Freewheel Burning

I just spent the last week in the amazing (though cold) country of Sweden. On my last day there, I was wandering lost in downtown Stockholm and stopped to ask an older gentleman for directions. He asked where I was from, I told him I was from Michigan.

“Yes, I’ve been there. It has approximately the same population as Sweden, and approximately the same GDP.”

I became instantly depressed as I realized that he was absolutely right. The similarities between Sweden and Michigan are vast. Both are cold areas surrounded by water and both are sufficiently blessed with natural and human resources to support a deep manufacturing sector.

By no coincidence at all, both areas are full of people of Swedish decent.

However, despite having similar social, natural and economic bases, the differences between Sweden and Michigan are immense. In contrast to Michigan, all Swedes have health insurance. In contrast to Michigan, all Swedes have heat. In contrast to Michigan, all Swedes have the right to political representation. Foreigners are even allowed to vote in local elections. In contrast to Michigan, the large majority of Swedes have jobs that allow them to live a healthy middle class existence.

Most importantly, in contrast to Michigan, Sweden has one of the most active, dynamic and vibrant economies on the planet. In fact, riding in from the airport, one sees the headquarters of companies one would expect to see in a place like Michigan, world class manufacturing and tech companies that are all employing Swedes. In fact, Sweden is desperate for labor to support its booming economy. If you have any type of skill, there’s a job in Sweden waiting for you.

Sweden is the most economically equal country on the planet. The Gini coefficient for Sweden in .23 vs. Michigan’s depressing .45, the same as that of Bulgaria or Guyana.

Sweden has some of the highest taxes on the planet. A full half of income can be sent to the Swedish Tax Service. Sales taxes top 25% for most items. Alcohol is taxed at 100%. Taxes make up nearly half of Sweden’s GDP.

It’s a Republican’s nightmare. High taxes, high regulation, high levels of market distorting subsidies on food and public services, heavy rules on public behavior and heavy rules on wages and working conditions. It’s Ron Paul’s worst case scenario.

Despite this, Sweden has one of the most exciting economies on the planet. It is one of the most pro-business places I’ve ever been.

Contrary to Republican logic, this is due, in large part, to guarantees of government provided guarantees of quality health care for all that relieve businesses of having to bear responsibility for creating insurance plans. If the large number of boutique vinyl shops all over Stockholm are any indication, anyone can start a small business in Sweden. In America, one has to do without health insurance to start a business, a risk that only the wealthiest can bear.

In Sweden, like health care, pensions and unemployment insurance are funded through citizen contributions. This means that private businesses don’t run into the problem of becoming bankrupt when they lack money to fund their pension plans.

The Swedes are highly educated and healthy. This means that foreign businesses wanting to set up shop in Sweden have a vast pool of highly educated and able potential workers to draw from. In fact, Sweden’s biggest problem right seems to be that it lacks UNskilled service workers.

All of this is in contrast to the disastrous situation of Michigan, where we have gutted public education to the point where we have one of the highest drop out rates in the country. We get stupider by the day. Nearly 15% of Michiganders lack access to health insurance. Michigan workers are too sick and too uneducated to meaningfully contribute to the economy. Worse yet, the recent installation of emergency financial managers has erased any potential for improvement. Nearly half (note: the poorest half) of Michigan lacks political representation in 2012, clearly a dream come true for Republicans everywhere.

Why would any business come to a place like Michigan?

Mostly, I’ve returned depressed. Michigan had its chance and it blew it. Exactly why do I live here?

I’m so much at a loss as to what to write and this blog has sat rusting for the past couple of weeks. I was hoping some of my friends would pick up the slack, but, alas…

So, while I sit here at the Amsterdam Shiphol Airport drinking incredibly expensive but exquisite European coffee, I will inundate you with news items that have caught my attention recently.

The Malawian judiciary is on strike. Yep, the whole judicial branch as far as I know. Incredible. Imagine if the entire federal court system of the United States decided to take a break? Fortunately, US federal judges and court workers are getting paid, unlike their counterparts in Malawi. The strike is estimated to cost in the hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars, money Malawi simply cannot afford to lose. Rerorts are coming out that hospital workers are starting to strike, as well.

