Oh happy days

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Lazy Sunday

Sunday afternoon was my first feeling of being on holiday as I sat by the bright green hostel pool reading my novel and sunbathing. Yes finally a day of complete sunshine and no rain - what bliss!

At the hostel there is a craft stall with beautiful wooden carvings created by a guy called Godfrey. I met him earlier on in the week when I bought a few pieces of his work. He trained for three years to learn his trade and he's very good.

As I sat in the sun Godfrey mentioned he'd like to teach me to play a special Malawian game. I buy us two bottled fantas and we sit down on metal chairs by his stall with a table between us. The game is called Bawo and consists of a wooden 'board' with scooped out sections, each holding two large seeds used as the game pieces. He explains that the purpose of the game is to 'eat', the other person's seeds and take them onto your side of the 'board'. We play and it's about picking up seeds and moving them around the scooped out sections, 'eating' the other person's seeds when you can. It's fun and I can see why it's popular here. It gets dark so we finish; he tells me should play again tomorrow. Before I leave I ask if I can commission him to make me a frog (I love frogs), which I want him to engrave with his name so I can remember him when I go home. He is happy at this. The size I want is about 10cms long - carvings that size cost 400 Kwatcha = 1 pound 45p. I ask how long it will take to make, he says it will be two day's work.

One and half days of shopping in Limbe

When I arrived at the orphanage (and after a quick cup of tea and a piece of village-made donut) we pick up the project manager and one of the administrators and head into Blantyre town. Before we start the big shop and spending of some of the donations - I need to get money out from the bank (shops only take cash; I haven't found a place I can use a card yet).

There are only two banks you can make international withdrawals from in Blantyre. And from their ATM machines the maximum you can withdraw is 20,000 Kwatcha = 73 Pounds. (Although I have now found out that you can do this twice and then on your 3rd time get another 10,000 Kwatcha to make a total daily allowance of 50,000 Kwatcha = 182 pounds).

We head into the bank and after queuing I speak with someone to organise getting out around 860 pounds: the project manager and I have come up with a long list of things to buy! After a while of waiting for them to carry out the transaction, I'm called up to the counter again - there is confusion over my Visa card as it has my name followed by Malawi (the special account I set up for this project) - they want to check with me if my last name is 'Malawi' - I explain and we laugh. Then after waiting a further 20 minutes they call me over again to say they think my card has expired - it says 10/10 so I explain that means 2010. More time elapses and finally I am presented with the money - it is thick wads of notes which I have to stuff in various sections of my handbag just to get it all in!

We arrive in Limbe which is an area of wholesale shops, mainly run by Asian men who are known to run the place. The project manager explains to me that when they first arrived they were the poorest in the community, but he believes that God has blessed their generous giving which is strong within their Muslim culture. (The project manager was once Muslim before he converted to Christianity). He tells me that many Christians don't give and are better at receiving! Later we have a whole theological discussion over lunch - he impresses me with his insight and broadmindedness.

We hit the shops! Today we are focusing on things for the Christmas party and items we will give to each child inside school bags. The administrator goes off to purchase decorations for the hall and 100 new plastic spoons and some kitchen knives. The project manager and I go to buy three huge bails of secondhand clothing - which are mixed sizes for babies up to teenagers and both sexes. (The baby clothes will be distributed to teenager mothers in the village).

We continue round the shops buying 130 school bags and things to put inside them: tubs of scented vaseline for the infants used to moisturise the skin, 10 exercise books with a pen for each primary+ child, and for all: soap, laundry soap, bag of sugar, toothbrush and paste, and approx 4 pieces of clothing. At each place we order the things and pay to collect later.

After having seen one of the orphanage staff give their child medicine for worms I have become aware that many of the children have worms and tell the project manager I want to ask the pharmacy about buying tablets for all the children. The pharmacist explains that the medicine is safe for all children to take whether or not they actually have worms and that there are no reported side effects / allergic reactions. So we buy doses for all the children. While we are in the pharmacy I ask them to write up a list of things which should be kept in an orphanage - which we will come back to buy tomorrow. We also purchase a large lockable medicine cabinet that the project manager will keep in his office.

We grab a pick-up truck which takes us to a supermarket to buy crisps, biscuits, sweets and lollies etc for the party. Then we make the rounds of all the shops we've ordered stuff, loading up the truck as we go. By the end there is barely any space for the administrator and me and we sit atop exercise books and sugar. We ride along in the open air - I'm right at the back on the edge of the truck - hoping we're not going to make an emergency stop. Thankfully we don't.

Back at the orphanage the male volunteers are ready to unload the truck. A pile of fire wood has arrived too and the women are carrying bundles through to the kitchen area.

On Tuesday the three of us return to Limbe. At the pharmacy we go through a long list prepared by the pharmacist and get the essential items - including medical gloves (which should be mandatory when tending to people who have open wounds re HIV/Aids), plasters, bandages, scissors, a thermometer, iodine, treatments for: scabies, rashes and skin allergies, fungal infections, pink eye, coughs and colds, fever, stomach upset, muscular/joint pains etc. We also buy the final decorations; a plastic Christmas tree (so it can be used each year), and art materials for something I want to do with the kids.

After a quick lunch of maize and beans which has been kept for us, four female members of staff and I get to sorting through the clothes bails and opening up the school bags. Piles of the goods are brought through into the hall and all hands are on deck packing the bags and writing names onto stickers! The women go through the list thinking which clothes would best suit each child.

In the evening Gerad, the taxi driver, collected me from the mall (yet more party shopping) and as we reached the hostel he produced a beautifully carved wooden bowl saying it was a gift so that when I return to London I'll remember him. I told him it would be placed in my lounge for all to see - a gorgeous present to remember the lovely Gerad with his happy face.

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