The Things We Rely On

Early last week, after an already long day of work, I hopped on a late afternoon bus from Lilongwe to Blantyre, so that I could get to Mulanje district early the next morning to run a half-day training for district government staff there. Because of the mountain of work I was buried under, I didn’t have time to deal with a few key details, like getting to the bank before the trip. Still, I had a plan. I scraped my pockets to find bus fare, then figured I’d just get a taxi in Blantyre to stop by an ATM before taking me to a guest house.

Great plan, in Canada anyways. And a pretty good one in Malawi. Of all the services here, ATMs are one of the most reliable. Still, as I sat at that ATM in Blantyre, waiting for money to come out, I had a thought: “If this doesn’t work, I’ll be pretty screwed.” I might have enough money to cover my cab fare, but not my accommodation, my trip to Mulanje the next morning, or other minor details like…food – not to mention somehow getting back to Lilongwe.

The trip on a map. Pretty far from home to risk running out of money.

You see, things go wrong in Malawi all the time – way more than in Canada. Buses break down. Electricity goes out. The water stops. 3 weeks ago I was having to walk 15 minutes to a friend’s house to use her shower – my water had just randomly shut off for a few days.

Communication infrastructure is even worse. I have what is, ostensibly, the best internet service in Malawi – 3G wireless internet hooked up by USB to my computer. When it works, it’s great. The other half of the time, I may as well not have it. Makes keeping up with email a little more challenging than it needs to be. And cell phones…oh, cell phones. I remember , last time the network cut out, asking a friend: “what do people do in Canada when the cell network goes down?”

“It doesn’t go down.”

“Oh ya…”

All of this makes life way harder in Malawi. It also makes business harder. Talk to an entrepreneur anywhere in Africa, and see how long it takes them to mention electricity supply as a major challenge. Not so in other parts of the world.

So what do we do? How do people cope with all this unpredictability? Partially through redundancy. Most people in the country, including me, have SIM cards for multiple cell phone networks – one goes down, you use the other one. Most serious businesses have backup generators. Computers are hooked up to uninterruptable power supplies.

But that’s only part of the answer. The bigger part, the real glue that keeps things going here, is best illustrated by a story – another bus adventure.

Flash forward to my trip back to Lilongwe later in the week. I was still buried under work, so wanted to get an early start and not waste much time travelling. I woke up at 5:50am, aiming to be at the bus station for a 7:00am scheduled departure. First stop though: the bank. Travelling eats up money pretty quick, and once again my cash had run dry.

I get to the machine, and put in my card. I go through the motions – same old same old. Pin. Checking Account. Withdrawal amount. A message comes up: “your provider has declined the transaction.”

“Excuse me?”

I try again. Same message. I phone my mom in Canada, seeing if she can get VISA on the line and sort it out. But, as she starts trying, I look at the time – even if she sorts it out quick, I’ll probably still miss my bus.

I look at the remaining wad of cash in my pocket. It looks thicker than I initially thought. I count it out. I scrape the bottom of my bag. I’m almost there. Only short K85 for a bus ticket. A meaningless amount. In Canada, less than 60 cents.

Still, less than 60 cents is a significant part of a bus ticket seller’s daily salary – there’s no way I can ask her to eat my shortfall out-of-pocket. And I know that she’s not allowed to give discounts. What do I do?

Not being one to give up without a fight, I come up with a plan. I have K456 in “talk time” on my phone. (On a good day) you can send talk time from person to person via the cell network. So I figure I just go to the bus station, and start asking people if they want to double their money – K200 in talk time for K85 in cash. It’s a good deal, and I’m sure it’ll work.

What I forget though, is that I’m in Malawi. The first person I ask just gives me a funny look (probably at least in part because I was speaking in Chichewa), smiles, and then hands me the money I need. I try to get her phone number to pay her back, and she declines with a laugh. That’s life here.

And that is the answer. The glue that holds things together. People. Each other. When you can’t always rely on services, when the world’s not always that predictable, you turn a little more to the people around you.

Since coming to Malawi I’ve been helped out of a lot of jams by friends and strangers. And I’ve helped out a lot of other people too. It’s not just me. Everyone’s doing it. It’s what keeps the country going. When you can’t rely on the fact that, day in day out, action x will lead to result y, what other choice do you have…