A real dolly mixture...

Hello again from a Mzuzu that is slowly beginning to warm up!
Here is a picture I took a wee while ago when I was out walking with a friend. It is the dam just outside Mzuzu. It's very peaceful and it's quite difficult to believe that the city is just 5-10 minutes away. It's lovely to be able to find nice places to walk that are not too far away.

I really enjoyed a visit from Jim and Ruth Campbell from Northern Ireland. I think they were enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. They also brought me some lovely shortbread from my Mum and it was good to share it as I had not done any baking that week!

Jim and Ruth



I have enjoyed seeing a bit more of the Northern Region over the past few weeks. This is the view from Chitimba church, not too far from the Gorodi Road that goes up to the mission station at Livingstonia. The views are quite beautiful.

Back to the lakeshore near Nkhata Bay and again the colours of this beautiful region change quickly over the space of a morning...

I would love to be able to paint some of what I see but I just settle myself to taking loads of pictures!

Today I went to my local Girls' Brigade company at St Andrew's church. There were about 30 girls there today and I was told by the captain that there some girls were missing because it was the school holidays... A slight understatement as when I asked how many were in the company during term time she told me that there were 240 girls registered!!

In the last blog posting I asked you to pray for Malawi. Thank you for your prayers. The planned demonstrations on August 17th were postponed to allow dialogue between the government and civil society organisations. Please do continue to pray for this land as things are not yet resolved. Life is not easy for people here as the cost of living is increasing rapidly and fuel continues to be a challenge. However this week I had the experience of driving into the local garage, filling my car and then leaving in less than 10 minutes... (A nice change as the last fill of the tank took 2 days)

Wishing you a good week and to all my teaching friends wishing you a great start to the new term!
Blessings
Fiona

A bit more of life in Mzuzu...

Hello!

Today is sunny and a bit warmer here in Mzuzu and I am taking a minute or two to update the blog. Thankfully a much quieter few weeks have passed here but with more demonstrations planned for next week I would ask you to remember to pray for this lovely country - for wisdom, peace and resolutions to the problems that people are facing here.

What else is happening here? Well for me the new experiences keep on coming. On Friday I was aware of many more vehicles and people than usual outside the office window and wondered what was happening. Also there appeared to be more people outside than inside the office, so I watched and listened.There were some prayers and then some singing began... what was happening? It was maybe time to ask a few questions... So I found out that the cars were indeed new and they were being dedicated for service within the Synod and yes I probably should have been outside with my colleagues to share in the occasion.

I just thought it was a wee extra meeting as these are the Synod headquarters, oops!

 New vehicles for the Synod

I have also had the pleasure of quite a bit of mail arriving over the past while but this parcel was complete surprise. I had been having a very frustrating morning with my computer not really working properly and I was ready to launch it off the desk!  However when the door knocked and Mary from one of the other offices came in with a visitor carrying this box, my computer got a reprieve... Some emergency chocolate in the parcel saved the day for all concerned that morning!!

The visitor turned out to be the postie and I really enjoyed his rather quirky motorbike/van. It's the first time I have actually had a parcel delivered direct to my door as you normally have to go the post office to collect it.

My classroom skills are still being used and I spent some time making books for caregivers that are being trained here in Mzuzu at the moment by our CCAP ECD trainers.This will allow the caregivers to have resources to take back to their Early Childhood Centres when they finish the training this weekend.
My former classroom assistant would be proud of the good training she gave me as I was complimented on the quality of the finished articles. Thank you Rubinea!

My (hopefully) chicken proof kitchen garden

And finally a wee bit of home life so that you don't think it is all work and no play. I am now the owner of a super vegetable garden. Inside are growing pumpkins, broccoli, carrots, butternut squash and I hope also maybe leeks and parsnips. I am told that passion fruits will grow well on the fencing so I will be getting them planted as well as I love them for a snack or for dessert. Not quite 'The Good Life' but getting there..!

So another few weeks pass quickly by. My office work is going well (computer frustrations aside!) the latest version of the database is complete and paused while I wait for more information to arrive. Our programme of visiting all our Presbytery ECD trainers is also paused at the moment because of the scarcity of fuel but this is just how life is at the moment. Even as I do this blog post my car is 'on the line' with one of the drivers and has been since this morning waiting hopefully to get some fuel today.
I am also doing a bit of preparation for some work I hope to be involved in with others here. This hopefully will be to write a Bible teaching module that can be used in the Synod Early Childhhod centres, this is quite exciting and challenging so watch this space...

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who prays for me, for Malawi and the work we are doing in Early Childhood Development . Thank you also for taking time read the blog, to write letters and keep in touch. All very much appreciated!

Wishing you a good week.
With love

Fiona