talk to them and share some of
their stories and hear about how they live and hear about the type of challenges they
have.
Like as we go through local communities and we buy local services and goods, we can see
the impact that that has and it feels kind of nice to be here and help in the local areas.
It's brilliant, it's what I expected it to be, I expected it to be kind of like a flat
slow cycle, it hasn't been that, it's been an adventure, it's definitely been a challenge,
it's been a lot of heat, a lot of hills which I didn't expect but there's also been a lot
of downhills which have been great fun.
Just cycled 30 kilometers today and we felt the burn, hard on your knees, hard on your
legs, uphill, unforgiving terrain, rocks and I'm trying to cycle off a sand dune and
the rain came from the rain, just more and more punishments, you made it here though,
I feel great.
It's a beautiful view up here now that we've made it here.
Yesterday was a huge challenge, huge challenge but today isn't as bad, today's longer distance
but not as hard as it is.
It's funny because the group, the boys are usually ahead of us at the end and they stand
at the top of the hill so you don't want to be the person walking your bike up to the
top of the hill when they're all cheering you on so that kind of gets you through but
they're the uphill side of them, they're the most challenging.
I thought it'd be okay like I cycled in the network and you know I thought, I know too
much men bike in good air, there's some hairy hills and some good downhills, a lot of uphill
hills and the very, very hairy hills, so I mean we were cycling all day, the guts of
four days, it was tough but you know that's what got people through is the whole camaraderie
and definitely.
Definitely a challenge, it's been hard work but at the end of the day, every day it's
been great to be able to relax and just enjoy the evening but it's definitely been a challenge.
You do it again?
Definitely.
Would you like to see more of these kind of activities happening here in Malawi?
Yes, we would like because the poverty level, the need, the problems are so massive and
much more support would be very, very much appreciated.
Fundraising has been difficult but I've been using a lot of social media tactics and I'm
going to be holding a couple more fundraisers in Ireland and in America after the trip so
hopefully I'll bring myself up to the five stars by July.
The fundraising was actually probably one of the toughest parts but I think the hardest
thing is probably just signing up to it and once you've signed up to it, you find that
you get loads of support from people that you wouldn't expect.
I think for the first couple of weeks it's quite slow but once you kind of get into the
swing of things, people were really generous and I also think once people see the name
concerned as well, they're really comforted to know that they know the money is going
towards a really good cause so actually once I got into the, after the first kind of month
of fundraising it got a lot easier.
Fundraising was tough at times but I found people did, people did come through at the
end and then hopefully after seeing this video and all the custom bruises they'll be even
more generous and we get back.
I'm hoping to raise I think 45 payments altogether which will be great once we have it.
Fundraising was tough but I mean we all got there, we ended up doing it as a group, it
was much easier, we did a good few group activities as well as individual ones so I mean it worked
out right in the end.
There were a couple of group things to the company we had, we held a race night, we did
a raffle at one of the company away days and the company had been great given sponsorship
online and things like that.
Consumer excellence, they really gave us a lot of ideas, a lot of tips, they turned up
a lot of our events as well to support us and just really helped us with venues and
anything we needed helped us so it was always there so it's quite supportive.
The race night at Accenture and we had a bake off and there was a comedy night and stuff
like that as a group and then we had a few individuals.
Oh definitely, they were always there, it was always there at the end of an email if
we needed any help or any advice on anything we needed.
We're all nearly there, we probably do a lot of fundraising when we get home, actually
more so because we know what it's like here, we're all pretty close and it's a challenge
in itself but what we can take away from here will never be lost you know.
There's been loads but I think the cycling has been really good fun and really unrestricted
and it doesn't feel too managed or anything and it's such a brilliant way to see Malawi.
Today, all the downhill stuff today, it's been amazing, such a rush.
I think the highlight is going to be around four o'clock today when we finish but it's
been great at Hicke even though it was very emotional yesterday finishing that moment
afterwards and we're actually lying on the grass realising we've finished the 75k yesterday
that was a great moment.
