April: a month of clay hands, maize corn, bibles and birthday balloons

Hi! Hi! (a very Malawian greeting)

We are now into our second ‘quarter’ with AGREDS (Assemblies of God Relief and Development Services) and we are really excited about what’s to come during April, May and June. Here's an update of what we've been doing during April....

9^th – 11^th April: Quarterly meeting
During these 3 days we met up with the AGREDS board and other office members across Malawi in order to debrief last quarters projects: what’s been learnt, what’s been challenging, progress made etc, and then looking towards the future: what is the work plan?
The previous orientation we attended was on our 2^nd day in Malawi and I’ve got to say, we didn’t really understand what was going on.. at all! However, this orientation was very useful and interesting as we have a much better understanding of AGREDS’ projects and vision, and we were able to contribute with feedback, questions and suggestions.

Here’s an overview of some of the projects we’re going to be involved in:
•Follow up on… fuel efficient stoves, trees planted, adult literacy, eco-sanitation toilets & water points (this can involve practical assistance too such as building fences at water points, weeding, distribution of work books etc)
•Harvesting (which will also include building fire breaks for mulch protection and making manure(!!!))
•Office work e.g composing a brochure and document for prospective donors, writing short reports on field visits, updating the AGREDS website
•Climate change clubs – running sessions at 10 schools when they reopen in May after harvesting

14^th – 23^rd April:  Fuel Efficient Stove Training
In three rural villages  (Phaka, Mlenga and Chindungwa) there has been a four day training on the construction of fuel efficient stoves. It’s been so interesting to attend these days and see how these stoves are made. Two professional trainers per village demonstrated the process and the the committee members were very quick in learning and were able to get on it with making their own stoves.
In Phaka village, the aim is that every household will have a stove and when that is done they will be able to build more stoves to sell for money. Up to now, the villagers in Phaka have made over 50 stoves and committee members have taken ownership of the project by teaching other village members how to make the stoves.

Phaka's committee leader showing us how it's done!

Building these stoves means an increase in safety whilst cooking and also means cutting less trees down for burning. This in its turn have a very positive impact on the village as cutting down trees has caused disasters of flooding.

Birthdays
Big birthday rampage with Lois turning 22 on the 13^th April, Nia turned 19 on the 23^rd and Ben will celebrate his 20^th on May 5^th! Both girls celebrated their birthday morning with presents and a pancake breakfast! Lois was deafened by the blows of birthday horns and Nia was barricaded by birthday banners and balloons across her bedroom door!

I don't know about yoooooou, but I'm feeling TWENTYYY TWOOOOOOO

With Malawian tunes blaring (check out Skeffa Chimoto on youtube!) we travelled to Sunbird Hotel at Senga Bay for a day by the lake for Lois’ birthday where we had an incredible three course meal and swam in the pool (with a satisfied  ‘food baby’). We celebrated Nia’s birthday on bank holiday Monday 21^st because her birthday was mid-week, and so spent the day climbing rocks and chilling out by the lake. On the 23^rd Nia spent the whole day at Chindungwa village making fuel efficient stoves with Lois.

The start of Nia's 20th year with her hands caked in clay

The day was a lot of fun working alongside villagers and getting stuck in with clay caked hands! Afternoon tea and cake on both birthdays was a lovely bit of British tradition and a girly film to end the evening (Mean Girls- Lois, Bridget Jones’ Diary- Nia) was a must!

22^nd – 23^rd April: Harvesting
It’s harvesting time in Malawi now and as part of the Food Security project we have been assisting the elderly with harvesting. Huge stacks of maize crops are seen scattered around fields all across Salima and the process of harvesting involves removing the maize cob from the rest of the plant.

This widowed lady is 93 years old and by using the Farming the Gods Way methods
taught by AGREDS, she is able to continue farming, even in her old age

These huge piles of maize take ages to work through

The remains of the maize plant will be used for mulching and the individual corns on the maize cob will be handpicked into a bowl and grinded to separate the corn from their shells. After separating the corn from their shells they will be taken to a mill so that it can be ground further into maize flour for nsima (their main staple food).

Lois giving grinding a try - YOU GO GIRL!
It will take two hours to grind this corn to separate it from it's shell- it's possible to do this at the mill
but many villagers cannot afford to pay for this and so have to do it by hand

Helping out with the harvesting made us realise how demanding the work load is and it shocked us that these elderly ladies work for hours in the heat of the day. The villagers were so hospitable and grateful that AGREDS have been aiding them by providing fertilizer and they expressed how their harvest has been much more plentiful this year in comparison to last year which means that they will have enough food for the rest of the year. The villagers were so hospitable and gave us incredible tasting food like roasted ground nuts and roasted pumpkins mmmmmm!
A little exciting addition to this is three of the village children received a Samaritans Purse box that day too! Seeing the children open their boxes was lovely and made us appreciate how much we have at home and that making something as simple as an Operation Christmas Child box is a blessing and source of joy to children in third world countries such as Malawi.

