Malawi, mission and me!

A real dolly mixture...

2011-08-28T20:18:00.000+02:00

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...

2011-08-10T08:15:00.001+02:00

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

What a difference a week makes...

2011-07-24T19:16:00.010+02:00

sunset over Mzuzu - calm before the storm

Hello from an unusually quiet Sunday evening in Mzuzu.

This week has been really tough not only in Mzuzu but throughout Malawi as there were mass demonstrations last Wednesday as people took to the street to protest about some of the issues that are affecting everyday lives here. Unfortunately the peaceful demonstrations that were planned became violent and there were many injuries and some fatalities.

On Wednesday our offices were closed and I stayed within the Synod compound all day after being told not to go further than the gates. In fact we stayed inside until Saturday. I have to say that nothing would have made me go outside as I could see and hear many people running away from the town centre.
All day on Wednesday there were sounds of shooting and tear gas was being used to try to control the situation. I was able to see where road blocks were burning and could hear sirens as dead and injured people were transported to the hospital. It was not good and quite frightening as the shooting and trouble continued into the evening. These last few days Mzuzu has been strangely quiet - the sounds that shape the days here have either been non existant or very muted. I usually am woken by traffic noise, hooting horns, the call to prayer from the mosque and loud music from market just across the wall from my home but from Wednesday to Saturday the world here was muted.

I took this picture on Saturday morning. The sun still shines but there are dark clouds behind - a picture of our world at the moment..?

On Saturday after taking advice I went out to the shops to get in some bits and pieces and it was Mzuzu but not as I know it. There were much fewer people out and about than usual, fewer cars and again much less of the city sounds than I would expect. I saw shops that had been destroyed and completely emptied of all their contents. Peoples liveliehoods are affected or just gone. We have been hearing from friends and colleagues that it is much the same in other places.

Please pray for this land - for peace and calm, for those who are injured and grieving the loss of family and friends, for a peaceful resolution to the issues that people were demonstrating about.

But in all of this challenging time some aspects of life are ever the same...

My house 'guests' keep coming - this small lizard took refuge in the sunspot in my bedroom.

There is time to spend with friends...

and my small neighbours come to play in the garden!

I have really been glad of the texts, phone calls and e mails from family and friends this past week. Thank you for your care and concern.

Wishing you a peaceful week wherever you are.

Love and blessings

Fiona

cars, cold weather and cake..!

2011-07-18T17:45:00.001+02:00

My rush hour route to work!

Hello all and greetings from sunny Mzuzu!
Thought it was about time to update my blog and let you know some of what's been happening over the past couple of weeks.

early morning in Lilongwe

First of all I am very glad to be back from Lilongwe. I mentioned in the last post that I was taking someone to the airport and then I had a few things to do in Lilongwe when I was there. I also added that it may take a little more time than usual to do all that needed to get done and so it did..! I was in Lilongwe from Tuesday til Thursday as we could not get diesel to get home to Mzuzu.
I am very glad that I had one of our drivers with me as he very patiently searched for a filling station that could supply us with diesel. Very often at the moment you hear the expression that people are waiting 'on the line', in other words queuing until fuel becomes available. Please do remember pray for the people here who are finding this time of fuel shortage a real challenge.

flowers in Lilongwe city centre

There is beauty to be found even in the city!

One of the evenings in Lilongwe there was a power cut and I enjoyed the candles that were set out along the hotel corridor floor to guide guests to their rooms. Not sure about the fire safety implications though..!

On the road home we stopped for a snack at our usual place and here is the sight that met us... Fuel was coming and so many people were 'on the line' at the filling station!

on the line at Kasungu

Look out for the tobacco lorry, as usual well laden and on the way to the auction floor.

There were many beautiful places and lots of lovely scenery to enjoy as we travelled home and having a driver with me meant that I could really soak it up. This just part of the view on the road north to Mzuzu.

Here is the vegetable market at Jenda where we made a brief stop on the way home to buy potatoes. It was quite chilly on this day and the people were well wrapped up. Their produce is so nicely displayed and is always a really colourful display. You buy spuds here by the bucket and not by weight, another new experience for me. I am still eating my way through the bucketful that I bought...

