May 19, 2024 • 29 mins
Resilience in Adversity: Mediation and Climate Action in Malawi with Brown Masingati
(Info on how to donate to Brown's work below!)
Join host Laura May as she speaks with Brown Masingati, a member of Mediators Beyond Borders International. Brown talks about his roots in Malawi, the 'Warm Heart of Africa,' spotlighting his incredible work in addressing poverty, gender-based violence, and the impact of climate change. Discover how Brown kick-started his mediation journey in 2020, tackling family conflicts through community dialogue. Hear firsthand about the severe cyclones that hit Malawi and Brown’s heroic efforts in voluntary mediation and counseling amidst disaster. Learn how he champions women's and girls' empowerment through education and small businesses. Perhaps most importantly, find out how you can support this work.
To make a donation to support Brown's community work in Malawi, there are two options: contact Brown directly for Western Union details, or make a transfer to Laura and she will make sure the donations reach him. If you use Wise, use this link to make a transfer to Laura: https://wise.com/pay/me/lauras98. If you use Revolut instead, or don't use Wise, then the link is https://revolut.me/lauramay98, and you can donate by card. USD is preferred if possible, and please do put in a comment if you remember.
To contact Brown or learn more:
- WhatsApp him on +265999237560
- Email him with brown.masingati@gmail.com
- Check out his personal Facebook at
- Visit him on LinkedIn at
- Visit his NGO's Facebook page at
0:00 Introduction 01:14 Malawi: The Warm Heart of Africa 02:47 Mediation and Gender-Based Violence: Brown's Story 09:18 Devastation by Cyclone 14:56 Community Mediation During Crisis 21:30 How You Can Help 25:22 Future Plans and Collaboration 27:41 Closing Remarks and Contact Information
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Laura May (00:10):
Hello and welcome to the Conflict Tipping podcast from Mediate.
com, the podcast that explores socialconflict and what to do about it.
I'm your host, Laura May.
And today I have with me Brown Masengati.
Brown is a member of Mediators BeyondBorders International based in Malawi.
He has worked for World Vision Malawi,Partners in Action for Sustainable
(00:33):
Development and the Center of SocialResearch at the University of Malawi.
So welcome, Brown.
Brown Masingati (00:40):
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it to have you today.
Laura May (00:43):
Yes, I am so happy to have you here with us, because I know
that you're doing some incrediblework and I want to hear all about it.
Just a heads up to our listeners todaythat we will be talking about some
potentially disturbing issues, includinggender based and sexual violence, as well
as poverty and situations of despair.
So if that's going to alarm you,then maybe this is not the episode
(01:07):
for you, but I do hope that youstay and learn all about Brown's
fantastic work in the community.
Just to start with, could youtell me a little bit about Malawi?
Because I know very little and I don'tknow about our listeners, but I suspect
they might know very little as well.
Brown Masingati (01:26):
Malawi is one of the countries which is in Africa.
In Southern Africa, Southern East Africa.
Malawi is a developing country.
It's a country without seaport.
Our economy depends more in agriculture.
So Malawi has a high populationin both the northern region,
southern region, and central region.
(01:47):
There are a lot of things that arehappening in Malawi because of its nature.
Malawi is called the warm heart of Africabecause we have never experienced any
kind of conflict, any war, genocide, allthe people in Malawi are so peaceful.
That is why it's calleda warm heart of Africa.
We have like a good environment.
(02:08):
We have natural resources.
That is why it is calledthe warm heart of Africa.
So that's Malawi and the Malawi is oneof the poorest country in the world.
And we have different kind of issueslike poverty is very high and issues of
gender based violence are also very high.
So that's how I can describe Malawi.
Laura May (02:29):
Okay.
No, thank you for sharing becauseI'm very curious about it.
I feel like Malawi is one of thosecountries, at least growing up
in Australia and now living inEurope, I don't hear much about,
so it's good to have this insight.
And I'm so glad to haveyou here as a guest today.
I want to ask you next aboutyour mediation journey.
(02:51):
Okay.
Because obviously you're a memberof Mediators Beyond Borders.
And so what led you there?
What is your mediation story?
Brown Masingati (03:02):
Thank you so much for that beautiful question.
I started mediation in 2020.
When I left from school, my friendswere employed in different organizations
and government institutions.
But looking at the way how issuesof gender based violence were
arising in my community, I said,no, I have to do something.
Though I was risking myself becauseventuring into that kind of thing, it
(03:28):
means you are not receiving anything.
You are not paid.
It's a voluntary work in short.
So it was quite difficult tomake such kind of decision.
It's a huge decision.
But for myself, because of the love ofthe community and love of the people who
are very marginalized in the community.
That's what drives me.
So I started in 2020 in mycommunity, Zomba, where I started
(03:50):
organizing chiefs and we had timeof discussing a lot of things.
After I had time with the chiefs,then we started finding out what are
the problem that this community has.
So I started going, doing likefocus group discussions with men.
With the women.
And as well as the youth.
What prompted me to have thiskind of focus group discussions
(04:13):
is because there were 100 familiesthat were about to end due to issues
of conflicts in the households andthe children in the families were
the ones who were suffering a lot.
So I started doing some kind of research.
By conducting focus groupdiscussions with all the groups.
For instance, I'll have I had a focusgroup discussions with women to find out
(04:38):
what is it that they are experiencingand what is it that they would like
their men to behave like, then I had alsoanother focus group discussion with men.
Then also with the youth.
At the end, I would call themtogether and we exchange ideas.
I would say, men, these are the pointsthat have been listed down by your wives.
And wives, these are the thingsthat your men have listed down that
(05:01):
they would like you to be doing.
So, in combining them, it meansthere was some kind of dialogue.
As of now, I'm talking.
All the handled families weresaved and they are moving forward.
They're able to raise theirfamily, their children.
So it's a, it's a journeythat came out of love.
And because of that love, mycommunity loves me so much.
