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More from Malawi Wednesday, 20 January 2010 08:56 Written by Contacts

Thursday was to be a big day in Malawi as the expectation of heavy rain and the Malawi football team expected to win in the evening. The buzz was really quite exciting and, as if the plan had been written, the afternoon brought the expected downfall with additional thunder and lightning.

The locals were over the moon as the rain had been so scarce here that most folks had to re-plant after going a month without rain - and this is supposed to be the rainy season.

This lack of rain already means that crops will be poor this year and they really need an hour of rain every two days to give their re-planted seeds a chance.

During the morning I went to visit Mother Superior’s Orphanage. The work the nuns do here is really quite amazing and I love visiting the kids here. There are about 70 children, from newborn to five years old, and they are all amazing, healthy children who have been shown so much love. The sisters feed the children three times per day plus two snack breaks. Every day the kids are washed and allowed to play in the yard. They love visitors and getting their pictures taken. Like all children they like to play games and I spent a couple of hours with them.

The nursery Moni Malawi supports is overseen by Mother Superior’s Orphanage and it was great to get an update from her. I am visiting the nursery on Monday but sister Linda tells me that the little malnourished kids I saw on my last visit six months ago are now healthy kids that have learned their alphabet and their numbers and can speak good English for their age. They all now have school uniforms and school bags and as things are going so well the sisters put a Christmas party on for them. I am looking forward to seeing the kids myself and I cannot thank the sisters enough for making this project a success. Who would have thought that Moni Malawi, supported by RangersMedia, would be working hand in hand with the nuns of the Mother Theresa Orphanage. That is what makes us champions!

After a boring afternoon making phone calls and meeting people I prepared myself for the big game and what better place to watch it then with the locals in a bar called Chemelion owned by a Scottish Rangers fan called Stewart. He is a tremendous lad and has been a great help to me giving advice etc. The place was packed with the middle class Malawians all dressed up and ready to party. Every pass forward was greeted with a cheer, and a corner kick was like a goal. Unfortunately the other mob did not follow the script and scored two quick second half goals and the party was over. To be fair to the locals they all applauded their team at the end, dusted themselves down and prepared for Monday’s game to clinch qualification.

I also think Malawi deserve praise for wearing loose fitting shirts rather than the skin tight tops the other countries are wearing, although if I was built like a tank with a great six pack I would want the tight shirts! In all seriousness even in football you can see the physical difference between Malawi and some other African nations. Malawi has had years of malnutrition that stunts growth and the Malawian people are a long way behind their neighbours in a physical sense.

Friday brought about my first visit to our village, Kambudzi, where we are building the primary school. Although the journey is just over an hour from the city the last few miles are across what cannot even be described as dirt tracks. Any heavy rain makes the road impassable even in a 4x4. As it was a holiday there was no school that day but word travelled quickly that I was in the village. The chief left a meeting of area chiefs to speak to me as he wanted to confirm that he could go back and boast to fellow chiefs that we were building his village a school. It was great to see the kids and school teachers etc. I brought a load of food and sweets for the kids and asked them to be prepared for me coming back on Wednesday for a meeting with the committee, chief, head teacher, PTA etc.

Kambudzi ‘school’ at present consists of six trees, each with a blackboard. That is it! No buildings or classrooms - so it is a great place for us to build. Although they have no physical school, they have a great set-up and have stacks of enthusiasm. Better still they are want to do this in partnership with Moni Malawi and not just accept gifts. All through this project they will have commitments to make or they know the project will be stopped or cancelled.

The village shared with me the classroom numbers, which highlights the problems the school, and indeed Malawi in general, has to overcome. Primary 1 has over 200 kids, primary 2 has 120 kids, primary 3 has 80 kids etc. Part of this is sadly due to death, part of it is due to the kids’ parents needing them to work the fields as they get older and stronger and part of it is down to the fact the school has no buildings and the kids walk miles to neighbouring schools. You simply cannot teach kids under trees when it is raining. These numbers were a shock to me and confirmed again in my own mind that Moni Malawi made the correct decision is choosing Kambudzi primary school.

I have told them I have the Rangers Media football strips with me and I will give them out on Wednesday and get some good pics. Their love of football and football strips is amazing and the way they bound about in bare feet is amazing. Almost all of them have no skill, but hey if trophies were won on enthusiasm then they would lift the world cup.

After a few days of admin things I get the feeling again of why I am in Malawi and what we are trying to achieve. It is easy for people to knock what we are trying to do and say that charity should stay at home but I would defy anyone to visit this village and tell me these kids are not worthy of our support. They deal with death on a weekly basis but have the world’s largest smiles every time you see them.

Cheers
contacts

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