Weaving with magic and through loam

Some days are good and some days are ………….. even betterer ! There you go you weren’t expecting that were you but its true  Despite what is thrown at you and Im not talking  literally although on occasions that does happen, there is always the bright side by thinking it just has to get better ! !

Two things happened recently that are poles apart but just struck me as amazing events.  Although one of them at the time didn’t seem amazing !

Apologies if Ive mentioned it before but its the Rainy season –

“Mention it before ??? You never flippin’ stop talking about it !!!!” I hear you say.

But honestly it is a really important part of life and the calendar out here. It is as they say “No Rain; No Life” Well despite it being the rainy season, it is still very sunny and hot on many days. Very few days are overcast all day. But as Ive said before when it rains, it rains ! You already know that I have two modes of transport, well three really if you count walking, but that aside, I ride a Trials motorbike as well as driving a car. Most people say now that the rainy season has come just use the car! It’s what it’s for ! Those of you who know me well enough –  ………”It’ll be fine”  ………..”No problem” ……….”If its sunny in the morning it’ll be fine” If it’s raining I’ll use the car.”

I never thought Id say this but actually I prefer riding the motorbike.  The scenery somehow is enhanced, the tracks, bumps, ridges, boulders are certainly easier to negotiate and there is something really pleasing at riding through the amazing African countryside, waving at the locals while they smile back at you or even just stare in absolute wonderment as this crazy guy goes through their village

 

 

“Didnt he come through here yesterday?”  “I think he did!”  “I wonder where he’s going ?”    ” I dont know but it’s a dead end so he’ll be back soon !” ( roughly translated from the Chichewa )  – anyway I like it !

 

 

So on this lovely sunny morning i flung open my bedroom windows and the sun is blazing down, not a cloud in the sky I could almost hear them singing “Who will buy this wonderful morning? ………etc” So I gather my jacket, helmet and gloves. Pack my little ‘over the shoulder bag’ with my laptop, camera, phone and ipads and off I set. I tend to always take my laptop with me wherever I go as its the one thing that if I lost it, I would literally cry ! So I always think best to take it with me and then I’ll not lose it ………………. except for the time when I left my ‘over the shoulder bag’ with all its belongings at the place where I eat, and only realised 2 hours later when I got home – but thats another story ! Opened the gate, kick started the bike and away i went  “… on this wonderful morning, and tying it up in a ribbon, knives grinding, selling milk…… the whole song ! ” … singing away to myself ! ” I was off to visit not exactly my furthest school away from where I live, but its about 50 km on the tarmac and another 35 km on the dirt-track. And there is some absolutely stunning scenery and everything looks so rich and fertile. The Maize is growing much taller, and the tobacco leaves are enormous, potatoes, beans and many I just don’t know the names of. Although there is quite a worry at the moment in Malawi that there just hasn’t been enough rain and it looks like it will be a bad year, which literally will mean a very tough time ahead for many Malawians, so fingers crossed the rains return ………. but not today thanks. 😉

I arrive at the school just as the Learners were entering the Learning Centre ( which is what we call the room where they use the iPads)  Their first job is to wash their hands. The bucket is filled of course from the local water pump.  Note one of the classrooms in the background. When they have washed their hands they enter the resource room generally taking any footwear off – if they have any on – place their plastic bags which contain their small exercise books just inside the entrance. They collect their headphones and sit down on the mats waiting extremely patiently for the teacher to give the next set of instructions.

And this is the point that it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, or how many children/learners are in your class, or even how old the learners are, a great teacher is a great teacher.  And it’s always a really pleasure to see someone who works their craft to great advantage. With very little instruction and a gentle voice he tells the learners to pass the iPads to their partners  and get ready to work on the iPads. Like anyone who is skilled within their area of expertise, it looks so easy, and very soon within a space of a few seconds, all the learners are intent on focussing on their own ipad. The logon for each of them is via selecting a photo of their face.  This isn’t always as easy as it would appear, as many of them don’t see their image very often, no mirrors or cameras.  I then of course try to assist by saying in a typically English slow way  “Is …. that ….. you ?” which only confuses them even more –

“Not only am I working on something which is not part of my normal life or schooling but this very strange person comes up to me speaking a language which I really dont understand and he’s pointing to a picture and then to my face – well what would you do ????

They just look at me in total bewilderment!   At the start it’s often their partner who says – ” Yes that’s him/her !” but they do slowly begin to recognise themselves the more they do it.

And there they sit in absolute silence working their way through their individualised App, while the teacher walks amongst them checking that they can all understand what they are doing. I just sit and watch and like watching a football match want to jump up and shout ……. “Thats brilliant !” ….. “Thats exactly what all teachers should be doing” …….  “Great support !” ……”Go on do it again ! …….. But I don’t!  …….I just sit there in awe,  watching a true artist practicing their craft and in the words of a good friend of mine “watching him weave his magic !”

 

The magic spell suddenly broken by the sound that I’ve come to recognise instantly of very heavy rain on a tin roof ! …………. ……. bike !   It’ll pass ! ……..It doesnt ! ………For the rest of the lesson I’m observing but not watching, all I’m doing is listening to the pitter patter or should i say drumming on the roof of what can only be described as extremely heavy rainfall !

