Time off............

Hello everyone,

Time is flying so fast these days!  It is a month since my last post and yet it seems like yesterday!  I had some time off which was great as I was tired and needed a break.  It can be lonely here when it comes to holiday time as I don't have anyone I can go on holidays with........my holidays are generally when other folk are working!  However, I took myself off to the lake for a few days and ended up at Ntchisi climbing the mountain!  Here are a few of my photos - I had a great time as I just visited local people in the villages and was delighted that I remembered enough Chichewa to be able to communicate with them!

Kids at the lakeshore......

an amazing moth............

this lady makes these pots - an incredible woman.  I bought this one - it cost 50p!

Making a mud house - bricks made from mud and then covered in mud!

Fish were in short supply as it was very stormy on the lake!

Did a spot of potting...........as you do!!

Ntchisi - such a beautiful place!

Estan - the guide up the moutain.  He is 72 years old and was doing acrobatics in the trees - quite incredible!

a grasshopper.....

the view - on a clear day you can see lake Malawi in the distance!

two boys with their double bass and guitar and they made a great sound!  These boys were 18 and had not been to school!

Estans family!

Picking coffee beans!

 All in all I had a lovely time and met some amazing people on my travels!  Came back to find lots of holes dug up in the garden - by what...........I have no idea.  For the next few days every time I opened the curtains there were more.  Whatever it was seems to have gone now!

Last week Nicolas and myself spent time teaching the caregivers at our school here in Mzuzu.  It was a challenge - not the teaching, but the scenarios we were being told about and having to try to solve.  There was an exam at the end of the week and Maria -the one in red in the middle was the winner.  There were 7 caregivers in all but they are not all in the picture!

Just to prove I was there!!

Over the weekend I had lots of visitors including 6 students from Queens doing their medical elective - in fact they are on their way home and seemed to have really enjoyed their time in Malawi!

On Sunday I usually go walking with two friends in the late afternoon.  Yesterday we met this child with an axe and when she came close to us she took one look and ran off in the opposite direction - we must have been really scary!!

Like most people in the world, we have been having amazing suns and moons these days - last night I took this quick shot of the moon - if I had had my tripod I could have had a much better picture but I was pleased none the less!

The week continues to be busy as I have an Early Childhood Development Board meeting on Wednesday of which I am the secretary so I spent the day getting organised!  More to be done tomorrow too!  

Spare a thought of the poor people in Gaza and Iraq and of course in the four countries in Africa where Ebola has been causing havoc.  We hope and pray that it does not come to Malawi.

Please pray for my health - I used to play a lot of squash and I injured a shoulder a long time ago - sometimes I get rotor cuff which is really painful and requires a lot of rest.  Of course its my right shoulder  and I use that arm for so many things so resting it is not easy!

Hoping you all have a good week where ever you are in the world.

Blessings,

Diane

Blessings...........

Hello everyone

I can't believe its a month since I last posted on the blog - its been a really busy time with the blessings of many visitors passing through!!  Its that time of year!!

The three students who were with me spent their last few days in the north in some of our ECD centres - here you can see at our CCAP International Pre-school in Mzuzu where it seems you climb up a slide rather than slide down!!

Hope is really good at walking on the beam too.

Laura, Sarah and Holly spent a day at Viyele ECD centre too - I don't think the children wanted them to leave!!

We travelled to Rumphi where Nicolas was supervising one of our trainers and you can see that the building the children were meeting in was quite pathetic.  It was a cold wet day which did not improve the situation any!

The last centre we went to was Enko which is in Mpherembe - about an hour from Ekwendeni towards the Zambian border.  We had a lovely time in the centre but it is beside the local primary school and as you can see hundreds of children came to see the 'azungu'!!  Nicolas ended up doing an action song with them which was fun!

The three girls left Mzuzu to go to Zomba and spent some time with the Glissmans!  It was great having them and they seemed to enjoy themselves!

Just after they left another group of 6 medical students arrived from Northern Ireland. Two of them are at Ekwendeni hospital and four of them are in Livingstonia.  I took them on a tour of Ekwendeni on their first day here and we met Rev Joshua Nyangulu who is the hospital chaplain so he wanted to pose with them!

Meanwhile on the home front their was drama in the garden as during the last storm part of the avocado tree fell down so I had to get it cut down quite a bit (it will grow again though)!  This is Mr Nyirongo who cuts the trees as a sideline (he is a plumber).  It really is a skill and I am in awe of his skill - he cut the whole tree with a panga knife in under 2 hours and did not hit the car, house or any electric wires in the process.  I  have a lot of respect for this man!  As you can see there is no safety harness, no rope, no hard hat........just the faith that he can do it!

6th July was Malawi's independence day - 50 years of independence!  So we had a holiday on 7th to celebrate - I spent the day at Luwawa Forest Lodge with a friend - there were good chats, good walks - all in all a good time!

Birds at the feeder

One of the bridges we had to cross on our walk........
I was just praying that I wouldn't damage the camera if I fell in!!

Not for the faint hearted - as you can see the four corners of this structure are four trees -
even in the calm day it was moving.........I didn't attempt the climb to the top!

Some amazing flowers and mushrooms on the way..........

