Meetings and Moderators....

Hello everyone,

Hard to believe August is already upon us......I hope you are enjoying your summer holidays!!  Here its a really busy time with many visitors passing through from UK, USA, and Canada.  

Its the time of year for these small birds to be sold on the roadside as snacks - I did take the picture but I didn't eat any birds!!

Nicolas and I have been busy travelling this past month.  We went to Mchinji which is in the central region at the Zambian border.  We have four ECD centres linked to Mchinji congregation and one of them is 50kms from the town!  We went to meet some of the committees and caregivers to discuss various issues with them!  It was a really good meeting!

Although we were in a rural place, there were lots of children about and when they saw me they peeked through the windows and doors to see what was going on!

The school year ended third week of July and here you can see some of our children at the CCAP International Preschool as they wait to do their activities for parents.  It was a good presentation by the kids!

Of course in our rural ECD centres, things have also closed for a few weeks so the Early Childhood Presbytery trainers are not monitoring at present.  If we had money we could be doing training, but unfortunately we are struggling and have no funds for this.

However, we have a little money for training Presbytery committees and this will take place in September and October, when we will be training 13 committees.  Because of this training, we have to prepare the trainers, as it is the first time we have trained committees at Presbytery level.  We had a seminar for the trainers from Bandawe and Lilongwe zone in Mzuzu a couple of weeks ago.

Ernest,  during a group session....

Wonderful trying to put a purse on her back like a baby.....she struggled to get the cloth around herself!

We have been asked by an Assemblies of God minister who works in Choma to assist him to train a committee and caregivers so that he can open an ECD centre in September!  Choma is quite rural and people struggle to find transport...this was the scene on the way - men carrying charcoal on their bicycles to sell in town.

This is the young minister outside his church building which as you can see is very basic!

Last year, we trained some caregivers and committees in another rural area in a village called Msipazi and we were invited to the closing of their ECD centres.  Nicolas went to represent us as I was already busy with our trainers, and we gave the centres some boxes which had come in a container!  The caregiver was very excited to receive the play materials which will assist them when they open again in September.

To those of you in Ireland who read my blog, you will recognise the present moderator, Rev Ian McNie and his wife Anne.  They spent a week in Mzuzu with the synod and I was able to see them a couple of times which was great!

They were accompanied by  Rev Uel Marrs, who is no stranger to Mzuzu as he has been here quite a few times.  It was good to have time to talk with him during the visit.

With Rev Levi Nyondo, the General Secretary of CCAP Synod of Livingstonia!

I took time one afternoon last week to go and visit Mrs Msowoya who used to work with me when I first came to Mzuzu.  She is a lovely Godly lady and so gracious - we had a lovely time catching up about family and life in Malawi!

Last week, Nicolas and myself went to Mzimba to meet with the Loudon Zone Early Childhood Presbytery trainers to discuss the upcoming training.  Here are Mary and Khwima discussing some issues....

and myself in full flow discussing layouts of ECD centres!

Finally for this blog, I went walking yesterday with a friend Jane, and as usual we had a lot of children following us.....I loved the expression this little boys face!

I could take photos of the setting sun every night these days as the colours are quite spectacular!  This is out my back door and I feel so blessed to have such a view....

I ask for your prayers as I begin the final few months in Malawi.  There is much to do at work and also a lot of organizing to do as I prepare to leave.....and the next few weeks are bringing many visitors, so it will be hectic!!

Have a good week ahead,

Blessings,

Diane x