The excited children showing us what they received in their boxes

Gideons Bibles
We have been very blessed to have been able to link up with Gideons and have received hundreds of Chichewa and English bibles for distribution. So far we have distributed to staff workers at our lodge and at 3 rural villages. At Village Plaza Lodge (where we’re staying) we hosted a 20 minute outdoor meeting with around 12 members of staff, shared the gospel message, explained how to use the bibles, led a prayer of salvation and we had the opportunity to pray with individuals too. It was a really blessed time and it’s really exciting for us to be building a stronger relationship with the staff here too.
On Friday 25^th April, we visited three villages where we did a similar introduction to the gospel message and read John 3:16 (classic!) and Romans 10:9. The members present were then asked to read a verse from 1 John 4 and were given a bible. Those who were illiterate complained that they wanted a bible too because their literate children could read it to them. It was great to see that these people has such a desire to own a bible and that they wanted to read it with their families. On that day 80 Chichewa bibles were distributed and we pray that these villagers will know the love of God through reading their bibles.

Village members started reading through their bibles as soon as they were given one 

Office work
When we’re not doing field work we’re busy with office work. Some of these office tasks include
•making two Food Security brochures: one in English for prospective donors and one in chichewa as a guide for farmers
•making a short ‘transformation story’ video on how fuel efficient stoves has changed the life of one villager called Alice
•finding solutions to the issue of termites destroying crops by researching biological prevention
•composing teaching packs for climate change club classes
•collecting data and putting them into dash boards
•finding out whether we can introduce ‘Health and Sanitation Clubs’ to Salima. We have ideas to introduce malaria prevention programmes and female hygiene to AGREDS’ project list. These could possibly include educating people on malaria, how to prevent it, distribution of nets etc, and we hope that AGREDS will be able to educate women on how to make their own sanitary towels. These projects are unlikely to be launched before we leave but we believe that they are very relevant projects and we’re really excited about the prospect of them starting up.

Some prayer points
•thank God that we've been able to distribute so many bibles already and pray that we’ll have many more opportunities
•thank God for the increase in people’s harvest and that AGREDS have done such a great job in distributing fertilizer and teaching villagers new methods of farming
•pray that we will be useful in our office work and that there will be progress in starting up the Health and Sanitation Clubs

We're all buzzing about all the stuff that's going on here and the things yet to come. We have some exciting blog posts coming up with what we call 'transformation stories' and we will keep you posted with everything that we get up to. 

Sending much love from the very hot Malawi,

David, Lois, Ben, Nia, Laurie and Jonny

(The six ‘sweatzungus’)

Azungus complete reports, take a break and are near to hitting the halfway point

Report writing = FINISHED!
Our final week of report writing was slightly hectic with many field visits, interviews, picture taking, formatting and proof reading. However, by 5pm Friday afternoon we all handed in our final draughts and were able to dance with sheer joy/sigh with exhaustion and relief.

HOLIDAYYYYY
The wonderful AGREDS staff agreed to give us a week’s holiday and so from Sat 29^th March – Sat 3^rd April the six of us have been chillaxing and relaxing by lake Malawi at two beautiful locations: Monkey Bay and Cape Maclear.

Staying at a rustic backpackers lodge in Monkey Bay was a very African experience including a few creepy crawlies, nightly bonfire on the beach and incredible stars. The little private bay was surrounded by huge bouldery rocks which brought out the Bear Grylls within and we spent hours exploring the rocks and soaking in the incredible 360 view.We could see the presidential house which was pretty impressive and swimming in the lake was an experience especially with the extensive jokes about bilharzia, hippos and crocs chilling in the reeds.

Monkey Bay providing endless rock climbing entertainment

Cape Maclear was much more touristy than the village of Monkey Bay, although Cape Maclear itself was a much smaller village. Our lodge, Thumbi View, had a brilliant location overlooking Thumbi Island and the South African owners were so lovely and made us an incredible chicken pie for dinner. Our craving for a bit of Western life was satisfied with good coffee, an African craft shop and Snickers bars!

On Tuesday 1^st we hired 3 two-man kayaks and rowed out to Thumbi Island, explored there and swam around the bay in our life jackets. On exploring, there was a little trouble with Lois and David’s kayak capsizing.. three times.

But there was no harm done and we had a really good morning.

David rocking the straw hat and life jacket combo

Wednesday we climbed about ‘The Warm Heart of Africa’ with Captain Simon and sailed over to Otters Point for some snorkelling.

Honey moon worthy or what??!

The location was that in a honey moon brochure and the fish were so colourful! We fed them bread out of our hands and later explored the edges of the rocks for a few hours.

