28.1.07

Mwadzuka bwanji? I’m just writing this on my first day off, it feels like, since the weekend before I left the UK 12 days ago. I’m sat on the porch outside my room at the pottery in Dedza with the usual magnificent view of lush hills and then mountains. The only downside is the constant dark rain clouds but I’m learning it’s not so much of a downside unless it’s raining. Oh and my feet are a wee bittie cold.I’ve had quite a hectic induction here. Nothing was planned, as such, but I’ve had a week in the life of the project here in Dedza and it seems you should expect the unexpected. On Thursday I got dressed as usual ready for the office. Anita (my immediate boss) was going to work in her room at the pottery to prepare for Saturday’s training. We had all given up on seeing the new Principal Secretary (2 down from Minster) at Lilongwe, which had been a possibility but we’d had no confirmation. At 8.10am Liz received a call from his secretary that we were to meet at 10am (bearing in mind it is 100km away). But we made it and Anita presented to this guy about Link’s work and he seemed really receptive. However the frequency with which civil servants are moved around in Malawi means that whatever his intentions are it may not help us in the long term. Liz is about to work with her third district education manager in one year.

Friday was probably the best day of the lot. I shadowed Liz as she visited 6 schools on the east side of Dedza – very rural areas that edge towards the southern-most part of the lake. It had already been a very eventful morning, having arrived at the bank and it wasn’t working (the whole bank it seems), the usual drama at the petrol pump and so on. We finally left town and not long after turning off the tarmac we rounded a corner to see the vicious face of a small boy who pelted stones at our windscreen. Our driver Emmanuel screeched to a halt, jumped out of the car and chased the boy back to his village. He grabbed one by the arm and his even smaller cohort was slung over his shoulder. The boys were petrified. Eventually Emmanuel, the two boys and their mother came down to apologise. It was all a bit much, especially because the boys were in such a state. At this point I was far more worried about the hot water pouring out from under the bonnet of the car and down the hill. I wished Emmanuel would worry about that rather than roadside etiquette.

Liz - not too happy about disappeared driver and water running down the road

The first school we went to had previously no teachers’ housing which, I’m beginning to understand, is crucial to attracting and retaining good teachers in rural areas. Since a Scottish teacher was placed here last summer and told the school she would fundraise, the school and wider community have chipped in and made a start on building the houses for free. Funds will come to help the clay plastering and tin roofs to be put in place. Here is the headteacher with the new buildings.

Headteacher with house Me, Emmanuel and Headteacher discussing house construction (!)


We had another few schools which began to merge into one another in my mind, but I do remember one particular school – Chikololere, linked with (I think) Prestonfield in Edinburgh. Imagine the surreal sight of offroading for 30 minutes to the school to see a Scottish flag in the central gardens of the school. The school was really well run and the staff friendly, and so the students were confident and friendly. They all remembered my name, which was of course amusing at first and rather irksome after the hour visit. The school brought out some ‘gifts’ for their link school – beautiful carved goblets and dishes. Liz and I were really impressed. Imagine our amusement at the next school when we received the exact same set of carvings (complete with the same ‘made by Damian’ on the bottom) at the next school along, who also swore it was ‘by the school’.

Students at Dedza School Linked school display


One of the last schools we visited I walked into a classroom where there were a range of murals, started by their global teacher, when I noticed probably the largest rat I’d ever seen run up past the window. It was probably about 7 or 8 inches long. As I pointed to it Liz thought I was looking at the murals and was pleased at my utter amazement at the artwork. The next classroom was the World Food Programme storeroom and the rats were having a full on party in there. Those schools selected for this programme typically use their best classroom to store the huge sacks of maize donated by WFP. Some of the maize comes in from, predictably, Europe and the States. This having passed through nothing but maize fields to get to the school....something is seriously wrong there. Arguments about nurturing local economies aside, from the school’s point of view the best classroom is out of use, meaning further overcrowding in the poorer classrooms or increased use of baobab trees for younger years.

