New Vehicle, volunteers from Outlook Expeditions etc

              

Sara at the site

       Yes!........we have at last our 'new' vehicle on the road complete with Chesney Trust logo. We can now travel in comfort and style and my driver is being teased by his friends. They are telling him with such an expensive car he needs to wear a suit! The car is actually a 2006 model but having come from Japan it is in excellent condition and looks brand new.......Worried and I love it!  it is an automatic, 4x4 so will be ideal for the roads we travel and will cope during the rainy season.  Fortunately during this fuel crisis it is petrol and not diesel as diesel is in very short supply.


Henry our security supervisor at the site posing behind the car





We paid a visit to the the site last week and our workers there were very excited to see the 'new' car.  We were there for a meeting of the village development committees and for a workshop on Nutrition and Hygiene.  Sara has come from New Zealand for a month to work with the local women and has received a very warm welcome from the women.  We also met some of the women who will be joining the tailoring classes that we hope to get started very soon.




Park Mains High School - July 2011

 On 26th June our first group of volunteers from Outlook Expedtions arrived. it was a group of 28 from Park Mains High School in Renfrewshire. Here they are sitting on the steps of the maize mill during a lunch break

Moulding Bricks



Knee deep in mud with the locals helping out

 The main task was moulding of bricks that will be used to construct a perimeter fence for the school.  We find that most volunteers enjoy this and this group was no exception.  Over the course of the five days they moulded over 3000 bricks and these will be built in to the kiln for firing at the end of the three volunteer visits.   

Traditional meal cooked for them by one of the local girls

Lunch Time:

The group stopped for lunch which was served to them in the shelter of the maize mill house.  The food was cooked for them by one of the local girls and consisted of nsima (the staple food of Malawians) with a bean stew and rape which is a green leafy vegetable

Time for a break





   





Enjoying lunch of Nsima, beans and rape

After Lunch some of the group visited Chisangano Primary School and donated a large number of pens, pencils, rulers, rubbers, pencil sharpeners and notebooks which were gratefully received by the head teacher Mr Nkhata.

 

  

 Presentation of a laptop computer to the Trust.

This was donated by Outlook Expeditions and we were delighted to receive this as our other   laptops in the office all have something wrong with them and we have been unable to have them repaired. Worried is particularly happy as he no longer has to suffer with a faint screen with lines running down it on one machine or the other which was continually crashing for no apparent reason. So a big thank you for this as it will make his work much easier.

We are now looking forward to our next group of volunteers from Kettering Buccleuch Academy who arrive on the 20th July..........watch this space!

 






 

Latest News from Malawi

Hi from Malawi where we are moving into winter and the rains have finally stopped.  Although in Mzuzu we can expect showers at any time of the year.

On 7th May I was a guest at the coronation of Senior Chief Mtwalo.  Chief Mtwalo is the T/A (traditional authority) in the area we are working in.  The tribe is N'goni and it was a colourful occasion.  The President was there to perform the ceremony with two chiefs being elevated to senior chiefs.  The families are regarded as the 'Royal Family'.  There was entertainment throughout the day as we waited for the arrival of the President.  After the crowning ceremonies there was a lot of dancing and singing performed by visitors from other areas but for me the best was the tradtional dancing of the N'goni warriors - this is a fantastic specatacle........

it was impossible to get close as it is not allowed to stand in front of the President's podium so this was the best view I could manage of the dancers......there must have been at least 100 of them!

The newly crowned Senior Chief Mtwalo and his wife.

On a more practical note we have now received a delivery of 45 boxes from our friends in Scotland.  Included were white boards, easels and flip chart holders donated by Spaceright Europe and work boots donated by St. Margaret's High School, Airdrie.  I mention these donations particularly as the Adult Literacy training programme started on Tuesday of this week and the instructor had been using masking tape to attach the flip chart pages to the board and the walls of the class room as you can see in the photo below.......

but when we arrived with our delivery we were able to provide a flip chart holder much to the delight of the instructor......

There are two people being trained as trainers who will then work in the community, using the class rooms, to deliver the adult literacy programme.  The programme will run for 10 months and is desigend for those who cannot read or write and will include from the seventh month onwards those who have some literacy skills.  At the end of the course there is an exam and a certificate is awarded to those who pass. 

