Home again

It is amazing how little time it takes to be completely absorbed back into home relationships and routines. Part of my mind and heart are still in Malawi of course, but already life seems very normal here. Less exciting and stimulating perhaps, but this is home. I have been busy writing up some of what I have been doing so that any new volunteers will be able to build on what I have done rather then simply starting again from the beginning, but I am by no means working full time on Malawi in the way I have been for the last couple of months. 

I mentioned that there was a Farewell Lunch for me the day before I left. I wore the dress that Selena made for me from glorious chitenge fabric that I bought in the market at Limbe. This drew a number of comments including “ Ah!!! But you are an African woman now!” This party was a true celebration and I was very moved by the strength of feeling expressed in the speeches. I presented the CC staff with certificates for each of the training sessions they had attended. It is extraordinary how much these pieces of paper mean to folk who are keen to learn but have so little access to training opportunities. Bhavna gently told me off for wasting print and paper by providing a separate certificate for each course, she said that I should have made one certificate with all the trainings listed on it and just ticked the one’s attended for each student. She is probably right but I cannot help but be glad that I helped to meet the need for recognition that these pieces of paper seemed to provide. 

I should have known that there would be speeches and that I would be expected to make one myself in reply and done a little preparation, but I did not. My response was impromptu but heartfelt. Also well received. The occasions in my life when people have written poems about me are few indeed, but this week there have been two. 

The first by Felecia Gwetse was read out during the formal part of the proceedings. It refers to the games I slotted in to the trainings and surprised me by it’s sensitivity to some of the reasons why I included some of these activities amongst more traditional approaches:

 A Farewell to Marian 

 In a room where laughter soared 

And games brought joy we all loved, 

 We stand to bid you a cheer 

 For Marian, who made it all so dear. 

 Back to back game I remember 

We’d support each other with a partner’s strength 

We’d find our way to stand. 

 In those moments, we learned to play with children. 

 ‘My name is Felecia’,with pride ‘and I am flexible’,

 ‘My name is Doreen and I am darling to many’ 

 We would say with hearts open wide 

 And in the game of ‘Robots’ we felt a bond that truly shone. 

 Line up game, and so many games 

You led with grace and playful style, 

 Made us smile, 

 Your humble heart, your childlike play, guided us through. 

 Thank you Marian for all you’ve done 

In every game we had such fun 

 We’ll carry forward all you’ve taught. 

 In our hearts your lessons shine. 

 Thank you Felecia, what a tribute! `I had to choke back the tears to speak and respond to that one. 

 The second poem was commissioned by Keith from a roadside busker set up with a table and an old fashioned typewriter in Gentleman’s Walk in Norwich: 

 For Mari, from Keith 

 When the wind blows you back home 

 and your feet walk this little English 

 street again, and the world is in 

 some way a little better for your work 

 and the house is just a little quieter 

 dinner for one and the kettle is only half 

 full - but now it is being filled 

 again, sharing all the little warmth 

 it has to give on your return. 

 Nathan Rodney Jones 

My other news is that my application to Book Aid for Early Years textbooks for Mother Teresa Children’s Centre and the ECD students at JP II has been successful, so in the fullness of time, up to 1000 books will arrive via Lilongwe Airport for Beehive to collect from a local book distributor and take back to Chilomoni. New, up to date textbooks from which our ECD students will learn so much to equip them to continue the task of increasing the life chances of at least a few local children. Hoorah! The four hours of time I spent putting together that application are surely some of the best spent hours of my life! Thank you to all the lovely Norwich-based Early Years people who donated their old textbooks to start off the Beehive ECD library collection. The 100 books you donated will soon be joined by ten times as many new books.

