Wednesday 30 July 2014

Rainy day doesn't dampen spirits (well maybe one . . .)

Hey everyone, its Mairi & Jem

Today we woke up to rain on the tin roof, which was very noisy.  Some people left washing on the line and it ended up in the dirt outside.  We then had porridge and split into teams...  

Jen's team visited the feeding centre, playing games such as duck duck goose, which the children loved and we also practiced maths on the chalkboard.

Meanwhile, Mari's team got stuck into the plastering, singing Justin Beiber songs much to the local builder's enjoyment...  

We worked hard on improving our chichewa which the community found hilarious wirth our mispronounciations...  

We enjoyed mendazis and hot choc, much needed as it had not stopped raining all morning...  More plastering and then we were reunited as our teammates returned.  Lunch was beans and cabbage and nsima, followed by chichewa roleplays with Stevie.  

Then back to work, plastering and finishing digging the holes for the tyre playground... It rained...  a lot...  

Then we had some play time with the kids, a dance battle which Kitty won,  then we did lots of colouring in which the kids loved...  There were about 30 kids, and they were very sweet...  Then it was shower time, while Flora and Jess made an amazing Jambala style meal, which was yummy...

Love to everyone, peace and gloves, Team 3 xoxo

P.s Can all parents with chidren who love made in chelsea please record new series which starts on the 4th, thanks

P.PS can everyone with dogs please bring them to the airport for pick up :)

Monday 28 July 2014

Tonbridge Team Three arrive in Manyenje

The team's first proper day in Malawi and it started with a nice breakfast at Fisherman's Rest then the drive to Manyenje Village where lots of smiling faces greeted the girls on arrival.

After some on-site orientation and games in their new home, the team met Malawian Field Officer Stevie and had a huge welcome ceremony from the village community.

The chief even got his speakers out and the whole village enjoyed a boogie before watching Manyenje football team take on another village in front of a huge crowd.

It's an early night tonight as the whole team is so impressed by the amount achieved by tgs 1 and 2 - they are excited to get cracking in the morning.


Ps the classroom can be seen in the back right of the photo below. It's looking amazing! 

Friday 25 July 2014

Final day at Manyenje for Tonbridge Team 2

Today's post by Anika and Anneka!!
 
This will be the final blog post written from our lovely temporary home in Manyenje.

Today we enjoyed our final trip to the brick farm and after a period of brick - throwing alongside community members of all ages, we were lucky enough to watch the kiln; built up by the 16000 bricks, being lit and fired after being part of the making process over the last few days.

Despite the fact that everyone is sad to leave our little village, we enjoyed a warm sendoff by the entire Manyenje community. Our whole group paid some sort of tribute, including gym by Caitlin, drama performance starring Mr T, Hebe, Preet, Izzi and Alice. There was also a song sung by the whole group with solo duets by us (Anika and Anneka) and finally a speech by Freya and Alice.

We were treated with some traditional African dancing which was a completely new experience and extremely impressive.

Overall, we feel extremely privileged to have worked alongside such a welcoming community where we built new friendships with the locals (of all ages) and each other. Although it is sad that we must now leave the village, we look forward to our safari and the beautiful sights Malawi has to offer.

We are sure that Team 3 who are coming at the end of the week will enjoy Manyenje as much as we have (Miss Johnson - Mr T has been hard at work with your treasure hunt). We just quickly want to share some customised predeparture notes for team 3 (before was forget!) From the rest of the team:

1) bring enough pants. You can never have enough pants! (Or socks!)
2) remember to bring a watch. We are at the point of relying on the sun!
3) although it wasn't reccomended, we all wish we had brought more snacks as you always want an energy boost outside meal times.
4) only ruin 1 outfit for working. You will regret it if you don't when you want clean loungewear later.
5) enjoy every day and record it. Time flies in Malawi and you will love looking back at each day on your diaries and cameras.

Stars today:
George and Gem!!! The Inspire Leaders!