(05:25):
As a village boy.
So I really appreciate doing thisvoluntary work, though it will need
more energy and more resources.
But as personally, I did that because ofthe love that I have for my community.
Laura May (05:38):
That's amazing.
And so what other types ofissues have you been working on?
Brown Masingati (05:43):
Apart from the issues of gender based violence that I am
fighting for in this area, thereis also issues of climate justice.
As you know that Malawi has beenexperiencing issues of climate change.
We had Cyclone Fred, Cyclone Anna,Cyclone Gombe that displaced and
killed many people in the area.
So as of now there is hunger crisis andthe president had declared Malawi as
(06:06):
a state of emergency three months ago.
So that means our lives are at risk.
If you go to the community by now,you'll find that there's a lot
of children that are starving.
Other people are dying.
There no food.
Then you have many children whoare suffering from different kind
of disease and they will needsome kind of food to eat, but they
(06:26):
don't have and they are suffering.
Others are dying.
We have women who arepregnant, expecting women.
We have girls in the community.
Those are people who aresuffering a lot in the community.
So I started with my youthclubs to plant trees.
I asked some friends who wouldlike to donate three seedlings
or money to buy three seedlings.
(06:47):
By today we have planted 1500 trees,not only indigenous trees, but we
have also planted 500 fruit treeswith an aim that after two or three
years, those fruit trees will be ableto have fruits that will help also in
the nutrition status of the childrenwho are suffering in our community.
(07:09):
Nutrition status for the women and girls.
These groups that I have mentioned arethe ones that are suffering on issues
of gender based violence and as well asissues of hunger crisis in the country.
So those are things that I've been doing.
Also we have issues whereby manygirls have been raped, many girls
have been forced for marriagesand, and, and their rights for
(07:30):
education have been not granted.
So I'm also fighting forthose girls right now.
Because I ask the three friendsto sponsor for these two girls who
are survivors of the gender basedviolence to go back to school.
We have five girls whoare on the sponsorship.
But the number is almost 20 girlswho would like to go back to school so
(07:52):
that they will be the game changersof issues of gender based violence.
Because the once they areeducated, they will be able to
make some difficult decision.
They will be able to bring somethingon the table and then there will be a
harmony living between a husband and wife.
They will be living in harmonybecause husbands will be realizing
that when my wife is able to bringsomething at the table, is able
(08:13):
to support them, the children.
So there is no way to drivethem away or there's no way to
do some kind of harm to them.
So this also things is what I am doing.
Laura May (08:23):
What an incredible initiative and under such trying circumstances.
And so do you also do things forthe other women of the community?
Brown Masingati (08:31):
Also, we have women's group.
These women's group are theones who have been suffering
issues of gender based violence.
So the best was to empower themwith the small scale businesses.
Right now they're doinglike small scale business.
We call them Village Savings Loans.
They do contribute.
They do bake scones.
They do bake bread.
They do sell tomatoes.
(08:51):
They do farming.
All those kinds of businesses.
After they realize their profits,they do share with the children at
our centers who are suffering to havesomething to eat by the end of the day.
So that's what we aredoing in the community.
It's a voluntary work, but wereally need many people to join
this and then we'll move forward.
(09:13):
That's so far what I've been doing.
Thank you so much.
Laura May (09:17):
Great.
So I just want to go back for amoment because you mentioned these
cyclones that affected Malawi.
And you said, "Oh, as you know".
I had never heard of these cyclones.
I had no idea about this.
And so could you maybe tell me alittle bit more about these cyclones?
I mean, I assume they wereconnected with climate change.
(09:40):
And I understood this led to a lotof displacement in Malawi, right?
Brown Masingati (09:47):
Yes.
So about cyclone in Malawi we have beenexperiencing different kind of cyclone.
And last year we had a CycloneFred that displaced more than half
a million of people and killedalmost 1, 000, 1 500 people died.
And for my, for instance,we had three days rains.
(10:08):
And my I was just sitting in my house.
Then when I discover what is goingon outside the house, I discovered
that the wall of my house collapsed.
Laura May (10:18):
Oh my ,goodness.
Brown Masingati (10:19):
Then when I asked somebody about my farm, because in
Malawi we depend on farming, I discoveredthat my whole farm was washed away,
including all the crops washed away.
My house collapsed to the ground.
So, I had nothing to do but just cry.
(10:41):
when I was crying, I discovered thatothers also are crying heavily because
they have lost their beloved ones.
So it was something which was very tragicand is something that if I remember, if
somebody say 'cyclone', I always shedtears because of the what I saw, what I
experienced, what I have gone through.
It's very difficult, very, very difficult.
(11:04):
And after the second it had hit.
We had flash floods that displacedand washed away everything.
We had heavy wind that destroyedeverything to the ground.
So we had nothing even blankets.
It was very, very difficult to see thechildren they don't have even a blanket.
(11:25):
They have lost everything.
It was a very difficult situation tosee girls who had lost everything.
And even the dignity kits, theycould not even had those kind of
dignity kits to support themselveseven during the menstruation period.
So it was very difficult here.
And it was very difficult to seewomen just relying themselves at
(11:47):
the corner crying at the same timebreast feeding the children and the
children that have nothing even to eat.
They were only depending onthe milk from the breasts.
The woman is not eating anything-starving yet breastfeeding the child.
So it was very difficult.
It was very difficult to see thatthere is no mosquito nets, and
(12:07):
the mosquitoes are everywhere.
They're just landing in the bare, bare,bare body, a body that has no clothes.
All the clothes have been washed away.
So it was a very difficult situation.
And at the same times, we werealso hit by Corona because
people were just eating anything.
People are just eating anything.
The soil was contaminated, flashfloods, water was coming with
(12:30):
different kind of things that werenot good at the human environment.
So it was a very difficult situation.
And if I remember that,I always cry myself.
And even my parents lost everything.
The house collapsed to theground and they are very old.
