We’ve been trying to upload some of our photos and videos but unfortunately the internet here just isn’t up to it.

06/06/08
Another day and another step in the right direction. Not yet used to the early starts so slept through our alarm! Val and Deirdre dragged themselves out of bed and were at the Temwanani centre for 8. This gave us a chance to understand the daily routine at the child day care centre and get a better idea of the lessons thought there. The children’s rhymes and games made us laugh: "Brush your teeth, whoo whoo" and "Brush you hair, oooh la la" along with hilarious actions of course. The teacher in nursery 2 was teaching the older kids basic shapes: circle, square, rectangle, and triangle. We are planning on painting the days of the week, seasons, numbers, alphabet and shapes on the walls to brighten up the rooms! Jack, James and Jamie are arriving tomorrow night so we've three more hungry mouths to feed. Val and Deirdre went to town with Lucia (a girl from the Ungweru youth club) to do some more shopping. They arrived home exhausted and laden down with kidney beans, peas, potatoes, pineapple, tea leaves, rice and more.

07/06/08
We experienced our first African wedding this morning. It was very different from Ireland!! The bridesmaids and grooms men dance towards each other in the aisles. The singing was fantastic and there was lots of yodeling (a kind of African war cry)! Tonight James, Jamie and Jack arrived safely and we'd a good night catching up. The lads came bearing gifts including a bottle of whiskey for John which he was more than happy to accept!

08/06/08
Sunday morning found us in mass bright and early! Again there was lots of singing and dancing which we are beginning to get used to now. The girls even joined in with the dancing (rather badly however)! Afterwards John introduced us to the congregation and explained the work we'll be doing. The rest of the day involved visiting the market where we were mistaken for John’s kids, all 7 of us!! Later on that evening, the Ungweru youth group threw a welcome party for us and it was the perfect opportunity to get to know people our own age. Despite such different cultures, the night was a complete success. The girls cooked a Malawian meal and then performed a fashion show with traditional dress. There was comedy and drama to keep us entertained. The night ended with a disco...as we built bridges between the two cultures, Rosanne quickly broke them down in a dance off with Brave (youth group director)! Our Irish dancing stole the show but they really put us Irish to shame with the dancing and singing!

09/06/08
Cormac and Rosanne visited three local secondary schools with John Paul, the new director of Ungweru. The principles were happy to help out and the schools seemed similar to back home. One big difference we noted is the pictures of the president of Malawi (Bingu) on the walls of all offices. Not sure if that would catch on back home... St.Augustines drama group, starring Martin, put on a play for us and a group of locals after lunch. It was a comedy on the subject of AIDS and how it affects the community. Cormac and James went on a trip to town with Brave. We visited the Mzuzu museum which displayed tribal artifacts from throughout Malawi's history. Afterwards we sat in on a meeting Brave had with Karl, a representative of Solar Aid from Belgium. He is doing some great work training youths in the area to design, build and market solar panels to power lights and radios. On the way home we called to the pub (a shed) and sampled some Chibuku. It can only be described as a flat, porridge type beer. We'll be sticking to the more conventional Kuche Kuche beer from now on!

10/06/08
Cormac and Jack played basketball with some of the locals....turns out white men can jump!! Val and Deirdre had a meeting with the committee of the community involved with Temwanani orphanage. One of the aims was to develop a suitable system in which decisions are made between the teachers, committee and Ungweru. We also used this meeting as an opportunity to suggest more practical use of the building (i.e resource room as third classroom). Overall it was a success and only took three hours!! We were told that this is oretty good by the standards here!!

11/06/08
Seems we've brought the Irish weather with us, it's been miserable the last two days!! Reports are that it's splitting the stones at home too, typical! Val and Deirdre visited Temwanani again in the morning, the hiking boots came out in the rain! Jack, James and Jamie had a meeting in Mzuni (Mzuzu University!) with two guys who were previously involved in the Ungweru computer centre, to take some direction on the work they're going to do in the computer centre. Some local kids called, they were up a tree outside the house shouting “muzungu” (white man). Cormac was allowed out to play football with them for a while. We sampled some wine form a box, a first! Val and Deirdre got the go ahead for ordering the paint so its full steam ahead for painting the Temwanani centre this weekend.