On the way home

Nearly a whole week since I wrote anything. Mainly it has been a week of goodbye’s. I cannot believe how being in Chilomoni for only eight weeks can have made me feel as though I belong here in the way that it has. At the moment it is about 6.00pm on Friday and I am in the air somewhere over central Africa on the way home. We stopped at Beira for about an hour and are due at Addis Ababa shortly before 9.00pm. Then it’s a four hour wait for the connection to Heathrow. We had a meal at 4.00pm and now all the lights have been dimmed and windows covered. We are expected to be asleep, but it’s 5.45pm. I don’t understand aircraft routines! Last Sunday we had a visit to Game Haven, a lodge attached to a small game park, as a final trip out of Blantyre for me. We had a fairly ordinary meal at an outdoor table in the shade of a khonde. The place was packed with well-to-do Malawians enjoying the first weekend of the school holidays with a Sunday dinner, a few drinks, a swim in the pool and, for a few, a trip round the Game Park. The game trips were more of a tourist thing. We planned to drive ourselves around the park but unfortunately discovered we had a puncture and so were told our car was not in a fit condition. It proved to be just as well that we transferred to a safari truck as the track was nearly as steep, rough and stony as last week’s Zomba plateau roads and the car probably wouldn’t have made it even without the puncture. Our vehicle had me and Bhavna, our 3 engineers, a large German family, a couple of Americans and a few others. I was delighted to be ordered to the front seat by the driver. I was fairly obviously the oldest person present and therefore was offered the best view. We saw many zebra, wildebeest, eland, impala, a single giraffe, weaver bird’s nests but no weaver birds, heron, an unidentified bird of prey and a mongoose. On our return the boys changed the wheel and we returned to Blantyre getting back just before dark. Monday was a day of tidying up odds and ends, I wrote a list of games for my last training event on Wednesday, I put together a list of Action Points for the Practice Leader which needed a bit of careful planning as basically she needs to completely change the priorities she gives to the different parts of her job. Basically I wanted to kick start her into actually leading practice by appearing in the rooms about ten times as often as she has done up to now. I had a long conversation with the Daycare Manager and fixed to have another one with the Outreach Manager on Wednesday. I dropped in on the Director of the whole of Mary Queen of Peace and reminded him that he had said he would write me a few notes about his visit to the daycare last week. I have drifted into the habit of sticking my head around his office door about once a week to update him about what I have been up to. On Tuesday I went with the Extended Schools team to observe their work during the school holidays. This was over the road from the CC in St James’ Catholic Primary School which was where David and I had our classroom fourteen years ago, so it was a trip down memory lane. The door to the library where we taught was locked and the curtains were drawn but I found a few windows where there were gaps between the drapes and the room looked exactly the same as the day we first arrived in 2010. I doubt it has been decorated during that time, the tall wooden library shelves are still there with probably the same books on them, it was a bit dismal and sad. It doesn’t look like the school use it much. The Extended Schools team are providing top up lessons for children during the school holidays for Standards 1-4 of primary school in the mornings and Standards 5-8 in the afternoons. They are open to any children in the surrounding area whatever primary school they normally attend. I saw English, Chichewa, Maths and Health classes. Standard 1 were writing the letter Aa and the part of the class I saw was a bit unimaginative but I thoroughly enjoyed the health class which was about how to look after your body and was greatly enlivened by a game based on the old game of ‘O’Grady says do this’ where you are supposed to do what the leader does, not what he says. The mimes of tooth brushing, bathing, hair brushing etc were a joy to behold. These classes are intended to help those who are struggling with classes, stop children forgetting what they have learned in the eight-week holidays and give a bit of structure to the day for the children who do not get taken away to visit relatives or have a holiday. Wednesday began with the meeting with the Outreach Team. I continue to be astonished by the breadth of work that the Outreach Team do. I learned of even more activities than those i have previously seen and described. When I get home and start to write about it all I may well blog again to let you know more. I did two classes of games for Care Givers to use with children. This time the classes were in the garden. I tried to offer alternatives relevant to all the Domains of the 2017 ECD curriculum. We laughed, we sang, we played ball games, we danced, we celebrated the fun we have had together over the last eight weeks and we said goodbye. I fought back the tears! This day I also had my meeting with the Practice Leader and rather to my surprise she seemed receptive to the suggestions I had made for her to help her to support the Room Leaders and Care Givers to meet their own tasks that I distributed a few weeks ago. That was supposed to be my last day in the CC but I had not found the time to go and observe a child with special needs who had caught my eye so I said I would drop in for an hour at some point during Thursday. As it turned out I was treated to a surprise lunch party so I ended up being at the centre for four hours, but it was never going to take me a whole day to pack anyway!