They were just crying at the cornerwhen I was calling them, "are you safe?"
It said, "no, we are safe,but everything's gone.
(12:52):
We have never experiencedthis in our lives".
So it's very tragic that the momentthat we had during the cyclone.
And as of now, last year, weexperienced the dry spell that has
managed to leave us with nothing.
That is why the Malawi governmenthas declared Malawi as a state of
(13:13):
emergency because we don't have food.
People are starving, andmany people are dying.
Children are undernourished in the area.
So it's a very difficult situation.
We're in a very difficult situation.
So because people have been talkingin different kind of meetings across
the globe about issues of climate.
So I say no, people should not bejust talking without implementing.
(13:35):
They have resources, butthey don't implementing.
We have ideas, but youdon't have resources.
So I mobilized the community thatwhat should we do in order to make
sure that if the cyclone is coming, atleast the our lives to be protected.
So we started a programwhereby we are planting trees.
We planted trees, 1000 trees so thatwe are able to protect ourselves.
(13:59):
So whenever the cyclone is coming, weshould be protected from the flash floods.
So that's what I've been doingon issues of climate change.
Laura May (14:09):
That's, I mean, that is an extreme situation, Brown.
That must have been incredibly difficult.
And I really admire that You know, there'sthat saying that you need your cup to be
full before you can help others, right?
And yet, even after losing everything,you were still leading with compassion.
(14:33):
And then you were able to go forward andcome up with this idea to help protect
people against flash floods as a resultof cyclones and climate change . It's
incredibly admirable, and I don'tthink everyone would do the same thing.
So, huge kudos to you.
It's like such a small thingto say, but that's incredible
work that you're doing, Brown.
(14:53):
Like, really well done.
Amazing, amazing stuff.
And, I want to get back to mediationand conflict and sort of how that ties
in with everything you're doing a bitas well, because with these cyclones
and with this state of emergency,have you seen a difference in the
conflicts that are actually happening?
Are there more conflicts ordifferent types of conflicts?
(15:15):
Like how has this broader situationaffected communities on that local level?
Brown Masingati (15:21):
I would like to start by saying this, that during the time
of cyclone, we had a different casesof conflicts happening in the houses.
For instance, we had a lot of womenbecause most of the houses were washed
away and the people have nowhere to go.
They had to migrate.
They had to move from thiscommunity to another community
in order to be accommodated inthe house of their beloved ones.
(15:44):
So in the house of their belovedones, they were in the new community,
whereby they had a lot of stresses.
In the houses, I recorded some storiesthat one girl, whose house was washed away
and the parents died due to the cyclone.
(16:06):
She had to go to her uncle,to stay with her uncle.
While staying with the uncle,the uncle was also raping
the child, raping the girl.
The girl had had nothing to, to, to saybecause , she, she wants to reveal that
she's being abused, she's being raped.
That means her uncle had all the powersto say, "no, because you're saying
(16:29):
this, I'll kick you out of this house".
So she had nowhere to go.
So what I did, what I did was to to goand to meet the uncle, to meet the girl.
And I had also to call some relevantauthorities to discuss the matter
amicably until we rescued this girlby removing this girl from this house.
(16:50):
And we had a camp where we startedremoving all the girls into one
camp so that they can live together.
We have different kind of storieswhereby a boy is coming from boarding
school, going home, and he discoversthat the house has been washed
away, all the parents are gone.
He has nowhere to go and thereis conflicts in the area and
(17:13):
the boy has nowhere to go.
So we had to start intervening.
We had cases of women committingsuicide because of the trauma they
went through during the cyclone.
Because they could not believe thattheir whole family has been washed
away, are gone, are dead, are dead.
So they were traumatized.
So 18 people committed suicide.
(17:36):
Women in the camps.
So I was called by government.
"Please.
We know that you have this capability.
You have experience in mediatingand also provide counseling.
Would you please go beable to go to the camps?"
So I have been going into 25 camps.
Each camp's had almost1000 plus women and girls.
(17:57):
So I've been going thereto provide some counseling.
I was there providing some issues ofconflicts because when the people in the
second hit, it means the people from thisarea had to go to live in other area.
So in the new area, in the newhome, there were conflicts also.
Because the others could not evenaccept the foreigners because there
(18:18):
was a fear that they may end up takingtheir parts of their lands, they'll be
given lands and they might bring somekind of cultures which are not very
which are, cannot be right in the area.
So there were a lot of things.
So I had to go there to goand mediate because in Malawi
we have only a few mediators.
Yet the work on themediation is very high.
(18:38):
So I had to go there to identify what kindof conflicts can occur while you are there
in the shelters and how best we can makesure that we are able to live together.
Even if there is some kind ofdisagreements, we are able to
understand each other until we we,we, we, we find ourselves that we
(19:00):
are going back to our homes or, orsomebody's adopting us to go somewhere.
So it was a difficult situation.
Only a few mediators, butthe work was very heavy.
So I was not even sleeping.
If I'm sleeping, I'm toldthat "please go to this camp.
There is this kind of issue".
So I have to go there, but also I hadto think on how I'm going to do with my
(19:23):
family because we were sleeping outside.
House is gone.
Our, our, our belongings is gone.
And also our farms is gone.
It means that we have also, we willbe also hit by a hunger crisis.
We are also in danger when itcomes to the security at my home.
I had also to think about myparents at home, where they are,
their house have been washed away.
They have nothing, but they arevery old and they are suffering.
(19:46):
So it was very tragic.
It was very difficult.
But as a mediator, I triedto spare much of my time to
supporting those who were in need.
I was trying to save lives of women whowere facing a lot of abuses in the camps.
I tried to intervene into issues of girlswho were facing a lot of things because
(20:08):
other men were taking advantage of thesituation in order to give girls money so
that they can exchange with their bodiesby having sex with them, unprotected sex.
Many people in this periodhave contracted a lot of
diseases, sexual diseases.