Laurie the ultra cutie befriending the fish

Following this, Captain Si took us to see ‘fish eagles’. He whistled very loudly and the big eagle flew over into a nearby tree. He continued to whistle for his attention and threw a fish into the water a few meters infront of our boat. After a few moments consideration, the huge bird swooped down from the tree and gracefully glided down to claw the fish from the surface. The eagle returned to his tree and Captain Si would start whistling again and throw another fish into the water. Several times, the eagle swooped down for the fish: a second fish eagle joined in too, and every time was just as enchanting as the first: absolutely incredible creatures!

Being a bit of a poser

Reflection
The week has been a really good time of team bonding, out of the ordinary events (such as Lois getting stung by a scorpion!), top banter (the ‘bees knees’ is now the ‘Bens calves’) and plenty of relaxation which was greatly appreciated by all of us. This time has given us a lot of space to reflect on our past two months in Malawi: what we’ve learnt from our report writing and what we’ve learnt from the people we’ve met.

As a team exercise we’ve written down examples of some of the things that have stood out to us about the Malawian people, the way that they live and how they have been towards us…

ŸHumble
When meeting people and shaking their hand, they often place their left hand on their right elbow and bow down slightly as a sign of great respect
AGREDS staff never expect any kind of gratitude for their work

ŸPatient
Children are very disciplined and are content with sitting patiently and not expecting to be entertained

Students at the Climate Change Club listen attentively and join in the group activities (even when we're slightly unsure of what to do during the session!) 

Villagers never seem to be bored: they never groan or moan even when they’re sat on mats on the floor waiting for ages for a village meeting to start

ŸGenerous
On visiting villages we've often been thanked with roast maize to eat and  they even throw a few more maize into the car boot for us to take back with us to the office
Before and after eating and after using the bathroom the villagers wash our hands with water that they've fetched from the pump

ŸHospitable
We are treated like honoured guests when visiting a village: we’re given seats when all the community are sat on mats on the floor- it feels uncomfortable to accept this but this is way of showing hospitality and respect
Introductions are important here as they are very interested in who you are. They put emphasis on relationship before task
At Mchoka Lea Primary School, one of the teachers invited Lois and Jonny into her home whilst they were waiting for a lift back to the office. The teacher offered them fruit and cooked vegetables and was very happy to make the two of them comfortable in her home

ŸJoyful
When giving us maize, the villagers give willingly and joyfully with singing, cheering and dancing: it’s not a sacrifice, it’s a privilege to them
Each tree that was planted was celebrated with singing and dancing as they saw the hope these trees brought in tackling the effects of climate change
At AGREDS’ Food Security open day, the villagers wrote and performed a song thanking AGREDS for their hard work and intervention in the village

Villagers at the AGREDS open day expressing their gratitude for AGREDS' work

ŸUnited
Village communities are united in their support for their chiefs and have great respect for their leaders
The AGREDS staff support each other with work and personal life
Mothers look after each other’s children and older siblings carry their younger siblings on their backs
At an elderly persons funeral, the whole village will stop their daily activities to gather together to mourn and give thanks for that person’s life

ŸDetermined
Whilst visiting VSL (Village Savings & Loans) the members told us of their ambitious plans for the future
Members of the Adult Literacy group who had never been to school as a child due to fees, expressed how they will be literate by the end of the course and will be able to expand their business and teach their children how to read and write

The passionate ladies at adult literacy enjoying their outdoor lesson

Children at Climate Change Clubs plan on educating other students through drama productions and song
When trees are washed away by heavy rains and floods, community members gather together to plant more trees in order to battle the effects of climate change.

The people that we've been meeting have been teaching us so much and we’ve all been so blessed by their welcome, their acceptance and their enthusiasm for the work that AGREDS are doing. We are now going into the new quarter excited, expectant and ready to serve.

Had to end this with a SIIIIICK picture at Cape Maclear during sunset

 Will blog about our assignments for the next two months once we've been orientated. Until then, "stay blessed" / "remain blessed" (classic Malawian quote!)

Much love
The slightly more tanned azungus in Salima xxxxx

Toilets, birthday hats, road block giraffe & a bearded legend

Mwadsuka bwanji nonse! Hello everybody!

Sorry it’s been a while since the last blog post. I’ll TRY to condense stuff big time so that you’re not reading looooooads but there’s so much to say this’ll probably be our longest blogpost so far- I’ll make it worthwhile though! So here you go, here’s an overview of things that we’ve been doing this past two weeks…

Eco-Sanitation toilet 27/02/14 – Mtachuira
One of the two reports that Nia is writing about is about Eco-san toilet constructions in primary schools. Nia and Laurie did a 2km barefooted walk through a muddy maize field trail and waded through thigh-deep swampy pools of water to get to Mgando Primary School where four Eco-san toilets were mid construction.

