Christmas is coming..........

Hello everyone

Well, holidays were well and truly over and it was back to work.......I got a phone call on the last day of my holidays to tell me I was expected to be in Mchinji (which is in the central region at the Zambian Border) for a workshop to refine the Early Childhood Syllabus on Monday morning.........but........there was no fuel in Mzuzu!  So, I decided to go on the bus on Sunday morning at 6am to Lilongwe and then get another bus to Mchinji.  But then on Sunday night around 8pm I heard there was fuel in Mzuzu, so a driver kindly got into the queue and at 12 midnight he arrived back with fuel, so I was able to drive (its about a 5 hour journey).  I left after church on Sunday and went through some amazing thunderstorms - or maybe I should say lightning storms which were quite terrifying!  I was glad to reach my destination safely.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent inside a room refining the syllabus - there were 8 of us and we had a trying time as the power kept going off and on the whole time.  We didn't get finished so have some homework to do.  I left on Thursday morning at 5am and the following pictures are of the lovely clouds, the fields as people begin to plant ,and the wonderful sunrise.

lovely cloud patterns after the rains

Everything turning green again

fields ready for planting - all hoed by hand - no tractors and ploughs here!

beautiful colours as the sun came up

Back in Mzuzu and school has already closed for Christmas.  The weather is not kind to me as my asthma has started playing up and this last week has been horrible - I think tomorrow I will go to the doctor and see if I can get some more medication.  The hot weather combined with the dampness does not agree with me!!

However, work goes on, and there is a training in Mzuzu which I am supervising and on Friday I went to see what was happening.  I was disappointed with the level of training and so on Saturday decided to assist - however due to my asthma I had to call Nicolas at the last minute to help out!

making glue from Cassava

It was extremely hot on Saturday, and at the place the training is taking place, there is not much shade so I did feel sorry for the participants as they were making glue and paint in the full afternoon sun!

This afternoon I went out to the garden to get some rhubarb, and was surprised to find lots of mushrooms growing - mind you its so damp and a bit humid so I should not be surprised - I don't think they are edible though so I will just leave them as they are!

Its good to see the avocado tree with lots of fruit  - lets hope they ripen nicely....

and the lemons are also doing well.  I have an orange tree too but didn't take any photos of the oranges.

So having gone out to get rhubarb, I came in with an avocado, some granadilla's (passion fruit) and a lot of parsley!!  Everything is growing so quickly these days with the heat and rains.  I also had a butternut squash but its not in the photo.

I also found this little fellow - a millipede or Bongololo as we call them here.  They are much larger than those you find in UK!  

In my house I have many gecko's - these two were making a lot of noise today but the flash from the camera scared them off!!

And so Christmas is almost upon us, and yet it doesn't feel like it here.  Its been quite hot and sticky and there is no Christmas hype or rush.......yet!  I decided to hang up some decorations that people have sent me over the years - I don't have a Christmas tree!  But my African nativity is the top picture of the blog this week!  And the Christmas Carols were blasting out today both from the piano and the CD's!

and I have many Christmas cards from all over the globe - thank you so much for your thoughtfulness if you are one of the people who sent me a card.  I have not sent any....... I usually make my own cards but this year I just have had no time and suddenly Christmas is here.  I will try to make up for it in the new year though!  Thanks also to some people who went to the trouble to send me a gift - very special and much appreciated!

When on my holidays I managed to finish this cushion cover which had been on hold for some time.  I am really quite pleased with the result!!

Things in the country are still not stable.  As I said above, fuel is the biggest challenge we face these days.  However, we are seeing knock on effects as many businesses are going bankrupt which is not easy for anyone.  Prices have increased dramatically since I came back from South Africa.  Today the price quoted is much lower than the price quoted tomorrow, so budgeting is a challenge for everyone. Some foodstuffs have literally doubled in price.  Please pray for our nation, for peace and stability, as people are now becoming angry with what is going on.  The kwacha (currency) may be devalued in the next week as well.  So all in all, not a good picture.

However, we have hope in knowing that Jesus is with us and I wish you all peace, joy and love during this Christmas and many blessings for the New Year, 2012.


Diane