Title New

####A short fictional story

Recently on my travels, I had the privileged of travelling to Malawi. It is a quirky little country in Africa and by some accounts *the poorest country in the world*, with a somewhat prevalent aversion against Nigerians.


Some rather awkward questions had to be answered at immigration on arrival, before being issued a visa. Both hands had to be fingerprinted, like a criminals'. Passport and facial biometric scans were performed. No red flags came up and passage was finally granted. In my mind the freshly collected private data was travelling through the country's insecure communications infrastructure - unprotected wireless links, accessible servers and landing in a consumer grade database in a makeshift data centre.

The computers used to collect the data were off the shelf units; their operators were just as non-descriptive and lifeless as the computer cases. The talk was all about matter of fact and somewhat automated. "How long will you be staying? Thank you. Bye. Next!" There was a flair of cold English politeness about the dialogue with an African sprinkle on top. The country did have an intermezzo with the British some many years ago and obviously there were still some remains left over.

Needless to say that at the immigration checkpoint I did not feel the warm welcome of its people, which Malawi is said to be known for. They call it the *Warm Hear of Africa*.

Later on, the dislike for Nigerians was explained. Nigerians had built up an image of hardy business people in the country. They are known to supply a lot of goods and materials, including much needed vehicle spares. Some apparently have ended up on the wrong side of the law. Years ago there seems to have been some passport scandals involving supposed Nigerian nationals. Mostly hear say at this stage, but a burden for Nigerians to carry with them on their travels none the less.

Once through the bureaucracy and inside the country, the people were indeed warm and welcoming. Still a little uneasy about where my data may have ended up at, my attention was soon focused elsewhere. I had to wholly take in the new impressions that the country had to offer.

Once travelling through the countryside, the low level of education of it's people quickly became apparent. Few people could make even basic conversation in English and responses were more than not made in the local language. Sometimes there was simply no response, but in its' place a blank, expressionless look. On explanation, that I was unable to understand or speak the local language, the reactions were all the same - large eyes and open mouths followed by what can only be described as a sound of surprise. How was it that a black man could not speak our language?

English is the country's official language. Although taught in schools, few people seem to be able master it even at a basic level, especially in the rural areas. Some individuals of the older generation seem to have a better grasp of the language, which may be indication of better days gone by. Days when better education was accessible and the country was in a better state of affairs.

Statistics about the country seem to reflect what can be seen, when travelling through the small landlocked country - poverty, low education, ignorance, jealousy and lacking basic infrastructure. There is a sense of apathy in the people, which could be interpreted as a lack of a will to live. There is no sense of urgency and if an issue can be postponed to the next day it will. *Kaya Mawa* - *Maybe tomorrow* is an often used when talking about the future. The quality of workmanship is low and there seems to be a lacking pride in work done. There is even a strong sense of expectation for outsiders or the government to help. Very much in contrast to the attitude from back home. Yet, at the same time the geography seems very diverse, abundant and full of potential. There is a large freshwater lake filled with fish, there are large fertile plains, mountains, rolling hills, forests and rivers.

The government seems to reflect the peoples attitude of indifference. While there is a lot of talk, there is little action to back it up. Few decisions are made and there are numerous reasons to postpone decisions. Meetings, workshops and conferences are held and ideas are discussed, but there is no follow-up or follow through. The only *real* purpose of an event seems to be to collect the often associated subsistence allowances that come with it. The rest is just a charade. There is little sense of urgency. Fate decides the country's future, everything else is just noise.

Statistics show that fate apparently has no big plans for the country. It is left behind by its neighbours, regional partners and the world economy at large. Nominally there is a betterment in numbers, but gaps are widening and the little nation is failing to keep up with the accelerating global progress.

It seems unattractive as an international investment destination, compared to other regional players. There is a lacking or unwilling workforce and bureaucracy seems to overwhelm many small business initiatives that there may be. Of course that has not stopped a large grey market from developing. What may be lacking in formal business, industry and education is more than made up by volume, in a large grey and black market. Volume however does not make up for quality. The wares sold on markets are mostly of inferior quality. Inferior even by Nigerian standards.

Some of the vehicles on the road seem to just about fall apart. One can only imagine how they pass the numerous police checkpoints on the roads or get the required paperwork. Bicycles on the road, are lacking brakes, lights or mud guards, yet they are used as so called *bicycle taxis* to transport passengers. Building materials are of questionable quality, be it timber, poles or mud bricks. The grass thatched roofs have the appearance of a weeping willow. The need for supplemental plastic sheeting under the grass roof, underlines the inferior workmanship. I am wondering whether this is a lost art, whether it is part of the overall apathy or just a lack of work ethics.

When asking people about these things, the answers seem to suggest that they are waiting for someone to come and help them, instead of helping themselves. I wonder if as Africans we are really still going to depend on handouts from Europe, America and increasingly after China after all these years? Is there really nothing that we have learned as a people in Africa after all this time?

The country is very isolated from its neighbours. Other than a little grey market cross border trade, there are limited exports and tourism. Nearly all of produce is imported and the locally manufactured goods are unable to compete on a global market let alone on the local market. This enormous trade imbalance makes the country non-competitive and further compounds the problem. The result are some quite outdated financial regulations, which effectively cut the nation off from international trade and markets.

Malawi is a poor country, but a country with a *poor attitude* rather than a poor fate. It is our own responsibility to change our outlook. No knight in shining armour will save us at the end of the day. Whether Malawi will survive in years to come is largely up to its people and yes, to some degree on its leadership.

After my 30 days were up - tourists are only granted a 30 day visa on arrival - I was back on a plane to Lagos. I had mixed emotions about the country I had left behind.

The places I was staying in (including some very upmarket names) more of then than not had no running water and power outages were the order of the day. There was no water to flush the toilets. Instead there was sometimes a bucket next to the toilet with which to flush - quite unhygienic really. I did not want to think about how the hotel kitchens managed these problems. A receptionist explained that these problems have been plaguing the country for a number of years now. Things used to be better some years ago, but now they had gotten worse. Upmarket hotels had installed large water tanks and noisy generators to keep their infrastructure operational - probably part of the reason that they are so expensive to stay in.

At the airport, we passed the same computer check points where fingerprints were checked and passports were scanned. I remembered my vision of the data centre and the copious amounts of private data stored there and wondered if a left behind nation such as this one was able to responsibly guard and protect this very private personal data. In the back if my mind, I knew it could not. Not with their inept infrastructure, educational level and fatalistic attitude. The past years have shown that even large world powers, are incapable (or unwilling?) to responsibly guard their citizens sensitive private data. How is a poor third world nation going to handle such a task? History has many examples of failures in keeping private data private. How is Malawi going to be any different?

After take-off the dry land passed outside my window and quickly grew smaller. I felt a sense of sorrow and relief. A sorrow for an African people unwilling to take matters into their own hands to improve their situation, but instead have fate determine their future. A relief to be on my way back home, where we have our own problems and yet they seem not so bad in light of what I have seen in the past weeks. At least back home we have a more positive outlook into the future and qualitatively things seem to be getting better over the years.