The Africa Report is late on the game and reports that insecticide treated bed nets that were distributed for free are being used for drying fish and wedding veils. While this is old news for us in the malaria world, the article continues to fan the flames of arguments against giving free stuff to poor people. No mention of whether the nets used for drying fish acutally provide benefits to the economic profile of the community, however. Maybe they are just holding back knowing that I’m working on a paper.

The same Africa Report did manage to write a cool article on African film schools. It’s not surprising that many African countries don’t have developed national cinemas, but a sad state of affairs nonetheless. With funding from European donors, a film school has been created and scholarships offered to more than 100 potential African film makers. The positioning of the school in Nigeria is dubious, however. Nigeria is know for film, but not for the kind that draws international attention. I would love to see a new generation of film makers in the tradition of Senegalese film maker Djibril Diop Mambéty or Abderrahmane Sissako, rather than the cheap throw aways that Nollywood is famous for, but we can’t have everything, can we?

In the mean time, here’s a trailer for the Galway African Film Festival of 2011, which includes clips from Kenya’s Pumzi, what is probably Africa’s only science fiction film (besides South Africa’s District 9).

Mike Cesar, formerly a news wire journalist focusing on South American topics, now runs an fantastic operation called Bogota Bike Tours. Located in the heart of Bogota’s historic La Candelaria district, for a small fee, Mike will take you around his new home of Bogota on a rented bike, perhaps the best way to see any large metropolis. I highly recommend Mike’s tour.

Mike’s tours bypass the standard tourist attractions and take you directly into the heart and soul of Bogota, from a small coffee roasting operation, to one of the “Zones of Tolerance of High Profile Social Activities” (red light district), to a fantastic fruit and vegetable market in the center of Bogota. You can even have a conversation with one of the local emerald dealers, a local homeless poet and other important members of Bogota’s thriving community.

Most notably, the bike tour allows one to savor the vast amounts of mind-blowing graffiti that decorates nearly every quarter of Bogota. Political and artistic graffiti can be found just about anywhere in Bogota from statements against neo-liberal politics scrawled on public buildings to intricate works of art on any open blank space, to the large amounts of artwork that cover every building of the local public university.

The National University of Colombia is a hotbed for socialist and communist thought. Funded by the capitalist government of Colombia, the University maintains complete autonomy; even the city police are barred from the campus. Protests against the sitting government and power structure are common, sometimes resulting in police beatings and tear gas outside the campus grounds.

Education at the University of Colombia is available for all those who pass the required tests to enter though spaces are limited and students pay tuition on a sliding scale. Thus, in contrast to elite private institutions such as the University of Los Andes, students at the University of Colombia come from all parts of the country. Even the poorest and most marginalized by the elites of Colombia are able to study here. Various buildings on campus are named for communist and revolutionary heroes. Tributes to fallen political martyrs and protests against police and state brutality are everywhere.

As in the US, discussions as to the benefits and costs to private investment into education are politically divisive. The present government now calls for more private involvement in the University. Students and faculty see this as an imposition on their autonomy and are vocally protesting to keep it. What the future holds is up to speculation, but if the independence of the University is indeed compromised at some future date, the atmosphere of the University may certainly change. Arguments for private investment in the Universities point to the limited number of spaces available. Students of modest means who are unable to win a seat must often go to private Universities anyway.**

In the US, youth is commodified and held up as a means to sell and markets consumer goods. In Bogota, youth and the voices of youth mean something. If it were otherwise, places like the University of Bogota would be like any large American institution, a chapel to the economic interests of private research funding and the state interests of creating and sustaining and elite class. Mostly, though, it is refreshing to see Colombian youth still interested in relevant politics and political action in contrast to those on our own campuses. If ever there were a reason to support public education and the maintaining of educational opportunities for all, this is it.

