Missed Selma, but Not Malawi

Chancellor College Lecturers Demonstrate for Academic Freedom

Instructor Boycott/Student Demonstrations at Chancellor College - College Shut Down

Students are demonstrating and instructors have boycotted Chancellor College here in Zomba. Inspector General from Lilongwe about 6 hours north, showed up on campus here in Zomba to try to silence a Poly Sci. professor who was lecturing about the Egyptian riots.  The college management did not stand in support of the professor, so all of the faculty boycotted Chancellor College on Wednesday.  The college has been shut down since then.  Faculty believes that there are "police spies" infiltrating their classes who inform the police of teaching that is "unfriendly" to the government. 

Students are fed up that their government stipends for housing and tuition, due in January, are late and may not be forthcoming.

Everything in chaos here - Friday, February 18, 2011.  Nothing dangerous.

You can double-click the photos to enlarge the detail.

Welcome to Odi - and to Malawi

I am a little late in getting this blog started and I know myself well enough to know that if I wait any longer, I may not do it at all. The blog really is something that I want to do while I am in Africa to share with friends and family my experiences, personal observations and inspirations.

I arrived in Zomba on Saturday, September 18 at around 5 p.m. in a van with a hired driver who brought us from Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, and where we had been staying since our arrival in Malawi, on September 14. The drive took about 4 hours and was hot and dusty. I traveled with the other IFESH volunteers, one woman who will be teaching Chemistry and another who will be teaching in the Communications Department at Chancellor College.

I will be working on the national eLearning initiative that is being strongly promoted by the Malawian government. The Chancellor of the college reports directly to the President of Malawi, Bingu Mutharika.