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.
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