Thursday 24 July 2014

Day 7: Papaya and playgrounds

Update from Tonbridge Grammar volunteers

Today has been very busy. We woke to the delightful scene of homemade porridge with papaya and banana. 

After our early rising we got ready for a day of hard toil. Lizzie, Caitlin, Freya, Izzi, Annie T, Preet and Megan went to Mwandika feeding centre where there was a monthly drop in clinic. They spent the morning weighing the children and recording their weights in their baby books; selling medicated soap; and listening in to nurse Jean dealing with maladies ranging from fire smoke induced congestion to open wounds... 

Meanwhile Niamh, Anastasia, Hebe, Lydia, Anneka and Alice were flattening the playground area with paint pots full of cement and positioning tyres. They also went to the feeding centre and fed the children porridge whilst teaching them some basic maths and English.

Having returned for lunch we had a quieter afternoon playing with the local children as due to the late return of the group at the clinic, lunch was not finished till 4. 

We played duck duck goose a variation of French cricket and football.

We have just had an amazing singing performance by the girls from the lion king, a surprise hot chocolate and a lovely reflection time.

Over and out from Africa.
By Alice and Izzi.

Friday 18 July 2014

Tonbridge team 2 - Day 6: Getting into the swing of things

Lydia, Niamh, Alice, Anika, Hebe and Anastasia visited a feeding centre in Mwandika and aided the workers at feeding time and played with the children whilst the rest of us stayed behind and worked on levelling out the playground and and helped out at the local feeding centre, where Anneka, Elizabeth, Megan and Caitlin organised a scavenger hunt whilst Izzi, Freya and I played educational games and songs with the children.

We were reunited for lunch and then spent the afternoon at the brick kilns and doing home improvements. Before dinner, some of us played a variation of a baseball game with the children.

Dinner was an exciting meal of scrambled eggs and sticky rice (egg fried rice) with stir fried vegetables with mandazis for desert.

Stars of the day: Niamh for her constant resourcefulness and approachability day and night!

Lydia for her communication skills at the feeding centre today and Megan for her constant positivity and enthusiasm (and her ketchup and galaxy chocolate). Go Megan!




Thursday 17 July 2014

Porridge, passion fruit and penalties..

The day started with porridge and passion fruit, which was a real treat. For the rest of the morning, we worked on site, whilst shouting our newly learnt chichewa words (to the amusement of the locals!). Bulesani wheeliba! Bulesani madz! Sanga sanga! (Bring wheelbarrow, bring water, faster faster).

The partition wall between the two classrooms was put up today by Anneka, Freya, Caitlin and About whilst the rest of the team hoed the playground to make it flat. Alice and Elizabeth helped Stevie make another shelf out of bamboo for the tambala (drying rack), which is now complete and is being put to good use!

In the afternoon we had a group outing to the youth group of a nearby village, where we played with the kids and had a big game of football. Well done to preet for her amazing penalty goal! Many of us found the steep walk up hill hard and had forgotten how unfit we were, but it was made worth it by the beautiful view out over Manyenje, and sitting under the Wisdom Tree at the top of the hill. Everyone enjoyed a great dinner of veggie burgers (thanks to cooks Izzie and Alice!) and are now ready for bed. Night!

Wednesday 16 July 2014

Green Poncho causes excitement in Manyenje

This update has been written by the whole team, huddled in their dorm room supping on hot chocs after a hard days graft, with a rainy evening penning them inside...!
"Today we got stuck into some full on work on the building site. Some of us were bricklaying, some were mixing cement and some were hoeing the new play-ground. We shared our favourite mandazis with all of the builders at break time, and dinner was delicious spaghetti bolognaise made by Anika, Preet and Hebe. There was still time to enjoy teaching the children the alphabet at the feeding centre, as well as playing a game of football with some local boys, who were much better than us! 
Although its been raining today, excitement has arrived in the form of Mr Tothill's green poncho, which has been a source of much laughter and amusement for students and villagers alike! 

Everyone has settled in to the daily routine here in Manyenje, and we're all having a great time."