Use of classroom for WFP storage


Anyway, back to the rat school as we stepped into the WFP classroom all the rats eating the maize scuttled away. There isn’t too much the teachers can do, except perhaps leave poison and put up with the smell for the next month or two (and hope the maize isn’t contaminated). The teacher then showed me the ‘argos’, provided by the WFP with which the school can place their next order directly with Rome! Noone knows how it works but it is something to do with the mysteries of satellite technology. A funny Steve Bell or Private Eye-esque cartoon came into my mind; two rats are furiously trying to open the argos with their ratty paws squeaking ‘quick, tell Rome we’re gonna need 10 more bags’.

After 6 hours offroad we were pretty peckish and so stopped at this village for chips. There were, possibly, the best tasting chips ever. Note my utter delight at our chips with peri peri. And we were glad we decided to eat in, cos the banter was pretty good.



Anyway, I’ll probably stop there – it’s far too long already. Suffice to say all is going well – I’m completely immersed both in the work and, usually, in mud. But happy as a pig.

Hope you’re all well and remember, witty comments please so I know some of you are out there
xxx

Blog 24.1.07

Moni! Muli bwanji?

Greetings from Malawi! This is one out of date blog but not a HUGE amount has happened since the last entry and now, bar illness, leaving South Africa early, having a month at home and now I’m back at work in Dedza, western Malawi.

I MUST start with the journey from Centurion, SA, to the airport on Monday (22nd). I woke to the radio travel update that, not unusually, half the traffic lights in Gauteng province were out which meant there was chaos on the roads. We spent most of our time trying to get out of Centurion. As we sat at a crossroads, cursing at being stuck again in a huge queue I looked to my left and there were two elephants. I didn’t see them at first despite looking at them because they were so out of my sphere of reference (despite being in southern Africa). Then I thought they were cows, and then finally they revealed that they were, in fact, definitely elephants, at which point we all just creased up. The circus was in town, but what was the funniest part was that these elephants were just cruising around the wasteland, happy as larry, not far from the road. And the backdrop was the Centurion shopping mall and beyond that the manmade lake. The elephants were pretty unfazed so clearly well travelled.

If that wasn’t enough 5 minutes (and around as many metres) later the taxi driver decided to cut offroad across the wasteland to join another road instead. We popped out at the back of the bus station, bits of grass flying off, and got back on track. Hats off to the guy – we got there on time and made the flight, arriving 10 minutes before check-in closed.

We arrived without a hitch and without too many questions from customs and were picked up by Liz, Programme Manager for Dedza. We headed straight to the Ministry of Education in Lilongwe (nothing like starting your induction straightaway) and chased people around. Liz still hasn’t been given a permit for employment after a year, and it turned out she’d been told the wrong thing (or rather she’d been told the official procedure which isn’t really what you do de facto).

After a tour round Lilongwe and a stop off for supplies we arrived in Dedza. It is beautiful, but absolutely pours from 3pm every day. I’ve hardly ever seen such rain. Our guesthouse is a little removed from the town, set in beautiful lush gardens with mountains in the background. It is apparently a popular haven for ex-pats altough I haven’t seen that many. There is a pottery in the grounds, set up by an ex-VSO who’s been in Malawi for around 16 years. I’m going to meet him tonight...

Induction has been going really well! I’ve learnt loads, had lots of apprehensions assuaded whilst others have entered the equation. I have also been reassured that I know a bit more than I realised. I’m really excited. Today we went out to some schools and I saw what ‘good schools’ looked like, with positive leadership, structures and so on in place. I also had a go at the 4x4...I got to the first school ok, which was really not far from the main road. But the rain continued to fall and we went higher up the mountain! In the end I conceded defeat and gave the driver Emmanuel back the helm. And a good thing too as these were the sights around the next corner...



Anyway, that takes us up to about now and it’s time to go home. Laters!

XXX