Annie’s last week

The week and a day since my last entry has passed very quickly. I have loved having Annie here and will miss her greatly. I took her to Chileka airport at lunchtime today and put her on a plane for Johannesburg. She will be at Heathrow early tomorrow morning. The month has flown by; she has involved herself in the doings of Beehive and become a very popular member of the community in the short time she has been here. Her course for the child care students was extremely well received. They appreciated her gentle style of delivery and the interactive approach of the workshop. I am not sure that those who spoke in the feedback circle of 'now knowing how to deal with conflict situations' were entirely realistic, but at least they have been given some pointers to think about. Let us hope that they use them, and also that those who manage them over the next few years also remember the value of listening carefully to the views of both parties in a conflict, considering the other party's point of view, using non-judgemental language, and saying clearly what it is that they want.

Annie and I have been attending the practices of the Beehive Construction Choir. Annie first attended with Lin about 3 weeks ago. After our holiday I went with her to a couple of practices and we sang with the choir in assembly last Monday. We were not really quite ready, but it was Annie's only opportunity before leaving for home. We have been very warmly welcomed. We sang two songs, one in English and one in Chichewa. Sue and Brian spent a lot of time in their last couple of weeks here supporting and encouraging the choir and the Construction Drama Group. They arranged for them to have uniform t-shirts, yellow for women and blue for men, with Beehive Construction Choir emblazoned on the breast. They also funded transport for a joint expedition and performance. A second expedition is planned and the choir-master and organizer of the choir enlisted our help in arranging transport through Beehive. We said that we did not think we had much influence and encouraged them to ask for themselves, but said we would mention it, which we did. I am glad to be able to report that the two groups will be off on another joint venture this weekend. I wish I could go, but this weekend is the 'Lake of Stars' festival and a group of us are off to the southern lakeshore to join with that.

I have a new next-door neighbour in Father John Dimba, a member of the Spiritan community who is taking a sabbatical year and spending a few months as Principal of the JPIILITA college. His expertise is in the leadership rather than the IT side of the college's specialisms. He has a lot of experience in human formation, and developing leadership skills through the training of priests. Annie and I have had a number of interesting conversations with him over the last week or so. Yesterday he invited us to go with him to see his parish in the Thyolo area, a tea-growing region, so that we could meet some of his brothers and understand a little more about where he comes from. We had a fascinating day meeting people, visiting his chapels and churches, visiting a tea and macadamia nut factory, and being given lunch by a village family of a couple of sisters who each have a number of children. They are subsistence farmers. In the garden there were, chickens, pigs, a calf, dogs. They had prepared a delicious meal with both pork and chicken, vegetables from the garden, rice and chips. We were a bit worried that we were eating their food for the next week, but they were obviously delighted to be able to feed Father John and his guests and made us feel very welcome. Father John obviously felt equally at home in this humble household as he did in the luxury home of the lady who kindly loaned him her Hilux car as the Brother's car was not really suitable for the dirt roads of the country parish. In both places he opened the door and called out to announce our arrival, stepping into the back yard of the one home and the smart entrance hall of the other with the quiet confidence of being in the homes of friends. He also has taken an interest in the Construction Choir and has raised with them the possibility of making a CD of spiritual songs together. His vision is of singing with an ecumenical choir and encouraging their development through working together. He is keen that I continue taking a part in the choir after Annie has left as he feels that the interest of an azungu woman will be affirming to the members. I am a bit muddled as to what I feel about this, but have sufficient confidence to allow myself to be led by him where I do not fully understand the culture myself. Those of you who know me well will know that I am far from a good singer, so perhaps it is just as well that he sees other benefits in my membership! I am glad that he will be there as I shall miss Annie next time I go to practice. Sue and Brian made a DVD of the choir which they sent out to them last week. Unfortunately no one has the equipment to view it, so I have promised to take my laptop to practice on Friday. I wonder how the CD project will develop, and what fundraising ideas the choir will have. If any of you with musical connections are interested in encouraging the project I will put you in touch with Sue and Brian so you can see the DVD and find out what we are like.

Last weekend Annie and I joined Linda on a trip with the Society of Malawi to the home of a couple who make soaps and balm, from local materials in the ironing room of their house. It was a fascinating morning, hearing about the development of a cottage industry, seeing the family home of this South African/Malawian couple, meeting their children, meeting a selection of expatriates from at least four different countries, moulding soap off cuts into balls, learning about making cosmetics from beeswax, macadamia nut oil, essential oils etc etc. The packaging is handmade, mostly from wood by a local carver. We all had the opportunity to buy for ourselves and for gifts and the morning was rounded off by excellent coffee and homemade biscuits and brownies. The three of us had lunch in Blantyre before returning to Mitsidi for a swim and a lazy afternoon. I slipped away for an hour to David's 'welcome back' barbeque for Zoe, a low-key affair compared to her leaving do, but nevertheless a pleasant occasion. On Sunday we got up fairly early for the weekend and climbed to the peak of Michiru mountain, just Annie and me and Chris. It was a steep old climb! I do not think I would have made it a year ago, but by taking it slowly I reached the top where we had just opened the picnic when we were joined by a couple of dozen Malawian children and young people. This was probably a church youth group as they soon burst into song. Annie and I joined in with the English words as they sang in Chichewa to the tune of 'Bread of Heaven', but that was the only tune we recognized. It is lovely to see the landscape spread out below one from the top of the mountain. There is Blantyre in one direction and barely inhabited countryside in another. I was able to pick out a familiar section of Chilomoni ring road but most of the township was hidden by a subsidiary peak.

This afternoon Sarah and I finished the planning of our half of the 'Outdoor Play' short course which will run after our return from 'Lake of Stars' next week. We have collected together a lot of materials for the students to use to devise activities by scavenging our way across the building site, through the containers and around the local area. More details next week when the course actually happens.