Yet another new experience for me was getting the car serviced. I had had a very basic car maintainence lesson before I left Northern Ireland but I have to say that my knowledge of car parts has increased dramatically since last week. Universal joint, front suspension, shock absorbers, wheel bearings... I do actually now know where to find these on a car -well most of them and understand a bit more about what is their function! The mechanic talked me through all that had been done to the car and another lesson about life in Malawi is learned...

A couple of the most recent visitors to my home

This rather large gecko was trapped in my kitchen sink and had shed it's tail. This can happen when they are shocked so he does look a wee bit shorter than usual. I re-homed it out to the garden and I hope it managed to keep away from the ever hungry chickens...

Last week I celebrated my birthday and had the lovely surprise of not one birthday cake but a whole birthday greeting of cake! Thank you Diane - birthdays shared with friends are always good.

Another few weeks have flown by with all of their ups and downs. There are challenges and frustrations as well as enjoyment and fun but whenever I see the children in our nursery schools I am reminded of the reason I am here. Children are important to God, they have a special place in His plan and it is a privilege to part of a programme that recognises that and is working to make life better for them in His name.

This week I am meeting with some of our presbytery trainers and I am encouraged when I hear all that they are doing in their districts. Please pray for them as they travel to visit, train and monitor the nursery caregivers in each of the CCAP Early Childhood centres within their districts.

Wishing you all a good week.
Love and blessings

Fiona

out & about...

2011-07-04T15:14:00.004+02:00

Misty sunrise on Monday morning

Hello!

Life has been a really varied this past week and I have been out and about to some different places and meeting new people. My Malawian driving experience is developing but there many roads yet to be explored!

I was back to the lakeshore again this week except this time I was the driver and not the passenger! The road to the nursery is very sandy and I was very thankful not to get stuck. Nicolas and Paul who were with me were also very glad as they would have been out pushing!

However they did have to help me by moving a tree that had come down across the road!

The children at the nursery were very pleased to see us and we were pleased to see them and to have got there without too many adventures!

Last week I saw cassava plants growing and this week I saw it out on mats drying in the sun. This week I should be experiencing my first taste of cassava nsima as we have our end of bible study celebration and Mrs Phiri has said that she will bring it especially! Will update you next week...

My next door neighbour Ruth invited me to visit a craft group that she has set up for some of the local ladies near her home. It is a venture that allows them to sell what they make and to have a small business enterprise. I was the official photographer as they showed off their completed work.

Spot the visitor!

The ladies were not the only ones busy making beautiful things - I saw many many spiders making magnificent webs in the trees above where the ladies were working.

On Saturday I took a visitor from Northern Ireland down to the lakeshore to enjoy a bit of sunshine and to soak up the scenery. What a beautiful afternoon...

Another day trip this weekend to Vwaza Marsh, where I met the elephants last year... It was a beautiful day and I am glad to report that the elephants were in another part of the park! We did see many hippos, kudu, warthogs and baboon as we enjoyed a 2 hour walking safari with our guides though. God's creation is truly amazing!

On the drive home we were behind this lorry with a very large load of tobacco heading to the auction floor. Some of the loads are really quite heavy and the trailers are loaded to capacity and then some more bales are added! You can maybe spot the bicycle taxi passenger, wonder how she feels about passing such a large load?

This week I am taking a visitor back to the airport and will do a couple of things that I have to get done in Lilongwe. This trip could take a little longer than usual as fuel continues to be scarce. Watch this space...

Wishing you all a good week.
Love

Fiona

PS the database is very nearly completed!

Enjoying new things...!

2011-06-25T17:45:00.001+02:00

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...

2011-06-16T11:41:00.000+02:00

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!

2011-06-07T08:55:00.009+02:00

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

another week in my world...

2011-05-27T08:50:00.009+02:00

Greetings from warm and dry Mzuzu!