At the end of the lesson, it’s time for me to make the trek home. Remembering my last experience of soaked mobile phones I ask the teacher if she has a plastic bag that I can put my mobile in to keep it dry – she hasnt but she ‘borrows’ one of one of the learners plastic bags and promises to pay them back ! I wrap my mobile carefully into my bag and then realise in my haste to get out this morning forgot to put my heavy jeans on which is recommended when travelling on a bike ! I had my light trousers on !

“I’ll be fine!” It’ll be ok !” My mobiles in a plastic bag what could possibly go wrong ?”

 

So off i set on my bike in what can only be described as one of the heaviest downpours known this Rainy season ! As I was riding along I was thinking of all the most difficult parts of the ride, the worse rocks part,the very steep hill going uphill, the very steep hill going downhill, the extremely muddy part,  so much so that I wasnt even thinking of getting wet.  I was mentally ticking off in my head each one of the tricky parts like playing a game (Photo not taken during the rain – Im not stupid !) ……..but this was the route I was riding

 

 

I was so pleased with my self for manoeuvring my way past all the obstacles.  Most of the track is loam soil which is composed mostly of sand , silt , and a smaller amount of clay, (I looked that up !) which when dry is great…………… but when mixed with water and the wheels of a motorbike become like a skating rink as the tyres try and get a grip.  So Im managing to counter manoeuvre every slide and slip, not only avoiding rocks but also extremely high density loam parts. My back wheel doing amazingly well as I zig zag my way along the track.  My mind starts to say you’ve done all the difficult bits only a few kilometres to the tarmac. ……………….. and then i sort of hit the highest density of loam that I had ever seen. I can only describe it as if it was in slow motion! It must have been over inseconds but it seemed like minutes ……..Literally with every slide of the back wheel I thought to myself Ive got this, and it slid to the right ……..I’ve got this,,, to the left……I have Ive managed it   left …. right …….bang ! and i hadnt got it.   Looking back now I have no idea why I just didnt ease off the throttle and come to a halt, but I didn’t Im pretty sure I was still pushing the throttle and like an ice skater going from side to side, increasing in speed.   The ground very quickly came up to meet me.  …….. And there I was lying on the ground, absolutely caked in a light brown soil all over me, my jacket, my shirt , my bag, my helmet, my bike, my light trousers even ! I landed on my bag …….. First thought of course wasnt have I broken any bones but ……. LAPTOP !.   But its pouring with rain so i just got up and trusted all was well with both body and technology !!! not necessarily in that order !

I managed to get my bike up again and started, which is always a main dread that it wont start. I got back on feeling a few bumps and bruises, which I wont go into but it still aches now !! I was due to go to another school but as I looked like the Incredible Hulk ( although he was green wasnt he ? but you get the idea!) caked in a muddy brown soil I decided to go straight back home.  As I rode home, of course to everyone I passed it was obvious I had come off due to the state of my clothing.  Normally you get a lot of stares as you go past anyone and on this occasion these were intensified and generally came with muffled laughter !

No bones broken ( I hope) and despite coming off I will always remember those few split secondsI of absolute fear and the sensation of ‘I can do this, I can,,,,,,, I can,,,,,, I can – oops’ which seemed to last for ages !!!!

I have now said that I wont use my bike again until the Rainy season is over – definitely not ……..I’m not going to ride it ….. although as a fellow Volunteer said to me –     “Yeah Yeah well not until the next time at least !

It’s just weather forecasts aren’t what they used to be ! …… but I guess the next time i hear “Who will buy this wonderful morning? ………. ” .. keep it …..

…….I’ll take the car !

 

and obviously Laptop was fine otherwise you wouldnt be reading this !

Well it is the Rainy Season !

Where do I start – since the last lot of jumbled thoughts and generally random events were reported we’ve had Christmas, New Year and now January is almost over.  Well many of you will know that I whimped out spending the holiday here and went back home to see family and friends. As I suspected I didn’t do a quarter of what I wanted to do or see everyone that i really wanted to see but as it says on a book that someone very kindly gave me – and those who know me well know that I like my sayings –

 

S o it was absolutely fantastic to see my brilliant family and a number of great friends. Ill catch the rest of you when I return – that is if you’ve remembered who I am !  Thanks to everyone for giving me a brilliant break. Loved every minute of it – except for the weather that is I mean who’d have thought you’d have rain and snow in December and January – huh ! But now its back to Sun, rain and temperatures that average 34 degrees Im not complaining – well I am really but more about that later haha and sitting in my little Garrett   (or was that the name of Billy The Kid or the Sheriff that caught him? ) its late at night but its still flipping hot – can’t open the windows otherwise be surrounded by even more mosquitoes Still can’t complain – well i am really ……. oops already said that !

