Aid Camps International - Malawi

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Friday 21st - Sunday 23rd

We drive through Salima, a prosperous looking town on the west side of Lake Malawi to Cool Runnings, a site opening onto the sand in Monkey Bay. We're right on the beach by the lake, which looks like a sea, stretching to the horizon with gentle waves lapping on the sand. To the left is the fishing village where the men mend their nets; to the right women do their washing in the lake and spread things to dry on the sand.

More boys than girls splash in the water, though some do, and four of them came to chat to me. Aged 15 to 21 they say they're not ready to marry yet, unlike the village girls who marry at this age. Two of the girls are at Secondary school, few of the village children are, as secondary education, from the age of 13 must be paid for. Primary education is free, but not compulsory, so those who have to help with the farming or chores don't go to school often enough to pass the yearly exams, and have to repeat the year. Sometimes there are 18 year-olds in Standard 8 with 13 year-olds. Those with learning difficulties repeat year on year, and with classes of 60 or even 90, have little hope of moving on. English is the official language and lessons are taught in English from Standard 4 (age 9), though the standard of English spoken by the teachers varies.

We visit quite a few schools, some of them set up by the government, and some by Landirani; on Monday 24th we visit a pop-up school, a temporary school set up by a village as there is no school within reach. When there are 400 pupils, the Government will recognise it and build one, but at the moment there are only 300 pupils in three classrooms made of rush matting. The teachers seem kind and the children look happy There are long speeches from the village elders appealling for help. They've made some bricks, but need more. They don't even have water here. There is such a need for basic amenities, things we take for granted in the west are in very short supply here. We're here doing something good, but there's so much more still to do. I'm also starting to feel homesick. It may be fatique, we have been working hard, or the comfort of Cool Runnings by the lake has made me think of home. I've thought of Cheddar cheese and salad quite often.

On the outside of our chalet in Lilongwe, a foot-long blue-headed iguana sometimes sits; not for long, he disappears up the tree when I get my camera out, and stretches out his turquoise neck to peer down at me.

Friday 28th

For the last few days we have been doing less heavy building work; varnishing the doors and window frames - no smooth finish here, with the wind blowing dust and some roof work still going, dropping grit, several of the frames achieve a stippled look. And I'd hate to write on the blackboard, so many bristles are stuck in the paint. We asked the children of the nearest school to draw pictures (we provided them with paper and crayons) and copied many of their images on to the front wall of the building. We were limited by the coloured paint we could get and we make green by putting a thin blue wash over yellow chalk. All the pictures the children drew will be hung like bunting inside the building. We stick colourful posters up, and Toni paints an alphabet chart on the skirting.

Toni and I taught the children a song about Malawi, with the Signalong signs to sing at the opening ceremony and we sing other rhymes and circle songs with them. Groups of children hang about near us as we often start singing with them. One of the group was asking something insistently so I asked our driver, Morgan, to translate. I thought she was requesting a particular song, but she was asking if she could be my daughter-in-law. She looked about eight years old, but was 13. There is a national campaign with adverts about preventing stunting, showing two pictures of chilkdren both aged 12, looking as if there was six years difference between them. I was touched and saddened, there's so much poverty here.

Yesterday we met many of the children and their parents/guardians who will be using the centre. Heather, chairman of the Landirani Trust, had bought feeding bowls with the money we brought out, and we took a photo of a group of them with the four carers who will cook the nutritional porridge that Save the Children will provide. The fuel-saving oven has been built - also made of rammed earth, it only uses three sticks to start a fire, rather than the ten needed for a conventional open fire. The toilets are not completely finished, but the builders will complete these after we have left.

The opening ceremony is a great success. The most important politicians and the TV cameras don't appear, a sudden economic meeting has been called in the Parliament, but we have deputies instead, and the TV will come next week to report it. There are plenty of other important people, village chiefs, someone from Unicef, construction experts and advisors. We all sit under a makeshift palm shelter, and the school entertains us with song and dance. Traditional dancers decked out in costume and masks come, the local group is called Guhle Wankuhle (!).They represent different spirits and leap about to the beat of a drum.

We say our goodbyes to the builders and villagers, saying we hope to meet again, and I do. I would like to go again, see the feeding station in action, maybe help build a school to replace the pop-up one, and see if Lanirani's work on disability has taken fruit, so those with disabilites are not ostracised.

The people are lovely, warm and friendly, hard working and grateful for any help.

Malawi is known as 'the warm heart if Africa' and I certainly found it so.

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