Although you can maybe see from the picture of the sunrise that it is cool enough in the morning for there to be quite a lot of mist and it can take a little time to clear away, the cold season is coming. This morning there is a lot of singing and drumming close by to the Synod, I'm not sure why but it lovely!

This week I started back to work and as you can see my office table is filling up nicely with many new tasks. I am slowly beginning to make my way through the tasks that have been waiting for my return!

At the end of last week I helped Diane start to sort through at least some of the resources for ECD that had arrived with the last container. It is a big job! It is great to think that with the help of people who take the time to fill and send boxes that we can help the nurseries here to make a start.

Some of the filled small boxes that will be taken out to the nurseries around the presbyteries.

My neighbours are busy again and yesterday when I was coming home from work I spied them also finishing work for the day. They had been drying and packing their maize all day and they told me that they had about 3 more weeks of working with their harvest before it would be completed. It is hard work.

The other afternoon I spotted the postman arriving at the Synod. His lorry is a little bigger than my NI postie's bicycle and bag in Northern Ireland! I enjoyed the slogan on the lorry - 'Worth your Trust' - wonder what the slogan would be for Royal Mail?

There are many visitors to my home and they come at all times, I never quite know what I will find next. Yesterday morning at breakfast time I spotted a few legs poking out from the edge of my calendar so I decided to investigate...

They turned out to belong to a flat spider who moved fairly quickly after he spotted me. He is quite harmless but was not whom I expected to share my coffee with!

This small frog was resting on my bedroom chair.

I also found some hornets very busily making a new nest in the space at my front door hinge. Their nest is beautiful but I had to remove it as it is not a good thing to have around the house.

A praying mantis on my verandah roof watching me watching it!

One of the many geckos who help keep the numbers of mosquitos down. My home can be quite like a zoo!

I enjoyed a 'welcome back' vist from Reverend and Mrs Munthali.It was good to hear their news.

Finally a very special visitor to my home. This is Blessings, Busy's son. He was born last year shortly after Busy began working at the house. I was very privileged to be asked to give him his name and it was great to meet both him and his mum last week when they called to the house.

As you can see life is very varied and each day brings something new. I never know quite what to expect next!

I hope that you enjoy a good week.

Love and blessings

Fiona

Back to Mzuzu!

2011-05-18T14:08:00.012+02:00

Hello everyone,

it is great to be updating my blog from Malawi where the sun is shining and it is quite warm today. The lovely blue skies and sunshine of April in Northern Ireland were good preparation!

I am now safely back in my house in Mzuzu and getting settled after my time in the UK. My journey was good and I made it along with all my bags and this time there were many!! It was lovely to be greeted in Lilongwe by one of the Synod drivers who brought me home to the North on Saturday.

I had been wondering what I might meet in home especially as it had been closed up for quite a few months... Let me introduce to the orb spider that had made its home in a large web in the rafters of my verandah. It pays to look up as well as down!! Part of the web was attached to the inside washing line and as I pegged up some cloths the line moved and disturbed this beastie. It moved very quickly... I may add so did I!

After being away there are many jobs that need to get done around the house. Some are quite obvious such as cleaning out cupboards but one that I did not expect was having to replace the poles of my washing line. They are wooden and had been chewed away around their bases by some kind of beastie and then they fell down. This is the best excuse I have ever had for not being able to hang out the clothes! Busy has been well, busy today first going to the wood market to buy the poles and then putting them up.

The other evening I had Sara and Matt, who are currently staying in Mzuzu, round for supper and we enjoyed a good game of Chinese Chequers by candlelight as there was a power cut!

I have had lots of visits from my small neighbour Pemphero who makes makes me smile lots as he tries many new ways to ask for biscuits from the biscuit box. Today he gave me a written request for a biscuit or maybe a sweet, it's hard to say no!

Here is Busy who helps me at the house. He was very glad to see me home again and wanted his photo taken with his bike. It now has a new tyre and a new saddle, another repair that needed some attention on my return!

Many of you have told me how you enjoy to see some of the sunsets I get here so here is the sun setting yesterday evening at about 5.45pm. The photo just doesn't do it justice.