So back to Malawi, and Mangochi in particular. Evening flight from Heathrow to Nairobi, change at Nairobi – and please remember this as its relevant later on ! ……Catch a flight from Nairobi, and land at Nampula airfield in Mozambique – not scheduled but hey I’m not comp …………. ……….Land in Lilongwe Airport in Malawi mid afternoon.  Get off the plane to the heat etc along with all the other passengers.  Feel really pleased with myself as I can now walk through the Malawi residents gate – well when I say gate its more like two tables pushed apart – as I now have my residents permit. This also saves me $75 entrance fee into Malawi. Feeling pleased with myself arrived back without too many mishaps, I proceed to the Baggage collection travellator (?) along with all the other passengers.  The obligatory solitary brightly coloured bag is going round the travellator. Clearly fast on the mark these baggage handlers  – first bag off – brightly coloured bag !

We all watch it go round ………and ……. round ……….and ………..round …………..and …………..round – no other bags decide to join it – ……….none – ………not a one ! By this time after a good 30 minutes of waiting …….Im tempted to pick up the brightly coloured bag and pretend its mine ! There are some pretty irate Malawians and other African Nationalities and various Nationalities from all around the world all  expressing their views and opinions. A single Malawian official then walks very slowly to behind a desk – they never run ! and he is besieged by irate passengers – I of course take  the typically English approach and stand at the back of the queue – although when i say queue thats a very generic expression for a pack of baying hounds ! Thinking aw well – never mind – Im sure the bags will turn up one day ! After much shouting, form filling in and general chaos we are told that whilst we changed planes in Nairobi our bags did not ! They are all still in Nairobi – Picture the scene … well I’ll let your imagination do that suffice to say Im at the back, smiling,  last to fill my form in, describing my bag and on leaving the poor beleagured official say – “Thank You” in a very English way ! Bags turned up 3 days later ! And for information the brightly coloured bag is still probably going round as no one picked it up!

Anyway starting back – very much back in with a bang – trying to visit all the schools that Im responsible for which when I arrived was 5 and now has grown to 17 and when they are 100s of Kilometres apart thats no mean feat.  I haven’t got round them all yet.  My focus for the first few weeks is on the schools that are using the iPads and the OneBillion app for Maths and Chichewa. With the holidays and the lead up to holidays and the coming back from holidays it takes some schools a while to get back into their stride – as indeed it does in the UK as well – never mine of course but thats another story ! .  Here it also takes a while for the Learners to return to school and out in the remote rural areas in which I work it takes the first two weeks for the learners to return and even then some just don’t come back at all. Quite sad really.    But off I start all refreshed to re-energise my schools. As its been a while since Ive been on my motor bike – no contest – who needs a car when theres the open road (track) ……. I don my summer leather jacket, summer gloves, jeans and helmet  …….. and all kitted up I jump onto the bike and roar off into the remotest part of Malawi.

 

Up over the mountain looking at the amazing views that were once all a very dry brown now a very luscious green due to the “Rains”, ….. along narrow paths that were once much wider but now seemed to have narrowed due to the “Rains”  Feeling the wind against me, back in the saddle again (Name that tune ! hehe) I approach a police road block, of which there are many along all routes. These generally consist of two metal bars across the road balanced on 3 metal oil drums. Or alternatively there are just traffic cones instead of the bars and three or four policeman tucked away somewhere. I know this Police Road block fairly well as travel through it almost every day, on fairly good terms with the police who man it, so that by now I just generally wave and squeeze through a very narrow gap between a rock and the first oil drum, which means that the police don’t have to come and lift the barrier.  I have become quite expert now at being able to wave with one hand and manoeuvre the bike between the rock and the drum. ……… Pride comes before ……………   Waving away I pass by the rock and the drum, well thats what I meant to do but Im sure someone must have moved the rock closer to the drum because on this occasion I hit the rock. Keeping my balance, and feeling incredibly pleased with myself – as Evil Kenevil (?)  does it again to the roar of the crowd I ride on only to feel the bike become slightly wobbly, and then even more wobbly. I look down and my front tyre is almost flat – a puncture !   It was at this moment that the “Rains” decided that today was the day!

In the middle of a huge deluge I just managed to limp to the nearest Trading Centre to ask a group of men on the side of the road if they knew anyone that could help. This is Malawi so of course they did – and even if they didn’t they would say they did anyway !

They took me to a sort of straw lean to,  that underneath had a number of men sheltering from the rain. Out of this group of men appeared an elderly gentleman followed by 3 or 4 others who then proceeded to take my bike off me, wheel it under the shelter, took my helmet and instructed me to sit down on the bench surrounded by a group of people while they mended my puncture.  I sat and watched while the amazing craftsmanship of these people just took out the inner tube revealing  a 2 cm hole in the tube and a valve which had completely ripped out …….. and they just mended it ! No sucking of teeth; no shaking the head; no “Oooooh this is going to cost you guv!” They just did it ! …… Brilliant……… I was charged the princely sum of 2,000 Kwacha roughly £2. They all smiled and wished me a safe journey. I was absolutely amazed by their skill and I have to say it just echoed the view that Malawi has some of the friendliest people on this planet.

 

The rains had abated so I thought …. why not I’ll carry on to my schools only another 50 or 60 Km to go.

