Sunday, 1 May 2016

Baptism

I was delighted to be asked to be Godmother to baby Jane Frances, first born daughter of Harris and Linda.  We have known Harris since 2009, when he was chosen as a member of the school exchange student group from St. Peter's Secondary to visit St. Matthew's Academy.  The Church Service lasted around 2 hours.  There were about 30 babies baptised. Afterwards we had a celebration in our house.
Waiting with Harris and Linda for the service to begin.

The Holy water being poured on Jane Frances' forehead.

Anointing with oil

Wrapping with the white cloth.

Placing small grains of white salt in the baby's mouth.

Harris and Linda with Jane Frances.

Paul and me with Jane Frances after the Service.
Party time

Women's Development Centre

Friday afternoons are when we visit the Women's Development Centre to see the children and usually chat and play games.  Just now in Malawi the price of food is expensive for people and much of the maize crop has been destroyed by the recent heavy rains.  We have therefore been sharing some snacks with the children.  Last week we had bananas which we bought in town and oranges picked from the garden at our house.

Gifts from a family in Scotland were distributed - skipping ropes, bouncy balls and coloured pencils.  The children also listened intently to the letters which were written by the children in the family; we read them in English then translated into Chitumbuka. Later, they all had fun playing.





This week Annie, former student of St. Peter's Secondary came to teach me how to prepare nsima.  We have known Annie since 2009 when she came on the exchange visit to St. Matthew's Academy. We also cooked  beans and chinese leaves which we later to served to the children at the Centre.  They all seemed to enjoy it!