23rd Oct - Muli Bwanje!

After a restless night featuring Alex Rae's snoring and a rooster we all awoke for another day of project work in Manyenje. We split into three groups, one going to Marys Meals the second going to continue the teachers house and the third in the dust bowl.

At the teachers house the main task was brick laying, with the outside walls growing with increasing speed. The most progress however was made by the landscaping team. The main terrace was completed and the lower terrace was levelled out.

The Marys Meals team enjoyed the time spent with the local children and have made strong bonds with the kids.

Away from our main projects Rob and co. completed the improvements to the tippy taps and some of the landscaping team helped plant up a new tree nursery with the local children. They seeded 153 blue gum trees.

Blog entry by Jack

Jump to it!

Today we split into 3 groups. Group 1 worked in Mary's Meals feeding centre and Groups 2 and 3 helped with the building of the teachers house. The Group that worked in the feeding centre found it extremely enjoyable and are very grateful they were given the opportunity to experience such a new but incredibly important part of the community.

The other two groups began the first of the strenuous building  jobs. This involved mixing cement and laying the slab to create the foundation of the teachers house.

Later in the day the Inspector for public works visited the site to check it was up to strict malawian Government standards. The groups work passed with flying colours and received the official stamp of approval!

We taught the children 'jump on it' and it has since become the village dance in my opinion.

Blog entry by Alice

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.

Thank you Mary's Meals

We would like to say a massive thank you to Mary's Meals for their incredible donation of school supplies, stationery, football kits and much more.

We have been fortunate to have been working with Mary's Meals for many years now, and this incredible donation, despite creating a jumble sale feel in Sylvia’s front room, will help us provide around 600 disadvantaged children with school starter packs in September - a simply incredible donation.

A special thank you goes to Gillian Boyle at Mary's Meals in Malawi, Gem Clark and the Project Trust volunteers for helping to sort all the items.

Students have Sacks of Fun

Last week a fun day was organised for students at Joshua Secondary School by teachers, volunteers Jean Pollard and Gemma Clark and Joshua field officers. The day was a huge success and there were even prizes for the winners of the various events, which included a classic worldwide - the sack race.

The prizes came from an incredibly generous donation from Mary's Meals. A partner charity of Joshua's who we have been working with for many years. Mary's Meals provide meals to children in schools and also at some of the feeding centres built by Joshua. They are a fantastic organisation and we are always grateful for their help and support.

Other events include a bun eating competition, singing and dancing competitions, a lucky dip, nail polishing which was apparently wild and a disco to celebrate, all in all the day was a huge success.

If you would like to volunteer with Joshua, visit our website to find out more.