Training, beginning to tie up the ends and a leisurely Saturday

Wednesday Wednesday is training day. I followed the plan I outlined a couple of entries back. I did think that asking people to think about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats might unleash all sorts of cans of worms and, of course, I was right! However mostly they were worms that I had met before, or at least suspected the existence of, so the experience was only slightly terrifying. Unfortunately with both groups we spent so long talking about strengths and weaknesses we did not have enough time to give opportunities and threats the full attention they deserve but we did at least address them a little. I am currently halfway through putting all 12 of the SWOT analyses, 1 from each group of 3-6 students, together to try and express a collective opinion about what is good about MTCC, what is weak, what we could do to move towards positive change, and what we could do to counteract the effects of perceived threats. My greatest comfort is that the list of strengths is a lot longer than any of the other individual lists. I spent quite a lot of the time available trying to convey my overall high opinion of what all of the different teams are achieving at the moment. When people start to look at faults they often forget to look also at what is going well. I also want them to recognise that putting things right is something they can do for themselves and that sitting back moaning and expecting a mzungu to sort it for them is not the best longterm solution! Watch this space for further analysis of action points arising from all the info on the flip chart sheets that I have yet to go through. Thursday I have received a lot of information from many different members of the CC team that they feel a bit isolated from the rest of the other members of the Mary Queen of Peace group. We are all human and we all need a bit of recognition and praise when we do things well. If our team leader appears to take little interest in what we are doing we get discouraged and the level of grumbling in corners is raised. This generally leads to negative effects. A bit of this has been going on for a while I think. I resolved that I would encourage two visits, one out into the community to see the work of the family support and extended schools teams, and one to see the changes suggested by my action points for each team in the Daycare, and for the Centre as a whole. Thursday was to have been the outreach trip, and we have arranged it once before and had to postpone it because our visitor’s plans were changed. Oh dear, a vital meeting with another department came up at the last minute and it was postponed again and I have only a week of working days left before I must return to the UK. However, every cloud has a silver lining and this gave me another day to tackle that old knotty problem of the Resource Room! Off I went to find the Practice Leader only to find that she has taken two days of leave. It is now a fortnight since I asked her to label the shelves and book boxes so that anyone going in to the room would know instantly where to find whatever they were looking for. I went to the Resource Room. It looked exactly as we left it two weeks ago except that a few extra unsorted items had found their way in and lay on the floor in disconsolate heaps. My heart sank. I knew she had started to make labels for the book boxes about ten days ago, and so I went on a search and soon found a tray of bright yellow, neatly laminated labels. Hoorah! For me the priority is to get a system going whereby Room Leaders can come at a fixed time at least once a week to exchange resources to make the most of their weekly planning. Therefore I left the labels where they were and made another set, pink this time, to label the shelves where the boxes of toys, craft materials etc are kept. It took me about two and a half hours to do the job, and some boxes will have to be moved in order to make all the labels tell the truth, but a little progress has been made! Friday The day of the Day Care visit. This happened. The visitor arrived on the dot of 9 o’clock and we went up to the office and had an illuminating conversation about finance pathways from Krizevac via Beehive to Mary Queen of Peace and eventually to MTCC. Then we proceeded to the Day Care. We were joined by the Day Care Manager who had made some preparations of her own for this visit, although I was not aware of these until I started walking around the rooms. We started with the youngest children and worked our way upwards. Each room was, clean, fairly tidy, given that children were playing, and the quality of activities on display was excellent. I have been bumping on about sand and water play on every possible occasion since I arrived, and today there was water play in every room. The babies room had coloured the water green, the Ducks were having a lovely splashy time pouring and filling and emptying, the Guinea Fowl were helping to clean the plastic bricks and thoroughly enjoying it. By the time we reached Eagles it was snack time and they were all eating bananas, but there was evidence that water had been out here too. Every class was using both indoor and outdoor areas, toys were sorted, puzzles mostly had all their pieces, noticeboards had been revamped and it was clear that a start had been made on making the indoor environment more number and language rich. Ducks and Guineas had made changes to their sleep areas and what is more all four Room Leaders were able to tell the big boss exactly why all these changes would increase the learning opportunities for the children. I was very proud and was able to be full of genuine praise for the way everyone had taken on board what I had said. Strikingly the noise level in each room was reduced compared to the days when I first visited, rooms had been subtly rearranged to increase play space in the more popular areas and, because the resources were more sorted and better cared for, the children were more deeply engaged in what they were doing. The Day Care Manager and I pointed out the outstanding maintenance issues, some of which have remained unattended to for as long as two years. We had a conversation on top of the wooden play structure which has seen better days, about kerb appeal and how much more attractive the nursery might be to fee-paying parents if it was mended and painted in bright colours which would immediately demonstrate that this was a well-equipped place for children to learn even at times when there were no children in the playground and garden. Mission accomplished! On the way out I asked him what he had learned about what we do? ‘Not much’ he said; but he is going to write a brief report about what he saw and what he thinks about it. I await the result with interest. One of my three remaining days next week will be devoted to that trip with the Outreach teams. In the afternoon I talked with the Day Care Manager about other outstanding changes we can make to raise standards a little more and we discussed the possibility of rewriting the Job Description of the Practice Leader so that her role is described more clearly and gives an indication of roughly how much of her time each week should be allocated to each part of the job. No fundamental changes but the language of the job description is quite flowery and would benefit from clarification. I finished the afternoon by making these adaptations. In the evening we finally made it to the Ethiopian Restaurant, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We moved on to the Amaryllis Hotel roof terrace and enjoyed hot chocolate in the cool of the evening whilst looking out over the lights of Blantyre. The roof terrace has a swimming pool which Joe and I were so busy admiring we almost walked into it! This hotel is not as posh as the Ku Chawe in Zomba, but quite posh enough to provide a sharp contrast to the streets of Chilomoni. Saturday So far Saturday has been a typical volunteers day. I visited the tailor who is making clothes for me, for Jack, and for all my grandchildren. Bhavna and I set out to catch the minibus to Blantyre but ended up getting a shared taxi at 600K each. We went back to the Amaryllis because there was a dress I took a fancy to in the window of the hotel shop the night before, but sadly the shop was still closed. We wandered about buying a few last minute bits and pieces and ended up in Vege Delight for spiced Indian tea and Dhosas. Exactly the way we began my first weekend in Malawi which simultaneously seems like yesterday and a long time ago! Back home by taxi too as Bhavna is only prepared to travel by minibus if she can get the front seat! Tonight we go out to eat again with Julianne and Leslie, for me this will be the last time this trip.