Laurie soldiering through the swampy water

Brief intro to Eco-san: The units are built around 1m above ground level so that they don’t sink and collapse in the sandy ground, and waste can be stored underneath where it will decompose for 9 months and then be used as fertilizer by the farmers. The units will have a ramp and fitted support bars to make it accessible to disabled children, and each cubicle will have a concrete basin and plastic seat. The toilets are really beneficial in that human waste is stored in a safe, hygienic way and the villagers are learning to be self-sufficient as they have to supply the building materials.
It poured down with rain whilst we were there and so the 2km walk back was horrifically slippery- so many near death experiences! But, the day was really informative and interesting and it was so good to see how beneficial these toilets will be for Mgando School.

construction work in Mgando school

Jonny’s birthday – 01/03/14
Yay! Birthday boy Jonny’s turned 19! Balloons, banners, presents and a full english greeted him in the morning and then we all left for Senga Bay for a day at the pool and lake. We all had a lovely day chillaxing and relaxing and messing around in the pool with ball games. Fun, fun times J

party time at breakfast

Kuti Wildlife Reserve – 03/03/14
Bank holiday Monday in Malawi = day off at a Wildlife Reserve yaaaaay! The drive to Kuti was beautifully green if a little bumpy and being greeted by a huge, overly friendly ostrich was an experience and a half.

We hired three bikes between the 6 of us – the other 3 walked- we didn’t think two per bike was the safest of ideas, and were free to wonder around the reserve. Nobody else was around and we’d been warned against some of the routes as cars had previously had to be dug out of the mud! First moment of excitement was spotting 8 zebras bathing in a pool of water which was pretty cool. We continued on our journey and what greeted us by blocking our cycle path was nothing less than a 5m GIRAFFE! Aaaaa! So exciting!!

Giraffe road block!

After a top, top day walking the beautiful grounds, spotting animals such as gazelles and seeing David and the ostrich having a staring competition, we went to the sun set deck to, funnily enough, watch the sun set! The view from the wooden deck was incredible with huge, dark mountains in the background and a reedy lake reflecting the colourful, cloud patched sky. We couldn’t resist having a classic gap yah back shot from the balcony! With a cold fizzy drink and legs dangling over the edge, we all sat and watched as the sun got nearer and nearer to the tops of the mountain and the sky was a brilliant mixture of pink, deep purple and orange. We were all pretty blown away at Gods amazing creation- Fair play, He’s done a pretty good job!

Awareness Campaigns – 28/02/14 à
For three weeks, AGREDS have been running awareness campaigns on specific projects e.g Fuel Efficient Stoves and Water Quality Testing. Not all of us have attended these campaigns but from hearing what the others have said, it usually starts off with dancing, games, a comedy sketch and then a talk by an AGREDS staff and/or village chief. The performances draw a big audience and villagers are always very engaged in what’s going on. This seems to be a very good, fun way of promoting very relevant and important issues

Climate Change Clubs – 05/03/14 à
Last week we started going into primary schools to introduce ourselves, ask questions, play games and sing songs – they love head shoulders knees and toes, especially when we speed it up a lot- they’re in fits of laughter! From this week onwards we will all be involved in running sessions and teaching club members on climate change issues. AGREDS are keen for us to introduce different learning methods so this could involve sketches, art, writing poems etc so this is really exciting!

Laurie leading a hang man (changed to 'build a house') game

introductions to a crowd of around 500 students

David’s Grandparents –
grandma: 29/12/33 à 28/02/14, grandpa 10/08/30 à 11/03/14
These past two weeks have been very difficult for David as he has lost both his grandparents within the space of eleven days. AGREDS have been very sensitive to the situation and gave us a few days off work so that we as a team could spend quality time together and support David through this tough time. On one of our days off, this past Thursday, we went to Safari Beach Lodge, Senga Bay, and relaxed by the pool and lake. The location was beautiful and there were monkeys everywhere. We did have an incident where two or three big cheeky monkeys stole the bag of bananas we foolish left on our table whilst we were in the pool. Although this was incredibly amusing, we had to eat lunch with a collection of rocks on the table to throw at them as we were paranoid they’d steal our dins. David has been very strong and brave in his situation and is very grateful for the support he’s receives- please continue to lift him up in prayer, thank you.