** Thanks to Mike for the clarification

October 2nd is the International Day of Non-Violence in commemoration of Ghandi’s birthday. Unbeknownst to me, I spent the day in Bogota, Colombia, a city plagued with incredible history of murder, warfare and political violence. While Colombia has almost halved its murder rate since 2000 (the people have had enough), crime and homicide continue to be a problem.

This year, Colombian musician Cesar Lopez has begun a campaign calling for Bogotans to cease killing one another for 24 hours in the 24-0 campaign. Lopez, an anti-violence advocate, is the creator of the Escoptarra, a guitar made from a real AK-47. He tried to give one to the Dalai Lama, but was apparently refused. The Pope, apparently, accepted.

“24-0 is an initiative of musician Cesar Lopez, who on October 2 to commemorate the World Day of Non Violence, aims to achieve 24 hours with zero violent deaths in Colombia, “from October 1 to 12 m until October 2 to 12m, “men and women of all ages and places of Colombia should care for and respect life and that of others, to demonstrate that peace is also a decision and we as a society involves all “said Lopez. With this exercise, which is expected annually, the organizers aim which values ​​life and mencanismos seek to resolve differences peacefully. Thanks to the participation of the Mayor of Bogota and the Metropolitan Police, this year there will be a first driver in the capital but the call is to the whole country.”

I was in a Bogotan park and several young people in white “24-0″ shirts appeared and began doing some sort of modern street theater. The text was in Spanish so it was mostly vague to me, but I was mostly able to get the general sense. During the worst times in Colombia’s troubled history, free thinkers and political critics were often the targets of violent retribution by the Colombian government, para-military groups and the drug gangs. Theater groups also fell victim to killings, beatings and violence. This group explained that they are celebrating the day by taking their message out publicly in the city of Bogota.

To celebrate the day, I watched a group of cyclists play bike polo on fixies (thanks to Bogota Bike Tours, more on them later). I was told that I just missed the blind soccer game, which apparently exists in Colombia (!). There was no violence among the members of the bike polo group, though they made for some great pictures particularly the lone female poloist. The guys were really serious about their game, but she was more serious about having a good time.

I won the academic lottery and got an all expense paid trip to Bogota, Colombia. All I have to do is watch a series of parasitology lectures in Spanish and report back to home base. A great deal, yes?

This is my first trip to South America and really, outside of barrios in the US, my first trip to Latin America. How did I miss this?

Bogota is completely amazing. 7 million people packed in a valley 2600 meters above sea level. The air is so thin that I feel more like 82 than 42, particularly if I have to climb a flight of stairs.

Crime is rampant in this city and the resident are more vigilant than any I’ve seen in a while, though I wonder how much is real, and how much is hype. For all the warnings the locals give, it feels a lot like being in the South in the crack years of the 1980′s. There are still more people on the streets at night here than in Blantyre, Malawi. I guess it helps that the lights are one, thanks to the generous graces of neighboring Venezuela.

What I’ve learned so far:

1. Colombia is a booming economy (7% growth per year) in no small thanks to the US’s addictions to coffee, cocaine, petrochemicals and agriculture. In 30 years, as the economy diversifies, Bogota will have a standard of living on par with any large American city.

2. Colombians reacted to a ban on the import of vehicles by developing their own auto manufacturing sector. Buses are fabricated by hand out of recycled parts and hand hammered sheet metal. The final touch is attaching a brand name of some actual auto company. Today, I saw a Chevrolet bus (none exists), a Mazda bus (none exists), and a Ford LTD bus (the LTD was a car, the first I eve owned).

3. Coffee in a coffee producing country is beyond words.

4. Latin Americans have no reservations about physical contact in public.

5. Gold work in Colombia far surpassed any in Europe by at least 500 years.

6. Coca tea is truly a cure all, at least, it cures ones tongue of feeling.

7. Shakira has black hair and is actually 3 feet tall.

I just got back from vacation and am having an incredible time motivating myself to return to my regular grind. I never take vacations. My musical “career” and present work have taken me to enough places, that staying home almost feels a luxury. Now that I’ve reached this moderately advanced age, though, I’ve recently felt the need to finally take one. Vacations should come with “post-vacation vacations” to allow a slow and peaceful transfer back to reality.

