Just a few thoughts...

Hello from a really hot Mzuzu - not that I am complaining - its beautiful weather! We have had a good few heavy showers of rain and people have planted their maize. Its the time when requests for fertiliser are coming in thick and fast every day. As well as that, with the school calendar changing and schools beginning again on Monday, many requests for school fees are coming my way! Its not an easy time for people as we lead up to the festive season, as they were not expecting to have to pay school fees until January.

This week has been busy planning for the new school year which begins on Monday. Some repairs had to be done at school - the fence fell down in the heavy rain last week and so here you can see the new one being put up!

The demand for school places has been great. I have had to turn away about 45 parents looking for places, so the sooner we get the new school built the better. I was delighted that in my absence the parents and some children did a 'big walk' and raised about K80,000 which is roughly £350, a tremendous effort in this economic climate.

I thought I should introduce you to some of my colleagues. Here is Miriam the Deputy Education Secretary and the one to whom I am directly responsible. She is a really lovely gracious lady, with a lot of wisdom and great to work with.

This is Mary the secretary in the Education office, which could not run without her!! Always gives a smile when I come into the office.

Vincent is one of the Project Officers who deals with Primary School projects throughout the Synod........big smile..........big heart!!


Mussa has not been with us long - he is accounts assistant and seems to be very involved with whatever he is doing here!!


And James, one of the drivers with his vehicle in the background. Unfortunately due to the fuel crisis, he has not had so much travel to do of late. The crisis is really desperate - many people are being hit hard - queues at filling stations are long and people are becoming angry with the situation. But as you can see, James keeps smiling...


Of course, I still have to study and I spent today trying to do some work on the internet which was extremely frustrating as it is so slow. I couldn't download the documents I needed from Queens so had to ask the lecturer to email them to me which he kindly did. Don't the books look exciting!!

Around 5pm I had enough with the books, made myself a wee cup of tea and took a wander around this wonderful garden! Its really green at the minute because of the rain. I am so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the world. Here is the view across the valley...

Some avocados on the tree......

and the beautiful garden - what a hard life eh!!

Till next time...........keep praying...

Blessings

Diane

PS Don't forget to leave a comment (as long as its a nice one of course!!) Thanks for all the comments received so far!