School holidays............but not for me!

Hello everyone and hope you are enjoying the weekend!  Once again I have had a busy time.  

A few months ago I mentioned that one of the volunteers from Europe who assisted us in building a nursery school at Nkhata bay was killed on the road.  She had come with a friend and that friend returned home to attend the funeral.  She came back for 2 weeks to finalise things here as she realises she can never stay in Malawi after what happened.  I met her at the centre and felt so sorry for her.  I trust that she will find peace once again in her heart when she finds a new direction in her life.

I went to discuss with the committee at the centre about the sustainability of the centre now that the donors have gone.  I await feedback..........  Here you can see the children washing hands before they receive their porridge.  

On the way home there were many bananas for sale along the roadside - bananas are available all year round here, different types savoury plantains and sweet bananas, and they are all delicious!

The next morning Nicolas and myself set off to Elunyeni which is in Jombo Presbytery to monitor a group of our Trainers training some caregivers.  This car was in front of us for a time - it seems to be the local bread delivery truck!!

The trainers did not know we were coming so they were very surprised!  Here you can see the ladies (and one man) being trained.  They were a good bunch of people, some with very low education levels (lower primary school), but all eager and willing to learn!

Sometimes it is good to monitor as we need to assist our trainers who have little experience with some guidance.  Here you can see Nicolas assisting in one of the queries from the caregivers which the trainers were not able to to explain properly.  The three trainers are all relatively new and did not have a lot of experience.  Just for your information, the building they are in is the early years centre!

As with any training that takes place in the rural areas there are challenges.  We had registered caregivers from our centres to be trained but caregivers from three additional centres arrived, which gave challenges in terms of materials and food.  Thankfully the manse was nearby and the minister helped out!!

On the way home we passed by part of Vwaza Nature reserve where I have had several close encounters with elephant!  Saw no elephant that day but just some impala and baboons having fun!!

On 11th July we had our school closing here at the Synod.  You can see the children crossing the road to the hall singing and dancing as they went!

They put on a really nice programme for the parents and I am delighted to see how our young children are developing - it really is a credit to the caregivers.

This is Mrs Nyasulu who heads the school - she is a wonderful lady, a ministers wife and has a diploma in Early Childhood from Zambia.  She gave a very touching speech to the parents.  All the children received photographs and balls and pencils so they were happy!

I wrote in May I think about the twins whom a colleague has taken on after the death of their mother.  I went to see them last week and they are thriving - they are really gorgeous and at 10 months are busy feeding themselves!

This last week Nicolas and myself had a workshop for our trainers in Ekwendeni.  It was nice and sunny although cool (but a few degrees warmer than Mzuzu).  We have 28 trainers and 27 came.

relaxing at snack time!

Some of you will have met Frank.  Frank joined us in 2008 as a trainer for Henga Presbytery.  He has a lot of experience working with children as he was a Standard 1 teacher for many years.  When Frank joined us he was already retired from teaching and last week we were sad to see him retire from Early Childhood - however.......he is 82 years old so I think he deserves to retire!!  He was our 'young man' of ECD!

We also lost another of our trainers.  Naomi who was the trainer in Luwerezi Presbytery has decided she cannot cope with the pressure of being the Umanyano Presbytery worker (PW) and the ECD trainer.  She also came to work with us in 2008.  We will miss both of these people as they did much for the children of Malawi.

Kamoza giving Naomi a gift

Of course no ECD training would be complete without singing and dancing and here you can see Khwima teaching us a new song about playing a guitar using you leg as the guitar. It was a lot of fun!

Part of the workshop was about creativity.  We gave the trainers a challenge as to what they could do with a margarine tub and some local materials.  here you can see a plant and a gourd which was made into a watering can - very creative.  Also on the left a pair of slippers made from seed pods!

We always have some ECD children to help the trainers to understand what early childhood is all about.  This is Hlezipes's daughter (Hlezipe is our trainer from Loudon Presbytery) who is 10 months old and was really active - she is already saying quite a few words and will walk any day now!  She had fun with our locally available play materials!