The Upper Peninsula covers nearly a third of Michigan’s landmass, but only 3% of its population. Most of the land is occupied by State and National Parks, wildlife reserves and forests. Occasionally, one sees a town. Despite the lack of humanity, the UP is one of the most unique places I have ever visited.

Formerly a hot bed of American iron and copper mining, the UP’s economy is now driven by logging and tourism. Log houses, logging trucks and chainsaw stores dot the landscape, along with signs warning one of wandering moose and elk. The population is a mish mash of descendents of the original Finnish settlers, recent imports, seasonal residents and snowbirds and a prominent, though clearly poor, Native American population.

It’s the Alaska of Michigan, a vast unlivable frontier that somehow skates by through the sheer determination of its residents and the economic support of its lower neighbors.

The UP is so vastly different from the lower peninsula of Michigan, that it could almost be a different state. In fact, secessionist movements have long existed in the UP, with a small group calling for the creation of “Superior,” the 51st State of the Union, named after the largest of the five Great Lakes. It is easy to see why. The UP is mostly disenfranchised from State politics. Lower Peninsula concerns with the revival of the manufacturing economy overshadow the resource based economic concerns of the UP. It would appear that the UP is regarded by the State Legislature as merely a source of votes, and not a priority for the resurrection of Michigan’s troubled economy.

We had the opportunity to enjoy some of what the UP has to offer in the way of its amazing National and State Parks. I was able to take a few pictures between bouts of hiking induced exhaustion through the Porcupine Mountains. I will be sure to got back to the UP one day. In fact, I am already planning to visit the mighty Isle Royale next year.

In Africa, western medicine often has to compete with it’s indigenous counterpart. Traditional herbalists have long offered medical services to the ill, treating a variety of physical ailments and offering help to the injured and sick. Some merely offer herbal services, but others offer assist in the treatment of spiritual illnesses. Diagnosis of disease however, is a holistic matter, where practitioners look into the spiritual nature of the patient to discover answers to the type of ailment and the strategy of treatment. If ones looks hard enough, one can find herbalists on the outskirts of public markets. Often though, they wait by the entrance to standard hospitals, offering there products to anyone who passes by. Where western medicine fails, herbalists readily provide.

Many readily discredit herbalists and traditional medicine, but its my view that the characterization of fraudsters and hacks are undeserved. Herbalists often come from a long blood line of traditional doctors, and recipes are handed down and modified from father to son. Both of the herbalists I spoke with indicated that they first learned their trades from their parents or relatives.

Herbalists in Malawi are licensed to practice by the Malawian government and their legitimacy formally preserved. The Malawi Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act of 1987 protects the rights of traditional healers and herbalists to practice their trades in Malawi, assuming that life is not threatened:

“Nothing contained in this act will be construed to prohibit or prevent the practice of any African system of therapeutics by such persons in Malawi, provided that nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize performance by a person practising any African system of therapeutics of any act which is dangerous to life.”

Medications are intended for a variety of conditions, a few of which I list here. These were the medications which appeared in the short video I shot below:

1. Kuthenta Mapadzi – Medication for aching joints and feet

2. Mauka – for pain in urination, likely due to urinary tract infections or sexually transmitted infections

3. Konjzela Mphamvu - an aphrodisiac and sexual enhancement medication

4. High blood pressure medication

5. Back pain

6. Burns on the hands or body

7. Any type of problems at all, it appears to be an aspirin like medication

8. Chibayo - for kidney problems

9. Kudya Kanzanza - medication for diarrhea

10. Eye problems

11. Njohka - for cases of intestinal worms

Not surprisingly, most of these medications are for chronic conditions associated with aging. Medical service in Malawi, being as rudimentary as it is, likely cannot accommodate more serious chronic diseases. Thus, herbalists provide some level of relief for desperate patients. I asked the gentleman if he treats malaria, a disease readily treatable with western pharmaceuticals. He readily said no, that when patients come to him with malaria, he sends them to the local health facility. With the exception of basic pain killers and some anti-helminthic meds, none of his treatments were for commonly treatable conditions.