Well this is as I said before the rainy season – after 2 minutes it started to throw it down again, and this time it didn’t stop it kept on all day.  Undeterred i carried on, ….. and on … and on in my summer jacket. gloves and jeans. For those who know me once Id decided to carry on I wasn’t going to let a little rain stop me. ………………. Foolish !! At my age you’d think I’d learn ! But no …… Carry on I did…….

After about 40 Km, every part of me was soaked through. I did not have a dry part of my body at all. I found out that summer Motor Bike jackets are not waterproof, nor gloves, nor jeans, nor anything else that I was wearing. Do I turn back or carry on …. it was still pouring with rain and by now not only was I wet but starting to get very cold – probably for the first time in Malawi – my fingers started to turn blue ….  about 5 km from the first school, I decided that it probably didn’t look very good to turn up a wet shivering specimen coming to tell them what they should be doing with their iPads, and to be honest at this stage iPads was not at the forefront of my mind – It was survival !!!! I turned round in the middle of the road and headed home – and for the whole 80 Km it didn’t stop raining ! And if ever you’ve been on a Motor Bike in the pouring and I mean pouring rain you’ll appreciate how cheerful you need to be !!!!!

Pictures are my attempt to show the rain when I got home  – I failed dismally but you get the gist

 

When at last at home I of course struggled to open the locks due to my fingers being so cold and as already mentioned the locals usually stand and stare just out of curiosity; on this occasion despite the rain I think they must have all called their mates – “Hey come and have a look at this Masungu trying to get into his gate – its really funny !!!!  They watched as I attempted to open the locks with fingers that now had no feeling in whatsoever and were slowly going to sleep one by one

Once in,  I emptied my pockets of water and the rest of the contents, two of which were my 2 mobile phones. I had forgotten that they were in my pocket and had effectively been swimming in water for the last 2 hours – needless to say ……….. and despite the old bag of rice trick ………what I call my english iphone i.e. my english number and contacts etc has refused to work.  So if you haven’t heard from me for a while thats why !!!! My Malawian number still works for Whatsapp etc    All other usual communication channels are working – I think – but you can always leave a message /comment on here.

So now I take a good look at the sky before deciding which mode of transport to use.

When I relayed this story to my Malawian friends – response …………..

WELL IT IS THE RAINY SEASON – DOH!

(didn’t know they watched the Simpsons )

 

It’s spitting – everyone in …….. or out ?

When they describe this as the rainy season they are not joking. As I mentioned in the last blog the rainy season has begun. And when it rains ……… it rains. When I first arrived I was told by those who were far more knowledgeable than myself that some of my schools would be impossible to get to in the rainy season. Having no experience whatsoever of the rainy season in Malawi I could not see how on earth these dirt tracks could be impassable.

 

 

Certainly they were rocky and had loads of holes and ridges, and in places were very narrow but impassable ……. never !

 

 

How wrong was I ?? When it rains it really rains and this is very often in the night, or at least it has been with a few downpours during the day. This is torrential rain, the sort that wakes you up in the middle of the night with a few thoughts of “what on earth is that ?” descriptions such as “it’s coming down like stair rods ” (now they were an interesting piece of equipment that I remember from my Grandmas – do we still use them I ask myself ?),  ” raining cats and dogs!” “it’s p ………….ersistently raining” or expressions from around the world “It’s raining dung head-first.”, “It’s raining old women with clubs.” “It’s throwing cobblers’ knives.” and the good old favourite “Il pleut comme vache qui pisse”  Well all of these cannot describe what its like when it rains. But talk to a Malawian while I’m cowering under a shelter trying not to get wet and say ” The weather is horrible !” and they soon come back with “NO ! Not at all this is lovely weather !” after all its what they’ve been waiting for since last April. You never ever hear a Malawian complain about the rain. To quote “No Rain, No Life.”  To them its their livelihood and indeed the difference between life and death. They just walk out in it like it wasn’t there, through streams and puddles; i use the term puddle loosely because it’s not a ‘Christopher Robin puddle who goes splashing in his red wellies’, these are lakes that a small goat could drown in !

And yet they just go  about their lives as though it was a normal day – which I guess it is. But the effects of these “rains” is enormous and these effects happen literally over night.

The dirt tracks can become just torrents of water.  Add this to the fact that the dirt tracks are narrow anyway and dangerous at the best of times, and literally the car ( have graduated to a car now just for the rain !) just slides from one mud bank to another. The water just doesn’t seem to go into the ground at all. It just sits on the top or rushes down the trenches either side of the track. In fact at this time you see lots of people, can be up to 50 usually women, all out with their hoes clearing the trenches and throwing the soil/mud onto the road. I can only presume this is so the water runs off the track and into the trench. This work is paid for by the local communities.

Driving in these conditions is not the easiest thing to do. Some of you now will be saying – you big wuss – well wuss I am ! There are some bridges that don’t look strong enough in the dry but in the wet …… I rest my case ! 