And finally here's a special picture for all my Portrush friends - yes it's one of the BB tea towels on my washing line here! They have even made their way to the 'warm heart of Africa'. One day they will be in every continent, I believe there are actually still enough of them to make this happen!

I hope you enjoy a good week wherever you find yourself in the world.

love and blessings

Fiona

Hello & Goodbye!

2011-05-10T23:03:00.003+02:00

Ballycastle beach, Co. Antrim

Just a very quick and short update before I return to Mzuzu at the end of the week.

I am glad to say that my suitcases are almost packed and the passport is sitting ready for action. I have enjoyed this time to be with my family and friends in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Thank you all for the coffee, cake and especially care.

I am looking forward to getting back but am maybe not just as excited about the long journey ahead.

Hope the sun is shining as I have got quite used to the blue skies and sunshine of Northern Ireland!

Will keep you posted, watch this space...

love

Fiona

all sorts of everything...

2010-07-04T18:15:00.005+02:00

Hello everyone! I am sitting writing this tonight after experiencing one of the coolest and wettest weeks yet since I arrived in Malawi. This picture shows one of the rare sunny spells of the week and although rain never stops play with the children it did rather limit our outdoor time this week!
So, apart from the weather what else has been happening over the past fortnight?

I am very excited that I have managed to complete a first draft of the database of the Synod's pre-schools. This has been a long job but now with the information all logged I can begin to collate the information and work with it. This task has been a real learning curve as I have had to learn how to use new computer programmes and also learn patience as I have made a few spectacular mistakes such as overwriting a whole presbytery's information. That was not one of my better days in the office!

I stopped to chat to my neighbour one lunchtime about 2 weeks agoand she was very hard at work in her garden. I was not sure what she was doing so she explained that she was sifting the dried maize kernels ready to pack it into the sacks for storage. The family will use this maize through the rest of the year until next harvest time. It is a really tough job as she had already beaten the kernels off the cobs with a large stick. Ladies work very hard here and this job is just one of many they have to do.

I wonder if you can guess what this is? It is one of the plants in my garden and it's getting ready to fruit.

It's a banana tree! I am looking forward to eating fruit from my own garden. Tropical fruit was not readily available in the garden in Coleraine... Watch this space for a picture of the bananas when they are ripe and ready to eat.

I have also been working with the Toddler class this past week and thought I'd share a selection of some of the activities we have been enjoying despite the cold, wet weather. It's great that children don't seem to mind the weather when they are playing.

Blowing and chasing bubbles or 'boobles'as one of the children calls them was great fun and kept us all warm. Learning how to blow bubbles is very difficult when you are 1 but again it is great fun to try!!

Water 'painting' on the verandah step whilst dodging the showers was also enjoyed by all. Needless to say a few faces were also painted! Isn't it lovely that the simplest of equipment - water, a margarine tub and a paintbrush can bring so much fun to the littlest of children.

Mmm, did teacher say paintbrush or toothbrush...?!

Hope that you have a great week.

Blessings

Fiona

another week flies by

2010-06-13T15:53:00.002+02:00

Greetings from Mzuzu!
It's hard to believe that another week has passed by and that it's Sunday again. It's been busy and great fun as I spent some more time in school with the children this week, helping out as another teacher has needed some time off. The day in the pre-school is from 7.30am to 4pm, which is quite a lot longer than my usual nursery day in Northern Ireland. I have been able to try out some new activities with the children and teachers which we all enjoyed...
Children are the same the world over - water, sand and mud always go down a treat! Well, at least with the children. Maybe the mums were not so pleased with the colour of the clothes that were sent home... One of the slogans of the washing powders available here is 'DIRT IS GOOD!' so I hope it works well. Watch this space......

This is one of my most useful kitchen items - the water filter. I was very glad it was well filled on Friday morning as the water and electricity went off early and it stayed off until yesterday afternoon. We can completely take for granted the water that comes out of the taps until it is not there. I have learned that my buckets should always be filled with spare water just in case, a wee job that I musn't forget to keep up to date.
The lack of electricity meant that the night sky was clearly visible and the stars were just beautiful. This was one of the upsides of this short chapter!

