Board of Directors: Meet Reinier Terwindt!

As I am thinking about what keeps bringing me back to World Camp, I remember a quote by Steve Jobs that I’ve always liked:

When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world, try not to bash into the walls too much, try to have a nice family, have fun,, save a little money.  That's a very limited life.  Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use (Jobs, 1995)

What does Steve Jobs have to do with Malawi?  

For the past eight years I've been interested in development in Africa, particularly with regards to people's access to quality education. When talking to people working in this field, I've often been told that Africa's development challenges -- like HIV/AIDS, poor educational standards, and bad governance -- just are the way they are. That they're simply too vast and complicated to solve. 

World Camp began with a group of young people who fundamentally disagreed with that sentiment. It is this World Camp spirit that keeps bringing me back since I first volunteered in Malawi in 2009. This spirit is also precisely what World Camp and the communities it works with have in common. 

After finishing my Masters in London, I came back to Malawi in 2011 to work on increasing the sustainability of World Camp’s programs. By far, the most important thing I learned during my time there is that somehow, despite whatever particular odds, young Malawians keep coming up with their own solutions to the complicated challenges that they face. In Steve Jobs' words: young Malawians everywhere are building their own solutions rather than accepting that the world is just the way it is. 

My work for World Camp has therefore always focused on strengthening these students in their own fight against existing issues. In my years as a World Camp Program Coordinator, as well as in between sessions, we worked on this in three major ways. One such way has been our work on student activism, by training afterschool clubs on ways to conduct community outreach about HIV/AIDS. Another way has been to meet with School Management Committees and Parent Teachers Associations to discuss how parents can become more involved with their children's education. A third way has been to learn from teachers about their challenges to deliver Malawi's life skills curriculum and suggest possible more interactive ways to go about this. 

I recently completed my graduate studies in International Educational Policy at Columbia University's Teachers College in New York City. I currently work at the United Nations on anti-corruption in the private sector and more generally in business engagement in the global Post-2015 Agenda. My spirit to continue working with Malawian communities remains, which is why I'm very excited to have joined World Camp's Board of Directors in late 2013. 

It has been great to get together with old and new friends to discuss World Camp's path forward. We are all excited to continue to learn from Malawi's youth and making sure that they are able to carry out their solutions to Malawi's challenges. 

I would like to end by saying that World Camp has developed into a strong organization because of its large network of young people who believe that complicated challenges are more easily solved when working together. As we move forward, please get in touch with us to share your ideas on our programs so that we continue to build stronger communities collectively.   

Reinier Terwindt 

Joined the WC Board: Fall 2013

Education: MA Anthropology of Development and M.Ed International Educational Development 

Age: 27

Originally from: Nijmegen, Netherlands

Current location: New York City

Current position: Anti-Corruption & Good Governance Research, United Nations 

WC Experience: Malawi Program Coordinator 2011-2012

First Volunteered: Malawi Summer 2009

Most Excited About: promoting student activism, increasing Malawian ownership

Favorite Malawian dish: nsima with nkuku 

Favorite WC moment: working on World Camp's creative writing program with Michael Kumwenda and George Kansilanga & genet hunt in Zambia 

Check out our new Board of Directors!

World Camp has a revamped Board of Directors! We're excited to see what we can achieve in 2014 with so many great people investing their time in World Camp. Over the years we've been blessed with so many wonderful, talented and highly dedicated volunteers. And now our Board of Directors is entirely made up of passionate alumni. We thought you all might want to know a little bit about who's steering the helm of World Camp these days!

Robert Lamb is the current Board President. Rob worked as a Program Coordinator (PC) and office staff member from 2006 - 2008. Prior to working with World Camp, Rob had led wilderness trips and taught English abroad. Since working for World Camp he earned his law degree and just recently moved to Durham where he is now working for a small immigration firm that helps people obtain green cards and defends individuals that are being deported.  Rob said he likes serving on the board because World Camp is an enriching program that helps a lot of people learn and grow.

 Rachel Dudasik serves as Program Coordinator for the LIVESTRONG exercise program for adult cancer survivors for the YMCAs  of Western North Carolina. Rachel joined the board, "In hopes of John Chizimba's cake making its way to the US. And to  continue with an organization dedicated to some of the issues that drive both my personal and professional path."  Rachel  interned with World Camp in 2009 and then continued on as a PC from 2009 to 2011.

Baker Henson has been working with World Camp since putting through the original paperwork to found the organization. Baker's love for the Malawian people and understanding of cultural nuances have made him an amazing leader in World Camp's work, including leading over 200 WC volunteers through the program. Baker has also worked in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. Baker is currently completing his surgical residency in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania but remains dedicated to World Camp’s work and mission.

 Laura Ivey lives in Asheville, North Carolina. She co-founded World Camp and served as a Director until 2004. She is thrilled to  see that the organization has grown from a short term volunteer program to an organization with ongoing community  partnerships with schools, the Ministry of Education, and other NGOs. She is excited to join World Camp once again to be part  of a team that really does make a difference in so many lives.

Reinier Terwindt, currently in New York City volunteered for WC in the summer of 2009 and then began a 14 month stint in Malawi with WC in 2011. Reinier did a lot of work during that time that has helped develop our current programming. He was mainly interested in serving on the Board because he remains very inspired by the great work that World Camp has done and the potential it has to greatly increase its impact in Malawi. "I’m very excited about being part of a team of young talented people, of whom several played a crucial role in founding the organization, who are passionate about capacity building in World Camp’s partner communities."