Meeting Chris – 12/03/14
On Wednesday we were really blessed to have Chris Harding, a fellow mazungu from Southampton staying at Village Plaza Lodge. For the past 7 months, since August 2013, Chris has been fundraising for Kick 4 Life and cycling all the way from England to South Africa travelling east across Europe and crossing over to Egypt and travelling south through countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. We all went for a walk together and shared dinner outside and talked for hours and listening to his incredible stories. One story was when he had to spend his Christmas week in no mans land between the Ethiopian and Kenyan border as there had been an ambush with gunfire which meant it was too dangerous to continue his journey. He stayed with Kenyan police who were very hospitable and inspirational people and during that week they all ate a whole goat - brains, hooves, the lot! His story of growing in faith was incredible and he shared stories of how in desperate, near death situations he fell on his knees in prayer to God and his situation was somehow flipped over and he walked away unharmed knowing that God had protected him. This was so encouraging and we felt that it was very much God planned that we were able to meet Chris and bless him before he continued his journey to South Africa. You can follow Chris’ blog on: http://aridefortheirlives.blogspot.co.uk/ – his stories are incredible and well worth checking out (he’s also written some very lovely things about meeting the 6 of us!). We have much love for you Chris!

Us with the bearded legend

Lilongwe 01/03/14 à 02/03/14
Catching a mini bus from Salima to Lilongwe is an experience and a half! Patience in Malawi is vital, without it you’d be tearing your hair out. You get onto a mini bus and sit there sticky and hot waiting for an hour for it to fill up and leave. The mini bus gets filled up as much as possible- 5 people sat on a 3 person row and what’s even better than being sandwiched between strangers is having the bus filled with the delightful smell of fish! In order to try and fill the mini bus the driver drives the bus in a miniature circle whilst his friend dangles out of the door shouting “1,2 Lilongwe! 1,2! 1,2 Lilongwe!” We like to call this stage ‘strolling and paroling’ or ‘holler doller’. It is very, very pointless.
On Saturday we visited Lois’ family friend, May Machemba, who is a vicar in Likuni and he was very hospitable and we were well fed. Laurie had the head of a cooked chicken on her plate- beak and all included- she didn’t however fancy eating it!
Lilongwe is very different to Salima and nowhere as pretty, infact it’s a very ugly city with piles of rubbish everywhere and areas of very pungent, yucky smells. However, it’s very interesting and the buzz of the city makes it a really enjoyable experience. The streets have people sat on the edges with huge piles of clothes or plastic shoes or very offwhite underwear for sale and markets are full of fruit, vegetables and even cooked crickets!!
On Sunday we went to the craft market where we were swarmed by sellers enticing us to their stand: “Sister, sister! You come and see my paintings”, “It’s free to look, free to touch.” Surprisingly, haggling is quite enjoyable and although the sellers can be quite pushy, they’re polite and friendly, wanting to shake your hand and find out where you’re from. We were able to buy some really nice souvenirs and we’ll definitely be returning next month.

This week
This week we will be more involved in teaching at school climate change clubs and will be continuing with our report writing which need to be handed in for printing by the end of the month. The reports are going well so far and writing them has made us more appreciative of the work that AGREDS are doing and the impact it’s already made in local communities.

Thank you for your continuous support and love.

The Malawi famalam x

Going deep with thoughts and feelings

HELLO! 

It’s now just over 3 weeks since we first arrived in Malawi which is pretty crazy! Time flies! We feel well settled in, our Chichewa’s starting to improve and we have met so many wonderful people.

This week we’ve all been involved in visiting villages and supporting them in their afforestation project - we’ve planted a lot of trees! The villagers found it pretty funny that we were digging in the soil with our bare hands as they were and after trekking through the dense maize field our face, neck and arms had a nice grimey layer of grass and pollen on them! Poor Jonny’s been a bit of a victim this week as his skin flared up with a reaction to the maize pollen and he’s had to walk through deep mud puddles in his sandals! (the second one I found rather amusing!)

David being pro planter

Lois, Jonny, Nia & Ben cutting grass and weeding maize fields with farmers

As a team we’ve spent every evening doing “devotions” where we’ve been able to reflect on the day’s activity, share thought and feelings and look at the bible. In our devotion time the other night we discussed some questions as a team and so I thought I would share these with you..

What have been the most challenging things so far?
Adapting to Malawian time has been quite difficult as we’re so task focused in Britain and there’s such an emphasis on time. Here, it’s very normal to be picked up an hour after the planned time and they’re really casual about it.
Although we’ve had a lesson or two on Chichewa, trying to interact with the communities with limited vocabulary and understanding of the language is a bit of a problem.
Coming face to face with extreme poverty has been really tough, especially seeing children with swollen bellies in rags.

What are you enjoying and what have you learnt?
The Malawian thunder and lightning storms we’ve experienced are both awesome and terrifying, there was a huge, impressive thunderstorm and we were all like ‘woooah!’.
Life is lived almost entirely outdoors and communally here and we’ve felt so welcomed by the community members.
We’ve also learnt a lot about the genuine concern that Malawians have for the environment and we’re so encouraged by the way that they’ve taken ownership of these Climate Change projects and the joy and pride they feel. The farmers celebrate every tree that’s planted and it’s been such a blessing to be involved. The trees serve in a different way in the communities’ e.g protection from floods or strong winds, and to prevent soil erosion which destroys maize fields. Before coming here we didn’t realise how affected third world countries are by the effects of climate change and this has been quite hard hitting.
The villagers have made it clear that they’re really grateful for AGREDS work in their community. We’ve seen that people aren’t relying on relief and handouts- the work here is sustainable and brings a lot of hope to these communities.