Launch of Early Childhood Development (ECD) Books. Association of ECD in Malawi

Today the Daycare Manager and I were invited to attend the launch of the first ECD textbooks written for the Malawian ECD Curriculum. They are published by Dzuka, a branch of the Times Group. The whole event was covered live on Times TV. So far there are ten text books out and ready, three for Maths, three for Language and three workbooks, for English, Language and Maths, and the first of three books dealing with the Environment. There will be three for Environment but only one of these is actually available at the moment. The other two will not be long. Other subjects are being planned e.g. Geography. They cover the age groups 3-4. 4-5 and 5-6 years. We sat under a thin white canopy which filtered the sun a little but it was hot. The programme included prayers, speakers, demonstrations by Care Givers and children of how the books can be used and what children can learn from them. It was pointed out that the potential for making the most difference is with the small rural CBCCs which currently have few or no resources. However there is no budget for distributing the books to such users. Approaches have been made to various NGOs for help and funding for distribution, but it appears there are no concrete plans as yet. The books are well presented children’s workbooks linked to the Malawian ECD curriculum. However when I asked how they were linked to the curriculum, whether to the Early Learning and Development Standards or to something else, the man from the publisher was unable to tell me. They have shiny covers and colour pictures and would be a fabulous addition to poorly supplied schools. However they are 6800MK each (£2.72). This is quite a lot for Malawi. They are intended to be used by individual children, so a school the size of ours with, I think it is, 167 children would need 167x 10 books each year at 6,800 MK equals 11,356,000MK which is roughly £4500.00. This is totally unrealistic for us and relatively speaking we are a wealthy school. However there may well be some very useful teaching material in there and we are privileged to have access to a photocopier, so one complete set would probably be a sensible purchase. We were presented with 4 booklets today, all beautifully wrapped in gold paper with a silver bow. I was pleased to note that the children who were involved in the activities also received a wrapped book each, blue for boys and pink for girls! We heard speeches from the Chief Commercial Manager of Times Group, the Publishing Manager of Dzuka, a couple of Care Givers, The Executive Director of the Association of ECD in Malawi and the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Gender in Malawi. After his speech he cut a ribbon across the front of the bookcase displaying the textbooks. We all sang and cheered and then snacks and fizzy drinks were served to all. I have never enjoyed a Sobo Cocopina more ! It was very hot. We left quite soon as we had to go to DAPP and pick up a bale of clothes for the sponsored children. This was quite a red-letter day for the Daycare Manager who has been waiting for the money to be able to do this for a couple of months and some of our little ones are badly in need of clothes. She was very happy when she staggered out of the shop with the bale. The Driver helped her of course! Then it was back to the CC for a couple of interviews with senior staff. I am still in search of information for my training review and talking individually to staff is proving to be quite illuminating, and I have only had three such chats so far. I am looking forward to more!

The Weekend, writing the last training session, and planning the last 8 working days before I set off for home.

