“As we navigated the vehicles and dwellers on road our discussion turned to various approaches and development options we should consider, and in the spirit of a true partnership our development partner started to share some stories that I later came to interpret as his way of re-enforcing that I heard and understand the importance of development (and now business) as an “integrated” program. In 2003 there was a bad drought and many families did not have enough maize to feed their entire families so it wasn’t uncommon for parents to allow their teenage daughters to prostitute themselves for money to buy maize. On the surface, it’s easy to hear this story and come to a conclusion through a westerner eyes … but my brief introduction to Malawi earlier in the day, now left me a sense of sadness for the for the parents who had to make this heart wrenching choice … no parent should be left with this decision. As if this wasn’t enough to hear and comprehend, our development partner retold a story he shared with my partner about a child orphaned by famine or aids (at this point I’m not sure it really matters since everything seems horribly integrated) that was placed in the care of a mother who had eventually come to point where she was struggling to feed her own family and in front of the child was complaining what a burden he was and to take him a away. You see integrated takes many forms and I now have sense of what it means”

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