Climb Malawi: Building Community and Diversity Through Rock Climbing

Imagine moving to a new country, starting a new job, and having to potentially sacrifice the most important activity: climbing. For those driven to never give up this sport, creativity sparks unique solutions.

Now, picture a warm Wednesday night, and you are invited to climb a small bouldering wall in a friend’s backyard garden. When you arrive there are 10 other people gathered together to hang out, laugh, and climb. Although this could be a unique experience for anyone, in Lilongwe, Malawi, where the sport of climbing is known to very few, this evening is even more unusual. The attendees are youths and adults from all walks of life, foreigner and Malawian. The friend hosting this event is a Canadian, Tyler Algeo, who moved to Malawi with his wife Clare in August 2018.

Like most climbers, rock climbing is not simply a sport for Tyler; it is a lifestyle. Rather than giving up climbing, Tyler is investing in Lilongwe by designing and building the city’s first bouldering gym.

When he and his wife began planning their move to Malawi, Tyler did not want to give up his passion, but with the closest rock climbing community 5 hours from Lilongwe, Tyler wanted to build his own wall. After shipping a majority of their household possessions along with an assortment of climbing holds and tools to their new home, Tyler packed his remaining luggage for life in Malawi — one suitcase full of household items and another full of climbing gear. Having constructed a 12-foot wide wall in his backyard, Tyler started a WhatsApp group in November 2018 to invite more people to climb. This group “quickly exploded” through word of mouth with five or more people joining weekly, adding to a current number of 80 members and growing.

Initially, the majority of the climbers were expatriates. However, this was not Tyler’s vision for this local climbing community. Not only does Tyler love climbing, but he is also passionate about increasing diversity in this sport. Upon first arriving in Malawi, Tyler felt disconnected from local Malawian life. This disconnect was due, in part, to lack of affordable outdoor activities for locals, although foreigners could pay to create spaces for recreation. Through the development of an inclusive climbing community, Tyler is intentionally creating opportunities for local Malawians and “expats” to enjoy outdoor recreation together. By connecting with some friends who managed a permaculture garden at his wife’s health center, Tyler and Clare hosted a barbeque for the Malawian farmers and their families as an opportunity for them to try climbing. According to Tyler, those initial Lilongwe climbers “have become the most regular of climbers now. They are there every time it is open. They wish it was open more. A few are dedicated to becoming the best climbers of Malawi. Others think this is great because there are so few things for the youth in Malawi to do.”

As Tyler has invited more people to his backyard bouldering wall, he has seen diversity grow and people take interest in each other and climbing.

“You see climbing subverting normal power dynamics where you have a farmer who is making four dollars a day teaching an American doctor how to climb. In this community, we have had everything from young white kids, young adopted Malawian kids, Malawian high school girls, and foreigners from all countries come to climb. You see poorer Malawians teaching upper middle-class Malawians how to climb. None of the background or the color of your skin or your income matters in the context of climbing.”

What started as a personal desire to continue to climb and a small bouldering wall is now evolving into a plan to develop Lilongwe’s first public climbing gym. Currently, Tyler is looking to buy land on which to build a 60-foot long bouldering wall.

A focus on bouldering further supports the goal of community building. Bouldering is a form of climbing that requires minimal gear, only shoes and chalk, which increases the accessibility for those new to the sport. Bouldering also provides the opportunity to socialize more and work together to problem solve climbing routes. This bouldering gym holds the potential to bring the same diversity and community together as Tyler has begun to see in his own backyard.

In order to further support an inclusive climbing community, Tyler will create a no-one-is-turned-away model. A suggested price will be posted; however, if anyone is incapable of paying they are still welcome to climb. This model is supported by the members who are capable of paying, and it is one way to intentionally increase diversity in the climbing world. He also desires to buy a mini-bus in order to help those who cannot afford to travel to the gym. “What we found is that the average Malawian cannot afford to take the mini-bus to come climb because they make about 3,000 kwacha a day ($4/day) and a mini bus costs about 500 kwacha one way ($0.70). If they need to take more than one mini-bus then the round-trip cost will at least half their daily salary.”

Although climbing can be a fun activity that promotes physical health, it can be so much more. As Tyler envisions a Lilongwe climbing community, “the opportunities become limitless once a climbing wall has been built to foster this new community. There can be opportunities to incorporate other forms of healthy activity like yoga, but also work with grassroots organizations that mentor and support Malawians to better their lives. The space can be a physical nucleus for the community and a place where we identify enterprising individuals that would benefit from educational opportunities, mentorship, or entrepreneurial assistance.”

Tyler is seeking investment partners and fundraising for this goal. The 60-foot bouldering wall design can be seen at his website: climbmalawi.com. There are also pictures of his current backyard wall and community. Ultimately, the vision is to build “a socio-economically inclusive climbing community in the ‘warm heart of Africa’: where everyone is welcome and no one is turned away.”

If you are interested, please visit his GoFundMe page: gofundme.com/build-an-inclusive-climbing-gym-in-malawi-africa.

This article was originally posted on Medium: medium.com/@daniellealise/climb-malawi-building-community-and-diversity-through-rock-climbing-f5134ea3ef1e