Sat 25 July

Monire mose,

I’ve finally got sometime to write up the last few days, even though it’s 10:10pm and I’m in bed.

Wee returned from the lake early on Thurs morning when Mr. Kavuta came to have breakfast with us before driving us back to Mzuzu, where we it the ground running and haven’t stopped since. We spent the morning in school catching up with the staff and finishing off bits and pieces.

In the afternoon we had a party with the orphans at the women’s development centre – another tear jerker. The maths dept had a whip round to pay for a party at each orphan centre, so I was able to give them 15000 kwacha each to fund it. When you think of a children’s party it probably conjures up images of jelly, ice-cream, sweets, pass the parcel etc. but not in Malawi. The biggest treat you can give these children is a hot meal of beef and rice. One of the organisers remarked that it was just like Christmas for them. Anne and I were asked to dish out the food, which both of us found quite heart wrenching. The kids queued up holding there plates as we dished out beef, rice, nsima and cabbage. I was giving out the beef, trying my hardest to give each child the same amount whilst making sure I didn’t run out. Thankfully I had enough left to offer seconds. One of the orphans was sick straight after the meal as she wasn’t used to eating as much. To finish off the meal each child had a bottle of coke or fanta, which was a real treat for them. I went round every orphan to clink bottles and say cheers. They chanted”, Long live Bernadette! Long live Paul! Long live Anne! Long live St. Matthew’s Academy

Unfortunately I had to leave the party early to meet with the Artisan staff (Greenwood’s partner school) and Mr. Banda (Head Teacher of St. Peter’s) to provide them with partnership training. The meeting went really well and I was very impressed with Mr. Banda’s input. He really has a sound understanding of what a true partnership entails. They’re coming back on Mon for some internet training so that they can improve communication links.

Afterwards we had another very emotional experience when we visited the family of the primary teacher who committed suicide 2 weeks ago. It’s still totally incomprehensible even to his wife who told us that they did everything together and she can’t find any reason for him to have taken his own life. They have 4 beautiful children as well as an orphan they had taken in a few years ago. We donated 20000 kwacha (about £80) from St. Matthew’s to help care for the children and pay school fees as well as giving the kids some toys. The youngest, Martha, is only 4 and the eldest, Wisdom, is in 1st year at secondary school. I also gave Mrs. Munthali an article on suicide that Bernard Walsh had sent and she was really appreciative. She asks that we all continue to pray for her and her family.

To chill out after an emotionally draining day we went out for pizza and then to a bar with 2 Canadian missionaries Lesley and Sr. Anne.
Friday was the last day of term and so it was time to say goodbye to the staff and pupils and to distribute our development fund. We had a reception with the St. Peter’s Primary staff at 10am, film show with the secondary pupils at 11am, staff party 2pm-4pm and then a school disco until 5:30pm. It was a whirlwind of a day. The highlight for me however was when we presented the girls’ primary school with mattresses for the boarders. The reaction of the girls will always stay with me. You may recall the story of the whole group visiting the girls school 3 weeks ago and all of us being appalled by the living conditions where 3 girls had to share a single straw mat. I was able to give 50000 kwacha from St. Matthew’s as well as 30000 kwacha from personal donations from staff to buy the mattresses. It was quite a sight when Anne, the Head Teacher and I carried in the first mattress on our heads with the girls carrying the rest behind us whilst singing songs of thanks. When we laid them on the floor the girls went absolutely hyper.

Phepani, I’m going to have to call it a night as I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. More tomorrow!