Saturday On Saturday morning it was get up and out early to walk the Way of the Rosary with the Catholic children of Chilomoni. They do this every Saturday in the month except one, when they attend Mass. The children are led by Chris, who has taken this role for the last 24 years. The way of the Rosary leads around a peak of the mountain. There are 14 stations and the prayers are mostly to Mary. During the whole walk of about 5 Km the children repeat 150 Hail Marys. At each station one of the older children does a reading and there are prayers. The walk is beautiful. The path is steep and it goes much more up and down than the Way of the Cross which feels like a fairly steady climb. My step counter revealed that the number of flights climbed on this day is quite a few more than on the day I climbed up to the cross. Children present ranged from small toddlers who were often carried by brothers and sisters, to adolescents up to about 18 years. All took the occasion very seriously and participated in the prayers and chants. The first part of the walk took us to the back of the mountain with respect to Chilomoni. This side is much more sparsely populated and the views were stunning. It was a clear, bright day. There were flowers and butterflies to distract me and although it was a bit hazy you could see for miles. We paused at each station. At most there was some shade from small trees but again it was noticeable that many trees have been cut and the regeneration cannot keep place with the removal. After the last station children were offered a drink of water from a 5 litre container that some of the older children had taken turns to carry. There was only one cup and children formed a long queue for a turn to drink. I noticed that perhaps a quarter had brought their own water bottles, as had I. It struck me that the day before I had heard members of the Outreach team revising with parents about how to reduce cross infection with a variety of infectious conditions and that had included not sharing cups, spoons, towels etc, and here we were using the same cup for at least 40 children. We all walked back along the Chilomoni side of the mountain, breaking into small groups and chatting as we went. Many children wanted to talk to the mzungu and I had many similar conversations, I think more dictated by their knowledge of questions in English than by their curiosity. ‘What is your name?’ ‘Where do you come from?’ etc Everyone was friendly and when I stumbled or slipped on the stony path I was never short of a kind offer of a steadying hand. Everyone had shoes, which was definitely not the case 12 years ago, but most of the girls had flip flops, crocs or ballerina slippers which are not the best mountain-climbing footwear! The boys also had crocs but there were quite a few with trainers which were much more suitable for protecting the feet. After our return to the shrine the children were offered food and there was to be singing but I wasn’t able to stay as Bhavna was there to collect me. It was our job to meet up with the three engineers who have arrived for a six-month voluntary stint and show them various shops and venues around town that might be of interest to them while they are in Malawi. We picked them up from Blantyre Sports club, where they were enjoying watching a sporting event, and took them off for lunch at a pizza restaurant, and for a whistle-stop tour of the facilities of Blantyre. Sunday The plan for Sunday was for the five of us to go for a day out at Zomba but unfortunately Bhavna wasn’t feeling well so it was me and three young men who set off at 8.00am to find our way to Zomba and the plateau which is about 2000m above sea level. Fortunately for me and my aching muscles this mountain is accessible by road! It took a couple of hours to get to Zomba. We discovered some of the problems of using sat nav to find your way about in Malawi. Google maps does not give you any information about the quality of the roads it directs you along. When we got near the mountain it directed us up a very narrow dirt road. We had an automatic car with not incredibly high clearance and it soon became clear that it was not really up to the job. Finding a suitable place to turn round was not as easy at it sounds, but we made the right decision to turn back because we knew that there was a