Chasing the Sun

Just a couple of words about growing up here.  Most children go to school from the time they are 6 until they are 12 or 13.  Primary school is free.  However, secondary school costs and parents can’t afford it.  (So the girls usually get married and start having their own family right away.  I met one woman who was 34 and already a grandmother of two.  I digress.) Here is the heart-breaker to educate a child in secondary school cost the equivalent of  £50 or $75 a year.  Problem number two, there isn’t enough room in the schools.  In the primary school we visited with 1,182 students and 19 teachers, 4 students from the previous year had gone on to secondary school.

I know this all sounds grim.  However, being here (Malawi is known as the “heart of Africa”), it doesn’t feel grim.  People seem content, even joyful.  They are incredibly polite, appreciative and fun.  Despite the limitations of the education system the literacy rate is 75%.

Yesterday we visited a Habitat kindergarten for orphans and vulnerable children.  The kids sang and played games while we toured their school room.

Classroom in the kindergarten for 70+ students.

After the pre-school/kindergarten we visited a public primary school.  We were greeted like royalty.  The head teacher spoke to us about their school, the children sang.

Next time, village life and the ‘build’!

First stop, Malawi!

10 years ago when I set foot in South Africa,  I loved this continent.  Tony and I have been mesmerized by leopards and elephants in South Africa, then the billions of buffalo in Tanzania.  Unfortunately, other than the people who are paid to bow (sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally) to our every whim, we have been as far from the average people in Africa as we are from the zebras, elephants and lions.

I’m excited to say that will change that as we work side-by-side with the locals to build a houses in Malawi.  We are volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.  If you are unfamiliar with them, here is the UK site. http://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk

One house is for an 86 year old woman, Eletina who is looking after her deceased daughter’s three children.   The other house is for Neliya, a widow who is caring for her three children and her late sister’s three children.  Both families live in Dete Village, in mud brick houses with a grass roofs.  They leak terribly in the rainy season.  This means that not only are their belongings soaked for weeks at a time, but the water attracts mosquitoes.  All the children have malaria.

This feels like the right place to be….can’t wait to get started – -we leave tomorrow!

Map of Malawi