Day 8

Presidential Suite…open for business!

Today began with another early rise to attend 6.30am Mass. Unfortunately, the Malawians believed that we had brought the Scottish weather over with us, as it was much colder this morning – cardigans and jackets all round . After breakfast it was straight to work for our second day of teaching at our primary schools.
We stuck to the same groups as last time, so Louise, Michael D and Caroline headed off for Luangwa while Jen, Michael N, Steph and myself went to St Peter’s to meet the teachers and first class of the day.
Over four hours we took two classes from Standard 6 to do Maths Treasure Hunts, Art and Songs & Drama. The kids seemed to take to the lessons really well and all the nerves of the first day were soon forgotten. Seeing the wee faces of the kids as they worked out their maths problems was amazing! I’m starting to really understand the rewards of teaching .
It was such a compliment to hear that the Malawian teachers, that had worked with us during the day, had been telling Anne that they had learned so much from us and planned to continue using the lesson plans we had came up with on our own!

After a busy morning it was back to the house for a quick lunch of meatballs and tomato sauce before packing cases full of toys and heading off to The Woman’s Development Centre for our first Orphan Party.
Thankfully the sun was out, shining bright and warm by party time!
We began the party with some games of tig, tunnel ball and ladders – all brilliantly led by Louise! Cheers mrs .
After that it was round to the centre’s hut/hall to serve up the meal for the kids. Chicken, beef, eggs, nsima, rice, leaves, mixed veg, bananas and muffins – all paid for by the amazing donors for the trip. It certainly went down well and seconds were soon served up. I personally had a feeling of wanting to do this for the kids every day. It was so great seeing them all tucking into their huge plates of food. All 60 of them sitting patiently and using perfect manners – even I could learn something from them!
After that it was time to give out the many toys, lollies and stationary to all the kids attending. Again they loved this and thanked us numerous times. I just wish they realised they deserved it all (and more) so no thank yous were necessary.
The women who run the centre were overjoyed to each receive a gift bag full of lovely toiletries and sang and danced to show their appreciation.

It was then time to say our goodbyes for the day and head home. Winnie, Thumbiko and Harris all joined us for the rest of the afternoon for cold beers and some raving to Special D and Cascada – all gratefully provided by Michael D’s horrific iPod collection! A highlight was definitely seeing Harris fist-pumping to the music and shouting ‘Malawi Sure!!’. This was then followed by a game of our favourite made-up game of ‘Crazy Mzungu’ – we are rather easily entertained out here, but it’s so fantastic. We pretty much laugh from the hour we get up to the hour we sleep. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world right now and really do have the best company.
Of course, families and friends are so missed. Every one of us sends our love, hugs and kisses home!

Just have to say a quick shout out to all the girls of the trip for being so selfless and helpful towards me since my case went missing – I couldn’t cope without them. Thank you everyone .

More chat tomorrow, lots and lots of love…. Monica and the Malawi Team  xxxxx