And the boots are mentioned because............... The boots as you can see from the out of focus photo, were gratefully received by our watchmen and ground workers who are based at the site.  Some of these guys have no shoes and are either barefoot or have flip flops and one or two were wearing gum boots (wellies).  The gum boots are supplied by the Trust for the site workers.  The photo is out of focus as they were excited to have the boots and were jumping around.  We have 7 workers at the site and the boots laid out are for the ones who were not present at the time - the night watchmen. 

Thank you Scotland......we love our boots!

Also in the latest consignment there were another two sewing machines which means we now have 5 sewing machines.  With this we now intend to start the tailoring programme.  We have an instructor coming who will train 10 people, five in the morning and five in the afternoon over an 8 to 10 week programme.  Once trained they will then be encouraged and assisted to set up a working co-operative to improve the lives of their families.

Our latest consignment.......

We are grateful to everyone who has taken time and effort to donate, store and to pack up these items to be sent out to us.  We are particularly grateful to Aabsolute Storage in Glasgow who continue to provide us with a free storage unit where items can be safely stored until such times as they can be sent out and to Bill Richardson for his tireless energy in packing and delivering to the Raven Trust for transportation to Malawi.

Dire Straits ..........not the group, but life in Malawi!

Hi Folks, my blog is supposed to be an update on the progress of the project but over the last few months the project has stagnated due to a number of factors - mainly due to a severe shortage of funds but we struggle on.
So for a change I thought perhaps an insight into daily life in and around Mzuzu might be of some interest.  This is the 'city' of the northern region and is surrounded by lush green forests due to the climate and the fact that there is generally more rainfall and indeed showers can come at anytime during the year with the exception of August to early November.  It is now winter and the mornings and evenings are cold, even for a mzungu like me!  This surprises local Malawians as they think since I'm from Scotland I should be used to this kind of weather but the body does adjust and when the temperature drops by 10 degrees or so you feel the difference so the winter woolies are now out of storage and the elcetric balnket will be going back on the bed.
I'm fortunate to live in a reasonable house in what is known as a low density area and I have a 2 metre high wall surrounding the property.  This is necessary for security and at night there is a security guard on duty as break ins are common place.  To an extent this is understandable given the deprivation suffered by the majority and the lack of work available.  Normal housing in and around Mzuzu varies from mud built structures to brick built as can be seen in the collage.


Houses around Mzuzu city





Typical toilets, shower rooms and kitchens



Facilites are basic with outside pit latrines (toilets) and bathing rooms (showers ie a bucket of water).  There is a communal tap for fresh water and most houses have no electricity but rely on paraffin lamps.  Kitchens are outbuildings with wood fires for cooking, meaning smoke filled, dangerous areas where accidents occur regularly especially with young children falling on the open fires.  Smoke inhalation is also a major health problem.  The table in the photograph is typical of that used to place dishes and cooking utensils on to dry once they have been washed.



Some local grocery shops



Travelling around is an experience in itself - for those of you not familiar with transport in Africa you take your life in your hands each time you use public transport.  According to figures there are more deaths on the roads of Malawi due to accidents than there are deaths from AIDS.  A minibus can crash and all the occupants killed, a lorry carrying 'matola' (that's people paying to ride in the back of an open truck) can often be so tightly packed its impossible to count the number of people on it - I've tried and there can be 60 or more packed like sardines in these trucks.  The road signs advise motorists to 'Arrive Alive - speed kills' or to 'Share the Roads with other users'.  What it doesn't tell you about the other users is that these can be people walking, young children, bicycles, goats, chickens, cattle, dogs etc.  Road sense or highway code as we know it is non existent.

In Mzuzu a popular form of transport is the Sacramento which is a bicycle with, if your lucky, a padded seat at the rear, but often just the wire seat.  These are very busy in the morning transporting people to town, women with babies tied to their backs, children going to school anyone who can afford to pay for the service.  Another form of transport is to take a taxi.  These taxis are mostly very old vehicles with smashed windscreens covered with sellotape, doors that don't always open because there is no handle on the inside, boot lids that rattle and shake and a strong smell of petrol from the plastic containers they carry in the boot in case they run out of fuel.  They never leave until the taxi is full and you can be sharing it with 3 or 4 other people, maybe someone with their live chicken at their feet.  My most frightening experience is when they travel down the hill from my house and they switch off the engine to save fuel.  Its a very steep hill and runs for about 2kms and I pray that we reach the bottom safely and that the vehicle I'm in doesn't have power assisted brakes or steering!  Fuel shortages are frequent and last week the taxi I was in ran out of fuel half way up the hill so it was 'sorry madam' and I had to get out and walk.  I have to say I don't mind the walk on the way down but on the way up its a different story all together.