So it was very difficult.
I was one uh, moving in different camps.
We we had a thousand of camps, butbecause I was the one I will hire
(20:31):
to travel to different camps andall the weeks that I've been doing
was voluntarily, I was not paid.
It was out of the love to save thecommunity that I live, to save women
and girls who are suffering in thecommunity and also the issues of child
protection was very high, and manychildren were abused in different ways.
So I had also to stand up to to startat least to advocate on how we should
(20:54):
protect children and how the childrenshould be report in all the cases.
All the cases that they wereexperiencing in the community, in
the camps, in all the communityplaces during this time of cyclone.
So it was a very hard work and Iwill never forget this situation that
we had and how much I was involved,and I was doing those out of love.
(21:15):
So the conflicts were able to be managedbecause I was able to sacrifice my time,
to sacrifice my energy to go just to savelives of my fellow community members.
Thank you so much.
Laura May (21:30):
And as I'm listening to this, Brown, I mean, I'm sure lots of people who
are listening to the podcast will just beasking themselves, like, how can I help?
What are the ways that the internationalcommunity could help you or
Malawi or the situation generally?
Brown Masingati (21:47):
Thank you so much for that question.
As of now, for the recoveryprogram, I will say that.
It is good to target to, to helpby bringing in some resources.
Like as I said, that we are doing anenvironmental conservation in order
to protect the community that whenevercyclone comes, we are able to survive.
(22:11):
So tree seedlings is very, veryquite important and also issues
of irrigation because of the dryspell that we experienced this year.
The hunger crisis thatwe are experiencing.
We have a lot of rivers.
Malawi is beautiful.
We have rivers that are flowingfrom different directions.
So, I will ask well wishers.
(22:33):
To help us with the irrigation schemematerials, like solar pump, where
we can be pumping water from riverand do some kind of agriculture.
Malawi is agriculture country,we depend in agriculture.
We would like also to askwell-wishers if they can support
with the needs of the women.
And the girls in the community, likeempowering women who are survivors of
(22:56):
gender based violence with the capital tokeep on moving with their business so that
they can be able to uplift themselves.
Also girls to support our girls withthe school we have, like I said that
we, we have 20 girls, but out of 25managed to secure like a scholarship.
So, like, If we can havepeople who can support with the
(23:19):
tuition fee for these girls.
So as one way of fighting gender basedviolence because once they're educated
it means they'll be able to know abouttheir rights and their responsibility, and
they will be able to report any kind ofgender based violence, and they will be
able to support even other female women onthe issues of gender based violence while
doing the business to empower themselves.
(23:40):
So, and also, we have 30children at our center.
These children are are not eatinganything, and it's very, we
are in a difficult situation.
The students are undernourished,they don't eat, and their
nutritional status is quite low.
It's very, very, very low.
(24:00):
Yeah, we don't they don't have evenschool uniform, but the children
are dedicated to go to school.
So we are asking also forthe nutrition part of it.
If anything, they can support with theirfunds so that we're going to be able to
buy maize as well as groundnuts so thatit can be able to eat porridge at least.
Also, their school uniformat the committee based
(24:22):
care center where they are.
So, any kind of support wouldchange the lives of many people
because people are still suffering.
We really need support.
We really need your heart also,so put us in your prayers.
Well, thank you so much.
Laura May (24:37):
Absolutely.
And so I understand that really donationsare the best way to help get this done.
You and I, Brown, have talked about howto do this because it's a bit difficult
sometimes to send money to Malawi.
So if you would like to donate tosupport the work of Brown in Malawi and
support his community, I will put notesin the description so you can either
(24:58):
send to Malawi and to Brown directly,or you can transfer to me and then I
will forward it all on to Brown as well.
So I'm really hoping that we can dosomething to support these incredible
initiatives and this also generallypeace building work that Brown is doing
locally because it sounds incredible.
And so I'm wondering,Brown, what is next for you?
(25:22):
What are your next plans for workand for supporting the community?
Brown Masingati (25:27):
Yeah.
My next plan is that the governmenthas been recommending me for the
good work that I have been doing,the work that could have been done
with organization that have funds.
So as an individual, I startedthe talking to my friends.
So we have managed tohave like board members.
Right now we have submitted ourapplication to be local based organization
(25:51):
that will be helping people inthe community in different ways.
So we are hoping that come next weekwe'll be certified as a non- profit
organization working in Malawi , andI'm hundred percent sure that we're
going to make it because of lovethat the community has for me and the
love that I have for the community.
So that's the plans and theplans are moving forward.
(26:14):
Yeah.
Laura May (26:15):
That's incredible.
And I mean, out of curiosity, Iwonder maybe if there's people in the
mediation community in other countriesthat might be able to share their
experiences with you as well, to seewhat's worked and what hasn't worked
when setting up a non profit like that.
It might be quite interesting.
Okay, Brown, is there anything elseI should have asked you but haven't?
Brown Masingati (26:37):
Yeah, thank you so much.
I would like to also to say thatI'm very flexible if there is any
kind of collaboration because I dobelieve that no man is an island.
No one can stand alone.
We need to work together.
This is something thatwe should work together.
We should hold hands together.
So I'm urging everyone, eventhe organization that they are
(27:02):
free to collaborate with us.
We are free to work with anyone inorder to achieve what we would like to.
By ending issues of gender basedviolence, issues of climate, empowering
women as well as empowering girls andthe protecting lives of children in
the community, providing them witha feeding program for their life.
(27:26):
So we are ready for anykind of collaboration.
We are ready for any conversation.
We are ready for any kindof assistance that we people
might want to to to assist.
Laura May (27:38):
Absolutely.
Okay.
Now you found me on LinkedIn andI'm curious- for those who are
interested in learning more aboutyour work, where can they find you?
Is LinkedIn best, or is there somewhereelse that they could make contact with
you and understand your work better?
