Malawi Sept 2023 Blog 5

Being competitive is part of the human experience and can be seen in most cultures in one way or another.  Yesterday twenty six students, who are learning to be tailors, presented their own work and modeled their designs for us to see.  We were asked to score them based on innovation,  workmanship, and marketability.

Had we just scored them on marketability one set of students would have won.  Had we scored them just on innovation, another set of students would have won. Since we valued innovation, workmanship and marketability equally we had a different set if winners.

Yes, everybody is a winner but in this case we had to pick three winners out of twenty six and that meant somebody had to lose. It was a very difficult task to pick the winners but we did what we were asked to do.  We were amazed at how hard it was to pick the winners because there were so many beautiful designs created by the students.

In the afternoon we toured the permaculture plots and visited three actual family food plots in the village of Madisi.  It is amazing the variety of fruits and vegetables that can be packed into a small plot of land next to a home.  This small plot changed the lives of those that trained to do this and implemented the practice on their property.

Having enough food to feed your family and saving the money they had been spending to buy food has made a huge difference for those that have been through the training and implemented the process.

Seeing the creativity of the students who are studying to be tailors and seeing the permaculture process implemented by so many was uplifting and inspiring.  We were so happy to see these two projects change the lives of so many.