a week by the lake...

Hi everyone from a wet and miserable Mzuzu! This past week I have spent at Chinteche on the lakeshore at a Strategic Planning meeting for the Education Department of the Synod. The lakeshore is a beautiful place to be.......

Its the time of year for the lake flies which look like smoke in the distance. One of my colleagues was telling me that his grandmother makes a delicious cake with them!! They are very nutritious so I am told ...didn't try to see!!
Martijn is from the Netherlands and is the Capacity Development Officer in the Synod - he is a great facilitator and we had a lot of fun discussing issues from Early Childhood Development right through to University level, with primary, secondary, special needs, vocational training and teacher training in between. It was a hectic time but the time went so fast as there was a lot to do. We had some experts in the education field with us who contributed a lot to the discussion each day.

Martijn in action...



We had various sets of group work and I was leading the ECD group. Can you spot which one is me? I was writing up our findings to present to the group.


Yes.......its me!!

We were fortunate to have some school children join us for the week and this is Takondwa who was in our group. He wants to do accounts at University when he is older - he is in Std 8 - the last year of primary school.

A beautiful setting for the group work.

And some hot discussions here with Rev C Kapombe, the Sunday School director speaking......about what I wonder???

Me again speaking about ECD just for a change.

The week was very successful and we have created the basis of a very good strategic plan in the department. Of course we cannot fulfil the plan without the help of God - every morning and evening we had devotion together putting God first in everything.

Its always sad to have to leave the lake and step back into reality in Mzuzu where we met torrential rain and rivers on the roads. A good week by all accounts. The photo at the top is the entire group who attended the workshop.

Off early in the morning to collect Fiona Innes who is coming to work alongside me in Early Childhood Development. I am looking forward to working with her and learning from her knowledge from the West!

Next week don't expect a blog as its study time again.........I am going for a week of classes so will catch up when I return.

Wishing you a blessed week.

Diane

another week over...

Hello there - thanks for all the messages and for the positive comments about the blog - glad you enjoy my ramblings!!

This week has been even more hectic than usual. From Monday - Thursday we had parent/teacher interviews - yes, with the parents of Pre-school children. We had a great time with very positive feedback from parents. Primary school age starts at 6 in Malawi and yet when parents can see that their children can recite something in English or write a few letters, they assume that they can send their children even at 4 years to primary school. Unfortunately this past year, about 5 children were taken to primary school when they were not ready and have since been relocated in various nursery schools!

When I was escorting one of the parents out of school this is what I found. Just outside the front door, two of the boys from the Pre-school class were very busy with scrubbing brushes and lots of soap washing two of the chairs from their class. This is an exercise we do in the practical life and the kids love it - the parents were amazed. We will have the cleanest chairs in Mzuzu by the end of this year!

On Wednesday we were training in Mzuzu when I got a phone call from the husband of one of the teachers to come quickly as his wife was sick. I rushed to the house to find the teacher was in labour and had to rush her to the hospital where she delivered a baby boy a few hours later. I might have a picture for the next blog. Both Mum and baby are fine.

Our head teacher who I mentioned was not well, is still not well - very high blood pressure and now requires a hip operation, so today she is travelling to Blantyre to see a specialist to find out what they need to do. Please remember her in your prayers.

Yesterday, Saturday we were out all day training caregivers and committees - we had a great day, and once again saw the real need that there is for training. The caregivers literally have not a clue what they are supposed to do with young children. Here you can see some group work...



This is some of the group busy taking notes as the facilitator is speaking.


These are some of the materials we make for the centres - dolls and the alphabet which actually is a game and has a song for the children to learn their names and the letters of the alphabet.

This coming week I am attending a workshop for the Strategic plan in Education Department - it should be very productive. I hope you all have a good week, and look forward to your comments.

Blessings and love from Diane

PS the picture at the top is our children in Mzuzu lining up to wash their hands - don't they look smart! We have had a challenge this week as the water was off for a couple of days - can you imagine a school with no water!!!

what a busy week...

Greetings from a hot and sunny Mzuzu (with the odd shower of rain). I have had a really busy week and am glad of today to have a rest!

