Blogs from Malawi, Africa - page 10

Having lost her husband a number of years ago, Anne is a widow taking care of her 6 children: Nepiyala (Nepman), Mayeso (Immanuel), Cicilya, Amos, Senti and Hazitoni. To support her family and earn a living, Anne farms. Anne lives in a dilapidated house with a broken windows. Like most homes, it is constructed of unburnt bricks (mainly just dried dirt and water) and grass for its thatched roof. This means that the family experiences major leaks and a growing number of cracks during the rain season. The family's latrine fell so they must rely on the latrine of another family, creating an unhealthy environment. Anne shared with Habitat, "I'm not happy at all that my family do... read more

After several long flights, arrived safely in Malawi. Will spend the night at Kuka Executive Lodge in Lilongwe. Gorgeous country. Saw some poinsettia bushes during walk to a local market. Feel spoiled by the delicious food. Tonight will mark the first time sleeping under a mosquito net. For the Malawi part of the trip, Sabrina and I share a room ... read more

Geo: -13.9808, 33.7721Finished up our packing and were ready to head out. Called Uber to take us to the airport and were able to get to the airport in under 30 minutes!!United has a new check in procedure there. You self check in, get your boarding passes and luggage tags and then you go to the check in counter where they weigh your luggage and then you are checked in and ready to go through security.Right before we went to sleep on Monday, Robert checked the news and Lufthansa airlines was having to cancel flights because of a ground employees strike. On Monday they had cancelled 900 flights but our flights from San Francisco to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Johannesburg were still flying. Then to further complicate matters, there had been a security issue with the ... read more

Lsst week teaching part 2 I'm trying to get everything finished before I leave. I'm providing a lunch for the main workers, the Landirani team from the office, and the staff of the school. Chicken, rice and nsima, cabbage, squash to drink, and an apple to finish. That will be on Tuesday, so Irene, the assistant librarian and I will go into Lumbadzi on Monday; hopefully I can take the truck. I have driven it before, but only on the dirt road, but it’s no bigger than my van. Thursday morning I'm up early so go and wait for the woodman. He passes each morning before 6am with the back of his bike piled high with sticks of firewood. Unfortunately Bear's friend Lion sees me and attacks my skirt, (I'm wearing a nightie with a long ... read more

Eighth week teaching Monday I went to M’bang’ombe school to deliver the wordcards I'd promised them. Then into the CBCC to take in some things I'd made. Passing the ball round and saying names, animals and food went very well, as did a little song. We tried out the animal puzzles I'd made and they were far too difficult: in fact one of the helpers couldn't do them, so I took them away to make them easier. I felt Ike Oscar Wilde, who'd spent a busy day on his poem; he spent the morning putting in a comma, and the afternoon taking it out. I spent yesterday afternoon cutting pictures into four pieces, and this afternoon, sticking them back together to make two-piece puzzles. Earlier I took the Standard 6 learners in groups. I only managed ... read more