Byte recently caught up with Jo Hook, the co-founder of charity Temwa, which has provided much-needed aid and support for the country of Malawi. Malawi is a landlocked country south of the equator in sub-Saharan Africa bordering Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia. Life expectancy in Malawi dropped from 45 years in 1990 to 38 years in 2005 (UNDP, 2004) and is expected to drop rapidly in the future due to HIV/AIDS pandemic. Exact figures for the HIV infection rate are difficult to substantiate, but the 2004 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) indicate that 12% of women and men age 15-49 in Malawi are currently infected with HIV. Temwa operates in the Northern district of Nkhata Bay in an isolated rural area called Usisya, and has helped the local community there build a better lives for themselves through a variety of projects.

Bristolians may be more familiar with Temwa through the fundraising events arm of their operation, otherwise known as Monsterpiece. They've been responsible for some memorable parties in recent years around the city, all in the name of a great cause. Jo took the time to take Byte through some of the highlights and good work Temwa has accomplished.

B: Take us through the evolution of Temwa and your involvement in the organisation.

JH: Temwa was started by myself and Sophie Elson, we both lived and worked in Malawi in 1999-2000. Whilst there, we came face to face with the many hardships that the people of Malawi deal with on a daily basis. We saw someone we work with slowly die because of AIDS - Lotti - a member of staff where we worked.

We watched Lotti loose his fight against AIDS: a disease that had already claimed the lives of his wife and many of his close family. His death left his sister to look after and provide for all of his six children, plus her other brother's and sister's offspring, who were all orphaned by either AIDS, cholera, malaria or typhoid. We were so moved by the desperate situation that, on our return to England, we decided to send out the equivalent of Lotti's monthly income to support his family.

It was apparent that this story was not unusual in this part of the world and the we felt empowered to do more. We spent time researching the specific problems Malawian's were facing and how to best tackle them. They began a three-year fundraising programme that would not only raise awareness, but also the targeted amount in order to start their planned projects.

The majority of the money needed to start Temwa was raised by the Monsterpiece nights, in particular by a band called Babyhead. This initial period was truly inspirational; it was amazing to see a dedicated group of people working totally for free, organising events to raise funds for a charity idea that founders Jo Hook and Sophie Elson had on returning from a trip to Africa. The aim was to start a project to help families affected by the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Malawi. Research was undertaken, whilst fundraising, to decide how best to start the project.

Now the organisation has been up & running in Malawi for 5 years and we have achieved an amazing amount of stuff! See below:

* Building & running the first Community Centre in Usisya. The Community Centre was opened in July 2004.
* Organising a variety of HIV & AIDS education programs and reaching over 10,000 members of the community in Usisya with invaluable information relating to HIV & AIDS.
* Building & running the first Library in Usisya. The Library was opened in September 2007.
* Building of 2 x Primary Schools, one in the village of Sangano (opened in February 2008) and one in the village of Nkhutu (opened in May 2009)
* Training of 15 Bricklayers & providing them with starter packs to start their own business.
* Training of 12 Tailors & providing them with starter packs to start their own business.
* Training of 6 community forestry experts.
* Distribution and planting of over 1,300 tree's around Usisya
* Organising 12 community bonding & educational events, which include; 6-a-side football tournaments, netball tournaments, community centre open days.
* Creation & running of an Agricultural Training Centre (Demonstration Garden) opened in February 2006.
* Training of over 250 farmers on sustainable agricultural techniques.
* In-depth study on the communities needs in Usisya (Community Profile Survey)
* In-depth study on food & nutrition in Usisya (Food & Nutrition Survey)
* Twinning of Marlwood, Redcliffe & Chipping Sodbury schools in Bristol with schools in Usisya.
* Providing materials & equipment for schools in Usisya, including books, pens, pencils, calculators, sports equipment & a computer.
* Creating the first ever film in the Tumbuka Language (Tumbuka is spoken by more than 1 million people) the film is called "People Like Us", completed in January 2008. This film documents the lives of 3 people from Usisya who are HIV positive, it records their experience of finding out their status, how they cope with their life HIV positive, they encourage other people to reduce stigma for HIV positive people, to become tested themselves and to do what they can to stop themselves from contracting HIV. This film has so far been shown to over 2,000 people in Usisya, its used nationwide and has been shown on national TV in Malawi.

B: What have been the highlights of your involvement so far?

JH: In the UK or Malawi? In Malawi - Meeting people whose lives we have literally saved, I have meet people who are HIV positive, they wouldn't have been tested if it wasn't for Temwa, they would have died of AIDS by now. But now they are getting ARV's (the drugs to prolong your life) and they have support groups & skills training - and they are doing really well.