This is not to say that herbalist medications do not work. In fact, I am positive that at least some of them do. In contrast to more ambiguous forms of care, such as spiritual healing, traditional medicines cannot be completley ineffective. The ingredients in at least some of the medications are likely the same ingredients of more expensive factory produced meds. Studies of traditional medicines have been performed in the past, but it has only been recently that western practitioners have begun to take them seriously. The anit-helminthic and anti-diarrheal meds likely work to some level. I know that marijuana is commonly used throughout Malawi as a means of controlling nasuea during malaria episodes in adults. By probably no coincidence at all, traditional herbal meds to treat malaria in Tanzania contain cannabis.

My conversations with both of these men revealed immensely proud and professional medical practitioners. Both of them readily and openly discussed their craft with me as clinicians and not as charlatans. Neither one attempted to sell me any type of medication. Perhaps if I had gone to one complaining of some physical ailment, one might have. As with western doctors, there is no sense in treating those who are not ill.

Interesting to me was the method of packaging and sales, which follows a western paradigm. Medications are packed at pills, given at particular dosages from clearly marked containers. While the methods of pharmaceautical creation and diagnostic strategies may be as they were before Colonialization, the practice has clearly been absorbed into a standard western paradigm of licenses and packaging. In my experience, most things in Africa, from medicine to music to religion, are a fascinating reinvented mix of indigenous and western, producing something new and old at the same time in contrast to merely adapting new ideas to sell to a local population. Malawians, while in some ways very conservative, are in other ways a very curious and inquisitive people, eager to explore and integrate new ideas into everyday life.

Below is a short video I made while conversing with an herbalist in the Limbe Market last month.

On a free Saturday, I travelled to Limbe, a place I was told never to go, from downtown Blantyre. A series of minibus changes took me in the true market center of Malawi, where miles upon miles of jury-rigged stands sell just about everything you could ever want, at least within the confines of what can be bought in Malawi. The public transportation system here is a complex network of private mini-bus owners, who all have their own routes which they travel daily. I cannot express more my enthusiasm for the African mini-bus.

In true African fashion, there is no set bus schedule; you just wait somewhere and one will show up. Business is so brisk that countless bus owners will drive the same route, meaning that your wait-time usually doesn’t exceed more than 30 seconds. Where the Brits failed to institute a true public transportation infrastructure, the Malawians (and all of Sub-Saharan Africa) have stepped up themselves to create an efficient and working transportation network that, despite its haggard and ramshackle appearance, works incredibly well, almost better than anything comparable in the US.

Despite the apparent chaos of the mini-bus “system”, there is a method to this madness. Buses must line up at “stations” where people transfer routes. Buses are not allowed to leave until those who came first have already embarked. It’s a self-policing system. Bus drivers who attempt to leave out of turn are summarily scolded by other drivers on break and told to wait. Most important is respecting order on “the line.” Buses congregate in main hubs such as in Limbe or Blantyre, enter the queue and wait their turn to begin making their routes. Line managers are present to make sure that order is maintained and that no bus exits out of turn. Walking through these areas is harrowing. Buses lurch and move everywhere. You can get lost in the middle of this densely packed mass of white minibuses.

Locally in Blantyre, travelling by minibus is exceedingly cheap and efficient although frequent trips to the gas station slow one down. They mostly operate on the “cup of gas” philosophy of Pilipino guerilla director Kimlat Tahimik. Bus drivers get enough gas to get them through their route, make some more money, and then get a little more, stopping at dedicated petrol stations which cater almost exclusively to minibuses. In the event of the frequent gas shortages which plague Malawi, public transportation grinds to a screeching halt and the money ceases to flow.

