Independence day

Yesterday was Independence Day in Malawi, and therefore a National Holiday. It feels strange to have a Bank Holiday on a Wednesday; in England they are mostly on Mondays. For the first time for absolutely ages I did absolutely no work at all, all day. Neither did I leave the area immediately around Mitsidi. I got up late, after a leisurely breakfast in bed with a book. Then I made myself some popcorn (with olive oil and salt, mmmmm) and a pot of coffee and sat on the khonde of my house with the binoculars and the bird book, ready to try to identify anything that flew along. I had not been there very long before I was rewarded by the arrival of the black sparrowhawk who occasionally helps himself to one of our chicks or ducklings. We disapprove of this of course, and the gardeners are quick to throw rocks and stones to dissuade him from his intentions, but I confess I am rather disappointed that I have not yet actually seen him in the act. He is a big, strong and beautiful bird however. After a few minutes Melvin happened to pass by and tell me that I just missed a small group of turacos. I was disappointed about this as they are brightly coloured birds, predominantly green, but with vivid scarlet feathers under the wings which really stand out when they are in flight, but hardly show when they are perched in the trees. It is not uncommon to see them in the garden, but always rewarding when you do. Melvin joined me and the coffee pot on the khonde, and we shared the popcorn. While we were there we saw the African wagtails, which are always about, sparrows, swallows, a couple of shy, slightly fluffy, brown mouse birds with their long narrow tails, and a flock of unidentified LBJs. After a while Melvin wandered off to see if he could get an internet connection, and I decided to go for a walk. To my shame, despite having been here for nine months, I have never continued on down the road past our own collection of houses, but the road, although narrow and rough does go on past the next door neighbour's property, from where you can often hear his cows bellowing, into Mitsidi proper. The track soon divides and neither path seems wide enough for a vehicle, but the way to walk is clear. Lindy had told me that the left track leads across a field to the church which she attends on a Sunday Morning. My intention was to walk that way, but it was very quiet, and the man who had been walking slowly in front of me stopped and hung about for a while and I felt it prudent to take the other path at a rather smarter pace and so strayed in to territory completely new to me. There were a few small houses, some sturdy and well-built, but others that did not look as though they would keep the weather out in the rainy season. There was a well kept building which had a sign saying 'Youth Mission' and rather to my surprise there was a mini-market of a few stalls selling second hand clothes apparently in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps some event was shortly to take place in the Youth Mission, otherwise I fear that the stall holders will not have had a very successful trading day. I followed the path as it curved around to the left and eventually rejoined the road that leads by the back way to Chileka Airport; the road I explored with Malcolm in an earlier entry to this blog. I passed the other end of the road with the 'moochy man', identified by a signpost to the aforementioned church, but I continued down the road and back into the Beehive houses through the back gate. Next I spent a happy hour in the kitchen baking bread and making soup for lunch. I wanted to be sure that when Sue and Brian and Zoe arrived there was something nice for them to eat if they were tired and hungry after the long journey from England. In the event they did not turn up until mid afternoon. Having ascertained that they had eaten on the plane, Vince took them to have a look at the progress of the Children's Centre on the way to Mitsidi. I had a swim, very cold, but the sun was hot, so getting out was nice! Then it was lunch, followed by an hour or so of doing a crossword with Jan and Lindy. Then Lindy and I decided to go for another exploratory walk and try to find the field where a friend of Lindy's keeps a few horses. We thought we had followed the lady's instructions but we found neither horses nor signpost to 'Stonehaven', so we shall have to have another attempt sometime soon. We walked through part of Sigregge, which is the next village as you continue out of Blantyre though Chilomoni and keep going. We met a couple of people Lindy knows from the church and a child who attends Maureen's school. We managed to find our way back to the main road, this time by making a loop to the other side of it, and in the other direction and ended up walking down the other end of the rocky, bumpy road to the front entrance to Mitsidi. As we walked along we were passed by Vince and the others in a Land Rover.

Back at Mitsidi we all collected on the khonde for tea and drop scones. It was good to see Zoe again and to meet Sue and Brian who have come, alas for a short time only, to help with setting up the Children's Centre. They are positive and enthusiastic and they have an awful lot to do in the next two months. They will be recruiting children for the Children's Centre, writing Policies and Procedures, interviewing staff from amongst our students and working on resourcing the Centre. They also have to set fees and work out how many free places we can sustain from the income from some of the other Beehive businesses that make a profit.

Today was the last revision day for our students. Tomorrow will be exam day. This morning we looked again at working with babies, at Physical Development and at Creativity. These were the subjects that they wanted me to revise with them. I had a tussle with the A3 printer when I was trying to print out the blank charts needed for the second exam which has to do with planning. Fortunately Giacomo rescued me and everything was ready in time. Chrissie has worked hard to find enough tables and chairs for seventy students to take their exams simultaneously in the big library room in the IT training college. I have thought about paper to write on and rough paper for planning answers, I have arranged to borrow Jan and Lindy's sitting room clock to time the exams. David will be back tomorrow in time to help me with the invigilation. I shall be pleased to see him. Then we shall have a couple of weeks of marking before we plunge into writing the next section of the course and helping Sue and Brian with the selection of staff. Before we know where we are the Room Leaders will be here and the first children will enter the Children's Centre and the next phase of the training will begin!