Hello everyone from a beautiful hot and sunny day here in Mzuzu!  As usual I have had a busy couple of weeks - just seems that the more you do the more you get to do!!

Last week I had to go and supervise training at Bandawe with Nicolas so on the way we stopped at Arthur nursery school and found the children very busy playing which was lovely.

After the visit we proceeded to the training where Kamoza and Rodney were training caregivers and committee members of a new Early Childhood Centre which is targeting orphans and vulnerable children.

Break time and caregivers are busy copying notes into their books!

about to begin a new session!

Myself with Kamoza and Rodney who are both from Nkhata bay district
so the training was done in the Tonga language!

For those of you who like creepy crawlies......, the other morning I had a shower and was just about to get out when I realised I was not alone - there was a great big orange cockroach having a shower too!  So I quickly stepped out onto the mat but something crunched below my foot - I lifted the mat to find this little beetle - no idea what it was but at least it was still alive!!

In previous posts, I have been discussing the pilot training in Early Childhood which is being done in four districts in Malawi, one of them being in Nkhata bay district.  Last Monday I was asked to join the group of supervisors to visit some of the centres where the caregivers have been trained.  On the way to Chikwina where we went, we stopped to buy water and found this scenario - a group of young children in the early morning who should have been at school, watching a video - and not a child friendly one either!  So my colleagues chased the children and told them to go to school!!

We arrived at the centre to find many children with 4  caregivers, but very few play materials.  As soon as we arrived the caregivers began songs with the children and we had to explain that they should just carry on so that we could see what they were doing!  It was interesting, not much going on in terms of interaction with the children but lots of enthusiasm.  Unfortunately some of the children screamed when they saw me (am I so scary??) as its a rural location and perhaps they have never seen a white person so close before!!

Andrew my colleague talking with the caregivers

It was great this past week to have two friends who used to work here come for a working holiday.  Before they began work we had an afternoon at the beach which was really nice......

Margaret and Maureen relaxing.....

The frangipani flowers are in bloom at the minute - I love these flowers......

Yesterday we started a series of three seminars with caregivers from the private nursery schools within Mzuzu.  Having visited most of them when doing my research it was clear there was a need to assist them with knowledge on Early Childhood Development.  We had a great day and the feedback was very positive. 

Each time we do the seminars I am going to involve different trainers and to begin with I had Nicolas and Enala who did most of the programme.

In order to help the caregivers we set up a nursery school in the building using locally available materials.  Most caregivers in town believe that we cannot teach children unless we have plastic toys - we proved them wrong as they saw our natural materials and 'rubblish'.  I am hopeful that ECD in Mzuzu will really change as a result of our training!

And finally for this week, this little chap ws sitting on my doorstep a few nights ago when I was coming in......no idea if its a frog or a toad but I think he was pretty scared!!

As I look forward to a new week, I trust you have had a well rested weekend.

Blessings,

Diane.

Opening a new ECD centre

Hello everyone from a  beautiful day in Mzuzu.  Its been another good week but not without its frustrations.  

Last Sunday at church I found myself sitting beside a young lady called Katie who with her two friends was on holiday from University and travelling through some of sub Saharan Africa.  They all came for coffee and we had a lovely chat!  

Francesca, Emily and Katie

On Monday I decided I had to get down to writing up my thesis  and took some time off to see if I could make some headway!  

My worst nightmare - statistics.....

I took myself off to somewhere that phone network is poor and where there was no internet access, to give myself a chance to do some work.  It was beautiful and I wonder if any of you can guess where this is!! 

However, no sooner had I arrived at my destination and was taking my bag out of the car than the frustrations began.......... there was a hissing noise and within 30 seconds the front tyre was completely flat.  Okay, this happens, but the tyre was brand new and had only been put on a couple of days previously!    

The next morning I found some people to help change it, but when we took off the spare wheel it was a bit flat as well.........so now I am stuck!  The two guys however took the tyre and pumped it up.  This meant I had to go back to Mzuzu to see about the new tyre..a morning wasted already!  When I took it back, they didn't have another one in stock and had to order it, so we had to go and get one of the old tyres to put on in the meantime!!  At last its been sorted and we got the new tyre fitted later on in the week!