 Karen Clark returned to Sunnyvale, California this past fall after having coordinated every session from the summer of 2010  through this past summer. Karen first volunteered with WC in January of 2010 and has been a driving force within the  organization ever since. Karen is working at Stanford but chose to become involved with the board because her time in  Malawi made such a large impact on her and she wanted to stay involved with WC’s work.

Scott Coriell, currently in Vermont, volunteered in the summer of '06 and coordinated the summer of 2008 sessions and the summer and January programs in 2009. He had this to say about his involvement with the board: "Like almost everyone who has done a World Camp program, the experience had a big impact on me. I was lucky to volunteer and work for the organization over a number of years, experiencing firsthand the amazing volunteers, translators, students, teachers and others in the World Camp orbit. It's a truly amazing group of people motivated to do amazing things. I'm excited about the opportunity to help set a direction for the organization worthy of all those amazing people."

 Katy Lackey volunteered with WC back in the summer of 2005 and then coordinated 10 sessions between 2008 and 2010 in  both Malawi and India. Katy has just completed a dual-MA in International Affairs and Natural Resources/Sustainable  Development in Washington, DC. She has worked extensively throughout Latin America with a focus on water quality, weather  patterns and storm water management. "My previous time with World Camp was life-changing. There's no other way to  describe it. It was intense, wonderful, difficult. But working in these incredible places - India and Malawi - on environmental and health issues, and the people who challenged my perspectives and changed my ideas, is what brought me to pursue my master's degree and a career in water and how water relates to human and environmental health. I guess I wanted to serve on the Board for two reasons: to give back to the organization and local staff who helped make me who I am today, and to help sustain and improve the important and inspiring work World Camp does."

The very newest member of our Board, Katie Sacca, just came on! We're so excited to have her joining us but haven't yet gotten her answers on these questions. Know that very soon we'll be featuring bios on all of our members, including Ms Sacca!

Renewable Energy in Malawi? A Sustainable Future for the Warm Heart

A sustainable future is something we should aspire to. Expending natural resources in order to provide energy is a worldwide problem. In Malawi, the Warm Heart of Africa, only about 9% of the population has access to electricity. Electricity in Malawi is controlled entirely by The Electricity Supply Corporation (ESC) of Malawi, a company owned by the government. This government-owned entity controls all of the power centers in all of Malawi. ESC provides limited electricity that is out of the financial reach of the majority of Malawi’s 16.7 million people. A lack of electricity has created additional problems within Malawi, as satisfying the energy needs of so many people has inevitably led to the exhaustion of natural resources.

Malawians that do not have electricity use firewood for everyday energy needs, such as cooking and heating. The majority of wood energy users are in the rural area, where the majority of the population lives, about 80% of the population, according to the CIA World Factbook. This means about 13,360,000 people live in the countryside villages of Malawi using wood energy. Over roughly 7 years (1983-1990), wood consumption increased from 8.5 million tons to about 12 million tons per year, an increase of about 41%. In that same time, demand for wood from the tobacco industry increased by about 29%. This long-term, high rate of reliance on firewood has led to a major deforestation issue in Malawi.

While a majority of wood is still used for rural cooking and heating, there is a large demand for wood elsewhere within the nation as well (see diagram at left). There is a massive countrywide need for firewood, but because of the quick depletion of forests, the resources are vanishing quickly. Hardly any regulations exist in Malawi about cutting down trees, and the regulations that do exist are easily illegally circumvented. Continued loss of forests will have an overwhelming deleterious effect on the Malawian environment. Soil erosion has become an increasing problem due to the high rate of deforestation. Without trees to soak up water during the rainy season, healthy topsoil is washed away leaving no nutrients in the ground for growing food or planting new trees. The lack of nutrient-rich soil makes growing crops increasingly difficult and adds further economic strain on poor farmers who must now invest in expensive fertilizers.

The listed statistics are basic measurements of Malawi’s overall energy consumption. While only 2.5% of Malawi’s energy was renewably source in 2010, the vast majority of Malawi’s electricity is renewably sourced from hydroelectricity. Malawi expects to expand their energy prospects on the national grid in the next few years, as projected in this graph.

The map below is of potential locations for hydroelectricity production that are not yet being utilized. Hydroelectricity creates energy by harvesting energy from bodies of water, in laymen’s terms. Since Malawi claims a large part of Lake Malawi, and several tributaries of the Lake, there are many untapped resources within the country.

Another largely untapped resource in Malawi is solar power. While solar energy is not a part of the grid in Malawi, it does exist in certain regions. Malawi is located in sub-Saharan Africa where many countries receive around six hours of peak sunlight a day. There is so much potential in levels of sunlight like this for solar power that the entire country could potentially access it very cheaply and easily through the assistance of outside sources. Solar power does exist in small communities but it is mostly funded by NGOs and does not provide energy to the national grid. If the people were provided with photovoltaic panels, they could power their communities and truly raise development levels.

Finally, another resource that could assist the grid’s sustainability is wind energy.

There are many exciting projects going on in Malawi, some initiated by the people of Malawi, and some by local or foreign NGOs. If these projects have the potential to combine with the existing energy grid, there is the potential for more electricity, largely from renewable resources. Since the majority of Malawian electricity is already hydroelectricity, hopes for expanding the amount of electricity produced through renewable sources is plausible. By moving the country into a new era of renewable energy that does not harm the environment, the pristine beauty of the country could be restored and protected while also creating more electricity. Africa’s warm heart could be a model for green development, leading even more developed – without introducing controversial nuclear power or harming the environment.

This piece was written by Nicole Bradley, based on a final research paper for her undergraduate degree. Edited by Emily Stallings.