The usual hazards of poor vision, skidding, getting stuck in the mud, literally no way round a large “lake” and impossible to turn round all apply on the journey and usually all happen at the same time. It’s at this point that I wished Id talked more photographs of my journeys, but at the time when you are trying desperately to keep all your senses active, the camera is the last thing to think of.  So you manage all the hazards and your wheels are still turning and your moving forward when you see ahead the flashing indicators of a truck stuck up a hill ! There are around 30 people all around the truck, many of whom would have been passengers. All of them offering advice, and as my granny used to say – “Giving it a good coat of Looking !”

You have two choices stop and just wait for what could be a considerable time or try to go past the narrowest gap, on an incline into the ditch of about 45 degrees and just hope you don’t get stuck. And remember it is pleurring comme vache qui pisse ! I took the cowards way out and stopped. Behind me another truck stopped and waited. We waited and watched. After a while, the driver of the truck behind came up to me and said with a huge smile on his face – I’m going to try it ! I replied that I would watch him to see what happened ! Well he went and I watched from a distance as he edged very slowly past the stuck truck ! Being Malawian, he of course knew exactly what to do and manoeuvred his vehicle past. To my surprise he went past and then stopped, got out of his cab and beckoned me forward. I had no choice but to try – the worst case scenario would be Id tip my car on to its side the best would be that I’d be so proud of myself for getting past ! Pride here I come ! As I edged past the truck, reving ferociously, playing the clutch, windscreen wipers on maximum speed, tilting at an angle of 45 degrees, and “It’s still  raining chair legs.” I guess at this point I closed my eyes and just drove feeling a bit like a motor cyclist on the wall of death ( do they still have those ?) Well suffice it to say I made it with out putting the car on its side. And as I passed the truck i opened one eye, and as far as I could see he was embedded in the muddy waters, I looked up at the driver, who had a big beaming smile on his face and he raised his thumb to say hi ! He wasn’t flustered at all, looking worried or anything – its just their way of life and they accept it. I have no idea how he got out and there is certainly no tow truck to help him, but he must have got out because on my return journey all that was left were very very large muddy ruts in water.

The photo is of another incident when I had the presence of mind to take a photo. But tis man was just unloading the truck laden with grain He is standing in a torrent of water which is rushing down both sides. He couldn’t understand why I wasn’t passing and of course eventually I just had to as it is an impossibility to turn round.  So every day is a journey where literally you never know what is going to happen

But because of the ‘Rains” other more dramatic things happen I mentioned before that people just came out appeared in the fields to dig with their hoes but the results cf this hoeing and seeding is amazing.  Literally within weeks the fields as far as the eye can see the fields changed from dust bowls to luscious green baize.

 

 

And not just the fields, every spare piece of land, in between huts, in front of huts anywhere have  been cultivated. I was told today that 3/4 of the Malawian population are farmers which is amazing if its true and even if its an exaggeration certainly the majority of Malawians ‘cultivate’ !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know this appears to be a mundane normal view in England but to see the land change in such a short space of time from brown to green without any mechanical means at all just by people using a hoe is amazing

 

 

The other effect is of course a huge drop in the school population.  A number of factors come in to play. Firstly many “Learners” are kept at home to go and work in the fields to sow and hoe the land. The other factor is of course with so many classrooms being ‘outdoors’ the rain of course completely wipes this classrooms out. “Learners’ know that of course so there is no need to go to school at all. Schools do look a sad site when it’s raining and many teachers also know there won’t be any learners there so they don’t go to school. I met one who was working on a stall and when I said why aren’t you in school teaching, he said “It’s raining there won’t be any learners and I wont have a classroom. ! ” Some classrooms may be a building but with only half a roof because of winds, again when it rains it can’t be used.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Am currently undergoing training the teachers on Life skills and Child Friendly Schools, Id love to talk about their training and the differences on what our main foci is – I hadn’t realised quite how different the  issues were But suffice it to say Im working with Primary school teachers An absolutely fabulous group of people whose challenges we couldn’t even begin to understand I mean start with 150+ in your class and thats just for starters. Ive asked their permission and they said they didn’t mind me reproducing these 2 photos here to give some idea of our training

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And when one of their tasks is to how to work with the “Learners” on Building Self-Esteem – you understand the enormity of their challenges:-

When it rains during the training, the teachers thoughts all go to – how am I going to get home, as their only modes of transport are , walk, push bike or if they are very lucky motor bike and some have distances of 20 – 30 km to travel. One gains extra ‘brownie points’ if you let them go an hour earlier ……… and to be truthful the room is so dark anyway you can’t see any charts or posters, let alone the thought in my head of – ………..”Will I get home ? ”

Class dismissed – whoosh —————

Rain and Locks aren’t a good combo

There’s something about “why put it off till tomorrow when you can put it off today” – or something like that ……. and Ive been meaning to write this blog for a while now but you know how it goes… You sit down then think I need a cup of coffee, a drink, a biscuit, a packet of crisps another drink, another cup of coffee and then above all else some inspiration.  So while Im waiting I thought I might as well sit down and write.