This week I also had the opportunity to sample fresh sugar cane. I have had some growing in my garden but it was harvested by the family that lived here before me. It is quite a funny thing to eat as you strip the outer hard layer off with your teeth and chew chunks of the inner layers. It is very sweet as you can imagine and then after chewing the inner layers the leftover fibres in your mouth are put into the bin. It would easily satisfy the sweetest tooth. (if it didn't, there would be a problem!)

Freshly harvested sugar cane.

Some happy children enjoying outdoor play time.

This week I will be back in the office adding more new information to the database and reading through and organising the data from the monitoring forms that the trainers have been sending back from their visits to the nurseries in their presbyteries. Already it is not difficult to see the next chapter of work taking shape even before this first chapter is completed. As you can see life is getting busier...!

Enjoy your week.

Blessings

Fiona

so many new things...

2010-06-06T14:27:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone! I have been reflecting over the past week that every day I continue to have so many new experiences so thought I might share some of them with you.

I mentioned last time that the weather here was moving into the cold season. I thought the other day as I looked out of the kitchen window that this sort of misty morning is much the same as a September morning in the UK. It is noticeably cooler here now and I have been making use of the jumpers and coats I packed into my luggage earlier this year. Early morning and in the evening when the sun sets I really feel the difference. June and July are cold here and the temperature can drop to single figures - take note for any summer visits that may be planned in the future that jumpers and jackets will be needed!

I have been a little under the weather recently and I enjoyed a visit from one of the teachers from the pre-school who called in to see how I was and to bring me some popcorn to cheer me up. I will have to learn how to do this in a different way than usual as the kernels are still on the cob!

Here is some of the local fabric I have bought in Mzuzu. I have a new item of clothing, made from fabric just like this, which is turning out to one of the most useful things I own. It is a 2 metre length of material called a chitenje. It is basically a wrap around skirt that is worn over an ordinary skirt. As there are not buttons or fasteners I have had to be taught how to wrap and tuck the ends in well in order to save me having a very red face if it was to fall off..!

The ladies in the top picture are wearing chitenje, have a flick back up and you will see.

This past fortnight the CCAP ECD trainers in Mzuzu have been training about 40 local caregivers. I have popped in and out of the training and have been really encouraged by the enthusiasm of these folks as they have been learning how to provide child centred learning for the children in their care. Many of the centres they come from have virtually no resources for the children so the caregivers are taught how to make resources from locally available materials. Here are some of the dollies that they were in the process of making. I went back later on and the clothes they made for them were fabulous.

My garden also is a source of new things to learn. I know how to cut grass and care for tubs but what do you do with a garden full of maize that needs harvested? Well, thankfully I didn't have to worry about that too much as it belonged to the family who lived here before me. They came and harvested it.

Busy, who helps me in the garden, has started to get the ground ready for my vegetable and here are the results....

I am getting ready to plant some vegetables of my own. Will keep you updated on the progress.

Some of you may remember the series of earthquakes that struck the northern region of Malawi just before Christmas last year. This week I had the opportunity to visit Kasoba village near Karonga which was very badly affected by the quakes. This is the first time I have ever visited anywhere that has been damaged in this way and I was really shocked to see the damage and destruction first hand.

This is one of the damaged homes and in the background is the tent that is still being used for accomodation as the building is, not surprisingly, unsafe...

Here is a primary school or rather what is left of it. They have a large number of children who are having to be taught in temporary accomodation but that too is not very great and one of the local teachers told me that teaching and learning has been affected.

Here is one of the temporary classrooms that unfortunately was damaged by some high winds just recently.

Life is still very tough for the people in Kasoba village even 6 months after the big quakes and they continue to have tremors quite regularly - a problem when many buildings are still unsafe. I saw many temporary homes in the gardens of the damaged buildings where families have to live because their homes are not fit to live in. I was really struck by the faith of the local Christians. Please do pray for the Malawian people who are having to make life work in very hard circumstances.

To end on a slightly more positive note and to show you a little of the beauty of this lovely country... some of the other new things that I am enjoying

Lake fishermen at work near the northern lakeshore. Yes it is really just like this!

