from Livingstonia to Mhuju

Hi everyone, hope all is well with you where ever you are in the world!

What a week – if it was palije nyengo last week then this week is palije nyengo chomene, which means there is no time at all! It has been hectic as I am trying to get a lot packed into a short time before I go home.

Monday and Tuesday, Nicolas, Enala and myself went to Livingstonia for 2 days to do some training at the nursery school. We arrived good and early, around 7.30am to find so many people waiting for training. It transpired that the CBO (Community Based Organisations) groups around Livingstonia had heard that I was coming to train caregivers and they all decided to show up. Unfortunately I had to turn them all away as I didn’t have resources for them with me. The main issue however runs deeper than that – if I train CBO groups in Livingstonia, then I will have to do the same everywhere we go, and we just don’t have the manpower for that.

Then we had another issue with the committee of Livingstonia Pre-school, so by the time I sorted that out it was quite late in the day – just as well we were spending two days there.

The following morning we were woken by this beautiful sunrise........makes you feel good when you see such a sight in the morning!


We had such a wonderful time with the children and they had such an amazing day playing and enjoying themselves. I hope and pray that the messages we gave will really create a change in the mindset of both caregivers and committee and that next time we go we will find the same nursery school class that we left! This is what makes my job so worthwhile – when you see the impact of the training on the children………

washing hands...........

reading corner....

puzzle time...

posers...

lets swing...

inside the nursery school....

Enala about to teach........

concentration...

and of course.......... we couldn't leave Livingstonia without being tourists and visiting the church - here you can see a picture of the David Livingstone window and in the one below the inside of the church.

We travelled back to Mzuzu on Tuesday afternoon – on Wednesday I had a busy day in the office with parents and ministers and report writing.

Thursday, we headed to Nkhata Bay to Phiri congregation to train their committee and caregivers. I had another meeting so I left the trainers and caught up with them in the afternoon. I was absolutely thrilled when I arrived at the nursery as this next photo was the first thing I saw……….

Last time I called at Phiri the minister was telling me how the congregation were getting together to put up swings and make some see saws – what a pleasant surprise to see it had been done, and that the children were having so much fun.

On Thursday night I had a lady from 'Help a child', a Dutch donor organisation, staying with me. We had a great chat and I really enjoyed having her........the home made pizza was a success I think!!!

Friday was spent in the office again – by now I am getting really tired as I have not had a break for so many days and travelling in the warm weather really takes it out of you. However, the week is not yet over as today we travelled to Rumphi to Mhuju congregation for training with the caregivers and committees in for two new nursery schools. We have had a wonderful day – weather was beautiful, our hosts were brilliant, the participants were very active in participation, and all in all it was a great day. Below you can see some photos of the participants and even one of me facilitating.

I was quite surprised today because a few of our participants were well educated people – this was not the surprise, but the surprise was that most of them were learning about how children develop for the first time. It never fails to humble me when I realise that things I take for granted are so precious to people who have never heard them.

Yes.......its me on the floor demonstrating what you can do with bottle tops in a pre-school...(you may not be able to see in the photo but we were in the main body of a church and behind me is the front of the church which is open to the skies as they are renovating...I was glad it's not the rainy season!!

some of the participants

Another lovely thing happened today – the minister in the congregation had been studying at Zomba when I was teaching there. His son Chancy was in our Preschool at Zomba and today I heard that he is in Standard One (P1) and is first in the class – that made me feel really proud. I didn’t manage to get a photo of Chancy today but here is a blast from the past – its Chancy at Zomba.

Have a wonderful week......I should be on the way back to Ireland this time next week so I am not sure when the next update will be. Oh, by the way I know you like reading the blog but please don't forget to send me the odd email too or leave a comment on the blog!!

Blessings

Diane