Dominic Sharkey - After Malawi

Now I’m back home I’m finding it hard to face going back to normal life after my wonderful experience in Malawi. Before the trip, I couldn’t wait to get to Malawi. During it, I couldn’t wait to get home. And now it’s all over, I wish I was back there.

No words of mine can really do any justice to our time in Malawi – the stories we can tell, and the hundreds of photos we have, will only reflect a shadow of what we experienced.

The most effective and (I hope) life-changing part of the trip was the people of Malawi. The way in which they celebrate their faith, live in great optimism, and laugh, despite their apparent poverty, made me think that although we have so much more materially; they really have a greater quality of life than us. We have worked hard to give them money, new buildings, Christmas presents, water pumps, but they just lived their normal lives, and gave us so much more.

I very much hope that in the future I will have the opportunity to return to Malawi, and help in any way that my career in Veterinary Medicine will allow.

I must take this final opportunity to thank all of the teachers for their superb organisation and management of the entire trip, from when the planning first began, for selecting me as one of the 6 pupils to represent St. Matthew’s Academy, and for being such a pleasure to be around and share my experience with.

Finally I would like to acknowledge my good friends: Michael N, Michael D, Caroline, Jennifer and Monica. I feel privileged to have been part of this with all of you. You have made it so memorable and enjoyable for me (despite the nasty chilli trick), and we had such a good laugh.

All the best to everyone!

Dominic x

P.S. – If anyone wants to see my photos or journal (yes – I’ve typed it up – I’m that sad) – dom.sharkey@hotmail.co.uk

Tired But Enriched

Now that we are back in Scotland, I just wanted to say to all our readers/followers how much we appreciated the efforts you made to keep in touch with our progress. I can't tell you the number of people I have spoken to today who said they dipped in and out of the blog during the course of the last week or so eve if they weren't official followers or commenters.

Our journey home was tiring but the bond we had developed while in Malawi kept us going - even when the bad security men in Amsterdam confiscated the drink which we had bought as presents for our families and friends! Supposedly, this was because we weren't supposed to go through more than one security check with any liquids which had been bought at duty free and despite the fact that all the bags containing the bottles were sealed - we think it was just because the security people were looking for some drink to take to a party tonight!

It was great to see all of the parents/family members at Glasgow Airport - cue tears, hugs and fond (if temporary) farewells. Please keep in touch with what is happening in Mzuzu throughout the rest of the month by dipping into the blog from time to time to see what Bernadette (and Paul & Anne) are up to.

Best wishes to you all for a great summer holiday.

The (ex-)Blogmaster

Michael (Corky) Northcote Shares His Experience!

Obviously i cant share everything with you because you would be here for days but i will give you a brief summary of my travels.

I feel so privelleged to have been picked to travel to Malawi with 5 students and 8 other teachers. (Although my good friend Mrs Shiell's never managed to accompany us, i felt that she was with us and supporting us throughout our journey) The total travel time was roughly an excrutiating 25-35 hours and all of the travellers began to bond extremely well.

My aim for this trip was to make and strengthen new friendships with different people and to become more interactive. I feel as if i have accomplished my goal to the highest ability and this will cause me to never forget my life changing experience.

I must admit that the food we were given was extremely well prepared and kept us going throughout the week - even though i was tricked into believing (by Ms Mcfadden) that chicken and rice was our staple diet.

I have several videos and photos which i would like to share with all blog members - so "if you fancy a gay gordans bishop" email me on the following - mick15north@hotmail.com.

Both St. Peter's Primary/Secondary school were packed to the nearest brim of students enticed to learn for a future career in medicine, law, e.t.c
I have to mention two teenagers who i got attached to when i travelled to Malawi:

Hastings-who looked after me in our fourth form class
Pilirani-who was extremely welcoming

i will never forget them and hopefully, destiny will bring us back together.
i will keep in touch with them.

I MUST ADMIT THAT FR CHUNDA WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY TRIP! He was always so happy and we had good laughs together. I have to see him again - one day.

Finally, I would like to say thankyou to Ms Mcfadden/Mr Allan for organising the trip and having the upmost trust in us. I find it really satisfying that they know how life changing this event has been for me and I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH MALAWI. I must go back lol.

cheers!
For all the good times!
have a green on me!