The highlight of the trip for me was yesterday we had a long morning before lunch, a lot
of steep hills, a lot of really rough terrain, a lot of kind of punishing kind of soft grounds
to get through.
I haven't reached the top, I haven't seen the whole team reach the top, it just felt
really good.
It felt really good, I mean we kind of sat there and we had a good lunch, I mean we
had a good day, we had a good time, we had a good time, we had a good time.
The company I work for at Sanctuary gave me a grant of a million and a half to be served
as a part of the project a couple years ago and a group of us just decided that as part
of a visit over here that some of the leadership team are doing to visit the agricultural projects
that have a look and kind of the impact it's had in the local community that we do fundraising
efforts to kind of try raise some funds for the local schools and also you know take the
opportunity to come over and look ourselves at the impact it's had and look ourselves
at the way these people live over here in the know.
So this district which is the third largest district in the central region of Malawi.
So this district normally for those people who may be interested it's about 7,500 square
kilometers but out of this 43% of the district is covered by the water Lake Malawi.
So that's just a general picture of the district, we have two seasons in Kota Kota.
We have the rain season which begins around November and ends around April and the dry
season which begins from May to October.
So those are the two seasons that we have here in Kota Kota and in Kota Kota's population
is around 304,000 the population for the whole district.
So here in Kota Kota district most of the people depend on agriculture as their source
of livelihood.
So we are here because Constant Worldwide is working in this district promoting a lot
of livelihood interventions including conservation agriculture.
We should go out a bit far, just go like this, just like making a cake you just lay on the
leaves, lay on the sand, lay on the water, lay on the manure.
So in this activity I believe you are going to enjoy it, you are going to benefit more
you are going to interact with your farmers and I hope it will be a great turning compass.
I am collecting the manure for the compost making process, so we are going to layer water,
layer of vegetable waste and then layer manure, smells nice and fresh, a couple of months
ago I am amazed it is going to be grown nice and strong, put down a layer, then add water,
then add animal manure, then add a layer of leaves and compost and then separate layers
all together and the whole thing is one metre apart and it is the very same as much the
same as the 50s, the same thing.
And I participated in a mulching exercise which is where we took old bits of corn husks
and we put them down onto the ground and that prevents soil erosion and it keeps the moisture
in the ground and produces labour and it is supposed to be great for the next years yield
of crops.
And would you say that is the first time you have done anything like that?
I have done a bit of gardening in my backyard but that is a bit of it.
So OK, animal feed and also about bashing
Simba.
Yes.
The English team's going to make a team from the base.
Yeah.
How do you go?
Push.
Yeah.
You might want to wave.
You might want to...
I'm quite like you.
It's good.
English class.
I like French class.
This is English class.
English class.
How are you guys doing?
Fine?
They're fine.
Quiet.
Very quiet.
They're very exciting.
Yeah?
I'm happy.
Are you excited?
Are you excited?
Are you excited?
Okay, we've got to go.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
Bye.
What's up?
Yeah, thanks people.
I like you.
Yeah, we have to be straight.
I mean, when we say they're very...
you had like something to explain it.
Yeah.
You know, from other trips.
We have seen people jumping in the vehicle.
Yeah.
You know, and sitting in the vehicle like this.
All of us, we've tried to divide places before.
For example, it might be 10, 20 kilometers.
We had to recycle there.
But it was so hard.
Because it's all being just arrived in the country.
It stays there like two days in the country.
Yeah.
I've done it 20 days before.
And they're doing this without a proper accommodation.
For us, we were feeling like, what's it going to happen?
Yeah, a little bit nervous.
Yeah, exactly.
Nervous but don't say, oh, yes.
That's great.
Now everything has went on right.
And it was very, very hard and very impressed.
You know, so we say, oh, I should be with the best people.
Yeah, we thank so much Accenture,
and particularly the Accentist,
for the sacrifice that they have done.
We are very grateful.
We can assure you that it's going to take us a long way.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
