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!!

Time.........where does it go???

Hello everyone and thank you for visiting my blog once again!  Its been a few weeks since I updated it - it seems I never have time as it takes a couple of hours to upload the photos on our good old internet!!

Have been really busy with some travelling and I thought I had better update it as I am on the move again on Monday!  Here is the latest billboard in Mzuzu which I think is great - we have a lot of child trafficking in Malawi with it being a landlocked country and borders are not secure.

About 4 years ago, I asked on the blog if anyone would be able to help me with fees for this young man - this is Fidelis who I met in Chitipa in 2008 when he was also working in child development.  He left in 2009 to join African Bible College in Lilongwe where a couple of weeks ago he completed his degree and graduated.  I was able to get help for his second semester and then a few people gave me some a little every now and then so its been a struggle, but at last he has finished.  You can see he is a happy guy and is now thinking about the future!  Thanks to those who have assisted me over the four years in paying his fees at college.

While I was in Lilongwe for graduation it was a real joy to meet Peter in the photo below.  Peter stayed in Zomba when I first came to Malawi and we were neighbours for a couple of years before he moved back to the states.  Since then we have met a few times on and off in Malawi and in South Africa!  He just happened to have a couple of days in Lilongwe when I was down and we met up - great to catch up on what has happened over the years  (and to compare each other's grey hair!!).

Back from Lilongwe on Sunday night only to find out that I am due in Mangochi on Tuesday for a workshop........so Monday was a hectic day trying to get organised to leave on Tuesday morning for the long drive to the southern lake shore.  Going down the lakeshore road I passed the rubber plantations and there was good light in the morning to take a picture of the rubber tapping process!!

I had not been in Mangochi since my time in Zomba 7 years ago and the roads have vastly improved!  There are more people and more cars too.  However the villages are mainly just the way they were all those years ago!

Part of the reason for going to Mangochi was to visit a pilot project of Save the Children's where they have been using a community radio in their nursery schools to assist in rural areas where teachers are not trained and there is low level of literacy.  Here you can see children in one centre waiting for the programme to start - the radio is on the floor in the middle of the circle!

After the programme it was playtime outside and this young lad was having a great time beating the drum!

Another early years centre where we arrived as the children were having their morning porridge!!

The Southern lake is very beautiful but I did not expect to find camels wandering along the lakeshore!  We were in the meeting on the second day up to 8pm so we did not see the lake at all really.  At 5pm we broke for afternoon tea!! and I noticed these camels on the beach - they belong to the owner of the lodge we were staying at!

The main mode of transport here is bicycle and on the way home to Mzuzu I was driving along and saw these two poor pigs on the way to market!  The one on the right did not look too alive but the pink one on the left was squealing his heart out!  The irony of it all is that the area I was passing through is a Muslim area (where people don't eat pork!!)

Back home and the sunrise the next morning was quite stunning!

A few days ago, Matt in Ekwendeni (who many of you will know) and I were invited to go and have lunch at this guy's restaurant.  He has opened his restaurant in one of our markets - we had great food and it is good to see him so happy!

This morning I had a call from a colleague that the Girls Brigage in Mzuzu and Ekwendeni were meeting for the GB world day of prayer which is on Monday but they were having their worship today after marching round the city!  I was called to photograph the event! It was great to see and be part of.

Apart from that I am organising training for caregivers and committees in our rural areas, organising monitoring by our trainers and organising a workshop in July to be held in Ekwendeni and another one in August!  So its a busy time.  I am due to go on deputation in September but what I really need is a holiday!

Have a great weekend and a good week ahead!

Blessings,

Diane

Another packed week!

Hello everyone

I hope this finds you all well!  Once again its been a busy week with one or two unexpected things adding to the job!  Nicolas, Rodney (one of our trainers) and myself travelled to Phiri congregation in Nkhata Bay to meet the committee of one of our Early childhood centres.  This is one of our centres which was build by donors, but unfortunately the donors are controlling the centre and there is no committee involvement even though the donor is pulling out in 2013.  So my job is to set up a sustainability measure to make sure that the centre will keep going after the donor leaves!  Here you can see the minister of the congregation on the left Rev Chimaliro together with some of the committee.  The chairman is the one on beside Rev Chimaliro with the amazing smile!!

Here you can see me listening to what the committee have to say - I don't know if I have the pen under my chin to keep me quiet until its my turn to respond!!!

While we were there we had to visit the centre and found many of the children busy playing with blocks and they seemed healthy and happy!

Outside  a lot of children were also having fun in the newly built sandpit!  The centre is one of our most beautiful and I hope we can work out measures for its sustainability!

The next day, I had planned to organise a lot of activities that are taking place in June when I got a message that a container from PCI has arrived.  I thought there was not much for Early Childhood so I wasn't too bothered!!  The container was opened and had to be inspected by the customs officials before unloading and after unloading!!

Unlike where the container is loaded, we have no mechanical devices to assist in the unloading so it takes a lot of man power!  And it takes a lot of time - all afternoon to be exact!

Many of the materials unloaded waiting to be checked!

Of course the unloading has to be supervised so a member of each department is around to check that their materials have come.  Here you can see Nicolas from ECD, Luso from the Secretariat and Sangster from Health Department.  Many of you will have met all of these three as they have all been in Ireland!

And I said I did not think there would be much for ECD - well my office is full, my spare bedroom is full, my living room is half full, the khonde (verandah) is half full and the shed outside is full!  Now to the job of sorting and distributing the materials...........  But the comments from the customs people and all the Department representatives were that the quality of materials was fantastic.  So thank you to one and all who contributed to this container!

On Friday, to say thank you for the hard work in unloading the container, I took Nicolas and my staff at home Mr Nyirenda and Annex out for lunch.  They were so excited and the comment from Annex was that 'since I born, I never been in a restaurant'!  Made me feel very humble but I am glad they had a great time and I am sure it will be the subject of many stories over the weekend!

On another note altogether, my lemons in the garden are ready...........maybe I need to set up a stall in the market to sell them all!!

And finally for this week, I went to visit one of my colleagues here Mrs Mpamba who inherited these beautiful children when her sister-in-law died.  The children were just two months old when their mother died and they are now 9 months old!  They are growing really well and are really different not only in appearance but in personality!  The one on the left, Thokozani, is full of life and full of fun, while chisomo, his older brother is very timid and scared and tearful!  I admire Mrs Mpamba for the way she has taken these children into her home to add to her family, and for the love and compassion she has for them.  She is a truly amazing lady!

The following day, I wanted to take a few small things to Mrs Mpamba for the children. As I arrived at her house I was surprised that some children were shouting 'Teacher Diana'.... I knew that none of the children at our school were from this area, but then I found out that some of the children go to another of our centres and they recognised me! Its not easy to be anonymous in Malawi when there are children around!  As you can see they were really excited!!

So its been both a busy and fruitful week and I thank God for the many things that have happened this week.  I also had a disappointment as someone I considered a good friend has really let me down and I am extremely hurt and would value your prayers.  Sometimes people turn out to be different from who you thought they were!

Wishing you all a great week ahead!

Blessings,

Diane