Elk Grove trustee: It'll take education to foster democracy in Malawi
Educator and Elk Grove Trustee Pat Feichter traveled to Malawi from May 24 to June 4, to help Malawian educators develop democratic methods of education in their schools and to promote civic education with the Ministry of Education.
This program was funded by the Department of Education through the Center for Civic Education's Civitas International program.
Malawi is a small country in southeastern Africa of over 15 million people. It is one of the most densely populated and least developed countries in the world, a fledgling democracy having gone through almost 20 years of autocratic rule following independence. Developing a strong and viable civic education program is seen as necessary to preserving democracy in Malawi.
Malawi is a youthful country, with 45 percent of the people under 15 years of age. Of every 1,000 Malawians born, 83 die at birth. It is ravaged by the AIDS epidemic.
Malawi is 79 percent Christian with a growing 13 percent Muslim population. Some of the people practice Ju Ju, a form of witchcraft, and use it to help win elections. The average student completes nine years of schooling - some classes range between 70 to 140 students. Many students only have one meal a day.
As our delegation arrived in the capital city Lilwonge, there were construction projects and government buildings. A new Parliament building is nearly complete. A new hotel is being built which will have 1,000 rooms, all being built by the Chinese. There is a huge Chinese presence in Malawi from mining, tourism and business.
We held a seminar for government officials, where presentations were given by educators from Indiana University, Auburn University, the U.S. Agency for International Development, South Africa and Senegal. A Malawian member of the Education Ministry said the government supports civic education. "We are building a capacity to be called a democratic country," he said.
From Lilwonge we took a long, bumpy ride in a van to Monkey Bay on beautiful Lake Malawi. For six hours we saw nothing but people living in immense poverty, living in thatched huts with mud walls and floors. Lake Malawi itself is very beautiful and produces fish for surrounding villages. Currently the country of Mozambique is claiming Lake Malawi, which has almost led to war.
Our resort hotel in Monkey Bay had ants and flying insects. The rooms all had mosquito nets around the bed and lizards frequently climbed along the walls and ceilings. One member of our party tried to block the slats in her hotel room door to try to stop the mosquitoes. Malaria is a major concern in this country.
The river running from Lake Malawi to the Indian Ocean through Mozambique is being dredged in order to bring ocean vessels straight to Malawi. The Chinese government is financing this project.
Another long van ride brought us to Zonga in southern Malawi, and the Domasi College of Education. Along the way we stopped at an outdoor market and bought many souvenirs. Almost everything is carved hardwood (ebony or mahogany) and very inexpensive. The problem is that the people must use all of their wood for cooking and for souvenir sales and Malawi is exhausting this great natural resource. There is no electricity in most homes.
We conducted a two-day seminar at the Domasi College. I made a presentation on the history of the Civitas International program in the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, demonstrating how Civitas has developed in European nations and how it may also develop in Malawi. Special attention was given to the lessons learned from the past so we could use that knowledge in our work in Malawi.
There were presentations given on civic education as a catalyst for social and democratic development, on the role of universities in preparing students for democratic citizenship and on the subject of evaluating civic education programs. One of our colleagues from India spoke on social transformation through civic education. Much time was devoted to questions from our audience of about 25 teachers.
A second day of the seminar was devoted to the incorporation of civic education across the curriculum and to group discussions with participants. A dinner followed the seminar and an evening social event. On Wednesday, June 2 we began our long trip home with a flight to Johannesburg and then long flights to various locations on the globe.
Does democracy have a future in Malawi? According to Jacques Barsun, a French philosopher, "Democracy cannot be exported, but it can be imported." Williams James said in 1907 that the promotion of democracy education is the "moral equivalent of going to war".
The problem, of course, is economic development in its relationship to the development of democracy. Poverty is a fertile ground for dictatorship and the deprivation of human rights. Malawi had an autocratic leader for its first 20 years of independence. Unless there is economic development along with democracy education, democracy cannot survive.