Malawi

 Mrs BB and I were not the only ones who've been away over August,

Joseph together with thirty-five Hampshire Explorer Scouts returned home after almost a month in Malawi where they were joined by local Malawi scouts undertaking work on three village schools, building 181 new desks and repairing further 41, repairing and painting 17 classrooms which were badly in need of attention, also constructing a kitchen and a toilet block.

 

The outbound flights, first leg London to Ethiopia with a five hour stopover before taking the second flight to Lilongwe the capital of Malawi took around 24 hours followed by a very bumpy 6 hour bus journey to the Ntchisi forest where they camped for two nights to become acclimatised, daytime temperatures 25 degrees cold at night and with tropical twlight falling around 17.30 the evenings were dark. Another very long and bumpy bus journey took them to Mzuzu where they set up camp for the work on the local schools.

The uncomfortable bus journeys were just an introduction to how different things are in rural Africa. Cooking for example throughout the month was done over open fires, there was a rotation every 6th day when each of the teams took a day off the work on the schools to cook for the whole group which involved a trip to the market for supplies. One day chicken was in short supply so “Jeremy” was acquired at the market and carried back still alive and clucking, which was a first time, close up experience with the food chain.

Building desks involved going to the market, selecting and bartering for a huge pile of raw timber, which then had to be transported, sawn and cut before being made into desks. Previously in many of the classrooms the students sit on the floor which is especially a problem for the girls who culturally are under pressure over modesty, so sitting at a deck is a major improvement in their ability to participate in class.

 

Many of the classrooms required substantial repairs to the concrete floors and walls and with that completed all 17 were repainted, many for the first time and with murals to make school a much better experience. A library was built at the Mpamba Primary school. The local economy is so poor that money isn’t available for even basic repairs.

The construction of a kitchen at the school means that that children can be fed which encourages attendance. The kitchen was very basic, just walls and a tin roof. There is a preparation area, a pantry with cooking done on open fires.

A couple of local builders were brought in to help with the construction of a toilet block at the campground which is used by local scouts. Again nothing very sophisticated just walls, a roof and no plumbing, it’s called a “long drop” for obvious reasons.

During the stay a local businessman heard of the project and kindly donated 2million Kwacha (about £800) to the project, a lot of which was used to provide books and mosquito nets which were distributed to local families as malaria is a major problem. He also returned with a Malawi television crew who broadcast a news feature about the project.

It wasn’t all work, the team had Sunday’s off and visited local churches and other recreational events. When the work was completed there was yet another bumpy bus ride to a beautiful  camp site at Makusi on the shores for Lake Malawi for a couple of days, followed by a safari at the Nkhotakhota reserve.

 

At the end of the project the team also donated their expedition tents to the local Malawi scouts.

Returning back to England after 24 hours of traveling was an emotional experience for the explorers and families alike, with no phone or internet coverage for over a month the only communication had been 3rd hand updates on a face book group. All of the explorers were asked to give their reflections, many of which were about the huge disparity between life in Africa and England, the life lessons and especially resiliency and team work they had learned and most significantly the warmth, friendship and appreciation of the people in Malawi.