Soil erosion has been a big issue since 2001 in the village of Magumbwa

What have you enjoyed about being with the team? Have there been any challenges you’ve come across?

We’re really blessed to be a team of a variety of people with different gifts and personalities but there has been a good sense of consensus on decisions. We’ve been able to be very honest and open with eachother and this has been a real blessing as we’ve been able to discuss things we’re struggling with and have been able to get to know eachother quickly. We’re always having banter with eachother but we are really big on DMCs too. (DMC = Deep Meaningful Chat, and Ben is a huge fan of these!) This has added a lot of depth to our relationships and we all love a good worship sesh and our nightly team bible devotiony time.

Our weekend off at Senga Bay

What are you looking forwards to most?
We’re looking forwards to being able to talk to people in Chichewa so we’re going to need to be super swotty and storm our vocab list! We’re also really excited to building our relationships with the local communities and the people we meet along the way. We’re hoping to make more school visits and hopefully local hospitals too.

Students tree planting at Linthipe Primary School

As a team, we thought it would be a good idea to come up with a vision statement (it was mainly Ben’s idea- the DMC man thinks deeply once again!). It’s taken us three weeks to come up with it but here it is:

Love Humbly
Bring Hope &
Be Changed
for God’s Glory

We all feel really blessed by your support and prayers so a big thank you from us all!

We’ve written up a short Team Prayer Request/Thanks list and we would really appreciate your support in prayer for these things:

●Health
●Learning to be patient and flexible with time
●Learning Chichewa and improving communication with the villagers so that we can build strong relationships with these people
●Thanks to God that he’s blessed our team relationship and that it will continue to be positive
●Thanks for AGREDS – the work that they’re doing and their hospitality

Transform Team meets John -AGREDS director, and Vincent -Malawi's Tearfund rep

 Sending you much love

Team Malawi x

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Things that make us very happy

●For the past two weeks Ben has been using the ladies toilets in the office! How inappropriate!!! Our driver Chimbewa had to discretely break it to him…
●Every time we see a white person we get very excited and if we ever speak with this other ‘azungu’, men on bikes swarm us like vultures in the hope that we need a ride somewhere.
●David has been receiving texts and phone calls from this lady called Vanessa who was at the HIV AIDS course with us – she copied down his number without him knowing (hilarious!). We told Pearson, our AGREDS contact (and brother from another mother) and he was like “eeey! HIGH FIVE!!”
●A monkey jumped onto our car roof and called his friends over to gather in the trees. They had their eye on our peanut butter sandwiches!
●Lovely day of relaxing and frizbee-pool-diving on Saturday at the gorgeous Senga Bay (although we did burn a bit.. David is looking particularly lobster like and we decided that Ben looks like a kidney bean)
●Pearson has latched onto our excessive use of “good shout” – he gave “big shout” a try but Lois was having none of it
●Pearon’s famous phrases:
“Are you sure?! “ (are you absolutely crazy???)
“Sure” (of course!)
“I think so” (=errm, yes!!)
“Maybe.. I don’t think so” (= a definite no)
●Fashion Pantafruit (Jonny’s alternative name for Fanta Passion fruit)
●Turning Ben into a massive hipster (scarf bandanas, multiple shades- the lot!)
●Team bonding - this can include deep chats, highly competitive card games or spraying ants with Doom spray as they try to get into the crisps packet at lunch time

Over and out

Team Malawi x

Getting involved with the projects

We’ve started getting more involved in our projects which is exciting for us so I’ll give a little debrief of what’s been going on these past few days:

Monday (Ben, David & Laurie) [written by Ben]

We went south of Salima, past some beautiful mountains and along a bumpy track, to a village which has been working with AGREDs since June 2012. After almost getting stuck in a muddy rut, we arrived at the village of Nyalira. The first thing we noticed was that the maize here was a lot taller than everywhere else, and densely packed. We were warmly greeted by the local farmers at their community meeting shack. About 40 farmers (a good mix of men and women) were at the club meeting, and they were very happy to answer our questions.

I asked them about the ‘Inputs Procurement’ project, which is where farmers are asked to contribute towards the costs of fertiliser and maize, and AGREDs help. Last year, most farmers contributed 20% of the cost of a bag of fertiliser and received 2 bags. This year most farmers paid for one bag of fertiliser and were given a second one. Carrying on this trend, farmers should soon not need any such assistance in the future.

