St. Peter's Secondary School

The first week of term, students return slowly as they are required to pay the school fees (30,000 Malawian kwachas) for the term.  Now most of the students seem to be back and ready for learning.  The recent heavy rains have made walking conditions very difficult for everyone.  At the secondary school, the students remain in one class all day while the subject teachers move from classroom to classroom to teach the learners.  During the rains, the students are happy with this arrangement, but it is difficult and unpleasant for the teachers.

Walking down to school

Mr Mughogho, head teacher and staff members were delighted to receive the gift of a digital camera and digital projector and 2 science text books from Scottish donors.

Chasing the Sun

There has been a lot of rain here in Mzuzu and many grey clouds.  The rain has turned the roads and paths into dangerous, slippy mud baths.  Last Sunday we decided to try and search for the sun so we drove on the main tarmac road to Nkhata Bay at Lake Malawi which usually has better weather than Mzuzu.  It was a good decision - the sunshine and heat were there.

Everyone at Nkhata Bay was enjoying the sunshine; children playing football, people shopping and traders selling vegetables and fish.  Due to the excessive rains some of the trading shops had collapsed so Bob and his friends were busy constructing an new shop.  We look forward to seeing the shop when it is completed.

Heading towards Nkhata Bay

Washing drying on the bridge

Waterlogged ground, near the bridge

Sunshine on Lake Malawi, Nkhata Bay

Shop under construction

Chaka Chiweme.....Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to Paul, at the weekend. We had a celebration in our house with friends.  We prepared a buffet which included chicken drumsticks, beef casserole, sausages, rice, nsima, potatoes, beans, homemade coleslaw and quiche (since butter was available).  This was a treat for us and our guests who would normally eat nsima and beans with greens at home.  Chicken is for celebrating with visitors, if you can afford it. Everyone had a great time chatting, eating and dancing.

Homemade carrot cake

Rain! Rain! Rain!

The people here are at the mercy of the weather. A few months ago rain was needed at planting and growing time but the sun shone brightly with only sprinklings of late rain....too late for a high yield.  Sadly much of the maize crop has been destroyed.  A few farmers thought they may be lucky to get 50% yield.  However, now we are experiencing great rains, falling every day which means that the little maize which has survived the burning sun may be destroyed by the persistent rain.

Fields near Lilongwe

In Mzuzu, the constant rain is making the roads and paths very muddy and slippy.  There has even been mist in the mornings, reminding us of the weather in Scotland.  In some areas in Mzuzu houses have collapsed and others have flooded.

Clock Tower Roundabout, Mzuzu

View from our house

Heading to the main road

"Thank you Largs Academy Community"

Largs Academy  has partnered with Mzambazi, in Malawi, near the Zambian border. At the moment, many of the crops in the area have been destroyed due to the lack of rainfall. People at Mzambazi are struggling to get food to eat. On hearing this Largs Academy pupils, staff and community decided they needed to do something to help. As a result £1,000 was raised for the purchase of maize to help the whole community:day school learners, boarders, young and old in the area.

Presenting Fr. Sam Ng'oma with the cheque from Largs Academy

Return to Malawi

Back in Malawi after a short break back home. It was shock to experience the cold weather again in Scotland but wonderful to catch up with family and friends.  Thank you to all the staff and pupils at the schools I visited for their warm welcome; Caledonia, St. Anthony's, St. Marks's, St. Mary's and St. Peter's.

Our journey was fairly smooth although one the flights was cancelled; we had to wait 5 hours in Nairobi (Kenya) before flying to Lilongwe (Malawi). Fortunately we had a change of plan; we stayed 2 nights in Lilongwe before being picked up by Fr. Phillip to drive us to Mzuzu. We enjoyed the sunshine, visited a few shops and even met up with a friend from Mzuzu..

A main street in Lilongwe

Small shopping mall

On the way, we stopped at Bowe to visit Fr. Joseph and Fr. John who are missionary priests from Nigeria. Later, we popped into Fr. Phillip's home village near Nkhamenya to greet his aunt and uncle.

Paul & I with Fr. John, Fr. Phillip & Fr. Joseph

Fr. Phillip with his aunt & uncle

Meeting some of the children from the village