As we hear of the weather getting cooler in the UK, the temperature here is rising steadily. Today, and indeed for the last week or so I feel that I must be gradually melting away. I am running the fan all night at the moment, at least when there is power I am, and most of the time I am still too hot. I can feel the under sheet getting gradually damper as I shuffle about in the bed trying to get comfortable. Some people are predicting that the weather will break this week and the first rains will come. Others say we shall not see rain until near the end of November. We shall have to wait and see. During the day too I have been suffering a bit from the heat. I really hate it when the sweat runs down my face and into my eyes because the salt stings. I don't think I've ever experienced that at home. We are walking to work every day at the moment, mostly because petrol and diesel are in very short supply. By the time I arrive I can feel streams of water trickling down my back and in the area under my rucksack the fabric of my dress is soaking and sticks to my skin.
David and his Dad went off for a few days' break at the Lake last week. My task was to get my head down and finish the annotation of the Malawian ECD curriculum. On Friday I finally completed it and have printed out one copy. Soon we shall take it into town and get six copies photocopied and bound. Then David and I shall have one each and there will be one copy for each zone in the children's centre. David took the practical tasks for the third part of the Diploma on holiday to check over and comment upon. Rather to my surprise he actually did do more than half the checking, not really my idea of a holiday activity! So in a few days we should be able to produce a prototype Practical Assessment manual, NVQ – style but much more sensibly put together of course!!!
Tomorrow, and again on Thursday, we are running a short course on the use of displays in the Children's Centre. David has put together a presentation and I have dreamed up six display projects for small groups of students to put together. Saran and I will be up at 5.00am tomorrow so that we can get all the materials we need out of the storage container before 6.00am. We think this will be the best time because in the heat of the day it is utterly unbearable in the container, like being in an oven. We are quite worried about how well some of the stuff in the containers will survive. We imagine, melting plastic, bacteria multiplying rapidly in the warm paint and glue, toys and resources steadily cooking by day and cooling slightly by night, just to be heated up again the next day.
The choir has been practicing on four lunchtimes each week. The programme for our cd is gradually coming together with a mixture of English and Chichewa songs. Construction did assembly this week so the choir had to polish up a couple of pieces for public performance. I am still struggling with the Chichewa words but am making some progress. When Brian and Sue were here they made the choir a gift of uniform t-shirts, but there are a few members who do not have them so I have been charged with the task of finding out how to get some more. I discovered today that the company is called 'Glorious t-shirts!' The only contact is a mobile phone no. so I sent them a text, but no reply as yet! I had to cobble together an approximation to the uniform for the assembly of a pale yellow t-shirt and a black skirt. I possess neither item, so I had to ask around and borrow them. Zoe kindly came up with both items. To my utter amazement I was able to fit into them. Whoever would have imagined a year ago that I would have been able to borrow Zoe's clothes!! Indeed I got so many compliments I wore them all day!
We had a lovely relaxed weekend. On Friday night we watched a film together in the living room at Mitsidi. This was quietly companionable. Very pleasant! Nothing startling happened but we had a few invitations so I managed to go out for lunch with a Malawian family on Saturday and then move on to a barbeque party at David's in the High St in honour of the birthdays of two of our Malawian friends. We made them cards and birthday cakes. It was the first birthday cake Hellen had ever had! On Sunday four of us women went with Mary Kamwendo to a bridal shower for Chrissy who is an administrator at JPII. It was quite a grand affair with much dancing and throwing of money, and older women giving Chrissy useful advice on such themes as Grooming, Home Management and Ettiquette. In the evening Zoe and I were invited to supper with her landlady who runs a couple of nursery schools in Blantyre. Several other guests were also involved in Early Years work so we shared a lot of ideas and experience and I now have several other projects lined up to go and visit. I hope also to show some of them around the Children's Centre.
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