tarmacked road from Zomba town to the plateau and it looked like this narrow turn off was a short cut in terms of distance but not of time. Once arrived at the plateau we made a beeline for the Ku Chawe hotel which has lovely gardens, beautiful views, Mzuzu coffee, and a menu whose snacks include Welsh rarebit and steak sandwiches. At hour later, feeling fortified we set out to explore. We started with the curio sellers. Zomba is also famous for finding a variety of minerals and stones and selling them to tourists, so we had a good look at these as well. I am going home in less than two weeks so I took the opportunity to buy a few presents. The boys bought a beautifully hand-made, round games table with Bawo on one side and Chess on the other t the bargain price of 1000,000K (approx £40). The area around Zomba is greener and lusher than the area around Blantyre. We were higher up so it was cooler and the views were terrific. We first retraced our steps a short distance down the mountain to a reservoir and walked along the dam and part of the way around the edge. The reservoir is surrounded by trees. We didn’t have time to do a complete circuit and also see other sights, so turned back the way we had come and returned to the car. We set off to follow the circular track around the plateau in an effort to find Chingwe’s hole. This is a mysterious hole in the ground, close to a viewpoint, which is reputed to have been used historically to dispose of ‘unwanted people’ variously described as criminals, lepers, the mentally disturbed, who were thrown down the hole dead or alive. Very unpleasant, but we were not able to make it as the car again proved unequal to the task. This time finding a turning point was even more difficult but we managed, engineering is a very practical vocation, and returned to the hotel where we picked up a guide and asked him where we could go that it would be possible to reach in the car we had available. He suggested a couple of waterfalls and possibly The Emperor’s view point, so we negotiated a fee and off we went. We started with William’s Falls, a flight of relatively shallow falls with a pool at the bottom deep enough to swim in. I enjoyed dangling my feet in the water but one of the lads stripped to his underwear and had a proper swim. The falls were in woodland, the sun filtered through the leaves, the water was freezing. We inspected the track to the viewpoint but again felt that we shouldn’t risk damaging someone else’s car, so went to see Mandela falls which turned out to be at the far end of the reservoir from the dam. We purchased raspberries and Cape gooseberries from the roadside fruit sellers, dropped the guide off at the hotel and set off for home, making it back about half an hour before sunset. Monday Today has been a useful but not very exciting day. I have been struggling to put together my last formal training session for the CC staff. The Centre Manager wanted me to help the staff to have the confidence to take responsibility for improving the quality of what we provide for the children for themselves, to understand how to work productively as a team and to focus upon making positive change rather than complaining about everything that is less than perfect but doing nothing about it. I found settling upon an approach very difficult but finally settled upon a presentation called Mother Teresa Children’s Centre: A Centre of Excellence? I shall start by asking them to consider what it means to be a centre of excellence; to work with the other members of their team who are at the same training session to consider what it means to be a team; what their team is expected to do; how they divide the work; what it is we have to provide if we are to be a truly excellent children’s centre,;what our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are; how we can move forward to make things better, and what help we need to that? Let’s hope I can pull it off! I’ll let you know how it went after Wednesday! Having made the decision the whole thing was written in three hours, much to my surprise! The rest of the day I spent planning the next week, starting to talk to at least all the senior staff individually, and writing lists of questions to ask the managers, the ECD lecturer and the Head of the whole Mary Queen of Peace complex before I go home.

