Hello everyone from a bright and chilly Mzuzu!!

Its been quite a month - really busy with one thing and another.  It was wonderful to have Carson, Diane, Johnny and Hazel from the Hillsborough team who came some years ago to build a nursery school in Kasoba, Karonga. They have all been here since they came on the team and were delighted to see progress in Kasoba village.  We stayed at Chitimba which was a nice break for me!

sunrise over the lake

Fishing on the lake

When we arrived at the nursery school there were a few children there and they were about to have their porridge.  While I met with the school committee and the caregivers, the visitors were taken off to see how the village had developed since they were here last.

having porridge

I often comment that it is nice to see children who I knew when I was in Zomba.  This is Clement and he is the ministers son - he was in my nursery school in Zomba.  He is a lovely young boy and he wants to be a doctor when he grows up!  Although its great to see these kids growing up, it makes me feel so old..........

Karonga is rice growing country and all over the roads, even on the bus stops rice is laid out to dry.  This is the time of plenty so its a good idea to stock up when its cheap!

rice drying

We stayed at Chitimba that night and at dusk decided to have a 'sundowner' - of course we were not alone and soon we were surrounded by children who wanted to show off for us!!

The visitors left for the next leg of their trip, and I went back to work!  We were having training in Ekwendeni Presbytery and so Nicolas and myself went to monitor the training.  On the left here you can see Madalitso our trainer in Ekwendeni Presbytery as he helps the participants with group work.  Notice the clothing - its cold these days - winter has arrived!!!

Of course the trainers do not work alone - we usually have 3 working together and here you can see Kamoza preparing for his session.  No powerpoints here - we have to use flipcharts as there is usually no electricity where we train!

In our training we always use children's songs to empower the caregivers or committee members.  In this case it was committee members being trained.  Their education level was low - most of them had not even completed primary school, but their level of understanding was good!  Here you can see them doing an action song and having fun!

This past week it was back to Ekwendeni again.  We had a volunteer called Mary for a week from USA.  She spent a few days in our CCAP school here in Mzuzu and then went to Ekwendeni to spend a night in the village and attend two centres there.  This is when I went to pick her up after the visit which she described as 'paradise'!

Mary also spent a couple of days at Zolozolo here in Mzuzu and this is the scene when I took her - the kids came rushing out to meet her!!

So positive things are happening in Early Childhood.  Unfortunately on Friday Nicolas and I were disappointed as we went to visit two centres within Mzuzu and found them both closed!  This is the first building at Msiki which is where the nursery school is held.  It is also a prayer house for one of the local churches on a Sunday.  As you can see the roof is quite dilapidated and the toilet had actually fallen in.

The view from the centre made up for the fact that it was closed though!

When our children do not attend ECD centres, they are often left to fend for themselves as parents go to the garden or other duties.  We found these children playing in broken down lorries - so dangerous, and yet for a child a great adventure. There is so much parental education needed here to keep children from harm.  Of course I don't want it to become as bad as the child protection in the UK which I think is over the top but there has to be a happy medium!  (That's my rant for today!!)

Our CCAP International Preschool is still fundraising for the new school building - I wonder will it ever be open!  Prices continue to rise and the amount of money being donated continues to reduce so we are struggling.  Yesterday we had a fund raising day at school to try and help.  I am not sure yet how much they raised but a great day was had by all!  There was a braai (barbeque for those who don't know the term), we had the bouncy castle (which is on its last legs) for the kids, we had some stall with different food items and donated clothes and toys for sale.

the scene as the function was beginning

the chef...

the MC - Judy, one of our teachers

 It was so good to see some of our past students coming to support us - this is Sam who is now in Standard two at primary school - a gorgeous child!

Like all kids all over the world, our children love fizzy drinks.  Here you can see two of them drinking pineapple fanta!  I have had a real struggle in the past trying to discuss with parents the benefits of NOT giving your child fizzy drinks, but rather give them some other drinks.  Those of you who have been here may have seen babies being fed orange fanta as it is believed that it contains 'vitamin c'!!

fun on the bouncy castle

Sharing the food!

Its great to have Rev Mwawi Chilongozi on our school committee.  She has these lovely twins at our school.  Rev Chilongozi is also the Umanyano Co-ordinator (the Womens Guild) so she is a busy lady, but she made very delicious cakes to sell at our function!

And finally............many of you will remember two years ago I acted as a midwife for a lovely child called Asimenye - well he is now two years old and I made a cake to celebrate his birthday!  Its not the best picture as my camera ran out of battery but this did not deter from the joy in the celebration!!

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.  Thank you for the email messages, the messages on the blog and the love and prayers for me and the work here in Malawi.

Blessings,

Diane

PS Forgot to mention that Fidelis has got a job so the past couple of weeks have been spent trying to shop for him so that he has the basic necessities to set himself up in a wee house in Chitipa!!