Kamp Kwacha is a week-long camp that was organized by Peace Corps Volunteers to focus on small-business skills (i.e. product development, budgeting, marketing, record keeping, etc) ‘Kwacha’ is the word for the Malawian currency, so Never Ending Food was invited to the camp to give a session on ‘Income Generating Activities’ using local resources.
There were about 20 secondary-school students who were selected from across the country to attend the camp, and each of these participants had to write an essay about the reasons for wanting to attend such a training. Kristof set up a display of local food products, medicines, handicrafts, and other ideas for using Malawi’s vast array of natural resources towards economic gain and poverty alleviation. He focused a great deal on the differences between a ‘resource’ and a ‘waste,’ since in Malawi it is extremely common for local resources to be overlooked, ignored, stigmatized, and otherwise ‘wasted’.
Kristof also used a quote that he had seen written on the wall of a church while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica, it read: “It is a terrible thing to be born with sight but lack vision.” There was a good conversation with the participants about the meaning of this quote and how Malawi can begin to restore its ‘vision’ for a healthy, wealthy, and sustainable future using what Malawi already has available.
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