Another Day with the Outreach Team

Garden Project visits We visited three garden projects this morning. Two in Likhubula and one in Mulangozi, both outlying villages on the edge of Chilomoni. The CC Outreach team are involved with these projects which are shared with Ministry of Agriculture. They are part of the work of the Parenting Groups. Local parents are helped to find locally available land for gardens which they work on a voluntary basis and share any profits. The project was kick started by the provision of seeds and tools but in future years these should come out of the profits when veg are sold, before they are shared. There are enough seeds for families to have some to use in their own back yards. These veg are for the use of the family for their own meals. They were growing many leafy green veg but also aubergines, amaranth, pumpkin. I took lots of photos. Water is a problem. The third garden was next to the river but carrying cans from the river is a problem for those who are further away and parents get dispirited because it is a long job that must be done every day. Therefore some drop out, thereby increasing the load for those that remain. The Outreach Manager was with us today and he pointed out that a portable solar pump would be really useful. They could transport it around several projects each week and it would ease the pressure of watering. Most of the volunteers were women. I hope this is because their husbands are working elsewhere. Parent’s Group The Outreach Team of MTCC run three Parenting Groups each week in different locations in Chilomoni. This afternoon I visited the group in Likhubula, the same group who are involved in the first garden I saw this morning. We arrived at about 1.45pm and sat in the shade of a mango tree waiting for the parents to arrive. By about ten past two there were about 8-10 parents and we moved into a classroom. They are nearing the end of this course and next week there is to be an exam. Those who can will write the answers and those who cannot will be asked them verbally and the caregiver will write the answers for them. Today is revision day. They reminisced a bit first about the session two weeks ago when they learned how to make biscuits. Since the whole session was in Chichewa I remain in ignorance about how it is possible to make biscuits over a charcoal stove. The lady who taught the others has since started her own micro business making and selling biscuits and apparently it has begun very well. Then we got down to serious revision which turned out to be health related. For this part I had an interpreter so I learned quite a bit about the symptoms and treatment of Pinkeye, Mumps and Scabies. I was called away at this point because the bike club had arrived and they were keen to show me their prowess. Bike Club We walked about a quarter of a mile to a fairly quiet section of tarmacked road. This was the best surface they could find for practicing tricks. A responsible adult was dispatched a few yards up each of the four roads at a crossroads to stop any traffic and the demonstration of their talent began. I was treated to a quite spectacular display. They raced, they rode bikes backwards, they spun in circles, they cycled with their legs over the handlebars and then the two star riders jumped over first two, then three and eventually five of their friends lying in the road. At this point my heart was in my mouth! What are we doing taking responsibility for a club doing an activity with this amount of risk with very little safety equipment at all, never mind jumping over healthy young boys lying in the road, when they could jump over something inanimate and get the same experience without taking the risk of a nasty accident. All the boys had helmets, although one or two had to be reminded to wear them, but the only other protective equipment I saw was one pair of knee pads. Apparently there is also a girl’s team but today they had come straight from school and the girls were in their school dresses so they were not allowed to ride for safety reasons, much to their disgust. The members of the club obviously love what they do and practice hard.