Being someone who forgets where I put things I put down about 5 minutes ago, my apologies if Ive already mentioned this but just in case I haven’t – Malawi has basically two seasons…….., forget Spring and Autumn- …….it’s either hot or its wet….. and some times both ! We are now coming into the rainy season, as opposed to the dry season. The first signs of this are even more prolonged blackouts which somehow manage to coincide with no water coming out of the taps.  This does seem a bit strange to me as when it starts to rain, there is less water coming out of the taps, but I’m sure there is a perfectly logical explanation.  Blackouts also get longer with sometimes up to 36 hours without any power.  This does make you more organised, but when you start at such a low base for organisation ……. well there’s a long way to go.

When the electricity does come on, and a little tip is to switch at least one light switch on when there is a blackout, because on several occasions I have found myself sitting in just candle light for hours  and looking up to see nearby houses with their lights on and they’ve been on for hours !!!! DOH!

When it does come on you rush round to plug in all your devices, starting with your mobile phone, followed by your laptop, power pack, iPads, watch, iPod for music, bluetooth speaker, rechargeable torch, wifi connector etc …… who says I’m dependent on technology !!!!!!! I know I should make do with a piece of paper and a ball point pen instead of “all these new fangled devices” but it’s still difficult to see your writing when there’s no lights, although my handwriting probably looks better when it’s viewed in the dark. I digress and I’d better get a move on before any more blackouts.

So the rainy season has just about started.  I’m told not in a big way but it seems pretty dramatic to me. The first rains have started.  They don’t just come with a few drops like an autumn shower, oh no they come with a strong wind, huge thunder claps and a sky that is lit up with sheet lightening. When all those things happen – you sort of think – it’s going to rain ! And it does – torrential downpours which last for anything up to 3 hours. At this point I did stand at my door and try to take a photograph.  ……. I failed abysmally  By the time my camera had realised that I had pressed the button and wanted a  photo and decided to go into action, the lightening had stopped so I now have something like 17 images of total blackness !

It rains so heavily that the once barren and very dry earth can’t seem to absorb the water.  So  very quickly large puddles, even mini lakes appear. On roads, tracks just everywhere. Not to be deterred by this the locals of course just take their shoes off and walk bare foot through the puddles as often there is no dry ground to walk around.  Having walked through the water to drier ground, they just simply slip their footwear back on and carry on with their journey.

Over the last 10 days I have noticed a huge transformation with the surrounding countryside.  What used to be literally just barren very very dry land, dust, rocks where you’d have thought nothing at all could grow., have suddenly been transformed. After literally the first rain, there were people in the fields, literally hundreds of them, just digging the ground with their hoes. Huge areas of countryside changed not by machines but by sheer handwork, men, women and children in the fields with their very basic hoes.  They just changed these dust bowls into a field which looked just ready for growing crops, mainly maize and irish potatoes  I think but obviously other vegetables as well. Even my own area within the compound that I live, the ground which was previously just dust, plants have started to grow as if from nowhere.

Many may well be weeds but to see the green shoots coming up so quickly and so wide spread is just an amazing thing to see. With just two weeks of rain, the land looks ready to grow crops.  I believe that there is only one harvest a year, no rotation or any other technical agricultural terms.  They just get one shot at it. Apparently they either plant at the very beginning of the rains, as this apparently is the most nutritious rain, or wait a while to ensure enough rain and not too much sun to dry up the crops. And when the whole of the years income depends on it – ……. a tough choice. At the risk of sounding a bit like Whatsit Titchmarsh I’ll move on

I haven’t really mentioned my house … Thought a brief glimpse in to where I live.  Apologies for disappointing a few but its certainly not a mud hut or even a thatched residence ….In fact its quite an up market dwelling and looking at the pictures I think Id make quite a good estate agent.

 

 

 

 

I don’t have much furniture so it sort of gets lost in the house !

It sits in its own compound, which basically means it has a 8 ft wall all the way around it. With a huge gate that slides very rustily along its runners.  This gate has a smaller walking in gate/door.  Both the large gate and the small door have padlocks,  Two on the large gate, one on the smaller gate. I don’t know what it is about padlocks out here but they never seem to work properly. Test them out in your hand indoors and they are fine. Lock, unlock, lock, unlock The minute you padlock the gates they appear to have a life of their own and only open when they want to. Try turning the key and nope it won’t go all the way.  Try taking the key out and it won’t budge !!  So far Ive had to climb over the wall to try to get a lock undone, On another occasion I’ve had to get someone to hacksaw a padlock off and once I was totally locked into the compound as I just couldn’t open two of the locks.  

It’s all great fun but does make you think before you go out…. do I really want to go out as opening and closing the gate takes 10 minutes and if I go on my bike thats another 10 minutes to sort out helmet, jacket, gloves and you just think – naaaaah I’ll stay in !!!   At this point you’re thinking what a ‘wuss’ but it is also in about 38 degrees heat as well. So by the time you’ve got all your motor bike gear on and managed to open the little door in the big gate and unpadlock the big gate , ride the bike out and relock all the gates, you’ve lost half a stone in weight, which for those who know me there aren’t many half a stones to loose.

