Palibe Petrol

Sometimes when you look back on hardship, the situation, at one point dire and difficult now seems manageable and relatively painless.  It is as if the passing of time has cast a warm rosy picture on your memory easing up the seriousness of the circumstances.  I have heard many times that those with the heart of a champion, particularly adventurers who summit extreme mountains, maintain that their last climb was challenging but not the ultimate test of will.  This mentality gives them the motivation and resolve to climb the next great peak even when their previous experience was gut wrenchingly grueling and physically demanding beyond what they thought humanly possible.    

So that I remember the vivid reality of the current hardship occurring in Malawi I want to reflect upon the situation here and now and document the gritty details.  In short, the industry of Malawi does not produce enough goods for export, minimizing the amount of foreign currency they receive.  With a shortage of foreign currency Malawi has limited buying power outside of their borders restricting the government’s ability to purchase everything from fuel to various necessities from overseas.  This has caused a crisis of growing proportion.  At the gas station cars line up bumper-to-bumper in haphazard rows, colorful jerry cans of assorted sizes hold the place of men waiting to fill them, crowds swell in hopes to get their hands on fuel to either fill their empty tanks or sell the surplus on the black market where prices are grossly inflated.  Gas guzzling trucks, motorcycles, even the occasional ambulance wait for hours on end without proceeding through the line.  The period of waiting and hoping begins long before the fuel tankers have even filled the underground reservoirs of the station.  A rumor or hot tip has led masses of cars to different station locations and there the games begin.  Wait, hope, wonder, sweat, become aggravated, infuriated, get lucky or go home empty handed.   

My Solution 

On many levels this process is sad.  I use the word sad because it seems appropriate.  For one, Malawians have come to accept this crisis without murmurs of civil demonstration or marches on the capital.  The government, in early July, quelled any plans for future protest by shooting live rounds into demonstrating crowds and killing 12 people in Mzuzu, four in Lilongwe and three in Blantyre.  The second reason for my use of the word sad is because while thousands of citizens wait in long lines hoping for fuel, the economy of Malawi is unable to progress and slows down to a crawl.  Trucks cannot make their deliveries, construction workers cannot get to their job sights, the business and industry sector, though only a small fraction of the economy, cannot support entrepreneurs and new business, ambulances cannot travel to emergency situations, mini bus drivers lose time and money, farmers cannot produce and the ripple affect causes increased prices for everything from bananas to baskets distressing even the most remote villager and malnourished child. 

The situation here is bound to get worse before it gets better.  As a relatively wealthy and able ex-patriot living here I have the economic means to keep the crisis at a comfortable distance from my own life but I am unable to shoulder the burden for my fellow brothers and sisters.  It is not a proud time nor is it a pleasant time to realize all of these things after reflecting on them.  I often ask myself if Malawi has the means to ameliorate their situation.  I am hopeful that they can and will but am often uninspired by the corrupted efforts of some of their complacent politicians taking away the voice of the people.  News from the ‘Occupy’ Movement happening simultaneously in the US has made headlines here in Africa.  Images of protesters voicing their concern and demanding change on Wall Street and in corporate America has made me look at both situations and compare both versions of democracy.  In one picture on the web an American man holds up a sign in front of a corporate building, “Sorry for the inconvenience, we are trying to change the world here.”  If only Malawians could raise those signs, speak up and be the impetus for their own change.  I somehow doubt that news of the crisis here in Malawi has made headlines across the ocean but it does not mean people here are not suffering.  I can only hope that the solution looms somewhere on the near horizon.  I also hope I don’t get expelled from the country for writing this.  Others have...