Another day with the Outreach Team

Morning I was asked to be ready for 9.00am to go to court with the Child Protection Officer from the Outreach Team to observe a case and support the family. This was a defilement case. I asked the CPO what is the difference between defilement and rape? Apparently if the child is under-age it is defilement, over-18 and it is rape. Penalties are higher for defilement. A 13 year old was abused by a family friend who visited the house. She told no-one but school picked up that something was wrong and that is the route of referral to MTCC and the Child Protection Officer. This happened 8 months ago and the child is now pregnant. A case has been brought against the perpetrator. The child and her mother have testified in court and a judge has decided that there is a case for the accused to answer. He is on remand in a local prison. Today is the day for him to appear in court. I went to MTCC reception to meet the team and wait for transport to court at 8.50am. The CPO joined me after about half an hour and explained the case, and about 20 mins after that transport arrived. On this occasion it was a small bus which had just completed its daily run to bring pupils to the Primary and Secondary Schools. We shared it with a Primary School child and his mother. The child had been running along the outside of a building and had run full tilt into the sharp corner of an open window and had a small but jagged head wound. We dropped them off at Chilomoni Clinic on the way. There was also another Beehive staff member on a separate job and a driver. We arrived around 10.00am to find the child, her father and a sleeping younger sister perched on the wall outside. They had gone to considerable effort to get there, travelling some distance from their village to Blantyre, with all three of them on a motorbike. This would have been a significant expense for them. We joined them on the wall and waited, watching others going in and out of court, including 6 young men handcuffed together in pairs. After nearly an hour the prosecuting policeman came to the CPO and informed him that the Lady Magistrate was not able to be present so the court sitting was cancelled, so we should all go home. We will be informed of the next date. What a disappointment for everyone but especially difficult for the child. Afternoon We visited the Feeding Centre at St James’ church in the centre of Chilomoni. This is the church that Beehive built for the local people as one of its first projects. The feeding centre has been running for 24 years and one man has been volunteering and run it for all of that time. It used to be only three days a week but since Beehive has been running it, I think about 4 years, it happens every school day. Children of the poorest families are recommended to the Centre. Currently they have 55 children who they are feeding for 5 days a week. Today 52 attended. Children come from a number of local schools and range in age from 6 years to 18 years. Today the meal was nsima, cabbage and small local fish. We arrived as the children were helping with the clearing and washing up. Chores finished, they welcomed us. There were prayers, singing and dancing. The children lined up in four groups, boys and girls separately, and Primary and Secondary pupils separately. I was there with two CC staff members. They led a session with all 52 children together which talked about good and bad behaviour. The children were divided into groups of ten, ages and genders mixed this time, and each group had a sheet of flip chart paper and a pen. They had to list five good and five bad behaviours. A spokesperson was selected from each group to present what they had written. Four out of 5 spokespeople were boys. There were fewer boys present than girls. The staff drew out the learning points for the children. The lesson was mostly in Chichewa so I didn’t follow it all in detail but they did translate the main points for my benefit. Then I was invited to lead some games. Help! I could have done with a bit of warning for this but fortunately I have played games at recent staff training events so I mostly picked things I had done in the last few weeks. We played Spiral and Knots and although at first they moved too quickly and kept breaking hands, they got the hang of it really quickly and worked together cooperatively. Then we played ‘Round and Round the Village’ which is a singing game. This was brave of me because I am among the world’s worst singers, but fortunately one staff member picked it up quickly and supported me. One has to skip and dance as well as sing, so very quickly I was breathless, hot and very red in the face! They loved it though. It is an old game. I remember playing it in about 1960 and it was old-fashioned then. It doesn’t go down very well in the UK today but, as I have said before, in Malawi they are inhibited by different things, and singing and dancing is no problem.