Hello everyone from a beautiful hot and sunny day here in Mzuzu!  As usual I have had a busy couple of weeks - just seems that the more you do the more you get to do!!

Last week I had to go and supervise training at Bandawe with Nicolas so on the way we stopped at Arthur nursery school and found the children very busy playing which was lovely.

After the visit we proceeded to the training where Kamoza and Rodney were training caregivers and committee members of a new Early Childhood Centre which is targeting orphans and vulnerable children.

Break time and caregivers are busy copying notes into their books!

about to begin a new session!

Myself with Kamoza and Rodney who are both from Nkhata bay district
so the training was done in the Tonga language!

For those of you who like creepy crawlies......, the other morning I had a shower and was just about to get out when I realised I was not alone - there was a great big orange cockroach having a shower too!  So I quickly stepped out onto the mat but something crunched below my foot - I lifted the mat to find this little beetle - no idea what it was but at least it was still alive!!

In previous posts, I have been discussing the pilot training in Early Childhood which is being done in four districts in Malawi, one of them being in Nkhata bay district.  Last Monday I was asked to join the group of supervisors to visit some of the centres where the caregivers have been trained.  On the way to Chikwina where we went, we stopped to buy water and found this scenario - a group of young children in the early morning who should have been at school, watching a video - and not a child friendly one either!  So my colleagues chased the children and told them to go to school!!

We arrived at the centre to find many children with 4  caregivers, but very few play materials.  As soon as we arrived the caregivers began songs with the children and we had to explain that they should just carry on so that we could see what they were doing!  It was interesting, not much going on in terms of interaction with the children but lots of enthusiasm.  Unfortunately some of the children screamed when they saw me (am I so scary??) as its a rural location and perhaps they have never seen a white person so close before!!

Andrew my colleague talking with the caregivers

It was great this past week to have two friends who used to work here come for a working holiday.  Before they began work we had an afternoon at the beach which was really nice......

Margaret and Maureen relaxing.....

The frangipani flowers are in bloom at the minute - I love these flowers......

Yesterday we started a series of three seminars with caregivers from the private nursery schools within Mzuzu.  Having visited most of them when doing my research it was clear there was a need to assist them with knowledge on Early Childhood Development.  We had a great day and the feedback was very positive. 

Each time we do the seminars I am going to involve different trainers and to begin with I had Nicolas and Enala who did most of the programme.

In order to help the caregivers we set up a nursery school in the building using locally available materials.  Most caregivers in town believe that we cannot teach children unless we have plastic toys - we proved them wrong as they saw our natural materials and 'rubblish'.  I am hopeful that ECD in Mzuzu will really change as a result of our training!

And finally for this week, this little chap ws sitting on my doorstep a few nights ago when I was coming in......no idea if its a frog or a toad but I think he was pretty scared!!

As I look forward to a new week, I trust you have had a well rested weekend.

Blessings,

Diane.

Opening a new ECD centre

Hello everyone from a  beautiful day in Mzuzu.  Its been another good week but not without its frustrations.  

Last Sunday at church I found myself sitting beside a young lady called Katie who with her two friends was on holiday from University and travelling through some of sub Saharan Africa.  They all came for coffee and we had a lovely chat!  

Francesca, Emily and Katie

On Monday I decided I had to get down to writing up my thesis  and took some time off to see if I could make some headway!  

My worst nightmare - statistics.....

I took myself off to somewhere that phone network is poor and where there was no internet access, to give myself a chance to do some work.  It was beautiful and I wonder if any of you can guess where this is!! 

However, no sooner had I arrived at my destination and was taking my bag out of the car than the frustrations began.......... there was a hissing noise and within 30 seconds the front tyre was completely flat.  Okay, this happens, but the tyre was brand new and had only been put on a couple of days previously!    

The next morning I found some people to help change it, but when we took off the spare wheel it was a bit flat as well.........so now I am stuck!  The two guys however took the tyre and pumped it up.  This meant I had to go back to Mzuzu to see about the new tyre..a morning wasted already!  When I took it back, they didn't have another one in stock and had to order it, so we had to go and get one of the old tyres to put on in the meantime!!  At last its been sorted and we got the new tyre fitted later on in the week!

I managed to get some of the writing done but perhaps not as much as I would have liked, as I had to come back on Thursday to deal with other issues in the office!

On Saturday, I headed to Thunduwike which is a rural congregation where we had a service to dedicate the new Early Childhood Centre.  It was a colourful day, a hot day,  a dusty day, but a lot of fun was had on the way and during the function!

the congregation when we arrived...

The moderator of the Synod, Rev Dr TPK Nyasulu, was officially opening the Early Childhood Centre and so he was taking the service.  I worked with Dr Nyasulu in Zomba so we had some catching up to do on the way there!!

Rev L S Nyondo (General Secretary), Rev T P K Nyasulu (Moderator) and myself

There were quite a few choirs which made the occasion colourful and joyful.

the Umanyano choir (womens' guild)

the Sunday School choir - they were brilliant singing and dancing!

The donor who made the ECD centre possible is Mr Mbulo a business man whose home is at Thunduwike.  Here you can see him with the keys of the ECD centre which he is about to give to me as handing over to the Synod.

Mr Mbulo in the centre - the lady on the right is Mercy, our Trainer in Jombo Presbytery

Receiving the keys of the centre

In turn, I handed over the keys to Dr Nyasulu as he was going to formally open the new centre.

Once the service was over we then processed to the new ECD centre to dedicate it.

Its a beautiful  building.....

some of the congregation....

cutting the ribbon..........

And before we went to lunch, having our photographs taken - the sun was so bright I had to wear my sunglasses!!

Today I went to Viyele CCAP church where Nicolas was preaching as it was the Sunday School service.  Unfortunately I forgot to carry my camera but it was again a colourful occasion with many choirs and much joy!!

Just to finish - Pemphero came yesterday to blow bubbles after I came home, and I love this photo..........

And so, another week is over, the days are passing very quickly.  Now its warming up in Mzuzu and the country is very dry.  Schools opened last Monday so I hope to see what is happening in our school here during the coming week.  We still have not moved to our new building - money is finished and we still have a lot to do.  I just pray that one day we will see children playing there!

Oh and the jacaranda trees are out - the beautiful purple colour all over the city!!

Wishing you all a good week,

Blessings,

Diane