Michael Northcote xxx

Monday 6th July

And now there are 3!!

The 6 of us had a lovely meal out in Lilongwe last night talking about our experiences and favourite memories of the past week. We were surprised and humbled to hear Fr. Chunda say that it has been one of the best weeks of his life and that he has enjoyed our company so much, as well as the singing and dancing. To us it feels as though he has just been running after us all week - he has certainly been the perfect host. Eric presented him with a Glenfiddoch miniature and hip flask and a laptop for the parish. Last night he tasted whisky for the first time ever.
We gave him a night off as our chauffeur and used taxis, which was quite an adventure for the men. As we ladies climbed in to our comfortable taxi a total boneshaker came spluttering round the corner to pick up the guys. Fr. Chunda had a go at the driver asking if he thougt his taxi would make it to Nelly's to which the driver took great offence saying, "Are you disrespecting my taxi?" Anyway it did make it back with smoke coming from it and a very strong smell of petrol!!
This morning we got up before 7am to wave off Paul and Anne on their Zambian Adventures and I'm just about to go the airport to see off Frances and Ally. It's quite emotional (even for me!) saying all these goodbyes after becoming so close to everyone over the past week but I'm definitely in safe hands with Fr. Chunda. For those of you who are more concerned about my health and wellbeing than I am, you will be glad to know that Fr. Chunda has insisted that I move in to Eric's room in the the preists house for the rest of my stay rahter than staying myself in the house next door.
The firstt group will just have arrived home in Scotland by now. Sorry to hear about your drink embargo at Amsterdam!

Looking forward to hearing from you all soon.
Bernadette

Sunday 5 July

Monire mose,

This is your new blogmaster reporting for duty due to the previous one leaving the country. So, now for the real story about what happened last week ...only joking!

Today we had our first lie in of the trip - 7:45am!! I know it sounds ridiculous to think that 7:45am could possibly be considered a lie in on a Sunday. Fr. Chunda said a lovely Mass at 8:30am where he prayed for a good journey home for the travellers and also for Michael N who had his 17th birthday today. After Mass we had a fry up then birthday cake before heading off to the airport where Eric , Celia and the kids set off for home.

It was strange this afternnoon walking around Lilongwe without our big group in tow. It has been a truly fantastic week and I couldn't have asked for a better group of staff and pupils to share this experience with. There has been much laughter and tears (thanks to Celia!). It was great for me to see everyone falling in love with Malawi and its people just as I did 7 years ago.

Well I'm off to an Italian restuarant now with the remainder of the group before we go our separate ways tomorrow. Ally and Frances head home, Paul and Anne go off on safari and I will return to Mzuzu to continue working on the partnership for a couple of weeks.

I will try to blog most days to keep you all up to date but I can't promise to be as good as Eric!

Pawemi,
Bernadette

Saturday - Our Last Post!

After morning Mass on Friday (that’s 6.30 a.m. – remember!), Eric presented Fr Chunda with a certificate to commemorate our visit to St Peter’s but, fortunately, he didn’t inflict the Chitumbuka speech on us again – it’s last outing was earlier today at Galamala village which we visited on our way to Lilongwe earlier today (more details later on).

The final assembly at school was delayed until 7.30 a.m. so that we could get breakfast (porridge again) after Mass. Dominic led the whole St Peter’s school community in prayer including some Chitumbuka – nice one, Dominic!

After a few words of thanks and an indication of our hopes for the future of the partnership from Eric, the Head Girl from St Peter’s spoke; this was followed by stirring renditions of both the Malawian national anthem and “Flower of Scotland” before we presented more of the gifts which had been so generously donated to us before our departure. The school received a laptop, a multimedia projector, netball bibs and tracksuits and football strips and boots while the pupils were given pencils, pens and toothbrushes. The resultant excitement meant that no classes took place for most of the day – although the Head Teacher did tell the pupils that anyone caught dogging school would have their pen/pencil/toothbrush taken from them!

