Christina Furst, Building Sustainable Communities in Malawi

Christina is a retired Peace Corps Volunteer getting ready for her next steps in graduate school. She loves color, home-grown food, and small businesses. She lives in Virginia but loves to set up camp around the world. We chatted about her Peace Corps experience and how her views expanded during that time.

What was the purpose of your work and time spent in Malawi? What goal(s) was your program centered around?

The official purpose of my service was to be a trained professional that met the needs of the community. My specific role was that of an environmental volunteer. I worked to educate the members of my community about best farming practices (making compost, permagardens, small household gardens, and other environmental work). But any Peace Corps member's role essentially turns into assessing what your community wants/ needs at that time you are there. You’ll get the most out of a project if you are working with motivated individuals. Community members aren't going to be excited about painting a mural if they're hungry. They'll be more motivated to do work in that area.

That was the purpose of my work there, but my time was focused on relationships. When you spend time in a community with people…the friends you make are really what make a personal difference. That is hardly surprising to people who travel a lot. As you learn about people's struggles, joys, their day-to-day lives - that’s where your most meaningful time is spent, being in fellowship with them.

Can you tell us a bit about what your day-to-day life looked like in Malawi?

My neighbor Rebecca came to my bedroom window and would ask me to come to get water with her. I would help her pump, and that would help her with her chores. That's how I woke most mornings, I would get up early to do work before it got too hot. I liked to only make one fire a day for cooking, and I'd prepare all my meals in the morning, cooking tea and oatmeal for breakfast and rice and beans for later in the day. Then, I would fill my day with two big activities to keep me busy. In the morning, I did work in a community group presenting a demonstration or conducting a meeting. The afternoons were spent in schools doing wildlife club activities or HIV prevention work. Days would vary a lot because my job title was so varied and broad. The work I did was always changing, especially in regards to seasons of the year.

Were you leading these programs?

I’d lead them with a Malawian counterpart who would help me translate things I didn’t know how to say in Chichewa. They would help me lead sessions as well.

What does the word sustainability mean to you, both personally and in your work?

After studying sustainability in school and translating it to real life, the meaning shifted. I think about that a lot. There is rarely something you can do just once and leave to sustain itself. There’s the initial effort, but a lot of work comes in what you do after that - in maintaining it. People often get excited about starting something and never finish it. I remember doing that myself many times, starting a garden and never watering it, or purchasing fresh vegetables and never actually cooking them. It’s that last 10% - the behavioral change is the hardest part, the part that needs to change to make a difference. You can do a project in a weekend, but then it takes the behavioral change to incorporate sustaining it into your daily life. In my work, I would say it was really important to have both counterparts, that was how you ensured the leadership structure would continue after you were gone.

My counterpart Billy was amazing, and my most successful projects were with him. He called me last week and told me that the honey from the beehives we worked so hard in training people to maintain is now being harvested and sold. He can now let me know what is happening, which is really cool. It comes down to empowering people.

What exactly is a counterpart?

Someone you work closely with in the local community that helps you lead a group or activity, they are Malawian.

Why do you believe that a focus on building sustainable, global communities is important?

I think that a collaborative exchange of ideas is the best way for any important idea to evolve or move forward. An outsider coming in and telling someone a new way to do something isn't the way to go. We must work together and start a conversation instead of just coming in and handing things out. You learn as much (or more) from them, from the community, as they are learning from you. Finding best practices is about that conversation and exchange of ideas. Peace Corps members are there for 2 years to create those relationships. The way to move forward is to exchange those ideas.

I remember one man who was 97 years old and had a compost toilet. It’s exactly what one is now, but he's had one his whole life! It’s interesting that I'M not the smart one there. He taught me something. It’s all about collaboration.

Having the community give feedback on your ideas is important, they are already experts in their area. To move ideas forward, you need an exchange of knowledge.

Is there a personal, spiritual dimension to what you are doing? If so, how does this spiritual practice influence your life and work?

I’d say the best way to show God’s love is to be that love, to show it through your actions, and be a force of light and good, trying to walk in the steps of Jesus and bring that into your relationships. That is important to me. While I'm not one to evangelize, I think that showing your faith through works and the way you communicate and show your love to others is how I would gather a spiritual practice/ influence from the experience. Again, being there, your reason changes all the time. Maybe the reason why you went and the reason you continued to stay is different. They’re always changing. Sometimes it's to show God's love, sometimes it is simply to help because you can’t ignore the devastation. Sometimes it is because you’re so happy about the relationships you have there. I think your reason for doing something “good” is always changing, day by day, even hour by hour. Sometimes you’re there to stick it out, sometimes you have deeper reasons.

Any other words to share?

Putting yourself outside your comfort zone, doing as much as you can while you have the chance and not waiting - that is important and something I learned during my time in Malawi.