But to make life a little easier I do have a guard between the hours of 6 in the evening and 6 in the morning. actually I have 2 guards who work it in shifts. But they are worth a whole blog to themselves!  Trying to explain to the guard who speaks very little English that the key is stuck but it did work when you tried it out in the house, but it doesn’t work now its’ actually on the gate, does bring out thoughts of the Basil Fawlty scene when he smashes the branch against the care for not starting – Ive been so close to that but with the gate locks – not a pretty sight I can assure you and one which is totally bewildering to a Malawian guard !

And just in case I forget what I’m out here for Ive been training my schools on a new app  (when I manage to get out of my compound !)  and again training of teachers in Malawi is a lot different to training back home – but again more of that later. Suffice it to say they are all very keen to learn and love working on the iPads – from the most junior teacher to the Head Teacher

Creative Challenge – No one said it was going to be easy …………..

This is a bit of a strange blog post and one that Im not sure where it’s going – which is always a little dangerous ! Normally to use an old analogy its a bit like a car journey you know ultimately where you are going. You may go a different way or even get lost – it has been known –  but most of the time you end up eventually  where you wanted to be.  Thats a bit like writing a blog – in my day it was Beginning  Middle and End none of this Starter Introductions; Conflict; Resolution etc  stuff ( only joking !) Ive got a start, I meander a bit and then I know where Im finishing. Not this one – its a bit different – may work and then again …………  and possibly not many piccies either

A couple of times recently ( actually several on all sorts of topics) I have asked some questions on Twitter.  At this point I should say that increasingly  I find Twitter an absolutely amazing communication tool. I started off on Twitter as part of a support group discussions when I was endeavouring to develop a school.  I found the advice and support then as it is now absolutely invaluable.  My Twitter being purely educational with a leaning towards developing technology in order to enhance learning and trying to make teaching a little easier.  My followers  and following have increased considerably in the last few months and it really has been a great feeling of support out in here in Malawi where frankly talk of computers and educational technology is probably as rare out here as the good old English phrase “Do you think its going to rain tomorrow?”  (it being the dry season and it hasn’t rained since about April )

People like LoveToTeach @87History      Mark Anderson @ICTEvangelist     Claire Jones @AsstHead_Jones    Gemma Clarke @missglclarke    Beverley Melvin @BeverleyAMelvin  Sarah Bedwell @FlyMyGeekFlag  Daniel Callaghan @Mr_D_Callaghan     Anoara Mughal @anoara_a     Kelly Shaw @KShaw1977     and many many more who Ive not mentioned but should have. They have all been really supportive in helpful comments and general encouragements, particularly when I start to think – “What am I doing? ” haha  Its a superb supportive community.  I love it.

Anyway I digress – although not really……. because a couple of times Ive asked about resources for putting on an iPad, as this is the tool we have and may I say the only technological tool that the Learners have. And there’s another difference they are not referred to as Children or Kids or Youths or Young persons or ‘Oi you where do you think you are going?’   or any thing else……. they are all at, every age  referred to as Learners, which I think is an interesting description and one that maybe should be used more widely.

Anyway after asking for these resources for use on the iPad, the answers I think just show how far we have come on in the Uk on our use of technology in schools.  The answers being given are exactly the answers that I would have posted had I been sitting in the UK accessing my 4G broadband ( alright I know its not always working but in general it’s there.) on a device or devices that I’ve kind got to know intimately ( sadly !)

Certainly in my school we moved quite swiftly from the apps that were just giving knowledge or specifically subject based to Apps that allow the creative side of the “learner” to develop. I  distinctly remember giving talks to quite large groups of teachers and Head Teachers who at the point of saying “These are the Apps we use …….” – notebooks, mobile cameras, iPads  suddenly came out to snap the list of apps.  I also remember saying that its not about the subject specific apps but the Apps that allow creative thoughts and developments , the apps that allow you to be anywhere in the world, taking images and developing them, immediate responses,  imagination, developing thought processes, leading the Learner into a special world of description, poetry, prose, frontal adverbials – oh well maybe not quite that but you get the gist

 

 

 

 

Many of these fantastic Apps rely on connectivity, not all but a number do. Many of these do require a purchase of some sort. I would have recommended  creative Apps like Book Creator, Comic Life, Do ink, Toontastic, Showbie, iMovie, Seesaw, Photofunia, Wordfoto, Chatterpix, Aurasma, Kahoot, Google Expeditions………… all great creative apps that you can just excite the children and produce brilliant creative work. I recently asked for any App or resource that would be Inspirational for Girls. And as usual I had a brilliant response from lots of folk – many mentioning the above Apps …….. and I think yeah I could use any or all of them – Ive used them all before to great effect ……. lets give it a go ……..

Then two things happen …….. I ride on my motorbike some 100 km to my nearest school which is along tracks that can only take a bike.  I arrive into the school area – its not really a playground as its just the land that the buildings are on, and Im totally engulfed

 by a mass of children as the sight of a Motor bike is one that isn’t seen very often and certainly not ridden by someone who looks very different to them.They don’t speak but just smile and giggle and literally follow your every movement as you walk to the Learning Centre.  The Learning Centre houses the 30 iPads which are securely locked inside a fortress looking chest with double and in some cases triple padlocks.

