from the heat of Mzuzu to being so chilled out...

Greetings from a very chilly Belfast! Yes, I have arrived safely from Mzuzu and am frozen - its so cold here! But the positive thing is that my photos upload in a second here where in Malawi writing the blog can take hours!! I left Mzuzu on Tuesday - the rains have definitely come - we have had heavy rain in Mzuzu and further north, although in some parts there has been little. Pray that the rains will come to all parts of the country so that food security will be good in 2011.

I just thought I should update you on the last week before I left Malawi. We were doing two weeks training with some of the caregivers from Mzuzu Presbytery - there were 34 participants in all, learning about Early Childhood Development.

The training is both theory and practical and the caregivers have a very packed programme. Here you can see some group work.

and.....more practically, making glue from cassava..........


and cooking the glue

Making paint from natural leaves (non poisoness of course)

and the end products (paint brushes are made from twigs)

Hlezipe our guest facilitator from Loudon Presbytery (some of you will know Loudon as Embangweni)

Learning how to make playground materials

and doing outdoor games

Much of the training involves making materials so this is the scene after classes as dusk is beginning to fall and everyone is busy making materials

and one of the end products made on a maize sack

Myself in action teaching about nutrition and malnutrition

As I was leaving before the training finished the group bought me a gift and here is the leader of the group presenting it to me

the whole group

I spent the last evening with my facilitators, Hlezipe, Enala and Nicolas (who took the photo) - these are the Christmas cards I received from them, and my skirt is the gift I received from the group

I had to rush to school to say bye to the teachers and the kids and found them busy making materials too - don't they look good wearing their hats - here is the Pre-school class

and the toddler class

and the kids made me this beautiful card of Mary(who is black) with baby Jesus (who is somehow white)!!

Then I left all the festivities of Malawi, got on a plane and landed in Belfast -weather was fine but cold, and then when I woke up this morning suddenly its really freezing and everywhere is covered in snow!! Makes me wonder........why did I leave the lovely heat of Mzuzu!!!

Enjoy your weekend in the snow or the heat depending on your location. Wishing everyone who reads my blog joy, peace and happiness during the Christmas season and many blessings for 2011.

With much love

Diane

Hello there,

This has been a week of frustrations and also encouragement! At the beginning of the week we had our first real heavy rain in Mzuzu in the middle of the night! I never enjoy thunderstorms but this was particularly scary - the lightning was amazing. Unfortunately my car does not like thunder and each time there was a loud brattle above the house the alarm went off so I was up and down like a yoyo putting it off!! Kept me from being too scared I suppose. The storm was directly overhead and went on for about 2 hours! This is one thing I will not miss when I go to Ireland for deputation!!

As rains begin to fall its the time of year for fruit and vegetables in abundance and here you can see my avocado tree laden with avocado!! Yum!
Its also the time when we have more bugs - here is a bongololo or a millipede - these are really common during the rains - you find them everywhere and have to be careful not to stand on them when you get up in the morning as they make an awful mess under your foot!! Of course we get more snakes at this time of year as well and on Monday we had one at school - the little children under 3 thought it was great fun to see a snake and wanted to play with it........as you do!!

I was in Lilongwe on Thursday for a couple of meetings. On the way I noticed that although people have prepared the ground for planting, and in many cases have started to plant, there has not been a lot of rainfall yet. Imagine all these ridges were dug by hand with a hoe......... so we are hoping that there will be more rain soon.

I was in the office one day this week when I heard the under 3's class singing about Zacchaeus - when I looked out of my window this is the scene - one of the kids was up the tree while the others were singing and clapping......it was so joyful!! Imagine what health and safety regulations there would be for this in other parts of the world!!

I was invited to a congregation in Nkhata bay on Friday to see the beginnings of a nursery school - as you can see in the picture it is going to be quite a size! Two ladies from the Netherlands are supporting this project and they are hopeful that it will be finished by March!

Here you can see two ministers on the left,(second from the left is the minister of the congregation), then the two ladies who are supporting the project, and Nicolas. This is an exciting development for the area and we are hopeful that this will assist the young children a lot.

While I was there of course I had a look at what was happening in the nursery school which is now being held in the church building. The kids were having their snack!! There were not as many children as usual probably because parents are preparing their gardens and the children go too....

When this arrived on my plate for lunch I wasn't quite sure(check out the teeth), but its delicious - its butterfish from the lake.....to be highly recommended!!

Nkhata Bay - a lovely spot

This coming week we are beginning a two week long workshop for the caregivers in Mzuzu Presbytery. There will be around 35 participants and I am busy making materials to show them what can be done with locally available materials (in this case, cardboard and bottletops!)

What a lovely surprise and such an encouragement for me on Saturday morning when 12 of the 15 Presbytery trainers arrived to wish me a safe journey to Ireland (I am going mid December) and to bring me gifts in appreciation of the work I am doing! I was very humbled and received so many beautiful gifts...........

This lovely globe is carved by hand and I was pointing out to them all where Ireland is on the map!!

This is a picture of the group - not smiling because I put the camera on self timer and they were not sure whether it was going to take a photo or not!! What a lovely end to a mixed week!!

I am sure preparations are underway for Christmas in many parts of the world - here there is little sign of Christmas yet and I enjoy that. Sometimes Christmas becomes too commercialised and the real meaning of the celebration is lost!

Probably the last blog post for some time will be next week as I am returning to Ireland for 4 months! Thanks for all your support and comments so far............maybe I will write from Ireland where I believe it is quite cold.............how will I survive!! Wishing you a lovely week.

Blessings and love

Diane