I hope the title for this blog has caught your eye and no it's not code.....it is in fact Welsh. When I first went on to the web link for this it was in English and I could follow it but now it is in Welsh so I'm lost. What I can tell you is that we had a visit from a crew from Newid Byd a televsion station based in Wales; Mererid Wigely producer, Aled Jenkins camera, Hywel Jones sound and four young people Lloyd Antrobus, Ioan Williams, Mali Rees and Teleri Davies. They were accompanied by Gerrault Wyn Jones and Megan Thorman from Outlook Expeditions. They were here to make a documentary for a TV programme on the problems facing girls education in Malawi. I understand the four young people had to go through some gruelling interviews before being selected to take part in the programme which will be broadcast in Wales on 24th November this year. We are extrememly grateful to Outlook Expedtions for suggesting the Chesney Trust project to be part of this programme.
The group spent five days in Engcongolweni and during their time there they took part in various acitivities. Arriving on a Sunday morning they attended the service in the R.C. Church in Ekwendeni and found it to be extremely lively with singing and dancing. From there they were transported to Engcongolweni where they were welcomed by Baxtor Gondwe, head teacher of the primary school where they were putting up for the duration of their stay.
They had a busy schedule which involved meeting with members of the local community, spending time with children in the primary school, meeting a young primary school girl in her home to talk about the problems she faces, volunteer work for the Trust - the usual moulding of bricks, and they made loads, and left their names on some! - meeting with high school girls and learning about their hopes and dreams of education, talking to an older girl at her home who had dropped out of education, playing games with the local children and generally keeping very busy and active. The District Education Manager, Mr Mwasikakata and the Community Education Officer, Mr Kumwenda from Mzuzu visited the crew to commend them on the work they were doing and to discuss the problems facing girls education in Malawi and in the district in particular. Adult litercacy classes are currently being held four days per week and the crew met with those taking part. The Edinburgh School is already making a mark in the area and once opened will bring not only education facilities to the area but employment.
While they were there we had arranged for a young local girl to prepare and cook their meals. We don't normally do this with volunteers as they generally prepare their own food but due to the the busy schedule it was agreed that someone should be employed to do this. Reyna Sikwese had ,of her own volition, cooked food for previous voluneer groups to introduce them to typical Malawian food so she was all to happy to take on this role. The crew thoroughly enjoyed the food prepared for them.
At the end of the visit the Trust was presented with a donation from the four young people who had raised money in several ways. Teleri did a bungee jump (brave girl) and raised £1000 for us. This was added to by Mali, Lloyd and Ioan and totalled 2000US$. At the request of Teleri, Mali, Lloyd and Ioan some of this money has to be used to send Reyna to school to study for a diploma in nutrion and food security. This is an internationally certified course and Reyna or her family could never have afforded the high fees to attend. I am delighted to report that Reyna's fees for this course have been paid and she is now attending classes at Skyway college in Mzuzu. The exam fees will also be paid when the time comes and that money has been set aside for that purpose. Reyna was so happy she was in tears and could not believe the generosity of these four young people. I have since met with her mother and she is so thankful that her daughter is being given this opportunity. The remainder of that donation was put towards the cost of completing the work on the foundation for the staff house currently under construction; for the purchase of 200 litres of diesel to get the maize mill up and running and for the insertion of another breeze block window to improve the ventilation of the maize mill house. And I'm happy to report that the maize mill is now in business!.
We hope the crew enjoyed their stay with us as much as we enjoyed having them and we know they have joined our Facebook page so can keep up to date with our progress. There are so many photos from this visit and I'm going to try to upload all of them.
Our team at the site send their best wishes to all of the crew. It was a wonderful experience for them and they all have their own stories to pass on to their families - as one put it to me 'this is part of our history and we can tell our children and grandchildren about our visitors from Wales'
We opened the school as a non-denominational school in October 2012, a month later than the Government schools but despite that we had a large number of applicants. However due to lack of boarding facilities we had to turn students away. At first we had only 5 girls but over time the number increased to 32 girls. Interest was growing thanks to our signage on the main road at Engoncolweni and the striking uniform or our girls - the kilts donated by students of Mary Erskine Girls School, Edinburgh.