Last time I was talking about training in Viyele - I went again this week to talk to the committee of the nursery school, together with one of the trainers. I was impressed to see that they have started a school garden so that they can supplement the plain maize porridge which the children receive every day. Here you can see the head teacher standing in front of the garden where they have planted soya beans, This is a real encouragement as maize porridge on its own gives little nutrients to a child.

Here you see Enala talking with some of the nursery school committee.

We also went to Zolozolo nursery school to do some in-service training and the photo at the top of my blog is some of the kids from that school.

Rumphi was on the agenda this week too. When we arrived to begin the workshop at 7.30am there was no one there but gradually they came and we had a really successful day with caregivers and committee members. We were really well looked after. Here you see some of the participants doing an exercise.

I really enjoy teaching the caregivers - the knowledge we give them is very basic as really early childhood development has had no foundation in people's lives, and when we talk of playing with children it is a new concept for many people! Here you see me leading one of the sessions.

The minister in the congregation has a new baby called Favour who is a delight and I spent a lot of time getting to know her!!

And while all this is going on, our school in Mzuzu keeps moving forward. Mrs Msowoya, our head teacher is sick and will be off for some time - please keep her in your prayers. She has very high blood pressure and also a very painful hip. We miss her a lot.

In the 3-6 years class this week there was a lot of fun. The theme was continents and the kids were learning all about the continents. One of the teachers drew a map of the world on the floor and the kids were blindfolded (thanks to South African airways blindfolds), and playing a game of jumping from one continent to another. They had such fun and yet learnt so much in the process.

Another day, the kids were marching around the room, singing and playing various musical instruments - makes me want to be a child again!

The weekend has also been busy. I had visitors from the Church of Scotland for supper on Saturday night which was lovely, and today after church (which only lasted two and a quarter hours) I had a friend over for coffee.

Now looking forward to putting my feet up and reading a book. The coming week is also a busy one with parent/ teacher meetings all week. We have prepared a parents booklet which we are going to share with them to encourage parenting skills at home. In church today, we had a nurse encouraging parents to give their kids plenty of fruit and vegetables as many chidlren have a vitamin A deficiency. Together we hope to improve parenting skills and see a change in health and education of our children.

Wishing you a great week.

Blessings

Diane

ramblings...

Hello again from a hot and sticky Mzuzu.

We have had a lot of rain this week in the city so mud is everywhere - its a nightmare in the school as we have no separate room for eating lunch so when kids eat the room has to be cleaned as they play outside. This week they had to sit on the verandah and have a shower while the room was cleaned before they could go inside again. With it being the rainy season the grass grows almost as soon as it is cut and unfortunately the snakes like the new grass and we found a long thin black one in the school grounds this week. Fortunately as it was raining none of the children were in the playground! (the joys of Africa!!)

My good friends came for supper last Monday night as Rev Chimwemwe (on the right) was returning to South Africa on Tuesday where he is studying - we had a lovely time catching up! Chimwemwe is our singing Pastor and has released some CD's of his music which are really good. He is with his wife and daughter in the photograph.

Training of caregivers in nursery schools is ongoing, and this month we are doing some training within Mzuzu city. Nicolas and Enala were out on Thursday and I went to see how they were getting on and arrived at snack time. Here you can see the kids eating their morning porridge and Nico and Enala seem to be enjoying it too!




Last time I mentioned that a container had arrived with some materials for Early Childhood. I was very excited as I was sorting them out for various schools. We received some great equipment - thanks for all the notes I found in the boxes and even a box of chocolates!! Yummy!! Thank you so much for the support for this ministry. The training boxes are brilliant - we are well equipped for the next couple of months thanks to peoples generosity - much appreciated.

In the boxes I had packed when I was in Ireland last year there was a lot of Montessori equipment and for those of you who are Montessorians, you can see it being used in the next couple of photos.

This is a short bead stair, one of the pieces of equipment we use for maths and which the children love working with.

Unfortunately one of our teachers lost her 'mother' this week - her aunt in UK terms. It happened very suddenly although she had been ill - please pray for Gift and her family as they come to terms with this loss.

Teacher Enala is back at work after being in hospital - she has yet to find out what was wrong with her!! Its great to have her back.

Its mosquito time with the heat and the rain - they love it, and they love me too, so I am constantly battling against these tiny creatures....always wondered, why did God create a mosquito??

Will leave you with that thought. Thanks for all the comments. Have a great week.

Diane