Laurie, Ben, David and the farmers Nyalira

David asked the club about the ‘Goats Procurement’ project. The club owns three goats, but aims to have six more soon. One of the goats is pregnant and the first kid will be given to the family that looks after the goats and the rest will also be owned by the club. The manure from the club goats is given to the neediest in the village and the goats are not sold but kept so they can breed and grow in number.

Tuesday (Lois, Jonny & Nia)
The three of us went to a rural village called Chindungwa to speak with local farmers about three projects: Rehabilitation of Water Points (Jonny),  Water Safety Plan (Lois) and Tree Nursery Establishment (Nia). The surroundings were very different to that in Salima town, with houses made of mud bricks and straw roofs, and maize fields were either side of the dirt track (the car wasn’t enjoying the bumpy, pot holed route). We individually asked the community committee questions about the projects that AGREDS have started up in the village: the aim of the project, the benefits, techniques, training provided etc.

In the Tree Nursery Establishment project, AGREDS have trained community members on sowing seeds and how to maintain them and this has meant that they’ve been able to sow 9,000 seeds. The feedback was so positive and the community said that they were very grateful for the training they received from AGREDS.

The village, with AGREDS’ guidance, have set up a Water Point Committee that’s responsible for fixing and maintaining their water point. The village has also set up a maintenance fund so that they can all purchase equipment to fix the water pump if it ever breaks. This has improved self-sufficiency within the community.

Rehabilitation of Water Pumps

Lois thinks that it’s amazing how AGREDS has empowered the village committee to take on the responsibility of maintaining the safety of their water supply through providing training and support.

The community members were really welcoming and as we were leaving the ladies followed us to the car and started singing, dancing and clapping- so cool! (although we hope it wasn’t because they couldn’t wait to get rid of us and they were celebrating our departure!!)

Spot the azungus!

Wednesday (Lois, Laurie, Nia & David)
We all attended a HIV Youth Leaders Training Course in the capital, Lilongwe. Around 20 youth leaders were on a 3 day course learning about what the virus is, its symptoms, prevention etc, and it was really interesting. We were super swotty with our notebooks and I’m sure I wrote about 6 pages of notes!

Outside the HIV training course venue in Lilongwe

Office Work
Being out of school/uni for a few months I don’t think any of us feel prepared for report writing but this is a part of what we’ll be doing during our 5 months. However, after a good debriefing on projects and visiting the villages we’ll be working with, report writing doesn’t sound too bad at all! These reports will then hopefully get published so that AGREDS can receive funding for these projects to continue running. Pressure is on ey!? Jokes, it’s good to know that we’re doing something that’s really useful and valued to AGREDS.

A hard days work at the office!

GamesOften when we get back to our lodge from our days’ work we have a group of children waiting outside the gate waving at us and these past few afternoons, we’ve taken a football or frizbee over and played games with them. The small original group of about 7 children has now morphed into about 40 children and women, and our most recent game of netball was really enthusiastic and exhausting and Ben threw the ball smack into Lois’ face and her lip went all puffy- Ben sure knows how to improve their team leader’s relationship!

Just a nice little picture of the boys in their Sunday best

The highlights of this weekThere are some excellent sign posts that we've spotted around Salima town. Here are some of our favourites...

‘God is with us motors’
‘The only place in Africa you can have delicious food’
‘God is gracious fashion wear’
‘Let God be God shop’

It’s become a bit of a team hobby to be on the lookout for brilliant cheesy God related signs and shop names!

Another funny thing this week is Lois and Laurie have been locked in their room because their door knobs faulty! I’ve had a few texts and yells from them asking me to set them free. However, this one time all six of us were locked in the room together with no one to let us out!! It was a bit of a ‘aaaaa this is really funny but what are we gonna do???’ kind of moment. Thankfully, Ben has the landlady’s number so he texted her to come and save us from our distress. Huzzah!

Much love, Team Malawi xxx

We're here!!

Aaaa we’re actually here!! MENTAL! We’re on day 5 but it’s only just starting to sink in that this is home for the next 5 months!

How was the journey?
Travelling from Heathrow to Lilongwe was a success although we did have a few minor problems, for example, one of David’s suit cases went missing! However, Laurie was very kind in giving David a spare toothbrush so all previous grievances were forgotten. On Tuesday he was able to retrieve it from the airport which is good news: Malawi-missing-suitcase-challenge complete!

What is Malawi like?
As we were nearing Lilongwe we were all surprised at how lush Malawi is. The land is full of greenery, with brown veins of dried up rivers and small tinned or straw roofed houses.

