Another packed week!

Hello everyone

I hope this finds you all well!  Once again its been a busy week with one or two unexpected things adding to the job!  Nicolas, Rodney (one of our trainers) and myself travelled to Phiri congregation in Nkhata Bay to meet the committee of one of our Early childhood centres.  This is one of our centres which was build by donors, but unfortunately the donors are controlling the centre and there is no committee involvement even though the donor is pulling out in 2013.  So my job is to set up a sustainability measure to make sure that the centre will keep going after the donor leaves!  Here you can see the minister of the congregation on the left Rev Chimaliro together with some of the committee.  The chairman is the one on beside Rev Chimaliro with the amazing smile!!

Here you can see me listening to what the committee have to say - I don't know if I have the pen under my chin to keep me quiet until its my turn to respond!!!

While we were there we had to visit the centre and found many of the children busy playing with blocks and they seemed healthy and happy!

Outside  a lot of children were also having fun in the newly built sandpit!  The centre is one of our most beautiful and I hope we can work out measures for its sustainability!

The next day, I had planned to organise a lot of activities that are taking place in June when I got a message that a container from PCI has arrived.  I thought there was not much for Early Childhood so I wasn't too bothered!!  The container was opened and had to be inspected by the customs officials before unloading and after unloading!!

Unlike where the container is loaded, we have no mechanical devices to assist in the unloading so it takes a lot of man power!  And it takes a lot of time - all afternoon to be exact!

Many of the materials unloaded waiting to be checked!

Of course the unloading has to be supervised so a member of each department is around to check that their materials have come.  Here you can see Nicolas from ECD, Luso from the Secretariat and Sangster from Health Department.  Many of you will have met all of these three as they have all been in Ireland!

And I said I did not think there would be much for ECD - well my office is full, my spare bedroom is full, my living room is half full, the khonde (verandah) is half full and the shed outside is full!  Now to the job of sorting and distributing the materials...........  But the comments from the customs people and all the Department representatives were that the quality of materials was fantastic.  So thank you to one and all who contributed to this container!

On Friday, to say thank you for the hard work in unloading the container, I took Nicolas and my staff at home Mr Nyirenda and Annex out for lunch.  They were so excited and the comment from Annex was that 'since I born, I never been in a restaurant'!  Made me feel very humble but I am glad they had a great time and I am sure it will be the subject of many stories over the weekend!

On another note altogether, my lemons in the garden are ready...........maybe I need to set up a stall in the market to sell them all!!

And finally for this week, I went to visit one of my colleagues here Mrs Mpamba who inherited these beautiful children when her sister-in-law died.  The children were just two months old when their mother died and they are now 9 months old!  They are growing really well and are really different not only in appearance but in personality!  The one on the left, Thokozani, is full of life and full of fun, while chisomo, his older brother is very timid and scared and tearful!  I admire Mrs Mpamba for the way she has taken these children into her home to add to her family, and for the love and compassion she has for them.  She is a truly amazing lady!

The following day, I wanted to take a few small things to Mrs Mpamba for the children. As I arrived at her house I was surprised that some children were shouting 'Teacher Diana'.... I knew that none of the children at our school were from this area, but then I found out that some of the children go to another of our centres and they recognised me! Its not easy to be anonymous in Malawi when there are children around!  As you can see they were really excited!!

So its been both a busy and fruitful week and I thank God for the many things that have happened this week.  I also had a disappointment as someone I considered a good friend has really let me down and I am extremely hurt and would value your prayers.  Sometimes people turn out to be different from who you thought they were!

Wishing you all a great week ahead!

Blessings,

Diane