Last post from Mzuzu

Monire mose,

Well I’m all packed up and ready to leave Mzuzu tomorrow morning. I’ve been here over a month now yet I can’t believe it’s time to leave already. The thing I’m most looking forward to when I get home is sleep - I feel totally physically and emotionally drained. Obviously I’m looking forward to seeing family and friends again – especially the size of my sister’s bump – but there is truthfully nothing I miss from home. I feel just as much at home here and I very quickly adjust to not having all the material things that I have back home.

We held the interviews for the 2010 exchange trip yesterday. It was really hard choosing but I think we’ve selected a great bunch of kids. The 6 are: Lizzie Ngasula, Kingstone Nyirenda, Emelda Banda, Lillian Chavula, Thumbiko Soko and Harrison Khembo. I spent over 2 hours with them today preparing them and the staff for what to expect on the trip. The staff are Fr. Andrew Chunda, Paul Banda, Daphne Okoronkwo, Margaret Nyirenda & James Mbale from the secondary school along with Alex Shabwa and Irene Jere from the primary. So you can start practising saying the names! Naturally the whole group are very excited about the trip.

I met up with Winnie Mwamsamali and Mercy Wowa yesterday. They were the 2 girls from the 2006 exchange trip and it was lovely to catch up with them. Winnie is now at university and Mercy is a primary teacher. They still fondly remember their time in Scotland and send their regards to all of you who know them as does Sylvia Nhlane.

Lots of people have been coming to say goodbye today and most of them have brought gifts – I’ve had to pack, unpack and repack several times. It still doesn’t feel real at the moment but I’m sure it will hit me at my last Mass tomorrow morning and when I hear the bells for the last time. I’m looking to forward to my last night out in Malawi. Fr. Chunda is spending the night with Anne, Paul and myself in Lilongwe. Hopefully Paul and Anne have had a good couple of days at Mua. We are meeting a good friend of mine, Fr. Robert Mwangulu, for dinner and drinks tomorrow night. Fr. Robert is quite a character so between him and Fr. Chunda we should be well entertained.

This is more than likely my last post from Malawi but I will post a blog when I return home.

Tionanenge sonosono (see you soon),

Bernadette