For the next 5 months we are based in Salima which is just by the edge of Lake Malawi. The drive from Lilongwe to Salima took about an hour and a half and it was a real eye opener. Beautifully dressed women in colourful wrap skirts were carrying allsorts on their heads: baskets, a pile of logs, a suitcase! Men in short sleeved shirts, rolled up trousers and sandals rode one gear bikes on the road (there aren’t pavements), often carrying a second person on the back (or third if a little baby was tied to its mothers back!). We were riding in a crammed, narrow minibus and the driver would honk to let the bikers know that he was about to overtake. I don’t think I would’ve passed my driving test if I overtook cyclists so closely and quickly. It’s actually very nice to escape the health and safety craze of Britain. Also, there are often herds of cattle and small goats at the edge of the road, sometimes very young children herding, and the one lorry that drove past us had two men sitting on the roof of it!

Salima, our new home

 How about accommodation?

The lodge where we’re staying at is really pleasant: we have air con in our rooms, a shower and a toilet (with multi coloured speckled loo roll!) and despite having a few power cuts we all feel grateful to have good accommodation. A few of us have had a few *cough* interesting experiences, for example I (Nia) hate spiders, and this beast of a spider with super long legs was hiding by my suitcase, and after a frightened squeal I was going to get one of the boys to heroically save me, but I decided to be an independent pro-Africa survivor and so I grabbed by converse and managed to fling it and it landed perfectly on top of the spider and (sorry animal lovers) squished it! Since then I have attacked another spider with my flip flop and wellies. Malawi-spider-challenge complete! Ben also woke up on Tuesday morning to about 100 ants by his bed climbing his mosquito net whilst devouring a moth. Nice.

What’s going to be happening for the next five months?
Monday and Tuesday we met all the charity, AGREDS, staff and had a two-day introduction to the work that we’ll be doing over the next coming months. I’ll give you a brief overview:
● Improved Food Security and Livelihood (e.g building fuel efficient stoves)
● HIV AIDS Prevention (e.g training youth leaders)
● Water and Climate Justice Project (e.g running climate change in 10 primary/secondary schools and Eco-san toilet construction)

We’re all buzzing about these projects and as individuals we already see which areas of the projects we feel we could contribute to most. We are currently discussing who would like to take up different tasks so that we can write reports as the projects go along in order to publicise the work that AGREDS do and to monitor the difference their work has made in local communities.

Us with the AGREDS team during orientation meeting

Cool fact:- At the back of the AGREDS office there is a Joke Shed!! This is where they go out, hang out and have a laugh- we're well impressed! 

What’s the weather like?
It is hot and humid here! At the end of each day we can’t wait to shower and whack on a pair of flippy floppies. However, yesterday disaster struck- no running water! Plus, it was extra humid yesterday and we were pretty devoed that we couldn’t wash off our layers upon layers of sticky sweat, suncream, DEET and grime- yum.

Lois and Nia experiencing their first ever bucket shower

It can also POUR down with rain too. This morning I woke up at 6am to the loudest thunderstorm I’ve ever heard, the ‘bang’ bit sounded like a hippo belly-flopping on my roof!!

How’s team bonding going?
Team bonding’s been really good so far and we’re loving a bit of banter and competitive card games. Last night we had a good team devotion sesh where we wrote every team members name on separate sticky pads and wrote one positive quality that was outstanding for that person. This was a really good exercise and it was a bit ‘gnawwwwh’ moment when we received the paper with our name on it and read what the team had written. We’re all pretty impressed that Malawian banter is really similar to British banter: loving that bit of cheekiness and sarcasm! We’re all pretty obsessed with calling this trip our Gapyah and we keep having deep conversations about politics, theology and other super nerdy subjects. Good hipsta-geek combo right there. We’ve also started learning Chichewa too which is a pretty cool language!

Lois, Laurie and Nia, Lake Malawi, Senga Bay

What are the team’s thoughts at the moment?
Our favourite thing so far/our moment of joy:
“Meeting new people”, “Nsima & Goat meal”, “Banter on the bus”, “Hanging out with AGREDS team”, “Slipping on a pair of flippy floppies after a day of intense perspiration”.

Things we are most excited about:
“Experiencing a new culture”, “Getting involved in schools”, “Going on safari”, “Becoming more intimate with God” and “Interacting with locals”.

Our expectations for this trip:
“Many challenges, like being so close to poverty, but also many blessings, serving people and seeing hope in local communities”, “ Building up a close relationship with the AGREDS staff”, “Becoming familiar with the culture of Malawi and after time, feeling a part of it”, “Being able to go into town and buying produce from the market using the language, Chichewa”.

Although the contrast with British life is hard hitting and a bit surreal, we’re all really excited about the time that we have ahead of us. We can wait to get stuck in with these projects, settling into the community, more ‘quality team bonding’ time and growing closer to God.

Sending much love to you all at home,

Team Malawi

The ‘Azungu’s (white people)

xxx