A day in the life

James Longwe is a Programme Officer and has worked for WaterAid in rural Malawi since 2002. Here James explains a typical day.

Addressing a community meeting in Maleta village, Malawi.

Credit: WaterAid / Layton Thompson

I wake up between 5am and 5.30am. I ride my bike for about 30 minutes, or help my wife Elisy with chores. I leave the house at around 7.15, and drive the 7km to the WaterAid office, dropping my wife at work and my son Ephraim at school on the way. The first thing I do when I arrive at work at 7.30am is check my emails and prioritise my tasks for the day. My main area of interest is how a lack of safe water, good sanitation facilities and hygiene practices affect women and girls.

I help to provide water and sanitation in the Machinga district of Malawi, and composting latrines in Mzimba district. People in the communities did not have adequate sanitation and their environment and health were heavily affected by open defecation.

The coming of the project started with the formation and training of committees which promote good hygiene practices. Our projects bring clean water into the communities. The committees manage the water systems themselves, charging users a small fee to buy spare parts and pay people to repair the system.

James plays with a family in Maleta village.

Credit: WaterAid / Layton Thompson

One time, someone was complaining about paying that small fee for the water. A wise man told them that if they want free water they should go back to the unclean river. This to me is inspiring because there are people within the community who quickly understand the issues and help to explain to those who might have resisted the message.

I drive home for lunch. My favourite dish is chicken with nsima, which is a thick porridge made from maize flour. I return to the office for the afternoon and leave at 5pm. In the evening I spend time with my family watching TV and go to bed at 10pm.