Tonbridge Grammar - Team 2 are hard at work



Day 2: Arrival at Manyenje

Today's post is by Annie T and Aniker V:

Early this morning we were treated with a huge feast for breakfast at fisherman's rest.

We also got out first taste of Malawian porridge as well.

After that, we embarked on a rather bumpy but interesting trip to Manyenje Village.

Along the way, we made several sightings that were far from home. The most amusing out of all these things was probably spotting a woman with an old china teapot on her head.

After settling down in our village we had a very warm welcome from everyone and met the chief in a welcoming ceremony where there was some singing, speeches by both of us and some impressive gymnastics by Caitlin.

After finishing the formal welcoming we got to participate in some dancing and fun interaction with the Manyenje children.

We have had an incredible first day and we can't wait for what is to come.

Lots of love to everyone from Annie and Aniker on behalf of team 2.'

Our Leader's Stars for today were Izzie Jones and Aniker for volunteering to wash up dinner.

Plus special mention to Niamh and Lydia for their singing in the welcome ceremony.

Day 3: Work begins

Today has been the first day working on the project with the community. One group (group 1) that included Freya, Izzi, Lydia, Preet, Niamh and Megan walked to the brick farm and created a chain passing bricks along to be built into the kiln. It was very dusty but we played games along the way.

The other group (group 2) included Anastasia, Hebe, Annie, Elizabeth, Caitlin, Anneka and Alice worked on home improvements such as improving the sophistication of our taps!

We then had a snack of delicious Malawian doughnuts which Mr Tothill ate 12 of...

Group 1 then did more home improvements whereas group 2 went to the feeding centre and played with the children.

After lunch we went to the site and worked alongside the community to begin brick laying and filling wheelbarrows with mortar.

We then had lovely cold showers before a dinner of potatoes and veg made by Annie and Elizabeth, which was yummy.

Hugs and kisses to all,
Megan and Anastasia.

Stars of the day:

Annie T for her impressive hoeing in the garden.

Preet for being there for her friends and her French-plaiting skills.

Mr T's special commendation goes to Freya and Niamh for their toil in the washing up area.

Monday 14 July 2014

Tonbridge Grammar - Team one - the final two days on the project

Not one, but two updates from the first team of volunteers from Tonbridge Grammar:
 
1. The morning started with a walk up to the wisdom tree before breakfast where the girls could look down on the school and surrounds to see how it has already changed so much since they arrived. 

After breakfast the girls organised games and English lesson for the children of the Mary's Meals feeding centre in Manyenje. 

The afternoon saw the official 'handover ceremony' and meant speeches from the chief, the girls, the teachers, Chisanga and the Inspire Leaders about the girls' time in Manyenje, interspersed with songs from the girls and the women of the community. 

After more dancing the girls played a final game of netball before packing and eating their final home-cooked meal of the trip.

2. The team had a fantastic last day in the villages yesterday and departed with very heavy hearts but with much praise for their amazing work and dedication to the project.. The bar is set high for Team 2! :-)

This morning we said our farewells and made some jam sarnies for the road to Liwonde National Park.  We set off and were on the way by 8am...  the bus journey was pretty uneventful, a lot of bananas eaten and a competition to see who could hold out the longest on eating their sarnies (it's very rock and roll here!) 

By afternoon we had arrived at the fantastic Liwonde National Park and were busy setting up our camp and settling in to the sound of cattle egrets and hippo out on the Shire River. 

The Boat safari was awesome and the team were lucky enough to see a herd of male elephants romping (literally) in the shallows... we had a great view of them, saw also lots hippos but only a few crocs....  

Dinner tonight was a real treat, buffet and even some nsima plus we were treated to some rather trippy and bonkers singing and performance/dances in costumes...  Everyone's early to bed now as we are up at sunrise for our game drive... Can't wait!

The Team left Malawi on Saturday and waved to Team 2 at the airport who arrived the same day. We would like to say a huge thank you to the whole team for all their incredible hard work - they are an inspirational bunch.