Happy Easter!

Hello everyone from a very beautiful day in Mzuzu!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Easter break.  Since I last wrote its been a busy time but then again, when is it not!  I spent a few hours at our school one day and took a few pictures - its not often these days I have time for such luxury but it was just great to spend time chatting with the children in the playground.

As I was walking home from town one day I came across these three kids having a lot of fun with a wheelbarrow!  These wheelbarrows are what people use to carry any type of luggage - for example if you come off the bus with your suitcase you would hire a guy to carry your suitcase home on this!!

Nicolas and I were continuing our training with the trainers and the last zone was Karonga. We picked up Eliza and George on the way and decided to stop at Kandewe traditional basket bridge which runs over the South Rukuru river.  It is made of bamboo and is something like a basic version of carrick-a-rede!  When we stopped we were escorted by Mr Nyasulu who you can see here and he gave us a really good history of the bridge.  Then he showed us inside the ancestral prayer alter which was fun but perhaps quite scary for some!

The South Rukuru river is one of the major rivers in the north and due to the heavy rains it was flowing very fast and heavily with brown muddy water.  The bridge is quite unstable and I only ventured onto the first part but Nicolas went half way across and a couple of small kids just ran across!!  If you think what might be in the water if you fell in perhaps its a good incentive to run fast!!

In Karonga we did the monitoring exercise with 4 trainers who visited two different centres.  I was really impressed with Karonga - Lucy is doing a great job and it was such an encouragement to see.  Here you can see the children washing their hands using a local handwashing bottle (because there is no tap or well nearby).

The second centre we went to was a challenge to get to due to the extremely heavy rains in Karonga but we made it, and it was really worth it to see the children playing with their caregivers.  Here you can see Nicolas having fun with them too!

I had been hoping for a beautiful lake picture but the weather did not favour us and so I got a few dull pictures of the fishermen coming home from fishing and the women running out with their basins to put the fish into!

On the way home the weather brightened up and I took this of a lakeside village.

No sooner was I home from Karonga than I was informed I had to be in Blantyre for a workshop to validate some materials being produced for ECD with Save the Children.  So I had a long drive ahead and stopped off along the lakeshore only to find more fishermen bringing in their catch in their green mosquito nets all sewed together!  It was quite an operation and I watched them for some time.

At the workshop I met some old ECD colleagues and met some new.  We had two facilitators from Save the Children in USA and it was good to spend time with them too.  On the second day we went to a village outside Blantyre to test the materials with the local community.  Here you can see me and a few colleagues as we were dancing being welcomed by the  villagers!

I love this picture.  The village ladies had come in their usual attire many with bare feet and yet this lovely child was all dressed up with his new shoes on!  He was playing with one of our empty water bottles, probably his only toy!

Sometimes in my blog I mention Fidelis who is like my 'adopted' son!  His real home is just outside Blantyre and because he is on holidays from College he was at home last week.  I had the opportunity to go to his village and meet his family which was so special.  Here I am with his sister and what we would say were his cousins!  We had a lot of fun with the family!

On Good Friday it was back up the lakeshore road to Mzuzu - we left at 7am and arrived about 5.30pm having stopped off at Nkhotakota for lunch.  While we were having lunch we were being watched closely by a troop of Vervet monkeys.........

In  Malawi, Easter is a very special time in Christian circles.  I remember in Zomba every year we walked the way of the cross where someone carried a cross and all denominations followed behind and we stopped at various intervals and read portions from the Bible and sand hymns and prayed.  Well, as we drove home on Friday we passed 4 such processions. On one occasion I was on a dirt road and the cross was in front with many people singing behind.  We had to stop for quite a while while people knelt down and the scriptures were read. Unfortunately just as I thought of taking a picture of the cross people stood up.  I would have loved to take pictures of all the processions but I did not think it was appropriate!

However, I have borrowed this picture from my good friend the Anglican Bishop here in the north.  He is on Likoma Island for Easter (he invited me to go too but due to the workshop I was unable to make it, and when I heard that the boat broke down in the middle of the lake I was quite glad!!  

Here you can see the Bishop himself carrying the cross on Likoma...

And finally for this blog (you will be giving a sigh of relief)....it was really windy a few days last week after the heavy rains and I found a nest lying in the garden.  When I looked closely there was a single egg in it.  I am not sure what type of bird the nest belonged to as there are so many in my garden.  However, I thought it very appropriate for the Easter blog when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, with our Easter eggs.    When I went to look at the nest later in the day, the egg was gone!!

Wishing you all a blessed Easter Sunday as we celebrate the risen Christ!

Diane