Dorothy

This post is dedicated with much love to Annelies.

"If you ask members of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) to
explain who Dorothy is, you would get a very different answer from each person.
This is because Dorothy means something different for each member. Dorothy is
the figurative person that EWB works for in Africa, the person that keeps us
accountable and always questioning the decisions we make and the actions we
take. Dorothy is the person that drives us to carry on in our work, and
motivates us to push for a better world where she is able to reach her
potential." Quote

Although I'm not capable of checking myEWB, I hear the the OVS team has been taking turns posting about their Dorothies. I'd like to quickly speak of mine.

But first! What makes a "Dorothy"? When I settled on these two individuals below it wasn't a matter of close scrutiny. I didn't pull out a checklist of criteria. I didn't discuss with them their hopes and dreams, didn't look into their personal history or family. Heck, I don't even know the name of the man. In both cases it was "Dorothy at first sight" -- it was just instinctive.

No, I don't think I have special Dorothy-sense, but what I do have is a regular old people-sense transferrable from Canada. I would say that I just got a really good vibe from these two and if I'm going to be committing myself to someone, I'd like it to be to them.

Deliwe Shaba. This women is a Misuku coffee farmer and the Chairwomen of our one all-women farmer group. She's not a loud leader but is clearly hard working and forward-thinking. The farmers here in Misuku like to speak of their development in terms of things like steal roofs but in my opinion this women's group is the most significant sign of development in the community. And Deliwe is quietly leading the charge. She is soft-spoken, thoughtful, sincere and earnest. I'm already in admiration of her and I think she would make a very good boss for me as well.

Anonymous lorry driver. I know even less about this man. I drove in the back of his truck between Kapoka and Karonga on my most recent journey from Misuku to Mzuzu. I probably said a total of two sentances to him, "I am going to urinate" and "Thank you sir, you were a good driver." But nonetheless he just seemed like a really good person, representing all the good I see in Malawians here.

As Annelies puts it above, these people motivate me to push for a better world.