Day 1

Our first full day in Malawi has been very busy.  After a very full breakfast at Likhubula House of eggs, sausages and fruit salad we headed down to Nansato Primary School with the Boy’s Brigade Team.  We were met by literally hundreds of kids shaking our hands and singing. The boys were overwhelmed by their welcome and thrilled to finally be in a school. They had arranged a few songs for us and a lovely banner.   We met with the Head Teacher and saw all the building work that has already been completed by the Classrooms for Malawi builders.  From there we headed down to Pasani Primary School where we were met by even more excited children.  Some had clearly never seen so many ‘azungu’ (foreigners) or certainly not in such great numbers!  Some very courageous children were even climbing up on the back of the mini-van causing the door to open! 

The welcome at Pasani was amazing.  There was a tug of war (no rope just hanging onto bodies!) between the BBs and the Standard 1 class (5 and 6 year olds)……each team won one game, poems especially written and performed by young learners and more singing and dancing.  The school parent committee had also prepared delicious baked sweet potatoes for us to try.  

It was back to Likhubula House for a delicious lunch, chips, beef and coleslaw before we walked down the hill to meet with our committee.  We had an opportunity to visit the new church which is looking very impressive (and big!) before the meeting began.

Our first meeting

Our first meeting was a great success.  It was an open and honest discussion underpinned by the values of friendship and working together.   We started by making list of all the things that the Likhubula Committee believed had gone well with the partnership then moved to what hadn’t gone well.  Interestingly, this list would mirror what the Dunblane Committee had also highlighted in terms of positives and negatives.

For the committee here, they unanimously agreed that the water supply project and the support for education were particular strengths.  They also agreed that the food aid and fertilizer project were particularly valuable for them in a time of need.  They also agreed that the school toilet project had been very well delivered.

In terms of aspects of the partnership that hadn’t gone as well, the Committee highlighted, the house, goats, broiler chickens and sewing projects as not having such  positive outcomes. The links (or lack of) with Mvano was also discussed.    As a wider committee we explored some of the possible reasons for all these projects not being successful through a very honest, frank yet understanding discussion.  It was excellent and truly demonstrated partnership values. 

We discussed some of the ways we may move forward in the future and will explore these further in the week and bring back some ideas for our Committee in Dunblane to consider. 

The sun was setting as we finished the meeting.  24 bottles of pop  and some snacks (biscuits for the azungu and bread rolls for the locals) consumed but a real sense of achievement was highlighted.  Luckily the bus came to get us as it was pitch black by the time we finished congratulating ourselves.