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Friday 9 August 2013

Final Project Update from Epsom & Ewell...

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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