Even with my own transport I've had my share of scary experiences.  I had borrowed a car from a Malawian friend while I was in my first year in Malawi.  While travelling from Nkhmenya to Mzuzu a tyre blew and the car rolled, ending upside down in a ditch......miraculously I walked away from this without a scratch.  I have to say since that incident I have been extremely particular regarding the quality and maintnenance of the tyres fitted to the Trust vehicles and no longer borrow cars.  At least our vehicle is looked after and  well maintained. Next time was last year after a visit to Kwik-fit to have new tyres fitted.  Job done I headed off for Lilongwe but had a feeling something was 'not right' with the steering so wasn't travelling too fast.  I was able to steer the car to the side of the road and stop safely but imagine my shock when I got out to see my rear wheel rolling off at speed into the forest.  Some little kids went running after it and found it and rolled it back out for me. When help arrived from Mzuzu they just looked at the vehicle and said 'God loves you madam'.  The nuts had not been tightened properly!  Kwik-fit accepted responsibiltiy for this and compensated us for the damage.  Worried, the Trust driver, now routinely checks the wheel nuts, tyre pressure etc prior to setting off on any journeys.



Lost my wheel !!!



As if that wasn't enough the last incident was when the brakes failed .....yes failed!  I was heading to the Lake for a quiet weekend and realised there was a problem with the brakes which I had to keep pumping to get them to work until finally even pumping them didn't work.  I had to do a handbrake stop as I approached the police road block but they didn't realise I had a problem so I passed through.  Once safely out of sight I stopped and called Mzuzu once again for help.  Worried arrived a couple of hours later and with help and a roadside repair was carried out, new brake pads fitted and I was on my way.  This was really my own fault as the brakes had been making a grinding noise and Worried wanted to have this checked out but I was so desperate to get away for the weekend I took the risk.  We have now sold this vehicle as it was becoming a liability with mounting garage bills and we are just waiting for our 'new' vehicle which has been recently imported from Japan to be released by the MRA.

At Chesney Trust, of course, we take road safetly serioulsy and we never take risks.  Our driver is qualified to drive public service vehicles and has completed a defensive driving course.  He drives safely and within the speed limits at all times.  The maximum speed on the roads of Malawi is 80kms per hour and now that the traffic police have speed cameras one can never be sure where they might pop up.  They are also all around the country doing spot checks on vehicles, and drivers in an effort to reduce the casualties on the road.

At the end of this month we have our 1st group of volunteers from Outlook Expeditions coming, students from Park Mains school in Renfrewshire so we should have some interesting news and photos for next time.

So, life is different ..........interesting, challenging but never boring!!!!

Long time silent!

Over the last few months I have been on home leave.  I decided to take this time out as during the rainy season there is no chance of any construction taking place.  During my absence there hasn't been much progress that should probably be no progress on the site but no doubt the bush will have grown wild again!

Since I've been home I have been able to visit the Mary Erskine Junior School and take part in an assembly.  I also had lunch with the Chesney Club and spent some time with the pupils who had lots of questions to ask aboutl life for school children in Malawi.  I have attened a trustees meeting, a meeting of the Edinburgh Lions Club, The Leith Rotary Club a NIDOS workshop and managed to fit in some visits with friends and relatives.  It has been a busy time and I'm looking forward to returning to Malawi to get on with the work that is being so well supported.

The new desks installed in the class room

Last week I received some photos from Worried, my office assitant of the the first set of 20 desks for the class rooms.  These desks are being made by students at Mzuzu Technical College and a further 20 are still to be completed. 
The room is now taking on the appearance of a class room and all that is required now are the students.  We are hoping we will be in a position to open at the start of the the 2011 - 2012 academic year - September this year - quite a challenge but I think we are up for it.


