Photos and Stories

Report Aftermath...
Our department is relaxing in the happy glow of a report submitted just on time. We're tidying up a few loose ends and doing a little bit of planning for the next few months.

I'm currently planning for a trip up to the north of the country next week. I'll be visiting the office in Mzuzu and spending some time in the field. I'm looking forward to some time in village. Hopefully I can shadow one of our agrodealers and learn a little more about what it's like to do business in Malawi. I might even make a trip to visit another volunteer (and good friend) in Misuku in the very north of Malawi. Andrew's working for a fair trade company called Mzuzu coffee and his placement is very remote. Apparently only Mzuzu coffee vehicles and the ambulance make trips to Misuku. I've got my fingers crossed that I'll make the trip.

Other news...
Well, in the absence of other news I thought that I'd share some pictures. The first two were taken at a big field day a month or so ago. I was a big hit because I had a camera. I took lots of photos - the problem will be if/when I see these people again and they start asking where their photos are.

The first photo is of one of the women who organized the field day. She was very insistent that I take her photo and managed to shoo away other people long enough to get a photo by herself... well mostly by herself.

The second photo is a bunch of boys at the same field day.

The third photo is of Tokafe. She lives at my home. She's belongs to Bob, the guy who cooks and cleans at our house. She isn't actually his daughter but the family looks after as though she is part of the family. When Bob and his wife married and had a child they were given Tokafe to look after. This is very common in Malawi. My co-worker Khumbo just got married and had a baby and she already has three children from her extended family who live with her. As she says, if you're doing well in Malawi then you have to look after members of your family who aren't doing as well as you are.

Tokafe is super cute and very shy. For the first month or so, she would hide every time that she saw me. I couldn't quite figure out how to make friends with her until I bought her a teddy bear (a puppy) at the market. Now we're good friends and she loves to wave at me whenever she sees me.

The picture is of Tokafe taking a bath. She's not too fond of baths at all... but she has a better reason than most. That's cold water in the bucket.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the pictures.