The evening skies are sometimes just breathtaking.

I hope you have a great week wherever it will take you.

Blessings

Fiona

What's new...

2010-05-26T11:59:00.000+02:00

Hello from Mzuzu where we continue to enjoy blue sky and sunshine although it is beginning to cool down a little. I have been reliably informed that I have not yet experienced anything like the cold that is to come. Suddenly I have a yearning for the boost button on my central heating panel in Coleraine!

So what is new in Mzuzu for the Monitoring & Evaluation Officer for CCAP's Early Childhood department? (that's me by the way!)

Well, I continue to learn more about my job and the variety of tasks it brings. As I am building up the pre-school database I am getting to know names of people in each area and very importantly the geography of the Northern Region is becoming clearer. This will be really important as I begin to travel a bit more to visit and monitor some of the pre-schools in the outlying areas. Already I have found out that the most well used direction usually given as we travel is simply 'Go straight', definitely a problem when one is at a fork in the road!

As well as the database I do all sorts of other tasks such as turning the piles of paper seen above into the neat pile of handouts below.

Sorry about this, a slight technical glitch when uploading the photos. No, it has not snowed in Mzuzu this week!

Here are those neat and tidy handouts.

I also went out to do some monitoring in Ekwendeni Presbytery with Diane and 2 of the team of trainers in ECD, Nicolas and Memory. It is still a bit of an adventure for me to find these places but the journey at least at this time of year when it is dry is enjoyable and the scenery is lovely.

When I go out to do monitoring it is in the car but when the trainers go out to do their monitoring they go on foot or by bicycle. They often have to travel for some hours to reach the schools and in some cases as we discovered the schools have not been open that day. Would we be prepared to do that in the UK? I am learning that this is life for the ECD trainers in our presbyteries here.

Finding our way to the nursery!

Not open today!

Memory, Nicolas and Diane finding out that the nursery is not functioning. By car, 2o-25 minutes drive from Ekwendeni. Usually Memory would have to make this journey on foot
or by bicycle. She would not normally have much time left in her morning after making a visit to this place.

We did however have a successful visit to another nursery in the presbytery and here you can see some of the children. It is good to see what is happening in different places.

How different the nursery settings are here but the potential for doing good things with and for the children is tremendous. I was sorry to see the children sitting in rows learning days of the week and months of the year especially as they are 2-6 years old.

We found that they did have some play resources but they were packed away in a sack. After chatting with the caregivers we were able to talk to them about letting the children play with the resources and learn through their exploration.

It is hard for untrained caregivers to know what to do with small children but that is why CCAP has this big vision - to equip the caregivers in its' pre-schools to give the children in their care the best possible start. What a privilege to be part of that.

I continue to teach 1 day per week in pre-school. Here are some pictures of the last days of this term.

Playing with friends

Playing with the water bucket, minutes later it became a hat...!

Enjoying the bouncy castle, socks off please teacher!

My home continues to be an animal haven. Think Dr Dolittle would feel most at home here. I would certainly be asking him to talk to the animals about relocation!
This small frog helpfully leapt off the curtains and onto my head...

A beautiful praying mantis.
It is about the size of my index finger and is living in the back porch.

Lizard enjoying the sunshine on the ledge of my outside kitchen.

And to finish...

Here is one of my new small friends. We found this very big dandelion 'clock'
just outside the fence and she had never seen one before. Look at the concentration on her wee face as she works out what this new thing might be and do!

I hope you have a great week where ever you may be and can take some time to enjoy a 'dandelion clock' moment!

Blessings

Fiona

what is it like..?

2010-05-11T17:00:00.000+02:00

Hello from a lovely warm Mzuzu. It has been another blue sky day here and thankfully not any volcanic dust in sight!

I have put together a selection of photos that will maybe help me to answer the question I am asked a lot at the moment by family and friends.

"What is it like for you in Malawi, are you enjoying it there?"

The short answer to this question is YES! Let me explain....