In the UK? So much stuff! We had an amazing comedy gig in London on Sunday with Dave Gorman, there was a Full Cycle night in 2003 organised by Becky legs, that raised us £4,000 and we had Marky, XRS, Roni Size, Krust, Die, Bryan G and many many more. We had a breaks night in London with Plump DJ's, Krafty Kuts, Tayo, Evil Nine, Freq Nasty & more! All the amazing nights we did at the Thekla with Babyhead, all the amazing nights at Native with so many talented bands and musicians, the nights we have done with Blowpop, the nights we have done with Run & The Blast, the amazing art exhibitions that we have done! If you go here you will see all the flyers from all the events over the years. Too many good events to pick one out as a highlight!

B: How important is the Bristol community in helping Temwa achieve it's aims?

JH: I don't think the organisation would be where it is today if it were not for all the amazing people in Bristol giving us support. The Bristol community has been amazing, all of the DJ's, bands, promoters, the clubbers, we have a great turn out to all our events. The artists, the people who do the runs & the cycle rides, everyone has been amazing! I was born & brought up in Bristol, I used to go out all the time when I was younger to places like Trinity, Lakota, Thekla, so I met loads of people through the party scene. I worked at The Thekla for 9 years (on & off) and met loads of people through there, thats where I met all the babyhead guys when they first moved to Bristol, they were all instrumental in helping raise the first round of funds needed. We are now firm friends & I don't know where we would be without them!

B: Whats next for Temwa and where can we read more about the organisation's activities?

JH: We run regular Monster Piece nights. We had our last night at Native (as Native is closing) on Friday 10th July. We're working out the next venue for the Monster Piece nights, we'll keep doing nights with people like Blowpop, Run, The Blast, etc, our MP residents play at The Park, Spotted Cow, places like that... You can keep up to date here.

FFI : Temwa Website

An edited version of this interview appeared in Venue Magazine.

Well it's certainly been an eventful past week or so here at B365 with all manner of name changes and re-designs to keep us busy. Thanks for bearing with us, as there's loads of great new content coming in the next few weeks to keep you entertained. We're only going to keep getting better!



Hip Hop juggernaut Sober & Dribbla have been hard at work bubbling up beats and bars in their lab to follow up last year's Freaks Speak Dark. The result is The Butchers Ball and it is a master class in pure concentrated banger technology - proving these boys mean business in a big, big way. We'll be bringing you a full interview with the lads very soon, as well as a full review of the new album. Hold tight!



Another week, another quality interview courtesy of Chris Highrise. This time its the turn of up and coming genius producer Guido ahead of his debut release on Punch Drunk. Know one thing - Guido is without doubt the future of Bristol's underground music scene and is at the forefront of the new, mutated sound that Bristol is twisting out of dubstep, grime and 8-bit. Get to know or sleep on him at your peril!

Read Chris Highrise's Interview with Guido



B365 favourite Wedge teamed up with the MonkeySteak main man Atki2 last night to drop some science on Sub FM. Juicy session with the man like Atki killing it differently. Check his tracklist:

Electric Medicine – Legalise It ft. Black Steel
CJ Reign / Proton – Go To The Floor
Mr Gasparov – 1975
Octo Push – Ai Nadia
Kode9 & LD – Bad
Kuduro Sound System w/ Pinta Tirrù - Wa Ya Ya
Ramadanman – Humber
Mungo’s Fi-Hi – Dubplate Fi Dem (Version)
2000F & J Kamata –You Don’t Know What Love Is
RSD – Firewall Dub
Omar-S – Set It Out
Ican - Caminos Del Nino (Martyn's Oscuro remix)
Atki2 – Black Eyed Susan
Actress – Crushed
Ghislain Poirer ft Zulu – Go Ballistic (Grevious Angel house mix)
Monkey Steak – Veuve Edouard
Atki2 – Juniper
Roska – Do You Believe In Love?
Todd Edwards – Ooh Baby (Dub)
Mungo’s Hi-Fi – Babylon Glitch

DOWNLOAD : Wedge & Atki2 - Sub FM 24/02/09



Venue has launched an online download service where you can cop free tracks from some of the best local artists in Bristol, which is very nice of them. Slaves To Gravity, Turbowolf and The She Creatures are just some of the bands featured this week and you can preview the tuneage prior to download. Get on it!

Venue Download



This coming weekend is traditionally a very busy one in clubland, and 2009 is looking to be very much the same, regardless of any recession. First up D&B crew Torque celebrate their first birthday on Friday, with Klute and Spectrasoul amongst the DJs hitting the Tube.



On Saturday, Chesters pays host to Road To Zion 2, with the mouth-watering prospect of local MC trailblazer Buggsy sharing set with Jammer. There's a lot of big local talent in support too so this is definitely 100% B365 approved.



One of the best nights in Bristol hits Take5 again for another sweatbox session of futureproof beats. Bruk is formulating a fearsome reputation as the party to attend, so if you're looking for an intimate and forward-thinking event this weekend, this is the one.




Big knees-up of the week goes to the JUMP UP BRISTOL event at Motion though, with a cross-section of the cream of Bristol's club promoters coming together to raise money for the TEMWA association. Big line up that is sure to do the business and all for a good cause too.