Back to life as usual.........

Hello everyone,

I had hoped to write the blog last week but time just seems to be passing my by and I never have a chance to sit down and write.  For about a week we have had heavy rains almost every day which is good for the crops but not great for taking photographs although I did manage one or two!!

Before I came back to Malawi, I had been contacted by a student from South Africa who is doing her masters degree.  In her research she is focusing on early childhood centres in Malawi and although I was not here when she arrived, we managed to find her a placement at two of our centres.  She has been staying in a village with one of my trainers, which has opened her eyes to village life (with no electricity and no running water), and comes here for respite at times!!  

Another student who I met before in Malawi from Northern Ireland is staying with me for a few weeks too.  Her name is Elizabeth and she is doing research for a PhD.  It was her birthday during the week and Thandeka the other student was here so we had a birthday tea!!

Since my last blog I have moved offices - I was told that the office we were renting was needed by another department so we had to find somewhere else to have an office.  So ...we are now in the boys quarters at my house - a bit close for comfort but there seems to be no other option right now!!  It is smaller than our last office and not as airy and light.  Here you can see Nicolas in our old office followed by a picture of my part of the new office!

For those of you who follow Malawian politics, you will know that we are having presidential elections in May.  The candidates were registering their names last week and so we had lots of people in town.  This is the view from the old office of a lorry load of DPP supporters singing and dancing as they go along.

I was heading to Lilongwe that day and I was stopped to watch the PP party going past, first on bicycles (dressed in orange, the colour of the party), then in vehicles behind! There is nothing you can do when you meet these guys, you just have to wait until they go past!

I know you have heard me say many times that we need prayers for safety when we travel on the roads here.  I went to Lilongwe to a meeting and then planned to get my car serviced while I was there.  Everything went well except the garage could not find some spare parts for my car which meant that I was not leaving Lilongwe until later afternoon to drive the 5 hours to Mzuzu.  Driving at night here is quite dangerous as there are few lights on the roads and even on the vehicles, and when there are breakdowns on the road, it is difficult to see them!

As I was coming back, there was a lorry parked on the right hand side of the road and I was travelling at speed.  It was my right of way so I wasn't overly concerned!  A petrol tanker was coming towards me on the opposite side - unfortunately whether he did not see the stationary vehicle or his brakes were not good, he did not slow down and literally missed my vehicle and the stationary lorry by I would say centimeters.  It gave me quite a fright.  On I traveled and suddenly a vehicle began overtaking a lorry and he was coming straight for me.  Again, he missed by a narrow margin.  I was really very relieved to get home safely - so please continue praying for safety on the roads.

Traffic in Mzuzu

The country is lush and green at present with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, and flowers around!

and with chickens in the garden................

 Many of the children around come to play at my house and they are all growing up so quickly.  It was Chisomo's birthday this past week - he was eight and we had a birthday party in his home in the evening which was a lot of fun.

Nicolas went out to a couple of our Early Childhood Centres this week with another organisation who were donating play materials.  He found a lot of children at the centres and it was great to see them eating porridge as this is a time when food can be scarce just before the harvest.

As you can see the roof on this centre leaves a lot to be desired - its probably as wet inside as out when it rains!  But it was good to see children and caregivers making an effort.

Monday is martyrs day holiday here although we are having a workshop with our trainers next week in Ekwendeni, so there is a lot of preparation work for that!  

I wish you all a great week and please do comment if you have time!

Blessings,
Diane