Brown Masingati (27:55):
Oh, thank you so much.
I am on LinkedIn andalso on the Facebook.
I'm there.
I have also a email address.
Currently we are also developing awebsite as well as Facebook page for the
organization, because the organizationis named Harmony for Families.
Because what I'm doing, everything, isto develop families in the community.
(28:17):
So soon we'll be sharing awebsite that is being developed.
As well as Facebook page, but Imyself, I'm also on the Facebook.
You find me there with a differentkind of initiatives that I've
been doing and what I'm doing now.
I have my WhatsApp number that Ican be able to share and anyone
(28:39):
can keep in touch with me.
Thank you so much.
Laura May (28:43):
Amazing.
And I'll make sure to put allof those contact details in the
podcast episode description as well.
So look Brown, thank you somuch again for joining me today.
And for everyone else, until next time,this is Laura May with the Conflict
Tipping Podcast from Mediate.Com.
Hello and welcome to the Conflict Tipping podcast from Mediate.
com, the podcast that explores socialconflict and what to do about it.
I'm your host, Laura May.
And today I have with me Brown Masengati.
Brown is a member of Mediators BeyondBorders International based in Malawi.
He has worked for World Vision Malawi,Partners in Action for Sustainable
(00:33):
Development and the Center of SocialResearch at the University of Malawi.
So welcome, Brown.
Brown Masingati (00:40):
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it to have you today.
Laura May (00:43):
Yes, I am so happy to have you here with us, because I know
that you're doing some incrediblework and I want to hear all about it.
Just a heads up to our listeners todaythat we will be talking about some
potentially disturbing issues, includinggender based and sexual violence, as well
as poverty and situations of despair.
So if that's going to alarm you,then maybe this is not the episode
(01:07):
for you, but I do hope that youstay and learn all about Brown's
fantastic work in the community.
Just to start with, could youtell me a little bit about Malawi?
Because I know very little and I don'tknow about our listeners, but I suspect
they might know very little as well.
Brown Masingati (01:26):
Malawi is one of the countries which is in Africa.
In Southern Africa, Southern East Africa.
Malawi is a developing country.
It's a country without seaport.
Our economy depends more in agriculture.
So Malawi has a high populationin both the northern region,
southern region, and central region.
(01:47):
There are a lot of things that arehappening in Malawi because of its nature.
Malawi is called the warm heart of Africabecause we have never experienced any
kind of conflict, any war, genocide, allthe people in Malawi are so peaceful.
That is why it's calleda warm heart of Africa.
We have like a good environment.
(02:08):
We have natural resources.
That is why it is calledthe warm heart of Africa.
So that's Malawi and the Malawi is oneof the poorest country in the world.
And we have different kind of issueslike poverty is very high and issues of
gender based violence are also very high.
So that's how I can describe Malawi.
Laura May (02:29):
Okay.
No, thank you for sharing becauseI'm very curious about it.
I feel like Malawi is one of thosecountries, at least growing up
in Australia and now living inEurope, I don't hear much about,
so it's good to have this insight.
And I'm so glad to haveyou here as a guest today.
I want to ask you next aboutyour mediation journey.
(02:51):
Okay.
Because obviously you're a memberof Mediators Beyond Borders.
And so what led you there?
What is your mediation story?
Brown Masingati (03:02):
Thank you so much for that beautiful question.
I started mediation in 2020.
When I left from school, my friendswere employed in different organizations
and government institutions.
But looking at the way how issuesof gender based violence were
arising in my community, I said,no, I have to do something.
Though I was risking myself becauseventuring into that kind of thing, it
(03:28):
means you are not receiving anything.
You are not paid.
It's a voluntary work in short.
So it was quite difficult tomake such kind of decision.
It's a huge decision.
But for myself, because of the love ofthe community and love of the people who
are very marginalized in the community.
That's what drives me.
So I started in 2020 in mycommunity, Zomba, where I started
(03:50):
organizing chiefs and we had timeof discussing a lot of things.
After I had time with the chiefs,then we started finding out what are
the problem that this community has.
So I started going, doing likefocus group discussions with men.
With the women.
And as well as the youth.
What prompted me to have thiskind of focus group discussions
(04:13):
is because there were 100 familiesthat were about to end due to issues
of conflicts in the households andthe children in the families were
the ones who were suffering a lot.
So I started doing some kind of research.
By conducting focus groupdiscussions with all the groups.
For instance, I'll have I had a focusgroup discussions with women to find out
(04:38):
what is it that they are experiencingand what is it that they would like
their men to behave like, then I had alsoanother focus group discussion with men.
Then also with the youth.
At the end, I would call themtogether and we exchange ideas.
I would say, men, these are the pointsthat have been listed down by your wives.
And wives, these are the thingsthat your men have listed down that
(05:01):
they would like you to be doing.
So, in combining them, it meansthere was some kind of dialogue.
As of now, I'm talking.
All the handled families weresaved and they are moving forward.
They're able to raise theirfamily, their children.
So it's a, it's a journeythat came out of love.
And because of that love, mycommunity loves me so much.
(05:25):
As a village boy.
So I really appreciate doing thisvoluntary work, though it will need
more energy and more resources.
But as personally, I did that because ofthe love that I have for my community.
Laura May (05:38):
That's amazing.
And so what other types ofissues have you been working on?
Brown Masingati (05:43):
Apart from the issues of gender based violence that I am
fighting for in this area, thereis also issues of climate justice.
As you know that Malawi has beenexperiencing issues of climate change.
We had Cyclone Fred, Cyclone Anna,Cyclone Gombe that displaced and
killed many people in the area.
So as of now there is hunger crisis andthe president had declared Malawi as
(06:06):
a state of emergency three months ago.
So that means our lives are at risk.
If you go to the community by now,you'll find that there's a lot
of children that are starving.
Other people are dying.
There no food.
Then you have many children whoare suffering from different kind
of disease and they will needsome kind of food to eat, but they
(06:26):
don't have and they are suffering.
