[If I could spread an article like this to every person in the USA and Europe I would. This article, by a black man in Malawi, shows how, even with foreign help, in a country which has been at peace since independance more than 40 years ago… How futile foreign aid is… even when Peace Corps Volunteers come to Africa… It makes no long-term difference. Foreigners are wasting their time and money on black Africa. Just giving money and aid and expecting things to come right is not good enough.

Those of us who live here know that the only thing that ever brought peace and above all PROGRESS to Africa was Colonialism and Apartheid. Sending money here, and sending people here temporarily changes nothing. Everything eventually collapses again. Only sending skilled permanent residents (Colonisation)… actually results in a permanent change. If even a few hundred thousand White/Asian people were to come to Africa to live here permanently… you would see the immense strides the continent would make.

Free money… on the other hand… is a complete waste of time. Giving money alone to Africa is to throw it into a bottomless pit. Jan]

Forty years ago a young American peace corps volunteer teacher, Paul Theroux, left Soche Hill Secondary School, after a three years of teaching. He returned last year and found it in ruins.

Soche, or Sochay as they fondly called it, was beautiful. Its library had over 10,000 books. There was a section for magazines and encyclopedias. Buildings were cared for most jealously. Then David Rubadiri was headmaster.

The road to Sochay was a muddy track, uphill through a big forest and past a small village. Now the road is paved.

But when Theroux drove back to Sochay last year, the beautiful tarmac road cheated him. œI assumed that this improved road implied that the school too had been improved, writes Theroux of his journey to Sochay where he was shocked.

œThe school was almost unrecognisable, said Theroux. œWhat had been a set of school buildings in a large grove of trees was a semi-derelict compound of battered buildings in a muddy open field.

Sochay had trees which have been cut down. Grass now grows chest high. The school is almost abandoned. There has been no meaningful renovations: broken windows, doors ajar, mildewed walls and gashes in the roofs. When schools close a few people stand on the ground, doing nothing.

Theroux had longed to return to the school, to help with some teaching or in any other way.

The house he lived in was still part of his heart. It was behind hedges, in a bower of blossoming shrubs. Now the shrubbery is gone, replaced by a scrappy garden of withered green maize. The house, on the day Theroux came, was battered and overwhelmed by tall elephant grass, pressing against walls.

Next he went to the library which, in his days, was the school™s heart. It™s now in total darkness. No light at all. Theroux mourned the library which now has 4,000 books.

Two teachers told Theroux that books were stolen. œI will never send another book to this country, retorted Theroux whose novel, Jungle Love, set in Malawi, remains banned by the Censorship Board.

Most students of Soche of the 1960s are doing well. But the school is poor, living its saddest days.

He was a volunteer some 40 years ago and wanted to see Malawians today caring for the school: sweeping the floor, cutting grass, washing windows and gluing the spines back on to the few remaining books.

A recent visit by The Nation confirmed what Theroux said. The only difference is that the situation is worse than last year.

The books are not relevant to the curriculum, according to headmaster, Charteris Nankumba.

The home economics department is the most affected by theft. Fridges, cookers and sewing machines have been stolen. A total of 12 doors were stolen, too. Pupils had a share in the burglary when they protested against cancellation of a disco.

œSince the strike, no major maintenance work has been done, said Nankumba.

The house that Theroux lived in, just like others, is in shambles. No window panes. Thieves have stolen them all. It is risky to live here but teachers have no choice. It™s painful, said one teacher, because government is deducting housing allowance from our package yet the houses are dilapidated beyond an inch of comfort.

œThis is a crime prone area, said Nankumba. It is true. Even the school™s wire fence, all of it, has been stolen.

A Policeman at Soche police said that the areas around the secondary school are indeed harboring thieves. œIt™s a dangerous area, he said. Not only the area. Even learning in the school™s classrooms is a jeopardy. Pupils get soaked in class because there are no glasses. Yet the school is still moving ahead.

In the 2004 MSCE examinations, 70 out of 126 candidates passed. The highest scored nine points. œDespite poor facilities we have hard-working and teachers and pupils, said Nankumba.

The burglary story of Sochay is one of hundreds of schools across the country. Society™s attitude towards public property has led to theft and vandalism.

I recently went to my school, Ulongwe MCDE Centre, now a day community secondary. Island ” so we called our school ” was constructed in 1990 but at 15, it is dying.

The road from Mangochi turn Off to Ulongwe on Mangochi is bushy. Grass and shrubs haven™t been slashed for months and years, in some cases and there was no one, it seemed at the time, to attend to potholes on the road. This was a true preview of the school ahead.

The ground is bushy and dirty. Glasses have been broken, basket and volleyball courts almost forsaken. There was no person to talk to me. Two boys stood some meters away, staring at nothing.

Teachers™ houses, some 15 meters from classes, looked dilapidated and deserted.

The trading centre, a kilometer away, is dying. The big, old buildings are falling down, being replaced by stalls. This confirms the dying of markets that were once vibrant. A journey to Ulongwe, I thought, would be back into time to the days when late Cassim Lifa was teacher-in-charge and indeed in control of the school.

Instead it was a visit to a dreamland. Nothing seemed real. It was like a person had gone back to days after the Second World War looking at orphaned buildings.

But there are still a few schools that are not an eye sore. Mjamba secondary in Blantyre is an example. Everything is in place. It™s now generating income through hiring out of classrooms for meetings.

This is a direct contrast to Chinaware and Mlambalala primary schools, less than a kilometer away from Mjamba.

The primary schools have broken window panes, damaged doors and blocked toilets that stink even from some 15 meters away. Walls are scratched. Classrooms are sometimes used as toilets thus inconveniencing pupils.
Soche Hill is surrounded by shanty locations that look like Mbayani. Ulongwe is in the midst of villages where boys and girls prefer marriage to school.

It seems schools™ well-being depends on the attitude of societies. Are you, too, noticing that?

by Mzati Nkolokosa
Date: 25 January 2005 – 11:25:39
URL: http://www.nationmalawi.com/articles.asp?arti…/p>