Saturday 13th April:- Today I went to find Manfred. Manfred is one of our students we sponsor at the local secondary school, along with three other young people. Before the Easter holidays, Manfred and his class mates sat their mock exams and are now at home for eleven days holiday over Easter. Then he returns to school with the rest of his form to cram in some extra days of study before school comes back together for the beginning of term. Today I want to talk with him about his future plans, hopes and dreams. Makwawa Malawi Charity gives the opportunity to go to a local secondary boarding school, to two local boys and two local girls whose families would otherwise be unable to afford a secondary education. They are selected by their primary school teachers who believe they show potential. As well as their fees, we give them some spending money for clothes, soap and other essentials. We are excited that two new students, with our sponsorship, will be joining them at school this September. I took a motorbike taxi from Makwawa up to the school and met with the Headteacher. When I arrived she was outside her home guarding her rice harvest while it dries, from the local poultry. Almost everyone keeps chickens and ducks and these were intent on having a taste of the fresh rice from the fields. When this rice is dry it will be taken to the maize mill in Songani 5km away, to remove the husks. The Headteacher, Madame Gunde also has only eleven days of holiday to help her family gather in their harvest. After saying hello and a little catch up, she kindly arranged for someone to escort me to the house where Manfred lives with his family in a nearby village After crossing a number of streams on make shift bridges and being joined by a throng of happy, inquisative and playful children, we arrived at his home. Manfred was out so I left him a written note inviting him to come to Makwawa the next morning. I had brought a loaf of bread and some dried fish for them as I know that most of these families rely on food from their fields and they rarely taste these luxuries. I met with his aunt and his sister, also giving some money for sugar and soap. Some people are beginning to harvest their maize and there are pumpkins, guavas, satsumas, green beans and avocados in season. Goat, eggs or chicken are eaten occassionally. The typical diet of an African peasant farmer is very healthy, plant based and nutritious. They eat very little processed food, with the exception of sugar, if there is money for that. But the life is hard. Hard work in the fields, hard floor to sleep on with just a blanket on a woven mat which is usually shared with your siblings. They have very little money for clothes, medicines, etc. However, despite all the hard work put into their survival, family ties and community are strong and they live with a close connection to the earth. On my journey home I passed the secondary school where there was music coming from the hall. It is a church school and they had had a Christian conference all day. Drawn in to see what was making all the noise, I saw about twenty people on the stage with a main singer on a microphone, a drummer and keyboard player. The gospel music was great, uplifting and vibrant. I just couldn't resist going in and joining with the dancing masses. Malawians love to sing and dance; gospel music and Afro Beats are hugely popular. Passing the Domasi Mission Church, I saw it had been decorated for Palm Sunday, celebrating when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. I was told there is a procession from Songani up to the Church with palms and singing and drumming tomorrow, beginning the celebrations. The big drum that belongs to the Scouts will be played as part of the parade and I hope to join them for a while as they pass by the gate of Makwawa. I am lucky to live in an area where there is little outside influence. Tourist areas in Malawi are very much geared towards the tourists' needs. I get to see a rural community going about their daily lives and enjoying life as much as they are able. There aren't many households with electric and those that do generally have a television but most people are relying on their radios for news and music, if they are even able to afford one of them. Life mostly happens outdoors, within the villages and their fields. Nearby in the town of Songani there is a market twice a week when people from the surrounding areas come to sell their produce and wares. Some have to walk for two hours down the mountain to get there, some cycle and some get the minibus. In other news:-We had another maize give away in Mponda village. The Chief was being most insistant with the families that there was nothing for them until they had paid what they owed for the cooks at the school. Hamilton Kamwendo is a good Chief, is very fair and thoughtful about how to run a village as well as being the local primary school headteacher. This was the last giveaway of 'the hungry months' as the harvesting of maize has finally begun. Maize is harvested from the fields, taken to their homes and the corn is removed by hand and dried outside before being taken to the maize mill in Songani to be made into flour. The flour is then made into their staple food 'msima' which is eaten often three times a day with a relish of vegetables, meat or fish, or as porridge. It is a thick, stodgy food that is eaten all across Africa and loved for how filling it is. One of the last remaining old Scouts, Fears Kunamano, who is in fact the very first Scout recruited at Makwawa by my father, 'Skipper' Belcher, in 1950, lives in the first house in the village across the road from Makwawa house, where I am living. I make sure to visit him daily when I am here as he had a stroke last November and is weak with no one to look after him. Last Saturday, the 6th April, thieves broke into his home and stole his phone, radios and money. His pension is only K25,000 a month, equivalent to about £27. He was devastated and felt cut off from the world. Sadly, this happened while I was away for a few days. One of the young Scouts, Innocent, was also robbed on the same day. Someone entered his house while he was working out the back and took all he had left of his wages: the equivalent of £7. I was so upset by this as these people already have so little. I had no expectations when I put a post on my personnel Facebook page about how devastated I was that this had happened to people who already are so poor. Within only a few hours my friends, obviously as shooked and upset by this as I was, had donated enough to replace all that had been lost. Both Fears and Innocent were very grateful. Donations exceeded the amount lost so with what is left over I will send money for a relative to come from Lilongwe, the capital city, to come and live with Fears and take care of him. Sunday 14th April:- The Palm Sunday procession was loud and rythmic, with everyone dancing and singing in the road. We even had prayers said at the gate to Makwawa. These are the moments that make life very special here in Malawi. Manfred arrived on time and we had such a good talk. He is determined to work hard for his exams in June, as he really wants to go to the Polytechnic in Blantyre to study engineering. To help him with his English, I asked him to write a short sory about his life, that we then corrected and edited together. Here it is:- "My name is Manfred Chilimba. I am 19 years old. I was born into a family of six children. My father died when I was too young, just 2 years old and left my mother and six children with nothing. Therefore, at that time, my mother started making and selling local beer. Then life was very difficult for my mother to support the six children on her own. She also started collecting and selling fire wood so that she could get money to buy the food, clothes and other basic needs.
"My brother then went to the Kasonga Community day Secondary School and things were much harder than in the past when they was no one to be at secondary school. My mother failed to pay the school fees for my brother to be educated. Also my sister dropped out of primary school due to lack of money for exercise books and school materials. Now she is married and she has four children. "When I was in primary school in standard eight, the headteacher called me and she told me that some people at Makwawa Scout Centre had chosen me to pay for my school fees. At that time I was very grateful and I knew that God was present. I started working extra hard so that I can do better to be selected to go to the secondary school. I wrote the primary school exams and I was getting good grades. The headteacher at Domasi Primary School told me that I should bring my bag containing my clothes together with a pail to start boarding at the Domasi Mission Secondary School. She told me that Leigh and Robert Belcher are going to pay my school fees. "Now things are able to change little by little because when they send the school fees they also send pocket money. When the bursar gave me the pocket money I gave it to my mother so that she can buy some necessary resources. "Now I am working extra hard so that I will do better in order to achieve the thngs I really want in my life. I would like to be an engineer. I would like to be able to help my brother and sister in our village who are just farming; maize, beans and sorghum. They are not employed hence it is very difficult for them to enjoy their lives. "I am grateful to Robert and Leigh Belcher for all they are doing in my life."
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2/12/2023 11:09:47 pm
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Jaine
6/19/2023 10:24:42 am
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2019
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Charity Number: 1096827
Where is Makwawa Village?Domasi is the closest town, Makwawa and Mponda village lie roughly 5km west from Domasi
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Photography by Jya Raine
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