Others are dying.
We have women who arepregnant, expecting women.
We have girls in the community.
Those are people who aresuffering a lot in the community.
So I started with my youthclubs to plant trees.
I asked some friends who wouldlike to donate three seedlings
or money to buy three seedlings.
(06:47):
By today we have planted 1500 trees,not only indigenous trees, but we
have also planted 500 fruit treeswith an aim that after two or three
years, those fruit trees will be ableto have fruits that will help also in
the nutrition status of the childrenwho are suffering in our community.
(07:09):
Nutrition status for the women and girls.
These groups that I have mentioned arethe ones that are suffering on issues
of gender based violence and as well asissues of hunger crisis in the country.
So those are things that I've been doing.
Also we have issues whereby manygirls have been raped, many girls
have been forced for marriagesand, and, and their rights for
(07:30):
education have been not granted.
So I'm also fighting forthose girls right now.
Because I ask the three friendsto sponsor for these two girls who
are survivors of the gender basedviolence to go back to school.
We have five girls whoare on the sponsorship.
But the number is almost 20 girlswho would like to go back to school so
(07:52):
that they will be the game changersof issues of gender based violence.
Because the once they areeducated, they will be able to
make some difficult decision.
They will be able to bring somethingon the table and then there will be a
harmony living between a husband and wife.
They will be living in harmonybecause husbands will be realizing
that when my wife is able to bringsomething at the table, is able
(08:13):
to support them, the children.
So there is no way to drivethem away or there's no way to
do some kind of harm to them.
So this also things is what I am doing.
Laura May (08:23):
What an incredible initiative and under such trying circumstances.
And so do you also do things forthe other women of the community?
Brown Masingati (08:31):
Also, we have women's group.
These women's group are theones who have been suffering
issues of gender based violence.
So the best was to empower themwith the small scale businesses.
Right now they're doinglike small scale business.
We call them Village Savings Loans.
They do contribute.
They do bake scones.
They do bake bread.
They do sell tomatoes.
(08:51):
They do farming.
All those kinds of businesses.
After they realize their profits,they do share with the children at
our centers who are suffering to havesomething to eat by the end of the day.
So that's what we aredoing in the community.
It's a voluntary work, but wereally need many people to join
this and then we'll move forward.
(09:13):
That's so far what I've been doing.
Thank you so much.
Laura May (09:17):
Great.
So I just want to go back for amoment because you mentioned these
cyclones that affected Malawi.
And you said, "Oh, as you know".
I had never heard of these cyclones.
I had no idea about this.
And so could you maybe tell me alittle bit more about these cyclones?
I mean, I assume they wereconnected with climate change.
(09:40):
And I understood this led to a lotof displacement in Malawi, right?
Brown Masingati (09:47):
Yes.
So about cyclone in Malawi we have beenexperiencing different kind of cyclone.
And last year we had a CycloneFred that displaced more than half
a million of people and killedalmost 1, 000, 1 500 people died.
And for my, for instance,we had three days rains.
(10:08):
And my I was just sitting in my house.
Then when I discover what is goingon outside the house, I discovered
that the wall of my house collapsed.
Laura May (10:18):
Oh my ,goodness.
Brown Masingati (10:19):
Then when I asked somebody about my farm, because in
Malawi we depend on farming, I discoveredthat my whole farm was washed away,
including all the crops washed away.
My house collapsed to the ground.
So, I had nothing to do but just cry.
(10:41):
when I was crying, I discovered thatothers also are crying heavily because
they have lost their beloved ones.
So it was something which was very tragicand is something that if I remember, if
somebody say 'cyclone', I always shedtears because of the what I saw, what I
experienced, what I have gone through.
It's very difficult, very, very difficult.
(11:04):
And after the second it had hit.
We had flash floods that displacedand washed away everything.
We had heavy wind that destroyedeverything to the ground.
So we had nothing even blankets.
It was very, very difficult to see thechildren they don't have even a blanket.
(11:25):
They have lost everything.
It was a very difficult situation tosee girls who had lost everything.
And even the dignity kits, theycould not even had those kind of
dignity kits to support themselveseven during the menstruation period.
So it was very difficult here.
And it was very difficult to seewomen just relying themselves at
(11:47):
the corner crying at the same timebreast feeding the children and the
children that have nothing even to eat.
They were only depending onthe milk from the breasts.
The woman is not eating anything-starving yet breastfeeding the child.
So it was very difficult.
It was very difficult to see thatthere is no mosquito nets, and
(12:07):
the mosquitoes are everywhere.
They're just landing in the bare, bare,bare body, a body that has no clothes.
All the clothes have been washed away.
So it was a very difficult situation.
And at the same times, we werealso hit by Corona because
people were just eating anything.
People are just eating anything.
The soil was contaminated, flashfloods, water was coming with
(12:30):
different kind of things that werenot good at the human environment.
So it was a very difficult situation.
And if I remember that,I always cry myself.
And even my parents lost everything.
The house collapsed to theground and they are very old.
They were just crying at the cornerwhen I was calling them, "are you safe?"
It said, "no, we are safe,but everything's gone.
(12:52):
We have never experiencedthis in our lives".
So it's very tragic that the momentthat we had during the cyclone.
And as of now, last year, weexperienced the dry spell that has
managed to leave us with nothing.
That is why the Malawi governmenthas declared Malawi as a state of
(13:13):
emergency because we don't have food.
People are starving, andmany people are dying.
Children are undernourished in the area.
So it's a very difficult situation.
We're in a very difficult situation.
So because people have been talkingin different kind of meetings across
the globe about issues of climate.
So I say no, people should not bejust talking without implementing.
(13:35):
They have resources, butthey don't implementing.
We have ideas, but youdon't have resources.
So I mobilized the community thatwhat should we do in order to make
sure that if the cyclone is coming, atleast the our lives to be protected.
