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.
