Chitipa road trip.........

Hello everyone,

Its been an extremely busy couple of weeks but also a lot of fun as we continued our trip to visit all the Trainers in their districts.    We started off in Chinteche on the lake shore and ended up in Ekwendeni, visiting Chitipa, Karonga and Rumphi in between.

In Chinteche we met Gibson, Rodney and Kamoza to share some new policies on ECD and discuss different issues they face in the community.

Gibson, Rodney and Kamoza

While we were inside the church conducting the meeting, there were various other activities going on outside.  Child labour is something that in Early Childhood we are very concerned about, and yet here outside we found two small children cutting firewood with panga knives.  They were probably sent by their parents to cut firewood.

After the meeting I had another meeting with another man from an orphan care centre, but he was running late so we decided to make use of the time and go down to the beach - it was a beautiful day and we had some fun!

Fidelis recovering after falling through the tyre!!

Rodney taking a picture of Nicolas!!

taking a stroll on the beach........

Last Monday Nicolas, Fidelis and myself set off for Chitipa in the north west tip of Malawi - its one of my favourite places in Malawi with beautiful scenery on the way.

As we had time we stopped off at Chitimba on the way just to relax for a few minutes before proceeding on our journey!!  Its a hard life!

In Chitipa we met with Vibrin and Lyness who had travelled from Wenya, Dennis from Misuku and Prescott from Chitipa.  We had a good meeting where we learned as much as we shared!!

 I love this picture of Nicolas enjoying a joke with the trainers!!

On the way back from Chitipa we had to stop at this beautiful building which is in fact a CBCC - Community Based Childcare Centre.  The reason we stopped was to take a photo for Fidelis because during the time he worked in Chitipa the building of this centre was under his direction!!  So you can see him posing in front of the centre.  Its a beautiful centre.

Many times during my time in Mzuzu I have travelled to Chitipa but the road was so bad from Karonga to Chitipa that I always had to consider if I really needed to go.  Well, now its a pleasure driving to Chitipa: where it used to take between two and a half to three hours, now its possible to drive in about an hour and a half.  The Chinese have built a wonderful road - its shorter, it has great bridges and perhaps  best of all it is smooth - no more jumping around as you travel!!

the driver smiling because the road is so good!!

Next stop Karonga, the home of the Malawisaurus who was found 45 Kilometres south of Karonga.  In an earlier blog there is a picture of the actual Malawisaurus but this time we were not inside the museum - this is the dinosaur outside to welcome visitors!!

Behind the museum is a restaurant and so we met Lucy and Grace our Trainers in Karonga and Ngerenge for a meeting and lunch!

Traditional Karonga dish made from beef and bananas called mbalagha - its very tasty!

Grace, Nicolas and Lucy
 

Next stop on our road trip was to Rumphi to meet George and Eliza, both looking very serious here, but I hope before we left they were smiling!! 

.....and finally on Friday we were in Ekwendeni to meet the final members of the group - we had a good meeting with much participation and laughter!

Nicolas, Foster, Frank, Madalitso, Ernest, Mercy and Enala

It was good to be back in Mzuzu to have a rest!  At least that was the plan until I got a call to ask if I would supervise training which is happening in Mzuzu for the next week.  So Saturday and today I have spent some hours supervising the regional trainers in ECD as they prepare caregivers for the new curriculum in Malawi.  While I enjoy this supervision it is also tiring!  However, its great to see the regional trainers who we trained in December last year in action!  I don't have any photographs but might take my camera during the week to take a few pictures.

I mentioned in the last blog that Nicolas had passed his Diploma - well the certificate has arrived so here he is looking very pleased with himself!! (and so he should as he worked very hard)

Nicolas and some other friends were at home for lunch on Saturday and Nicolas got a bit carried away with the custard spoon..............

Finally for this week, I want to say a special thank you to Fidelis for being with us over the past two months on his holidays from African Bible College where he is about to enter his final year.  We have had fun and laughter and a lot of hard work -  he has really been a great help in the department.  I wish him God's blessing as he goes back on Friday and hope that he will join us again on his next holiday!

Wishing you all a wonderful week,

Blessings,

Diane