So we started a programwhereby we are planting trees.
We planted trees, 1000 trees so thatwe are able to protect ourselves.
(13:59):
So whenever the cyclone is coming, weshould be protected from the flash floods.
So that's what I've been doingon issues of climate change.
Laura May (14:09):
That's, I mean, that is an extreme situation, Brown.
That must have been incredibly difficult.
And I really admire that You know, there'sthat saying that you need your cup to be
full before you can help others, right?
And yet, even after losing everything,you were still leading with compassion.
(14:33):
And then you were able to go forward andcome up with this idea to help protect
people against flash floods as a resultof cyclones and climate change . It's
incredibly admirable, and I don'tthink everyone would do the same thing.
So, huge kudos to you.
It's like such a small thingto say, but that's incredible
work that you're doing, Brown.
(14:53):
Like, really well done.
Amazing, amazing stuff.
And, I want to get back to mediationand conflict and sort of how that ties
in with everything you're doing a bitas well, because with these cyclones
and with this state of emergency,have you seen a difference in the
conflicts that are actually happening?
Are there more conflicts ordifferent types of conflicts?
(15:15):
Like how has this broader situationaffected communities on that local level?
Brown Masingati (15:21):
I would like to start by saying this, that during the time
of cyclone, we had a different casesof conflicts happening in the houses.
For instance, we had a lot of womenbecause most of the houses were washed
away and the people have nowhere to go.
They had to migrate.
They had to move from thiscommunity to another community
in order to be accommodated inthe house of their beloved ones.
(15:44):
So in the house of their belovedones, they were in the new community,
whereby they had a lot of stresses.
In the houses, I recorded some storiesthat one girl, whose house was washed away
and the parents died due to the cyclone.
(16:06):
She had to go to her uncle,to stay with her uncle.
While staying with the uncle,the uncle was also raping
the child, raping the girl.
The girl had had nothing to, to, to saybecause , she, she wants to reveal that
she's being abused, she's being raped.
That means her uncle had all the powersto say, "no, because you're saying
(16:29):
this, I'll kick you out of this house".
So she had nowhere to go.
So what I did, what I did was to to goand to meet the uncle, to meet the girl.
And I had also to call some relevantauthorities to discuss the matter
amicably until we rescued this girlby removing this girl from this house.
(16:50):
And we had a camp where we startedremoving all the girls into one
camp so that they can live together.
We have different kind of storieswhereby a boy is coming from boarding
school, going home, and he discoversthat the house has been washed
away, all the parents are gone.
He has nowhere to go and thereis conflicts in the area and
(17:13):
the boy has nowhere to go.
So we had to start intervening.
We had cases of women committingsuicide because of the trauma they
went through during the cyclone.
Because they could not believe thattheir whole family has been washed
away, are gone, are dead, are dead.
So they were traumatized.
So 18 people committed suicide.
(17:36):
Women in the camps.
So I was called by government.
"Please.
We know that you have this capability.
You have experience in mediatingand also provide counseling.
Would you please go beable to go to the camps?"
So I have been going into 25 camps.
Each camp's had almost1000 plus women and girls.
(17:57):
So I've been going thereto provide some counseling.
I was there providing some issues ofconflicts because when the people in the
second hit, it means the people from thisarea had to go to live in other area.
So in the new area, in the newhome, there were conflicts also.
Because the others could not evenaccept the foreigners because there
(18:18):
was a fear that they may end up takingtheir parts of their lands, they'll be
given lands and they might bring somekind of cultures which are not very
which are, cannot be right in the area.
So there were a lot of things.
So I had to go there to goand mediate because in Malawi
we have only a few mediators.
Yet the work on themediation is very high.
(18:38):
So I had to go there to identify what kindof conflicts can occur while you are there
in the shelters and how best we can makesure that we are able to live together.
Even if there is some kind ofdisagreements, we are able to
understand each other until we we,we, we, we find ourselves that we
(19:00):
are going back to our homes or, orsomebody's adopting us to go somewhere.
So it was a difficult situation.
Only a few mediators, butthe work was very heavy.
So I was not even sleeping.
If I'm sleeping, I'm toldthat "please go to this camp.
There is this kind of issue".
So I have to go there, but also I hadto think on how I'm going to do with my
(19:23):
family because we were sleeping outside.
House is gone.
Our, our, our belongings is gone.
And also our farms is gone.
It means that we have also, we willbe also hit by a hunger crisis.
We are also in danger when itcomes to the security at my home.
I had also to think about myparents at home, where they are,
their house have been washed away.
They have nothing, but they arevery old and they are suffering.
(19:46):
So it was very tragic.
It was very difficult.
But as a mediator, I triedto spare much of my time to
supporting those who were in need.
I was trying to save lives of women whowere facing a lot of abuses in the camps.
I tried to intervene into issues of girlswho were facing a lot of things because
(20:08):
other men were taking advantage of thesituation in order to give girls money so
that they can exchange with their bodiesby having sex with them, unprotected sex.
Many people in this periodhave contracted a lot of
diseases, sexual diseases.
So it was very difficult.
I was one uh, moving in different camps.
We we had a thousand of camps, butbecause I was the one I will hire
(20:31):
to travel to different camps andall the weeks that I've been doing
was voluntarily, I was not paid.
It was out of the love to save thecommunity that I live, to save women
and girls who are suffering in thecommunity and also the issues of child
protection was very high, and manychildren were abused in different ways.
So I had also to stand up to to startat least to advocate on how we should
(20:54):
protect children and how the childrenshould be report in all the cases.
All the cases that they wereexperiencing in the community, in
the camps, in all the communityplaces during this time of cyclone.
So it was a very hard work and Iwill never forget this situation that
we had and how much I was involved,and I was doing those out of love.
(21:15):
So the conflicts were able to be managedbecause I was able to sacrifice my time,
to sacrifice my energy to go just to savelives of my fellow community members.