Bus routes in the United States are created by planners, whose goals often do not include actual demands by ridership, but rather cater to the broad and self-interested political goals of planners and developers. In Malawi, although roads and highways were created by governmental administrative powers, the lack of transportation planning has resulted in market driven network of convenient routes, fueled by rider demand and actual connections between residential area and market centers. Minibus operators will quickly respond to changes within the market, creating new routes on the fly. Everyone is in search of new opportunities to make money and will respond accordingly.

People on the street are well familiar with the routes, and can tell you the series of changes you need to make to get to whatever destination throughout the country. It’s a free-marketers dream, though governmental bodies have stepped in to control gridlock by restricting minibus transport through certain areas. Responding to a series of grisly accidents, the Malawian government has instituted rules guaranteeing that minibuses respect a maximum of 28 people per bus. Police regularly enforce passenger limits. Police checkpoints are common throughout Malawi and minibuses are common targets.

Prices may have settled to an optimal equilibrium based on what locals will pay, but it doesn’t appear that there is any bidding for jobs. Standards set by the Malawi Minibus Association insure that all buses offer standard prices, but almost all drivers offer the exact same discounted price to insure that fares don’t start walking instead. Competition through extra services is non-existent. There are no air conditioned minibuses, no special sound systems, you don’t pay extra for a bus that doesn’t spew black smoke into the cab. Most of all there is no competition through aesthetics. Every bus retains its original boring white delivery style, or the markings of whatever Japanese old folks home it served in a previous life.

The minibus system is an entirely privately run, minimally regulated, independent contractor based capitalist system, similar to the ways that taxi companies run in the United States. Entrepreneurs own a fleet of buses, and drivers pay a flat daily rate for each bus. They get to keep everything they make beyond the daily rental fee. While there are a limited number of minibus entrepreneurs, there doesn’t seem to be any hint of competition. Resources such as gasoline may be limited, but customers are not. The concept of a “market share” is almost unheard of here but the minibus industry in Malawi is exclusively Malawian. While every other business in Malawi is foreign owned, there are a few that are rabidly protected. It was told to me that if a foreigner were to start a minibus company, no one would ride it, the buses would be vandalized and the operators would likely become the victims of violence.

It’s been said that Americans are the most entrepreneurial people on the planet. This is, of course, absolute nonsense. Nearly 95% of Americans work for someone else for a fixed hourly wage or a steady paycheck. More than 90% of Africans on the other hand, are self-employed. People will create goods on a scale unheard of in the states for sale at local market centers or along the highway systems. People will sell just about anything that can be sold, and offer whatever services they can, to capitalize on unmet market demands. Malawians will work 24 hours a day if they have to; poverty dictates that no job is to be turned down, as another might never come again. Even a call to a sleeping taxi driver at 4 a.m. will result in not a single complaint and a dependable ride at a regular price.

Most notable is the important role that the minibus plays in keeping Malawi’s economy and culture moving. Not only does the minibus connect people all over the country with markets, work opportunities and general transportation, but the very fabric of Malawian social and family connections are tightly woven through the routes of the minibus transportation system. Goods are happily delivered to family members and friends through the help of minibus drivers, who often are on first name bases with their passengers. Drivers will go out of their way to deliver some charcoal to the grandmother of a random passenger, sometime at great personal loss. Messages and social connections are secured through the constant contact drivers and passengers have with friends and family at the hundreds of stops littered throughout the country. It may not be the fastest means of transport for long distances, and the roughshod driving of minibus operators may be the bane of regular highway drivers, but the importance of the minibus cannot be denied.

Here’s a short video I made about the Malawian minibus:

Unfortunately, I couldn’t tape a mindblowing TV Malawi special on Malawian street bands, but I was able to get this while walking in downtown Blantyre. Catching a Malawian band on the street is like catching an elusive animal, you’ve got to do a serious bit of walking before you can find one. As my previous posts have said, what these people can do with very little is truly incredible.

These guys are from Ndirande (and friends with the Refuse Stealing Band), I couldn’t get their name, we were pretty much unable to communicate unfortunately!

Enjoy.