I enjoy welcoming visitors to my home, here is my neighbour Ruth and her son. They called round after church and it was lovely to share coffee and some Fifteens.
I enjoy learning about how to make child-centred learning work in a new context and using materials that are very different to the ones I am used to in Northern Ireland. I am constantly being challenged to think differently and little by little I am getting there!
I enjoy watching caregivers learning how to make a difference to the pre-school experience of our smallest children. For some it is radically changing the way they offer care and hopefully will have a big impact on the development of the children in their care.
I love the beauty of the sunrises....
and the sunsets.
I enjoy having a poinsettia still alive and flowering after the end of January!

As well as enjoyment there are a few challenges, let me share...

I enjoy also the thrill/shock of meeting new creatures in and around my home. I was attempting to wash the dishes when I met this lizard in the sink. It's possible that it was more shocked than me! I have also made the aquaintance of the frog that lives in my small toilet, again a mutual shock I think. Household chores hold a certain amount excitement that just was not there in Coleraine!

One of the major challenges can be communication. The Internet when it works is such a good way to keep in touch but it can be really frustrating when it doesn't. Here is a snapshot of one recent session, broadband it is not. Patience is a much needed and exercised virtue!

If this was a heart monitor, this patient would be in big trouble... The good news is that when it works well many things are possible even blogging!

Do I enjoy having moved my life to Malawi? The answer has to be YES.

Watching the children really enjoying learning, exploring and developing makes the challenges seem less difficult and adds very much to my enjoyment of being here.

Please do remember to pray for the work that CCAP is doing in the area of Early Childhood Development and for the people who are training caregivers and developing the programme. It is a huge task as we work with literally hundreds of pre-schools, the caregivers who staff them and the children who attend. With God's help we can do it. ECD is a relatively new concept in Malawi but the opportunity to give the children the best possible start makes it a very worthwhile challenge.

Enjoy your week

Blessings
Fiona

a quick hello

2010-05-04T19:48:00.000+02:00

Hello from Mzuzu,
Just a quick update if the network will allow me to post this...

Apologies for the lack of pictures and no blog last week but I am having to learn that there is a time to be patient especially when working with the internet here. It is a daily challenge at the moment to get enough connection to bring in and send out emails. If you have written and received no reply yet please be patient and I will keep trying to get my emails sent.

Time is flying by and I am learning much about building databases and sorting out the mistakes I make when working with new computer programmes!

I spend 1 day a week teaching in the toddler class in our pre-school at the Synod. I love being in the classroom again, is great fun to be with this age group and I am really enjoying working in this new environment. It is always exciting to spend time with small children because they have such a sense of awe and wonder about the world around them.

Also I continue to help one of the trainee teachers from the pre-school prepare for the International English exam he will sit in a few weeks time. This is a particularly challenging exam and would stretch many of us whose mother tongue is English. Spare a thought (and definitely a prayer...) for the many overseas students who have to sit and pass this exam with high marks in order to study in the UK.

As many of you are beginning to experience the longer evenings and hopefully warmer weather, Malawi is beginning to shift into the cold months. I am even told that the days shorten here as we move towards the summer solstice, we will lose 15 minutes or so of daylight. So the expression "The nights are drawing in" works here also!

I am noticing that the network has a few more kbps at the moment so will sign off here and attempt to post this. It is the electronic version of making hay while the sun shines I think!

Have a great week!

Blessings

Fiona

All creatures great and small!

2010-04-18T21:15:00.001+02:00

Hello! First of all thank you to everyone who has let me know that they have looked at the blog. I had attempted yesterday to write this post but due to very poor wireless network I gave up after my 7th failed attempt, sorry...

The top picture is the view from my back door early yesterday morning just after sunrise. It is so beautiful here and very pleasant to sit outside with my cup of tea at breakfast time!

The weather over the past couple of days has been lovely. Blue skies, warm and sunny so no need for my big green umbrella. I have taken advantage of the good weather to get my washing done and as you can see I have long ago left behind my washing machine. The chair is not for me to sit down on for a rest, althoughI could be tempted to sit with another cup of tea as washing clothes is thirsty work! Also I have to remember to put on sun cream so I dont get roasted when I'm outside.