Thank you so much.
Laura May (21:30):
And as I'm listening to this, Brown, I mean, I'm sure lots of people who
are listening to the podcast will just beasking themselves, like, how can I help?
What are the ways that the internationalcommunity could help you or
Malawi or the situation generally?
Brown Masingati (21:47):
Thank you so much for that question.
As of now, for the recoveryprogram, I will say that.
It is good to target to, to helpby bringing in some resources.
Like as I said, that we are doing anenvironmental conservation in order
to protect the community that whenevercyclone comes, we are able to survive.
(22:11):
So tree seedlings is very, veryquite important and also issues
of irrigation because of the dryspell that we experienced this year.
The hunger crisis thatwe are experiencing.
We have a lot of rivers.
Malawi is beautiful.
We have rivers that are flowingfrom different directions.
So, I will ask well wishers.
(22:33):
To help us with the irrigation schemematerials, like solar pump, where
we can be pumping water from riverand do some kind of agriculture.
Malawi is agriculture country,we depend in agriculture.
We would like also to askwell-wishers if they can support
with the needs of the women.
And the girls in the community, likeempowering women who are survivors of
(22:56):
gender based violence with the capital tokeep on moving with their business so that
they can be able to uplift themselves.
Also girls to support our girls withthe school we have, like I said that
we, we have 20 girls, but out of 25managed to secure like a scholarship.
So, like, If we can havepeople who can support with the
(23:19):
tuition fee for these girls.
So as one way of fighting gender basedviolence because once they're educated
it means they'll be able to know abouttheir rights and their responsibility, and
they will be able to report any kind ofgender based violence, and they will be
able to support even other female women onthe issues of gender based violence while
doing the business to empower themselves.
(23:40):
So, and also, we have 30children at our center.
These children are are not eatinganything, and it's very, we
are in a difficult situation.
The students are undernourished,they don't eat, and their
nutritional status is quite low.
It's very, very, very low.
(24:00):
Yeah, we don't they don't have evenschool uniform, but the children
are dedicated to go to school.
So we are asking also forthe nutrition part of it.
If anything, they can support with theirfunds so that we're going to be able to
buy maize as well as groundnuts so thatit can be able to eat porridge at least.
Also, their school uniformat the committee based
(24:22):
care center where they are.
So, any kind of support wouldchange the lives of many people
because people are still suffering.
We really need support.
We really need your heart also,so put us in your prayers.
Well, thank you so much.
Laura May (24:37):
Absolutely.
And so I understand that really donationsare the best way to help get this done.
You and I, Brown, have talked about howto do this because it's a bit difficult
sometimes to send money to Malawi.
So if you would like to donate tosupport the work of Brown in Malawi and
support his community, I will put notesin the description so you can either
(24:58):
send to Malawi and to Brown directly,or you can transfer to me and then I
will forward it all on to Brown as well.
So I'm really hoping that we can dosomething to support these incredible
initiatives and this also generallypeace building work that Brown is doing
locally because it sounds incredible.
And so I'm wondering,Brown, what is next for you?
(25:22):
What are your next plans for workand for supporting the community?
Brown Masingati (25:27):
Yeah.
My next plan is that the governmenthas been recommending me for the
good work that I have been doing,the work that could have been done
with organization that have funds.
So as an individual, I startedthe talking to my friends.
So we have managed tohave like board members.
Right now we have submitted ourapplication to be local based organization
(25:51):
that will be helping people inthe community in different ways.
So we are hoping that come next weekwe'll be certified as a non- profit
organization working in Malawi , andI'm hundred percent sure that we're
going to make it because of lovethat the community has for me and the
love that I have for the community.
So that's the plans and theplans are moving forward.
(26:14):
Yeah.
Laura May (26:15):
That's incredible.
And I mean, out of curiosity, Iwonder maybe if there's people in the
mediation community in other countriesthat might be able to share their
experiences with you as well, to seewhat's worked and what hasn't worked
when setting up a non profit like that.
It might be quite interesting.
Okay, Brown, is there anything elseI should have asked you but haven't?
Brown Masingati (26:37):
Yeah, thank you so much.
I would like to also to say thatI'm very flexible if there is any
kind of collaboration because I dobelieve that no man is an island.
No one can stand alone.
We need to work together.
This is something thatwe should work together.
We should hold hands together.
So I'm urging everyone, eventhe organization that they are
(27:02):
free to collaborate with us.
We are free to work with anyone inorder to achieve what we would like to.
By ending issues of gender basedviolence, issues of climate, empowering
women as well as empowering girls andthe protecting lives of children in
the community, providing them witha feeding program for their life.
(27:26):
So we are ready for anykind of collaboration.
We are ready for any conversation.
We are ready for any kindof assistance that we people
might want to to to assist.
Laura May (27:38):
Absolutely.
Okay.
Now you found me on LinkedIn andI'm curious- for those who are
interested in learning more aboutyour work, where can they find you?
Is LinkedIn best, or is there somewhereelse that they could make contact with
you and understand your work better?
Brown Masingati (27:55):
Oh, thank you so much.
I am on LinkedIn andalso on the Facebook.
I'm there.
I have also a email address.
Currently we are also developing awebsite as well as Facebook page for the
organization, because the organizationis named Harmony for Families.
Because what I'm doing, everything, isto develop families in the community.
(28:17):
So soon we'll be sharing awebsite that is being developed.
As well as Facebook page, but Imyself, I'm also on the Facebook.
You find me there with a differentkind of initiatives that I've
been doing and what I'm doing now.
I have my WhatsApp number that Ican be able to share and anyone
(28:39):
can keep in touch with me.
Thank you so much.
Laura May (28:43):
Amazing.
And I'll make sure to put allof those contact details in the
podcast episode description as well.
So look Brown, thank you somuch again for joining me today.
And for everyone else, until next time,this is Laura May with the Conflict
Tipping Podcast from Mediate.Com.
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