While I have been home the class rooms have been used for meetings for the groups selected to take part in the small scale livestock project. 
I understand the steering committee has been formed and the groups and sub groups have been fully prepared for the hand over of the livestock which is due to take place on my return.  This will involve the handing over of 40 female goats and 10 bucks.  The idea is that the groups will begin breeding and as the stock increases further groups will be formed.  This is an income generating activtiy for the villagers from the three villages within the catchment area of the school.

The The Tailoring Hopefuls

Before I came home in December we took delivery of the first three hand operated sewing machines and a further two machines are currently on the way.  Once these arrive we will start the tailoring classes for 10 local women.  Once trained they will be encouraged to set up a co-operative and operate as a business, again an income generating project. 

Walking to the nearest maize mill

20kgs on her head and a baby and a child also carrying a 20kg bag

Plans are also in the pipeline to have the maize mill operating within the next few months.  This will make a real difference to the lives of local women who have to travel up to 10 kms  to the nearest mazie mill.with a 20kg bag of maize carried on their head and a baby slung over their back. Once our mill is operating this will drastically reduce this daily trek.  Women have all the chores to do and spend much of the day collecting firewood. preparing meals for their families and grinding maize.




Once back in Malawi my task will be to draw up the programme for this year's group of volunteers from Outlook Exepditions.  We have had had two very successful years working with this organisation and look forward to another successful visit again this year.  apart from that we have a group coming for a few days from St Maurice's High School in Cumbernauld and we have a group of 5 independent volunteers coming for a month in August one of whom is a returning volunteer and ex pupil of St Maurice's who visited in 2007 so she will see a massive difference when she comes out in August.  My niece is also coming from New Zealand for a month in July and she will be working with the women in the local villages implementing a food and hygiene programme.  So a busy few months ahead.

I will further update once back in the Warm heart of Africa.......until then cheers and keep following us either on the website or on our Facebook page

Sensitisation Workshops

Over the last six weeks or so we have been holding sensitisation workshops in the area within a 5 km radius of the Edinburgh Girls School.  The purpose is to engage the local community in the proposed developments we want to bring to the area.
The workshops were intended to raise awareness and understanding of what development means - it is a hand up and not a hand out and the people have to be involved and the develpoment proposals must fit in with what they want for their area. 



Workshop at Engcongolweni

 We got off to a good start with almost 100 people turning up for the first meeting which was held at Engcongolweni with the Inkosana and the village chiefs in attendance - this was important to give credence to the meetings. We followed up with similar meetings in Chisangano and Enthongeni.

The Chief reporting on his group discussion

At each meeting the facilitator first introduced the days events, held a tutorial session then sent the participants off in groups to discuss their needs and come back for a plenary session. Everyone took part and the resluts were very positive and encouraging.


Each village has it's own Village Development Committee (VDC) but it was part ot the programme that they were encouraged to form one committee to oversee the developments within the 5 km radius and to unite them rather than having them pulling against each other.  At the end of the workshops it was becoming obvious that we were achieving our aims.


It was then agreed that all future meetings would be held in the new classrooms of the Edinburgh Girls High School and this is now the focal point.  We suggested a meeting for Training and Advocacy to be held at the school and asked for 200 representatives from each of the VDC's.  We were delighted on the day to have almost 40 people in attendance.


1st use of the new class room

 Our new classroom was an ideal venue and we were happy to be able to make use of the premises.






This was a morning session and at the end of the morning it was agreed that a committee would be formed with representatives from each of the VDC's.  This committee will attend all future meetings and report back to their respective villages.

Training in progress

Question and answer session

The proposed projects are goat and pig farming and tailoring classes.  These will be income generating activities and eventually the groups will be encouraged to set up working co-operatives.

The programme has been drawn up for the small scale livestock projects and sessions will begin next week and continue over the next two months.  Farmers will be indentified for goats and for pigs and will be trained in feeding and caring methods.  Suitable secure pens for the animals built in preparation for the handover of the livestock which will take place in March next year.

The staff house is now completed and with the onset of the rainy season construction work has come to a  halt.  We have been on the receiving end of some very generous funding from Singapore and will be in a position to continue with construction once the rainy season is over - around April next year.  We have sold the Trust vehicle which served us well for the past four years but with a mileage of over 300,000kms it was considered time to look for something else.  So we are now scouring the markets for a suitable vehicle.

