Enjoying new things...!

Hello and greetings from Mzuzu!This has been a week of many more new experiences and opportunities. It has also been quite a varied week and so progress with my new database has been a bit slower than usual but thankfully there have been no major hiccups. However the deadline for completion of a first draft is approaching and that may speed things up a little. Thank you for your prayers as I learn how to make ICT work for me rather than against me...!

I was invited this week to visit the home of my watchman Mr Gondwe so that I could greet his wife and family. It was lovely to go and meet them and they said that I should also be in the photo to remind them that I had been with them!

Mr Gondwe has many members of his extended family living with him in the family home so we tried to fit in as many as wanted to be in the photo. Some if his grandchildren were a bit scared of the 'azungu' (white person) who was in their home so they stayed outside..! Mr Gondwe told me that he has 25 grandchildren. I smiled when he told me that 'only' 8 stay in the family home in Mzuzu.

Saturday was a really beautiful day. The sky was bright blue and it was really warm. I was able to be out in garden and enjoy my book and coffee in the sunshine. As this is the cold season this was a day really to be enjoyed especially as Mzuzu can get cold and cloudy quite quickly.

However it was the sound of the pouring rain that woke me on Sunday morning. Here are a couple of the pictures I took from my window at about 6.15 am.

I can be woken up with quite a start on days like this as I think that I have left the bath taps on but it is normally just the water gushing off the roof. It looks and sounds just like the stream of water from a tap. I hope you are able to see it in the photo.

So Sunday was cold, wet and very dull all day and the special bonus was that the electricity was also off! But at about 5.45pm it came back on so it meant that I was not spending the evening in the dark as well the cold! A friend of mine often just looks at me,smiles and says "This is Malawi!" and so it is...

I was able to visit a nursery school down on the lakeshore in the middle of the week and as you can see it is quite literally on the lakeshore. We had to be careful where we parked the car so that we would not get stuck in the sand. There are about 60 children attending this nursery and the caregivers are hoping to have some training later this year to help them as they work with the children.

The caregivers are actually sitting on an upturned canoe in the nursery block. The little boy in the stripy t-shirt was singing his wee heart out when we popped in to say hello. I'm surprised you couldn't hear him where you are!

Here are Diane and Kamoza, the trainer for this presbytery, having a meeting on the move! It is important to make the most of every opportunity when you meet with people you don't see very often.

 I love being out and about and finding out about new things that I see. I spotted many of these plants growing as we travelled along the lakeshore. They are cassava and they grow very well in the sandy soil there. The roots are dried and eaten in different forms. One of the ladies from my bible study has said that she will make me cassava nsima (a sort of porridge) for our next end of study celebration, watch this space...

On they way back to Mzuzu we stopped to deliver some letters to a local congregation and I was treated to lots of singing and dancing from the children who were happy to stop and have their picture taken!

But I have been saving the best til last...

This week we have been enjoying very much and celebrating the safe arrival of my friend's new baby boy. He arrived on Sunday evening and came home on Monday. His 2 sisters are thrilled with their new brother and anyone holding him is monitored very carefully in case they might be tempted to 'borrow' him...!

So again another week has just sped past with it's ups and downs. Lots to enjoy and also lots to learn.
Hoping you enjoy a peaceful weekend and maybe even a little summer sunshine too!

Blessings

Fiona

Some surprises and a few other things too...

Hello everyone!

I am sitting writing the blog on a cool and bright morning. In fact it was so chilly earlier when I got up I could see my breath! I was very glad of my cup of coffee today and of the warm sweaters that I brought from Northern Ireland. It seems to have got much cooler quite quickly but it is still very beautiful and the view from the garden across the marsh is great.

The last week brought a few surprises and some more learning for me about life in Malawi. 

I travelled to Lilongwe to get some necessary jobs done there and learned first hand what effect a fuel shortage can have on the most simple of plans. We were able to get fuel in Mzuzu but it was a real challenge to get fuel to get home and ended up having to spend an extra night in Lilongwe as we waited for fuel to arrive. The lines of cars waiting at the garages we saw were very long. I'm sorry that I didn't have my camera handy to take some pictures but the wait for fuel for people can be many hours. I am learning that it is important to factor in the unexpected in any plans that I make!

