Thanks to Luke for 'penning' this update from Malawi...
Muli bwanji?
Tonight is our last night in Kachumbe and we are all
very excited for the expedition phase. This week has been very successful as we
have all worked very hard at painting a school and building a pig pen. Most of
us held the piglets which smelt of poop. Whilst building the pig pen, we learnt
new skills such as making cement, brick laying and using tools such as trowels.
Today we went back and wrote our names on the pig pen and checked on how the
pigs were doing in their brand new pen.
Church: Last Sunday we went to church
which was completely different to churches in England. They love to sing all
the time not only in church but on a day to day basis. This made it very
awkward for us because we didn’t know any of the songs; in addition when asked
to introduce ourselves, 90% of us were able to do so in Chichewa to
impress the Malawians. However, a certain few (Jake and Luke) introduced
themselves with a typically British accent, with “My name is Jake/Luke”.
However we all enjoyed the experience and found it very interesting.
Chichewa Lesson: Recently we had another
lesson of Chichewa which a lot of us were interested in and have become
comfortable with some of the more advanced phrases. The more advanced phrases
have got quite a few of our tongues twisted and many people seem to be laughing
at as soon as we open our mouths.
Youth group meeting: In the hope to try and
better the communication we could make between the Malawians and the British,
we held a group meeting with the Quest group and those of the Kachumbe youth
group. In this meeting we discussed the risks, dangers and precautions that are
involved with the virus of HIV and aids. It opened our eyes to how oblivious we
were to the serious nature of the virus and allowed both groups to widen their
knowledge on how to reduce the passing of the virus. Plus we got to make Netty
feel uncomfortable, to say the least, with a few awkward questions.
Football: Throughout this week we
have had a few football matches against the locals. They have some very
talented children which if in England would improve our professional England
team and probably increase our chances of winning more matches. Unfortunately
the first match we lost 4-1, which we blamed on the ground being uneven and
rocky. This was a clear advantage for the Malawians and obviously we were not
use to the temperature conditions. However the second football match we got use
to the conditions of which the Malawians were use to and actually became
competitive. We successfully won 3-2 and regained our dignity.
Home stay: We were given the
opportunity to go and experience a actual Malawian’s house and see how they
live on a day to day basis. Miss Baker, Asmita, Ashleigh.C and Luke took
advantage of this and went for a special dinner and slept round their house.
However Luke left after dinner to return to where we are staying as he was
feeling slightly unwell. In the morning Asmita fully experience the Malawians’
lives as she woke up to a goat beside her bed. This was a very funny tale to
tell to the people that didn’t go to the local’s house.
Test Mountain: On Thursday we were
awoken very early in the morning to begin our test mountain. The mountain was
called Mt. Michiru (1470m) which is roughly half the size of Mt. Mulanje. There
was breath taking views of which you will see in the pictures we took. We had
completed the mountain very quickly as if it was a walk in the park. This gave
us the confidence we needed to look forward to climbing Mt. Mulanje in a few
days time.
Special Dinner: On Saturday we had to
prepare dinner for 30-40 people; whom helped us build the playground and the
various other projects we have done so far. Luke and Mr. Scott were very
excited to help prepare the meal by killing one chicken. There was a lot of
blood and gore involved in killing the chicken and they made it obvious to the
locals that it was their first time doing this. However there were a lot of
complements to the chiefs at dinner. It was a big feast that everyone enjoyed
and we took full advantage of the meat on offer as this was our first time
since the start of the trip that we have had meat.
Leaving Ceremony: On Sunday we attended
the leaving ceremony which consisted of the locals giving us a farewell and
good wishes. On behalf of the students Rob who was described as an “outstanding
man” gave a small speech to say thank you to the locals for being so welcoming
and respectful to us. Mr. Scott also gave a unexpected speech to the locals
which was obviously made up on the spot but still gave a very good thank you to
the locals for helping us on the project. This made the relationship between
the English and Malawians grow stronger.
P.S. Sorry for the late report but we were very busy exploring Africa and we haven’t had enough time to sit down and write this letter.
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