We quickly nipped into town before lunch so that the pupils could buy their nearest and dearest some more gifts – bet you’re all on the edge of your seats now and unable to contain your excitement about your presents! If it helps, part of the shopping spree took place in the Tanzanian market – if there was a picture in the dictionary next to the word grotty, it would be Mzuzu’s Tanzanian market!

After lunch, we marched behind our piper, Michael N, from the house to the church hall to the strains of “Highland Cathedral” for a farewell concert. After we had been entertained with a variety of dances, songs and sketches from the pupils (and staff) of St Peter’s, we inflicted – sorry, performed – our own cultural items on the audience. These included “Flower of Scotland”, “Loch Lomond” and “500 Miles” as well as the Gay Gordons, the Dashing White Sergeant and the Strip the Willow. Members of the Malawian staff were invited to take part in the dancing with varying degrees of success! We were also presented with T-shirts by the school to commemorate our visit –the 3 spelling/grammatical mistakes in “St Matthew’s Academy” did upset Mr Banda just a little although we all thought it added to the whole atmosphere of our visit! The concert finished with the whole audience singing the two National Anthems – this proved just a little emotional for some of our staff! To finish off a wonderful afternoons, Eric, Michael D and Caroline were interviewed by the local radio station – although how much sense the listeners will be able to make of their unprepared responses is open to question.

Our two “dodgy wee guys” (© Bernadette 2009) from Nkhata Bay, Bob and Tosh (yes – really!), duly appeared with our carved key fobs and whole lot of other high quality (?) souvenirs. While Michael D managed to get rid off a wide variety of items such as his binoculars and some batteries, Captain Trading (i.e. Dominic) again reigned supreme by trading his school blazer for goods! As Paul said, “Dominic – the man who put the ‘shark’ in Sharkey!”

We finished Friday off with a final visit to the Ilala Lodge; several staff from St Peter’s Secondary, St Peter’s Primary and Mary Martha Orphan Care also came along and joined in a great evening of dancing and singing – both Malawian and Scottish – and including, believe it or not, “Old Macdonald’s Farm” (initiated by Irene from St Peter’s Primary School), “The Hokey Cokey” and “The Slosh”.

And so to this morning, when it seemed as if half of Mzuzu turned up to wave us off at shortly after 8.00 a.m. Again our luggage was packed into a pickup while we settled into our seats for the trip south. Celia was a bit overcome with emulsion but soon recovered although tended to suffer a relapse when anyone spoke to her.

On the way to Lilongwe, we had a diversion to make to Galamala village (home of Fr Nazarius). To get there we had to journey for many kilometres on very bumpy dust tracks but, on our arrival, we were greeted with all of the ceremony normally reserved for special guests. Ngoni warriors performed tribal dances but proved to be less fearsome than they looked when they posed for photographs with us afterwards. We presented the head of the village with K100000 (about £400) from the project fund which will be used to carry out some gardening initiatives in the village to help them become more self-sufficient. The locals showed us some of their traditional houses as well as one of the water pumps which were installed during our previous visit as part of our joint project with Irvine Seagate Rotary Club.

From Galamala it took the best part of 6 hours (much of it spent sleeping) to reach the luxury of Nelly’s Guest House in Lilongwe by which time various parts of our anatomy were aching. However, the promise of a shower, a hot meal and a beer or two was enough to overcome our discomfort.

Tomorrow, the 6 pupils along with Celia and Eric will begin the trek home, leaving here at around 10.00 a.m. to head for Lilongwe Airport – assuming all of the connections go according to plan, we will see you all at Glasgow Airport at 7.50 a.m. on Monday morning – unless, of course, you are a loved one of Frances or Ally who return a day later at the same time or Anne, Paul or Bernadette who don’t come back until the end of the month.

It’s been a brilliant week and we want to thank everyone for keeping in touch via the blog. Although this is the last entry for this part of the visit, Bernadette (and Anne & Paul when they get back to Mzuzu from Zambia) will be posting from time to time – so keep logging on to find out how Malawi is managing without us!

See you bright and early (although quite late for us!) on Monday morning.

Why Is It Friday So Soon?

