Day 218 - Superheroes with a night off

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The day began with a guided walk where we got to learn about village life in Malawi. Rather sadly the main lesson was that everyone knows white tourists have money. We visited an orphanage where one little girl just wouldn't stop holding Ed's hand. Then we went to a school which was okay until the kids found a brightly coloured mini-football in the pocket of Ed's raincoat, that we'd brought along as a present (you'll just have to trust us that it wasn't as seedy as that description sounds!). It turned into utter bedlam so we threw the ball to the other side of the playground and with the kids distracted ducked into the headmaster's office. He'd obviously seen us coming and showed us the donations box, although we were more interested in photographing the poster saying 'Please don't make me get married, I want to stay at school'. In England we're used to exposure to busybody campaigns like telling people not to drive 4x4's; in Africa they're a little more gritty with our (Ed's) favorite so far being a bumper sticker saying 'Real men don't rape (or kidnap, or murder, or hit their kids and wife)'. The headmaster pointed out that the government states that every child can have an education, they just have to wear a school uniform - a number of kids hanging around us outside the school confessed they had forgotten to put on their school uniform this morning so were not allowed to attend. How forgetful.

One child called Albert asked Edward for his address and promised he'd write a letter, but then Albert kept trying to give the addres away suggesting little likelihood of a penpal relationship developing. After school we left the rest of our group, who went to see a witch doctor, and visited an HIV/AIDS hospital and its own donations box. The impact of this disease, the number one killer in South and East Africa, was brought into focus when we noticed that the roster for the schoolteachers (for example, playground duty and detention supervision) included a 'condolences' role. The main observation at the hospital was that they were keen to give the impression that they're on top of the local healthcare issues, with graphs and tables plastered over literally every square inch of the boss's office. Closer inspection reveals that all the data was from 2003 so maybe they're not quite as effective as they think they are.

We picked up our fantastic new chairs and then sat back and waited for evening. The first part of the superheroes fancy dress party was handing out costumes. Gemma got a 'Queen of the Jungle' outfit and Ed an all-in-one Oriental polyester jumpsuit as his 'Super Ninja' costume. The party was quite something - it is amazing what happens to people when put in a costume - with hundreds of photos of very drunk people in very drunken outfits doing very drunken things. If you were there you'll know what we mean and if you weren't you'll just have to try and imagine, but none of us will ever go on to become Prime Minister that's for sure.

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