The Trust office in Mzuzu is now closed for the Christmas holidays and I'm taking what I think is a well deserved break and returning to Scotland for 9 weeks.  I know the weather has been extremely cold with heavy snowfalls so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there are no airport closures next week and I reach home safely.

To all out followers we wish you a Happy Christmas and all the Best for 2011................Blogs will be back next year but for now follow us on on The Chesney Trust Facebook page and join us if you haven't already!

Staff House

It's been a busy month one way or another with very little time to spare for blogging but hopefully some of our followers have been keeping up with progress on Facebook.
The staff house is nearing completion with only the internal finishing to be done.  This will be delayed until after Christmas as we are just a little bit short of finances at the moment.


Staff house nearing completion




We will make the house secure with solid wooden exterior doors and the glass will be put inthe windows and that will have to do until we can get the painter in to finish off.
We were promised the house would be ready in six weeks and it is thanks to the supreme effort of the young man employed to undertake the construction......well done Mr Soko!



20,000 bricks built in to kiln ready for firing

 Following the visit of the Outlook Expedition volunteers and their brick making we had more bricks made so that we could have these built in to a kiln ready for firing.  This task has now been completed and the kiln built.  The firing will take place on Friday of this week.




Tomorrow, Thursday, we will open the door of one of the classrooms to some of the local community for a workshop.  We have been holding sensitisation wrokshops over thelast few weeks in the three main areas within the 5 kms radius of the school.  We listenend to the concerns and issues raised by the local community and the workshops now will be for training and advocacy.
We have now received our three hand operated sewing machines from UK and will hopefully soon begin  the tailoring training programme.  This involves bringing a trainer from the Lydia Foundation in Zomba who will train six local women in basic women and girls clothing.  These women will then train others and they will set up a co-operative to generate an income for them and improve their living standards.  This is part of our plan for the improvement of the lives of the local community.
With only a few weeks left until I come home for the Christmas break a busy time ahead and unlikely that we will start the tailoring classes until I return.  I will keep you all posted of any developments.

Good luck with the sales at the Christmas Fair this weekend ......have fun!

The Handover

  On Friday 1st October the long awaited handover of the first class room blocks for the Edinburgh Girls’ High School (Malawi) finally took place.

It was a colourful and joyful occasion recorded for us by TV Malawi and Una Purdie who is currently in Malawi visiting and filming Scottish funded projects for the Scotland Malawi Partnership. Our guests included the T/A Inkosi Mtwalo, Inkosana Jere, the Village Chiefs and Headmen from the surrounding villages, representatives from the Divisional Education Offices, Mr Kumwenda from the Community Education Department, Mr Harawa from the NGO Board of Malawi, the chief of police from Ekwendeni, the head teachers and staff from Engcongolweni, Chisangano and Enthongeni Primary Schools, Mr Mukumbwe of Fukumele Building Contractors, Mr Mike Lwanda, the architect and design consultant for the project, other invited guests, members of the local community, boys and girls from the three primary schools and the Chesney Trust Board in Malawi – a lot of people! Then there was me, Chesney or Janetee as I’m known locally!

Entertainment was provided by the three primary schools, singing, dancing and dramas.

Chisangano girls rehearsing and then performing with Chesney joining in - as custom requires

Engcongolweni Girls Choir sang a very moving tribute to Chesney Trust thanking the Trust for the donations made to the school of a computer and printer and now for this school that they can look forward to joining in the future.

The boys, not to be left out, performed a drama on the importance of education

While the girls from Engcongolweni danced.

Then it was the turn of the girls’ choir from Enthongeni and the local women.

Finally came the handover of the keys from the contractor, to the consultant and finally to Rev Henry Mvula, Chairman of the Malawi Board. Unfortunately I was so busy running back and forth for the TV Malawi people with the people they wanted to interview that I didn’t get any photos of the day. All the photos were taken by Una’s friend Janet MacDonald who is accompanying her on her visit to Malawi – thank you Janet! Una has promised me some stills so once I have them I will post the actual handover. I do have one of Mike explaining to the people that this is just the first phase of a much bigger project and that it will take time to complete.

Una and Janet thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, Una from behind the camera and Janet who mingled with the crowd and eventually had to cover up due to the extreme heat and the blazing African sun – she is the one under the pink wrap!

Sorry Janet, but I couldn’t leave you out!