Ndirande is a sprawling community built up alongside Ndirande Mountain in Blantyre, Malawi. Most residents of Ndirande came from rural areas to take advantage of work opportunities in and around Blantyre. Originally a government owned plot of land, squatters have turned the area into one of the most busy and productive regions of the country. Residents are still widely poor, crime is common and population density here is probably among the highest in the world, but the rapid and unplanned urbanization of the area has created what I think to be one of the most exciting areas of the planet.

Residents of Ndirande first obtained work in factories and the industrial trades in a nearby section of Blantyre occupied by larger manufacturing operations. The proximity of Ndirande mountain to the industrial areas gave workers the freedom to walk to work and was close enough to be convenient for shift workers, who often had to commute to work at night. When jobs dried up and consolidated, workers took their new-found skills and started their own workshops and small manufacturing operations. The area produces vast amounts of furniture, iron building materials, steel buckets, household items, charcoal and food products. Items fabricated out of steel and iron are made completely out of scavenged and recycled materials, mostly out of scrapped automobiles and building frames. The developed world is the first port of call for manufactured automobiles. From there, cars and other items trickle down through the world until they reach areas like Ndirande, where they are given new life.

Around this burgeoning and locally driven small manufacturing sector has arisen a vast sector of stands which sell scavenged hardware items and tools, scavenged auto parts, and movie theater district, a bar and entertainment district and even book stores and informal schools. There is a vast market place that sells used clothing from the United States, school supplies, household goods, foods, produce and anything else you can think of. Ndirande is a testament to the ingenuity of humans faced with few options for survival. It is 100% home grown, completely unregulated, unplanned, but spontaneously has risen to provide the same services that any large urban area around the world does. Most of all, it is a sustainable internal economy that is essential to Malawi’s survival, a once squatter community which has become an engine in the machine of a struggling developing country.

Whenever I’m in Malawi, I make sure to patronize Ndirande Wood Carvers. Hamilton and his staff of 20 produce fantastic hand carved goods out of local and legally obtained woods and sell them in Malawi and around the world. Recently, I had the welcome opportunity to visti Hamilton’s shop and see first hand how his operation works. Hamilton runs his business without electricity, working under a grass roof in the open air. Woods are hand cut from local forests and brought to his workshop. A small wood fired oven fires the wood before carving. From there workers toil (barefoot!) to rough in items before fine finishing and sanding. Carvings are sanded by a pair of guys in a neighboring building and eventually stained and finished for sale.

All of the work is done without any power or gasoline powered equipment. Incredibly, tools are made in house from recycled auto parts and discarded files. Hamilton told me that he get bad wheel bearings from local shops, heats them up and unrolls them, then hammers and sharpens them into chisels. Saws are made from discarded files. He claims that the advantage to making his own tools is that they can be retooled and reused at any time. Whereas store bought saws are thin and have to be thrown out, Hamilton’s saws are thick enough to allow resharpening at any time. Honestly, I was blown away.

Hamilton started Ndirande Wood Carvers on nothing. He would take chunks of wood and carve goods out and sell them to tourists. Reinvesting everything he made, he was able to grow the business, start hiring and training help and increase his overall output and sales potential. Through his efforts over the past 20 years, he has put all 10 of his siblings through school, employed more than 20 people and put all of their children through school. In addition, he trains the handicapped to make brooms that they can sell to local residents. Hamilton told me that he’d probably be an extremely wealthy man had he not taken responsibility for his siblings and treated his workers so well, but that the benefits to the community far outweigh whatever material gains he may have foregone. Regardless, the man does not live like a pauper and he proudly showed me his house that he built for himself and his siblings.

Hamilton’s business model is an absolute inspiration. Unlike traditional capitalist models of self-interested financial gain, Hamilton’s model is entirely community based. The goal of the business is to create a source of livlihood for the long term health of the entire community. It is a truly Malawian model, create by Malawians, for Malawians with little assistance from western advice. Because of this, it is sustainable, and the prioritization of long term community benefits over short term individual gains could stand as an example for American businesses as well. It is through the efforts and ingenuity of amazing people like Hamilton, that Africa will rise in the next century. As Hamilton put it, “from zero, the only place to go is up.”