Hello everyone from a cool damp day in Mzuzu! I went to the Anglican church this morning which meant I was home just after 9am, probably while most of you were still in bed!
This week has been busy as always. Its the rainy season and although in Mzuzu we have not had as much rain as I remember in past years, some parts of the country have been really badly flooded, and yet others have had little rain. Here the maize is growing well and people are busy working in the fields - we are getting rain every few days and it doesn't seem to be too much!
Last weekend it was Matt's birthday so I went to his party in Ekwendeni - doesn't he look well with his flower in his hair! One of the children gave it to him!!
We are continuing to visit Presbyteries to sensitize ministers and session clerks on the importance of Early Childhood, and to discuss how we can assist each other in this ministry. This week we went to Champhira Presbytery. Unfortunately as we arrived there we realised there was a funeral in the village so the Presbytery Clerk had to go and conduct the funeral. As the meeting was going on the funeral passed by with the coffin in the oxcart - I didn't think it appropriate to take a picture but you can imagine what it was like. It was windy and the minister's robes were flowing behind him! They had to walk 5kms to the graveyard from the church and it was in the heat of the day.......
Here you can see the group of session clerks with one minister who were very active in their participation.
On Friday morning Nicolas and I decided to go out to visit two centres within Mzuzu to see how they were getting on. The first one was at Msongwe and we found some children (there are 55 on the rollbook) but they had not yet all arrived. They were very excited to see us.
I brought a box with some toys and the boys especially were very excited with the balls inside......
After Msongwe, we went to Lusangazi where we found only a few children with the caregivers - this was because of a funeral in the village and many of the children had not come. In this culture if there is a funeral in the village everyone goes to it regardless of whether you knew the person well or not. This causes many problems in the workplace when every day we have funerals here and so the workforce almost certainly has someone missing each day to attend a funeral.
On Saturday there was a state funeral for Paramount Chief M'mbelwa IV of Mzimba. He was not only a chief but an Ngoni King and he died suddenly. I did not go to the funeral but saw some of it on TV. As an Ngoni he was buried sitting up as is the tradition so the coffin was not the usual shape that we know. Ngoni people bury their leaders in a seated postion so that they may keep watch on enemy armies, perpetuating the belief that Ngoni's never die but live on to play watchful roles over the living. His body was viewed and he was sitting up holding his head in his hands with his glasses on - he just looked like he was sleeping! As it was a state funeral the President and many other politicians were in attendance. Livingstonia synod were doing the funeral service which was accompanied by different funeral rites of the Ngoni people. Apparently in the past when a chief died, the servant girl who worked for him was buried alive with him - nowadays that tradition is no longer followed, but a bull is killed and its hide put around the chief and the gallbladder also put in with him!!
His son who was the crown prince will take over his throne!
Yesterday I was driving in Mzuzu when suddenly a bicycle came at the car and as I swerved to miss it, it hit me and took off the back bumper part of the car. I stopped and the guy on the bicycle was okay thankfully, but these are the perils of living in a city where most people travel on 'sacramento's' or bicycle taxis!
So that is how my week went - I hope you also had a good week and I wish you all a pleasant week ahead.
Blessings,
Diane
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