Last week also I was visited by Reverend and Mrs Banda one evening. Reverend Banda is the Education Secretary at the Synod. It was a nice surprise as I don't often get visitors in the evening. Mrs Banda brought me a gift of some freshly baked cake. I enjoyed it very much.

Let me introduce Mr Gondwe to you. He is my night watchman and patrols the house at night. He was just calling round to check that I had returned safely from Lilongwe!

I have been asked to do some teaching about outdoor play in August so this week I have been out observing what is happening in the outdoor playground at the nursery. The children are having good fun and as usual love having their picture taken!

A big basin of water and some balls provided these little ones with plenty of fun!

A lovely surprise!

Thank you very much to the friend who packed me a wee surprise parcel. In fact it is not so wee and is very tasty! I think it will not last very long...

Some more surprises of the natural variety. I heard a very quiet knocking at the back door and thought it might be one of my small neighbours come to say hello but when I opened the door there was noone there. Imagine my surprise when up leapt this beautiful quite large grashopper. It must have jumped almost 5 feet and it was it banging onto the door that had made the noise.
It lived happily on the verandah for a few days. I would love to tell you that the grasshopper story has a happy ending but sadly yesterday at lunch time it became lunch for a rather pleased chicken!!

Even though it is now the cold season here I am enjoying the flowers that are still in my garden. This rose is just outside the kitchen window and is very beautiful.

The bottle brush tree in the garden still has a few blooms. It is very pretty and I'm enjoying it while it lasts. Wonder what next season will bring...?

So with work and things at home the weeks just seem to fly by.

Wishing you an encouraging week.

Love and blessings

Fiona

frogs, frogs, frogs.. and friends!

Greetings from Mzuzu!

I have been thinking about what to share with you over the past few days... I realised as I looked through my photos and thought about what has been happening that a pretty big feature of my world has been many small and colourful frogs! Both at home and in the office there appear to be many...! As I stood locking my front door the other morning I heard a small plop and there at my feet had dropped a small white frog from the porch roof.. It was joined by this frog on the chair of the verandah.

I opened the back door and there on the insect net was another small speckled frog with red feet.

Yet another trying to climb the back door step to get into the living room...

A well hidden frog on the outside tap watched me as I filled basins for the weekly clothes wash. It was really interesting to watch this one because it stayed on the tap all day and as the day heated up it turned white and as the day cooled it returned to this colour. I have not yet worked out why, answers on a postcard to PO Box 112!

Unfortunately this poor chap had failed to find the way out and into some shade and had got a bit toasted in sun. Not perhaps the best end...

Last Friday was a Synod holiday to mark Ascension day so as I was at home I decided to make a batch of the ever enjoyable Fifteens. I had managed to find marshmallows so any excuse really! I was joined in the tasting process by some willing helpers.

We all enjoyed them lots and there are still some left, morning coffee is looking good this week!

It was great to be able to spend some time with Terry and Joyce McMullan as they were passing through Mzuzu. Good coffee and great craic! Lovely to catch up with some 'home' news too.

Our water supply has been a wee bit erratic over the past few days but I knew it was back on when I heard the outside tap running and popped outside to investigate why. Meet the reason... it was my neighbour stopping for a quick drink as he was playing in the garden!!

So another week has passed - work continues on well in the office and I am beginning to become much more familiar with the technology I am using. Although this is not without the occasional hitch. Last Monday and Tuesday I spent a lot of time inputting nursery information saving it faithfully as I went BUT at home time on Tuesday for some reason I made a big mistake while saving and lost all that work.

That was not the best afternoon of the week although a large cup of Mzuzu coffee and a small piece of Cadburys did go some way in helping me to smile!! Thankfully I have managed to catch up again.

This week will see more of the nursery information being added to the database, little by little I am making progress. Thank you as you pray for me and my work, I do really appreciate all your care and interest.

Hope you enjoy an encouraging week wherever you might be.

Blessings

Fiona