(( new arrivals ))
28 July 08 - 13:57
New arrivals
We have some new arrivals at Makwawa Crispin’s chicken has hatched 8 little baby chicks and they are well cute.
Well the past few days have been very very busy, when shy told me that there was going to be a leader training program at Makwawa run by the scout association of Malawi he said that I might be needed to help on one of the sessions. On Friday we had to go into zomba and buy food for the night and carry it back up the 40 min walk from songani to Makwawa. Then had to return to songani to buy petrol for the generator this took about 2 hours as it is a 1hr and 30 mins round walk. Then had to go back and meet the organizer at 10 o clock in songani so as you can imagine I was pretty shattered. Then the organizers one was the secretary for the scout association of Malawi and the other was the commissioner for the southern region of Malawi needed help with the computer so I said I would and before you know they are asking me to run some of the sessions it was a classic case use widely in scouting of not saying no quick enough and before you know it you are running half of the sessions. So we sat up planning the plan of attack until 1 o clock in the morning then at 5.45 in the morning there was a banging on my door shay had let himself into my kitchen and wanted to get into the rest of the house. I opened the door with what must have looked like a face of pure fury because shay looked startled. Did I wake you he asked yes I replied oh ok then he said just wanted to show them the guest house il come back later. Well what’s the point he’d already woken me up haha so anyway I didn’t get much sleep that night then in the morning I went into zomba with magalasi who is the secretary for the scout association of Malawi and we got more food supplies and he paid for a taxi back to Makwawa so we didn’t have to walk it was brilliant during the course of the weekend I ran sessions in
Tracking signs in which I did a theory lesson in the Thompson hall then I set up a trail for them to follow using the basic tracking signs used in scouting Campfire shape and definition, taught them the history of the campfire, the importance of the campfire and why it is used in scouting and then taught them some songs we do in England such as I did campfires burning which the enjoyed and hello my names Joe. Leadership skills and definition
Shay let slip that it was my birthday the following day and because they were leaving on Sunday that was it off down to songani at 10 to have some beers at a local bar so I have now had a beer with the executive commissioner for scouting in Malawi, the secretary for scouting in Malawi and the southern region commissioner for scouting in Malawi. All were very impressed with my sessions and said they would be calling on me again if they needed me. It’s weird because I thought I was going to be working on a campsite and instead I’ve gone from running a cub group in England to running leader training programs in Malawi. I joined the Makwawa scout group on Sunday as a leader and they seemed happy enough to have me there. Then shay got some speakers and a sound system from someone in songani and we had lots of music for my birthday. Then I had to help magalasi write a report on the weekend. So very very busy weekend and the weather had been terrible but I have had lots of fun. Monday I didn’t feel very well I had a migraine so I had the day off then Tuesday we went into zomba to run some errands and visited Chrissie one of the participants from the weekend and had a chat with her. Wednesday we worked in the morning then went to Domasi school up the road to talk to them about a metal pipe they had in there workshop that we need for our water system as an area of the piping is above ground and when there are forest fires it melts the pipe because its plastic. And we met with the headmaster who took no hesitation in getting me signed up for teaching next term at the end of august he wants me to teach P.E and I have donated the supplies from snare stone primary school to Domasi along with one of the quick cricket sets from judge meadow. So it looks like I’ll be teaching soon. I am also starting Chichewa lessons at Domasi School with one of the teachers.
I’m still getting used to ‘African time’ which is when you decide to meet up with someone at say 9 then at 10.30 they arrive as if they are right on time but I’m sure I will be getting used to that.
Friday we started clearing another camping ground and not with a chainsaw we had to use machetes and cutting trees down using them is very tiring work but it was good fun and I only felled a tree on myself once it fell the wrong way on to me but it was good fun.
Saturday I had my first Chichewa lesson with Mr. Chiwaya which translates as frying pan so I just keep calling him that. It went quite well we did self introduction and unlike any of my other language lessons I actually paid attention and was interested so maybe I will be able to speak a second language after all. Also some guys came round to hire the generator out and Crispin went with it to start it and guard it and come back the next day. Now I am very worried about this because Crispin a few days ago wasn’t sure how to start it and shy hasn’t a clue about it either though he tries to pretend to. Needless to say it didn’t work and it had done a few days ago when I had carried it up the hill to Thompson hall. What has worried me even more is how they tried to start because when they brought it back they were really pulling constantly on the starter cord for 10 mins until I had to stop them because they’d break it. God knows what they did with it during the night poor thing. Shy keeps trying to do nice things to make me feel at home one day he brought me a packet of milk powder for my tea, not only do I not like milk powder but also don’t drink milk in my tea. But I used it anyway and informed him of it later and it was probably the worst cup of tea ive ever had. Now ive been living on real basic food every meal usually consists of nsima which is made from maize flour and is the blandest horrible thing ever and either cabbage or eggs. So shy goes to me on Saturday today we wont have nsima today we will eat like the English. I was actually looking forward to it a proper meal brilliant. Sat down to eat. Potatoes brilliant( in Malawi they call them Irish potatoes) I asked him what we were having with it, he just gave me a really confused look and said what do you mean I said are we having anything with it and he still looked confused and said no. so potatoes it was and very nice they were to as far as boiled potatoes on there own are and it was a nice gesture. We have chosen the location for my house and started clearing the site and soon we should be able to start building. Sunday I joined the scouts again and taught them quick cricket using the set given from judge meadow. And they loved it even if the rules got changed a bit in translation and we had about 3 tennis ball flying round and allsorts of things but they loved it all the same.