We were joined at morning Mass yesterday (6.30 a.m. in case any of you had forgotten!) and at breakfast by Chris, who was teaching in St Peter’s in 2005 when we were last here, and Dominic and Anne-Marie Sutherland both of whom are teachers from Scotland, with Dominic being the driving force behind the St Maurice’s link with Nkhamenya Girls’ School. Chris is doing some work with an organisation out here in Mzuzu this summer while Dominic and Anne-Marie are on holiday and are visiting all the people they know throughout the length and breadth of the country.

Thursday was a pretty busy day with pupils in class, working with groups of Malawian pupils on projects and, in the case of the three girls, spending time with Anne in the primary school interviewing pupils on video. Meanwhile, Eric and Mr Banda (Head Teacher of St Peter’s) completed the last of a successful series of meetings by signing the official Partnership Agreement between the two schools. Arrangements were also initiated for the return visit to Scotland by a party of Malawian staff and pupils next March – we are planning to fund a party of 10 so get your fundraising hats on again!!

During the morning Form 1B were spotted digging a pit behind the science block. On closer investigation, it transpired that this was punishment given to the whole class by the Head Teacher for being noisy – food for thought for the St Matthew’s school behaviour procedures! The whole punishment thing kind of collapsed when we took their photograph, however, as they were all vying to get into the shot wearing their widest smiles!

After lunch, Paul and Ally took a staff training session which was a great success with Malawian and Scottish teachers working closely together to identify priorities which could be addressed by the Malawian staff once we have left and do not necessarily rely on additional resources being made available. Mr Banda has indicated his intention to continue to look at the themes identified with a view to making some of the improvements which had emerged from the initial workshops with staff and pupils which we had carried out earlier in the week. All in all a very successful move into staff development and one which was greatly appreciated by our Malawian colleagues.

We headed off to Mary Martha Orphan Care Centre in mid-afternoon. This centre is located out in the countryside to the south of Mzuzu and the difference between the orphans there and the ones in Mzuzu town is really noticeable because of the poverty and lack of facilities in the countryside. Because we were coming, the 50 or so orphans were supplemented by around another 50 “hangers on” but all of them got some kind of gift, even if it was only a pencil and a sweet. Apparently, after our last visit some of the youngsters had asked the centre volunteers how they could become orphans so that they could get nice presents! Enough to bring a tear to a glass eye, as they say - no wonder Madonna keeps coming back for more!

On the way back from Mary Martha we called in to see Bishop Zuza – a highly hilarious experience because he is the funniest man, has no airs and graces and one of the most infectious laughs in Western civilisation. Unfortunately, he wasn’t wearing his usual brightly coloured (almost Hawaiian) shirts because he was feeling the cold but he was so pleased to see us and provided us all with a welcome drink. The offer off a drink led to two of the most unlikely statements ever made to a Bishop:
Celia – “Can I have an Elephant please?” (It’s a type of beer!)
Jennifer – “Passion please, Bishop” (It’s a flavour of Fanta!)

However, the hilarity caused by these requests was eclipsed by Paul who, in the context of describing our input to this afternoon’s cultural exchange experience (or concert, as it is more commonly known), said to Bishop Zuza “If you fancy a Gay Gordons, Bishop, you know where to come.” Cue much falling about by all and sundry – although we weren’t sure if Bishop Zuza and Fr Chunda were entirely sure what they were laughing at. It’s not often you can say that going to meet a Bishop would be light relief, but it certainly provided us with the perfect antidote to the emotion of spending a couple of hours with the orphans at Mary Martha.

A final word today to the parents of our students – we are really proud to have them here as representatives of St Matthew’s Academy. They have been an absolute credit to themselves, to the school and, of course, to you. We couldn’t have picked a more fantastic group of young people – they have got on so well with each other and with the staff and have conducted themselves so well in everything that they have done that we feel very privileged to be with them.

Tomorrow we head off back to Lilongwe via Galamala village (where Fr Nazarius is from) and should be able to post our blog from Nelly’s Lodge Guest house as long as their internet connection is working. Keep posting comments – and, if there’s anyone out there who is reading but not posting, please do post because all of us really appreciate your comments. Michael D gets very emotional every day when we bring the previous day’s blog and comments back to the house!

Tiwonanenge namachero! (You’ll need to find out for yourselves what it means.)