I managed to get some of the writing done but perhaps not as much as I would have liked, as I had to come back on Thursday to deal with other issues in the office!

On Saturday, I headed to Thunduwike which is a rural congregation where we had a service to dedicate the new Early Childhood Centre.  It was a colourful day, a hot day,  a dusty day, but a lot of fun was had on the way and during the function!

the congregation when we arrived...

The moderator of the Synod, Rev Dr TPK Nyasulu, was officially opening the Early Childhood Centre and so he was taking the service.  I worked with Dr Nyasulu in Zomba so we had some catching up to do on the way there!!

Rev L S Nyondo (General Secretary), Rev T P K Nyasulu (Moderator) and myself

There were quite a few choirs which made the occasion colourful and joyful.

the Umanyano choir (womens' guild)

the Sunday School choir - they were brilliant singing and dancing!

The donor who made the ECD centre possible is Mr Mbulo a business man whose home is at Thunduwike.  Here you can see him with the keys of the ECD centre which he is about to give to me as handing over to the Synod.

Mr Mbulo in the centre - the lady on the right is Mercy, our Trainer in Jombo Presbytery

Receiving the keys of the centre

In turn, I handed over the keys to Dr Nyasulu as he was going to formally open the new centre.

Once the service was over we then processed to the new ECD centre to dedicate it.

Its a beautiful  building.....

some of the congregation....

cutting the ribbon..........

And before we went to lunch, having our photographs taken - the sun was so bright I had to wear my sunglasses!!

Today I went to Viyele CCAP church where Nicolas was preaching as it was the Sunday School service.  Unfortunately I forgot to carry my camera but it was again a colourful occasion with many choirs and much joy!!

Just to finish - Pemphero came yesterday to blow bubbles after I came home, and I love this photo..........

And so, another week is over, the days are passing very quickly.  Now its warming up in Mzuzu and the country is very dry.  Schools opened last Monday so I hope to see what is happening in our school here during the coming week.  We still have not moved to our new building - money is finished and we still have a lot to do.  I just pray that one day we will see children playing there!

Oh and the jacaranda trees are out - the beautiful purple colour all over the city!!

Wishing you all a good week,

Blessings,

Diane

Memories.........

Hello everyone,

Usually I update the blog on a Sunday but yesterday I was so exhausted I could not even type!  Its been a hectic couple of weeks and I was glad of the day of rest!  I have been supervising training of ECD for the World Bank pilot project.  The training was in Mzuzu thankfully but it kept me busy.  Here you can see some of the participants dancing and singing as they learn - they were a very active group.

It is exciting to work with the Regional trainers in ECD who we trained last year, and all of whom work in social work.  We had a team of 9 in Mzuzu and they did a great job - I was really proud of them!  Here are a few of them in action!

the team leader - Lickson

Wilson

Frank

Patricia

Sopani and Mcdonald

Joyce

 While it was great to see the trainers in action, it was also great to have a lot of small children who came with the participants.  We learnt as much from them as we did from the facilitators.  Unfortunately one or two of them were not so happy to see the big 'mzungu' (european), and screamed each time I went near them!!

This child is busy investigating the dry leaves
and is fascinated by the sound they make!

As usual, I did some entertaining during the week - Evans, Lumbani and Fidelis came for dessert after we had gone out for pizza!! 

I had a wonderful experience on Friday as I met Rev Arnold Saka who had been a student at Zomba many years ago.  It was a joy to meet him again in his manse in Lilongwe and share some stories past and present.

Rev Saka on the right with a student minister from Zomba 
who is doing practicals with him

The Saka children - it makes me feel so old when I see the oldest girl 
who was in the nursery school at Zomba when I was there!!  
Can't remember her name.........possibly old age creeping in........

Rev Saka and myself!!

So it was a busy week but great fun at the same time.  On Saturday after I returned from Lilongwe, I suddenly got a pain in my right shoulder and have not slept a lot since.  I had the same problem during the year I spent in South Africa and had to have it strapped up, but hopefully it will be okay in a couple of days!!  I think its just exhaustion so today I took it a bit easier and just visited another training that three of our trainers are doing in Enukweni.