A beetle of some sort which blends in really well with the road!

Some of the kids who came to greet us and amazingly
did not ask for any money or pens......

the stunning view which used to be covered in trees........

 As much as it was great to have a day away, of course work begins as soon as you get back!  Here you can see a team of four of our Presbytery trainers who were working on a handbook we are producing for Presbyteries and congregations on how to support the work of ECD!

I was also the guest of honour at one of the local Community Based Organisations called Msipazi where we were training the committee and caregivers.  I had to go to the closing ceremony and make a speech (as you do!!).  It was a lot of fun though and we laughed and danced our way through it!

 This past week we had a workshop with the Presbytery trainers from Bandawe zone.  We met in Mzuzu and then travelled to a couple of ECD centres within Mzuzu to do a training exercise!  The first centre was quite bright and airy............

The second centre leaves a lot to be desired...........

Its been a time of funerals here too.  One of the gardeners who works for me has had two brothers and his mother pass away in the past couple of weeks, and Fidelis had sad news that his brother in law has passed away.  He leaves a wife and three young children. Death gives much grief in any context but especially in a country where there is no social welfare and this widow and children have absolutely nothing to sustain them in the village.  May God have mercy.

We have had cold weather of late and wet weather too, but the poinsettia are blossoming as you can see.........always makes for a lovely picture.

I am taking a couple of weeks off to rest a bit - no plans but hopefully I will have the opportunity of going to the lake or somewhere else for a few days.

Blessings and love

Diane

From Presbytery meetings to visitors.......

Hello everyone

Seems like so long since I have updated the blog........the days are just flying past!!

This is the time of year when all the Presbytery meetings are on - we have 24 Presbyteries and every weekend three neighbouring Presbyteries meet until the middle of July.  As Head of Department, I am meant to travel to each Presbytery and present a report on Early Childhood Development.  However, apart from it being really tiring (its every weekend), the distances are great and I end up being exhausted!  I went to Loudon, Luwerezi and Champhira a couple of weekends ago and we left really early in the morning and returned past midnight.  Travelling on really bumpy roads and being really cold is not a good combination.  I was so tired the next day.  However it was a fruitful experience as we had a lot of good feedback about our programmes.  Here you can see the three guys I travelled with and I am sure those of you in Ireland will recognise the head of Health Department, Sangster Nkhandwe!  We had great fun on our travels!

Arriving back in Mzuzu after midnight we found it had been raining all day and as we went to drop one of our passengers, we couldn't get through - the road was a complete quire and there were about 10 cars stuck in the mud.  The people on the right were pushing vehicles out!

Some of you have met Annex who works in my garden.  His four month old son who is called Preacher, had hot tea accidentally spilled on his hand and it was quite a severe burn.  He was taken to the hospital and they just covered the raw hand with a bandage - here you can see his distress!

We then took him to a private clinic where he was well treated and the hand is now healing nicely - it is such a relief to see him not crying!  Here you can see him with his parents!

We have been busy making guidebooks and manuals for Church leaders and also for our trainers in the Presbyteries.  To do this we have had various meetings with Trainers who are doing the translation work and adapting our manuals.  Here you can see Mercy and Madalitso busy working on translation! (with a chicken looking on in the background!!)

I have been involved in a workshop in Blantyre where we are trying to develop plans for Early Childhood in Malawi.  On the way I had a 30 minute stop over at  the lake.  It looks lovely in the photo but earlier that day there had been a terrible storm on the lake and 24 fishermen were drowned!

This is the team who were in Blantyre - spot the mzungu....me!!!

As I left Blantyre in the afternoon it was not possible to drive to Mzuzu in one day so I had a stop over at Nkhotakota - a beautiful spot on the lake side!

Moonlight

Sunrise

A couple who I am quite friendly with are adopting a Malawian child who was abandoned - she is like a little doll!  Here you can see another child sucking her toe - it was just so cute I could not resist taking a picture!

Our Presbyteries are split into 4 zones and we had a zonal meeting with our Trainers from the Loudon zone in Mzimba for two days.  In the room I was staying, this notice was on the wall.......

and the wonderful poinsettia bush outside!  A little different from the small pot plant people have in their homes at Christmas time in UK!

Our meeting was concerned with quality of Early Childhood Centres and so we visited two during the second morning.

Hlezipe, Emily, Mary and Angella

Khwima and Nicolas

The first centre was not great for children............

The second one was much better..........

Last week three volunteers who go to Stranmillis college came to visit - they are in Malawi for 4 weeks and are with me for just over two.  They have been volunteering in a few of our Early Childhood Centres in Mzuzu.  However, we are conducting training of committee members and caregivers with one of the local Community Based Organisation outside Mzuzu, so yesterday they came with me to monitor the progress of the training.  On the way we found these two ladies pounding and they let the girls have a go too!

Some of the participants

Here  you can see the girls being introduced to the participants!  People were commenting that they were dressed well - in other words they had their legs covered!!

Today another team are busy working on another manual for Presbytery Early Childhood Committees.  They will finish in the morning and then in the afternoon I will head out to the training again for the closing ceremony!  Its all go.......

Wishing you a good week,  

Blessings,

Diane