 This is Emily with her son Laston.  Emily has had a very difficult year as her husband died suddenly about two weeks before Laston was born.  Emily is our Trainer in Mzalangwe Presbytery and her son is 3 months old.  

So its been a busy time.  Because of school holidays the next 6 weeks will be hectic as we have many different training workshops going on.  I will going out to monitor some and Nicolas will monitor others.  Please pray for safety on the roads as we go.

Wishing you all a wonderful week.

Blessings

Diane

PS I hope this will now save as it has taken me the best of 3 hours to upload the photos today

Independence day...

Hello everyone and hope you had a good week!  I had another busy week but it was fruitful at least!

On Monday Nicolas and I went to Msiki again to check if the centre was open - it was closed, so we went to find the caregiver and see what was going on.  This granny (Agogo) met us and told us one of the caregivers had gone to the hospital with a relative but that the other one (the wife of the chief) was at home.  Since we had not been there for some time she escorted us to the home of the chief.  I took this picture when we dropped her home again and he gorgeous grand daughter came running to meet her with a baby tied on her back!!

Although you can't really see very clearly in this picture, one of the Nkhokwe's (the maize storage) is full of maize - its just off centre in the picture so there has been quite a good harvest in this area!

As usual when we go to villages the children follow us around and here was no different - some were scared of me of course (because I am white.....I hope!!).

The chief on the left hand side with his wife the caregiver, on the right hand side.  The other two men are committee members of the centre.

We had a good meeting with the chief and the committee members  - they have promised to open the centre again in the next school year.  Part of the problem here is that the water source is very far from the centre.  Working with a local NGO, we arranged to have three boreholes dug in the village a few months ago.  However, only one is now working so its still a struggle to get water.  The early years centre is on top of a hill so carrying the water is not easy!

Its the last week of school this coming week and so I have been in our school quite a few times organising things for the end of year celebration and also for teacher training that will happen during the holidays.  As I was passing I found this little guy very busy building - not sure what but his concentration level was fantastic!

And as usual every time I go past the playground the kids shout 'teacher Diana' - you can see they are all looking healthy and happy!!

6th July is Independence day in Malawi and I was invited to go to the closing ceremony at Wongani kindergarten which is attached to the Catholic Church here in Mzuzu.  We trained all the caregivers who work here so I am always invited.  It was a joyous occasion as you can see.

The children did a drama for Independence day - we had the four Presidents represented since independence in 1964 from the British Protectorate!  In the picture below you can see from left to right...our ruling President Dr Joyce Banda, Dr Bingu Wa Mutharika, Dr Bakili Muluzi and the first life president of Malawi Ngwazi Kamuzu Hastings Banda with his characteristic hat, sunglasses and fly whisk.  It was a fun time!

All of our Presidents have their dancing ladies and here you can see the girls dressed with Kamuzu Banda cloth dancing with the president!

We also had some traditional dancing represented by these two lovely boys...

While this was all great fun, I was happy to see that the children were also doing some activities to show what they do in the early years centre throughout the year.  I am so proud when I see the caregivers doing such a great job with the children - when I have a bad day and I think of all the children that have been touched throughout the years, I feel blessed and thankful to be here.

It was a long morning though - it started at 9am and finished around 1pm - a long day for these little children.

On another note altogether, the weather has turned colder - its sunny and cool these days and so the land is drying up as we haven't had rain for almost two months now.  However, as always in the dry season, I am always amazed at the wonderful colour in the garden.  Here you can see some of the fruits of my garden!

And to finish off with, I was walking through the town one lunchtime and saw this parked lorry with a great slogan 'if God says yes, who can say no'!

Monday is a public holiday as Independence day landed on a Saturday so looking forward to a day off.  However the rest of the week will make up for it - lots on the calendar already!

Hope you all have a great week.

Blessings,

Diane