creativity in our centres

Hello and greetings from a wet and chilly Mzuzu - its a day for woolly jumpers and thick socks!

Much has been happening in Early Childhood Development and this week at our school we have had much creativity!

The children were moulding clay (at home you would use playdough or something similar but we use mud) and they were really enjoying making different shapes.

The finished products left to dry in the sun!!

The children made a lovely house in the playground during the week - the top picture shows the finished results. The one below shows the work in progress. This activity gave the children and the teachers a lot of pleasure!!

Last week two of the trainers travelled to Mlowe congregation on the upper lake shore to train the caregivers and committee of a nursery school. Here you can see them at work!

The view from the nursery school is stunning over the lake with the Tanzanian mountains in the distance - imagine waking up to that every morning!

On Thursday and Friday of the past week we have been at Kachere, a congregation within Mzuzu who are opening a nursery school. We were training the caregivers and committee the basics of Early Childhood Development and it will be exciting to watch the progress as the school develops.

A child was with us during the training and he enjoyed playing with this locally made football - here you can see him diving for the ball - maybe he will be a future world cup participant!!

It is always good to see folk from UK - this week there were several visitors. A group of teenagers from Scotland were visiting the synod and one of the teachers came several times for a cup of coffee which was nice - this was her second visit. Also a friend who used to work in Livingstonia stayed for a few days with a couple of others which was really nice.

Wishing you a blessed week!

Diane

lots happening..........

Hello everyone

Greetings from a chilly Mzuzu evening! Its definitely getting cooler, so if you are visiting in the next couple of months please bring warm clothes!

Excitement this week as we watched the school roof going on - its a real blessing to see this happening so quickly!

The school from the opposite side of the road!

This week I went to Karonga and we visited Kasoba village but also Karonga Girls Secondary School which was also damaged in the earthquake in December. In fact the tremors are still happening but thankfully the magnitude is not so great. Here you can see the girls hostel - it might not look too bad but its the structural damage which is difficult to capture in a photograph.

These are the tents the girls are using as hostels - you can imagine the lack of security and safety for the girls who return to school on Monday.

This week saw the second week of our training in Mzuzu - here you can see me in action teaching at the front!!

The two trainers, Nicolas and Enala looking smart.

The caregivers making materials for their schools.....

and some finished products.............

We were priviliged to have the Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Community Services to come to the finishing ceremony to hand out the certificates to the caregivers. She has a great heart for young children in Malawi and was a great encouragement to everyone who attended.

It was great this week also to welcome friends for a few days. I had a lovely time with Carson and Diane and actually had a relaxing day off with them. Thanks for a lovely time!!

Hope you all have had a great week too. Till next time..........

Blessings

Diane