The weather is quick to change here too as you can see from these pictures taken last Sunday - blue skies to heavy rain in a flash and so a quick dash for cover was called for.

After the heavy rain I was fascinated as the birds crowded round the sand that had been spread on my path. They are not normally bold enough to come so close to the house when I'm in, so a closer inspection was called for. I saw something that I have not seen since I was in Kenya. Coming out from small holes in the ground were what I think are flying ants. As they crawled out to dry off and fly away, the birds were picking them off and having a field day!

One satisfied chicken!

(Sunday is not normally such a good day for chickens)

Last week I shared with you about the close encounter we had with the elephants at Vwaza. This week as I have been going about my house and garden I have met creatures at the other end of the scale. Welcome to my world...

Here is one of the many geckos I happily share my house with. They eat the flies and the mosquitoes that eat me. Geckos are amazing hunters and can eat other insects that are really quite big in comparison to the size of their mouths!

Here is not such a welcome visitor. I spied it yesterday as I was hanging out my washing. It is an orb spider that had made it's tunnel type webs under the eaves of my house. I got help to remove it as it is not so friendly a creature as my gecko. It was beautifully coloured but sorry, I didn't want it around my house.

I also met this large snail, it would be a brave bird that would attempt to crack this snail shell. Slightly larger than UK garden snails, wonder if it would eat my grass??

Just to let you see that I get some lovely visitors in my garden too! Here is my neighbour who comes to play in the sand on my path, he had just made and decorated a beautiful birthday 'cake' for us to share.

I officially started work this week and here is the view from my office window. The playground of the pre-school is outside my window so I can hear the children really enjoying their time at nursery. They make me smile a lot, it's good to hear children being allowed to be children and having plenty of time to play outdoors.

I was part of the training workshop for the trainers of pre-school caregivers. These are super folks whose enthusiasm and committment to their jobs is amazing. I was so encouraged as I spent time with them and look forward to working alongside them as part of the Early Childhood programme at the Synod.

This is a picture I took in Vwaza at Easter. It is a favourite of mine at the moment and reminds me of God's faithfulness in leading us along new paths and also keeping us as we walk along well trodden routes. I hope that you know God's leading and faithfulness whatever you will be doing this week.

Blessings

Fiona

Welcome!

2010-04-10T09:09:00.000+02:00

Welcome to my first ever attempt at blogging. Hopefully over the next while I will be able to share a little of what is happening as I live and work in Mzuzu and around the North. The pictures posted are a little out of order but I will learn soon how to get this bit right!

I have been in Malawi for just about 6 weeks and am enjoying the sunshine very much after the sub zero temperatures I left behind in Northern Ireland at the end of February. Sorry to those of you who are still experiencing the winter weather! Recently I have moved into my own house after being looked after very nicely by Diane Cusick for a few weeks. Thank you Diane!

After having spent quite a bit of time packing up at home in Northern Ireland and moving out of my Coleraine house, it was very nice to be unpacking and moving in to my new house. It has a lovely garden with many trees and flowers and probably many creatures that I have not yet seen!

I have been able to spend a bit of time getting to find my way around Mzuzu and investigating where the shops and other important places like the bank etc are to be found. Also I have had the chance to visit some of the very beautiful countryside in the Northern Region.

Last weekend I spent the day in Vwaza National Park with Diane and Sandra, a German volunteer with YWAM. We were able to go on a guided walk where we saw many elephant and in fact nearly shared our lunch with some elephants who came very close... It was certainly a very memorable experience but one that I would not like to repeat too often!

I am also attempting to learn Tumbuka and have language lessons twice a week with a local teacher. It is so much more difficult to learn as an adult but I try my best and now can at least greet the people I meet around me.

Where the Bible says in Philippians ' I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' it also must include learning a new language, so that is my prayer that with God's help I will be able to learn this language!

It is great to be in Malawi and as this chapter continues to unfold, I am sure there will be much to share!

I hope you are enjoying a restful weekend.

Blessings

Fiona