sunrises and surprises....

Hello everyone, thanks for the comments on the last blog - it is encouraging to know that many people are reading the blog and keeping up to date with what I am doing!  Much has happened since I last wrote - as one of my comments suggests - I don't have much 'me' time, but I am trying to improve on that!!

As many of you know, my colleague Fiona has finished her assignment with us and left for Northern Ireland last week.  Before she left, we had some farewells for her and her you can see her here with some of our Early Childhood Development Trainers.  It was a lovely time - many travelled far, for Lyness from Wenya it is a two day journey to Mzuzu! We had lunch together, and of course I took the opportunity to do some 'business' with them when they were there!!  

Before Fiona left, and thankfully with just enough fuel we spent a day at the lake - the sunset was very beautiful and my camera did not do it justice by any means - the reflection on the lake was amazing.

And the sunrise equally spectacular - no matter how many times I see the sunrise over the lake, I never cease to be amazed at its beauty.

The sky can change colour many times every day - its just beautiful - very relaxing - in fact so relaxing that I slept a lot of the afternoon!!

Lake Malawi is often referred to as the lake of stars and you can see why - the sparkles on the water are constantly moving so it makes it extremely difficult to get a good picture, but this is not bad, even if I say so myself!!

As I was relaxing, and, as you might have gathered from previous blogs, I love bird life, and sitting reading a book, its amazing what comes to sit next to you.  If you look carefully here you can see a couple of African Pied Wagtails - they are pretty well camouflaged though.

and of course the Bulbuls which are frequent visitors in my garden and common throughout Malawi...

Although it looks small in the picture, this African Hoopoe wandered right along the beach, and I thought it was a lovely picture with the outline of the bird against the rocks.

As we were walking along, we spied this line of birds ready to take off to who knows where...........and what sort of birds were they.........my eyesight is not that good!

I have been trying to sort out lots of stuff which came on the last container and has been stored, so one day last week two teachers and myself started clearing out and sorting out what was there.  Here you can see Tiwonge carrying one box....

and Judy carrying another...........I did not attempt to carry on my head!!

Its always good to get a surprise and we had a family of mice surprise us - they were making a cosy home in one of the boxes  - they are now dead mice as you can see....

supper anyone???

Malawi is still in a state of instability and uncertainty - this past week on 21 September a three day vigil began which was organised by the Civil Society, who encouraged people not to go to work, but to stay at home and pray for the country of Malawi and its governance.  On Wednesday, all was quiet in Mzuzu as people were afraid to move around after the terrible day we had on 20 July.  However on Thursday a few people reported for duty, and by Friday it was back to normal.  Please continue to pray for our country as we live day by day! Fuel is still a big issue - in fact we had no diesel for almost 3 weeks in Mzuzu and so we had to borrow a petrol car to take Fiona to the airport.  Foodstuffs and other commodities go up in price almost every time we go to the shops - people are finding life really tough.

The fuel shortage is affecting many people and it has affected my work as we have not been able to conduct interviews in the rural areas for new ToT's.  I am hoping that we can finish them in the next couple of weeks, but planning ahead is difficult!

Even though we were off work for 3 days, I was clearing all the materials for schools and putting them into bundles for distribution - a big job but now we can distribute them.  And...even though we had a notice on the gate telling parents that school was closed until Monday, children were dropped off and just left, so they were brought to my house and I had to organise getting them home again.  Sometimes its not good to live so close to the office!!

Wishing you a  blessed week and looking forward to a few more comments!!

Love from Diane

Training and more training

Hello everyone,

Sorry its taken a long time to write but its been a few hectic weeks. Just an update on our school - a few months ago I posted on the blog that the big trees at school were chopped down - well now they are being made into planks to use for the next building.......and this is how they are done...by hand!!!

A couple of weeks ago I had a workshop for the teachers at our school in Mzuzu before it opened on 5th September (I can't quite believe that its September already!). We had some really good sessions, much discussion and I hope a better year as the teachers begin refreshed and excited.

It was great to have Fiona join us to do some outdoor play activities which I know the teachers all enjoyed and I hope will put into practice in the next few weeks and months.

Then a couple of days later we had the excitement of a wedding - one of our teachers, Gift, got married and it was a great occasion - here you can see the minister showering the happy couple with confetti!

the line up of attendants...........

Then it was on the road again, this time to Zomba. I have been chosen as a National Trainer for Early Childhood Development in Malawi and so had to go to a workshop for 5 days. As I was passing through Lilongwe (trying to get diesel.....but to no avail), I spotted this poster about stunted growth which unfortunately is common among children under 5 in Malawi.

The workshop went well - we had guest facilitators from South Africa and here you can see Welekazi getting prepared for a session.

During the week we also visited a Community Based Childcare Centre where packets of biscuits were given to each child (not sure about the nutritional value but they enjoyed them)!!

Aren't the kids just beautiful!!

Then after returning late yesterday afternoon, today I went to Livingstonia for the day and as you can see the scenery was beautiful.

This is the CCAP church in Livingstonia. Livingstonia is named after the missionary explorer David Livingstone, and it is the third mission station which began in 1894 after the explorers failed in Cape Maclear and then Bandawe (mainly due to malaria). The road to Livingstonia is called gorode and has 20 hairpin bends on the cliff edge - not for the faint hearted!!

Inside the church is the Livingstone window which is beautiful!!

So, its a brief blog of the last few weeks but it gives you a flavour of what I have been up to. I am tired and tomorrow begins another week!!

Please continue to pray for peace in our country.......the fuel situation has been dreadful this past week........please pray for things to improve.

Blessings,

Diane