Blessings...........

Hello everyone

I can't believe its a month since I last posted on the blog - its been a really busy time with the blessings of many visitors passing through!!  Its that time of year!!

The three students who were with me spent their last few days in the north in some of our ECD centres - here you can see at our CCAP International Pre-school in Mzuzu where it seems you climb up a slide rather than slide down!!

Hope is really good at walking on the beam too.

Laura, Sarah and Holly spent a day at Viyele ECD centre too - I don't think the children wanted them to leave!!

We travelled to Rumphi where Nicolas was supervising one of our trainers and you can see that the building the children were meeting in was quite pathetic.  It was a cold wet day which did not improve the situation any!

The last centre we went to was Enko which is in Mpherembe - about an hour from Ekwendeni towards the Zambian border.  We had a lovely time in the centre but it is beside the local primary school and as you can see hundreds of children came to see the 'azungu'!!  Nicolas ended up doing an action song with them which was fun!

The three girls left Mzuzu to go to Zomba and spent some time with the Glissmans!  It was great having them and they seemed to enjoy themselves!

Just after they left another group of 6 medical students arrived from Northern Ireland. Two of them are at Ekwendeni hospital and four of them are in Livingstonia.  I took them on a tour of Ekwendeni on their first day here and we met Rev Joshua Nyangulu who is the hospital chaplain so he wanted to pose with them!

Meanwhile on the home front their was drama in the garden as during the last storm part of the avocado tree fell down so I had to get it cut down quite a bit (it will grow again though)!  This is Mr Nyirongo who cuts the trees as a sideline (he is a plumber).  It really is a skill and I am in awe of his skill - he cut the whole tree with a panga knife in under 2 hours and did not hit the car, house or any electric wires in the process.  I  have a lot of respect for this man!  As you can see there is no safety harness, no rope, no hard hat........just the faith that he can do it!

6th July was Malawi's independence day - 50 years of independence!  So we had a holiday on 7th to celebrate - I spent the day at Luwawa Forest Lodge with a friend - there were good chats, good walks - all in all a good time!

Birds at the feeder

One of the bridges we had to cross on our walk........
I was just praying that I wouldn't damage the camera if I fell in!!

Not for the faint hearted - as you can see the four corners of this structure are four trees -
even in the calm day it was moving.........I didn't attempt the climb to the top!

Some amazing flowers and mushrooms on the way..........

A beetle of some sort which blends in really well with the road!

Some of the kids who came to greet us and amazingly
did not ask for any money or pens......

the stunning view which used to be covered in trees........

 As much as it was great to have a day away, of course work begins as soon as you get back!  Here you can see a team of four of our Presbytery trainers who were working on a handbook we are producing for Presbyteries and congregations on how to support the work of ECD!

I was also the guest of honour at one of the local Community Based Organisations called Msipazi where we were training the committee and caregivers.  I had to go to the closing ceremony and make a speech (as you do!!).  It was a lot of fun though and we laughed and danced our way through it!

 This past week we had a workshop with the Presbytery trainers from Bandawe zone.  We met in Mzuzu and then travelled to a couple of ECD centres within Mzuzu to do a training exercise!  The first centre was quite bright and airy............

The second centre leaves a lot to be desired...........

Its been a time of funerals here too.  One of the gardeners who works for me has had two brothers and his mother pass away in the past couple of weeks, and Fidelis had sad news that his brother in law has passed away.  He leaves a wife and three young children. Death gives much grief in any context but especially in a country where there is no social welfare and this widow and children have absolutely nothing to sustain them in the village.  May God have mercy.

We have had cold weather of late and wet weather too, but the poinsettia are blossoming as you can see.........always makes for a lovely picture.

I am taking a couple of weeks off to rest a bit - no plans but hopefully I will have the opportunity of going to the lake or somewhere else for a few days.

Blessings and love

Diane