The group of caregivers with the three trainers
at the back, Freeman, Enala and Frank

Wishing you all a good week,

Blessings,

Diane x

Chitipa road trip.........

Hello everyone,

Its been an extremely busy couple of weeks but also a lot of fun as we continued our trip to visit all the Trainers in their districts.    We started off in Chinteche on the lake shore and ended up in Ekwendeni, visiting Chitipa, Karonga and Rumphi in between.

In Chinteche we met Gibson, Rodney and Kamoza to share some new policies on ECD and discuss different issues they face in the community.

Gibson, Rodney and Kamoza

While we were inside the church conducting the meeting, there were various other activities going on outside.  Child labour is something that in Early Childhood we are very concerned about, and yet here outside we found two small children cutting firewood with panga knives.  They were probably sent by their parents to cut firewood.

After the meeting I had another meeting with another man from an orphan care centre, but he was running late so we decided to make use of the time and go down to the beach - it was a beautiful day and we had some fun!

Fidelis recovering after falling through the tyre!!

Rodney taking a picture of Nicolas!!

taking a stroll on the beach........

Last Monday Nicolas, Fidelis and myself set off for Chitipa in the north west tip of Malawi - its one of my favourite places in Malawi with beautiful scenery on the way.

As we had time we stopped off at Chitimba on the way just to relax for a few minutes before proceeding on our journey!!  Its a hard life!

In Chitipa we met with Vibrin and Lyness who had travelled from Wenya, Dennis from Misuku and Prescott from Chitipa.  We had a good meeting where we learned as much as we shared!!

 I love this picture of Nicolas enjoying a joke with the trainers!!

On the way back from Chitipa we had to stop at this beautiful building which is in fact a CBCC - Community Based Childcare Centre.  The reason we stopped was to take a photo for Fidelis because during the time he worked in Chitipa the building of this centre was under his direction!!  So you can see him posing in front of the centre.  Its a beautiful centre.

Many times during my time in Mzuzu I have travelled to Chitipa but the road was so bad from Karonga to Chitipa that I always had to consider if I really needed to go.  Well, now its a pleasure driving to Chitipa: where it used to take between two and a half to three hours, now its possible to drive in about an hour and a half.  The Chinese have built a wonderful road - its shorter, it has great bridges and perhaps  best of all it is smooth - no more jumping around as you travel!!

the driver smiling because the road is so good!!

Next stop Karonga, the home of the Malawisaurus who was found 45 Kilometres south of Karonga.  In an earlier blog there is a picture of the actual Malawisaurus but this time we were not inside the museum - this is the dinosaur outside to welcome visitors!!

Behind the museum is a restaurant and so we met Lucy and Grace our Trainers in Karonga and Ngerenge for a meeting and lunch!

Traditional Karonga dish made from beef and bananas called mbalagha - its very tasty!

Grace, Nicolas and Lucy
 

Next stop on our road trip was to Rumphi to meet George and Eliza, both looking very serious here, but I hope before we left they were smiling!! 

.....and finally on Friday we were in Ekwendeni to meet the final members of the group - we had a good meeting with much participation and laughter!

Nicolas, Foster, Frank, Madalitso, Ernest, Mercy and Enala

It was good to be back in Mzuzu to have a rest!  At least that was the plan until I got a call to ask if I would supervise training which is happening in Mzuzu for the next week.  So Saturday and today I have spent some hours supervising the regional trainers in ECD as they prepare caregivers for the new curriculum in Malawi.  While I enjoy this supervision it is also tiring!  However, its great to see the regional trainers who we trained in December last year in action!  I don't have any photographs but might take my camera during the week to take a few pictures.

I mentioned in the last blog that Nicolas had passed his Diploma - well the certificate has arrived so here he is looking very pleased with himself!! (and so he should as he worked very hard)

Nicolas and some other friends were at home for lunch on Saturday and Nicolas got a bit carried away with the custard spoon..............

Finally for this week, I want to say a special thank you to Fidelis for being with us over the past two months on his holidays from African Bible College where he is about to enter his final year.  We have had fun and laughter and a lot of hard work -  he has really been a great help in the department.  I wish him God's blessing as he goes back on Friday and hope that he will join us again on his next holiday!

Wishing you all a wonderful week,

Blessings,

Diane