The learners first of all wash their hands outside in a bucket, and those who have shoes on take them off.  They walk into the room, collect their headphones and sit down on the rush matting. iPads in their hands they wait eagerly for the Teachers iPad to unlock all the devices…………. Unlocked they then proceed to sit in absolute silence as they work their way through the Maths App spoken in Chichewa ( national language of Malawi).  After half an hour the App locks and they go out of the room, avoiding those at the door who are so envious of their friends who have just been on these very strange but amazing devices called ‘iPads’. ……….

 

And I think to myself ……. creative apps are going to be a challenge but don’t give up !

 

The other event to happen, was today. I was introduced to a Secondary School Head Teacher who was setting up a Head Teachers Association for Malawi Secondary Schools.  A really enthusiastic gentleman who clearly was devoted to education.  In conversation he said that of course his school had a number of challenges to overcome, class sizes, poverty, lack of motivation amongst the girls, absenteeism etc .  I explained what I was doing in schools.  He was fascinated and said he would love me to come to his school and do similar things He felt it would really encourage the Learners to return to school, and to learn and achieve.  I was quite encouraged by the discussion. Just as I was leaving the room, he just called to me and said “Oh before you go, can you just tell me what an iPad is ? ”

Things that we take for granted as we  travel along the road of technology from the first BBC computers through to laptops to now mobile devices which can take us to far away lands, places we never even dreamed of, allowing us to write some amazingly creative pieces of work, our imagination just stretched to the universe and beyond.

Standing in front of a Malawian classroom of 150 Learners…………. trying to explain to a very educated Head Teacher what an iPad is just makes the ‘creative’ Apps seem so far away. Forgot to mention of course that in my most recent school , there are 17 classrooms and 9 of these are a tree !

No electricity, very little connectivity or signal and creative is what we have to be. It’s not easy but as the saying goes no-one said it was going to be …….. but it is immensely worthwhile.

So back to the ……… anyone any ideas for resources to put on an iPad to inspire girls to stay at school past 12 or 13 and not become pregnant and leave education for good. Technology  I’m sure in the hands of these great teachers, who battle with challenges that just can’t be imagined in the Western World of Education, can help provide the answer but it’s just finding the key !

Any suggestions?

Twitter, Schools and Sensitisation

About time for another few words of … well certainly not wisdom and possibly not even sense but just ramblings I guess.  When I go on Twitter to see whats happening with the educational twitterati (thats probably not the right word but hey ! I know what I mean which is what matters – actually it’s not but ……. ) I do envy the courses and conferences that I am missing.  Those that I went to last year and met such great folk – keeping in touch via Twitter and other social media outlets really does make a difference to being out here in Malawi. So thanks to all those who occasionally like my tweets ( although always feel I should do more !) and even better to those of you who actually comment in some way or other without you I things would be even more difficult.  Even got my name up in a staff room amongst all the extremely worthy people of Twitterdom – something that I’m very humbled by but what a great idea to get teachers into the world of Educational Twitter.  Only last night I tweeted for an answer to a problem that we had with the iPads and I have to say I was overwhelmed by the response – truly amazing – Thank you so much. 

Ive been visiting some of my schools in the Mangochi district, which is in common with most of Malawi fairly rural.  Strangely when you tell Malawians where you are living the response to

“i’m in Mangochi ”

 

is    “Oh never mind !”

haha

Most of my schools are on the Mozambique border.  I would have taken a photo of it but after my brush with the law on taking photos I decided not to – (wise move I think ) – Ooops just realised I did take one —not  good one but ………..!!!

 

You wouldn’t really notice the border as its just a barrier just off the main tarmac road in the middle of a Trading Centre. On either side of the barrier which is really just a very bent metal pole on two stands are lorries laden with goods, presumably both coming and going across from Malawi to Mozambique and vice-versa.  When going through this particular Trading Centre actually it’s really a small town called Chiponde, especially on Wednesdays ( Market Day ) you can’t in fact see the way ahead for stalls, people, animals, lorries, mini-buses, you name it – it’s in your way.  You just have to throttle down to walking pace and just hope that people get out of your way or there is enough space to get through. Many of the mini-buses which are the Malawian form of public transport just stop in the middle of the road or indicate left and turn right, reverse suddenly or just open their doors at the precise moment that you are overtaking them.  Absolutely a law unto themselves !

 

 

One of these days I will stop and take a photo, but I get enough stares and looks as I ride through on my bike so its just plucking up the courage ! haha

 

 

 

My schools are fairly well dispersed, Over 200 Km between the 2 extremes.  Apologies for ”km’ not miles’  but when in Rome … Im sure you can convert !  Most of the schools are down dirt tracks and certainly over very rickety bridges as I think Ive already said.  As you ride down the tracks you do get the obligatory stares and complete standstill as if someone has suddenly said “freeze – except for your head It doesn’t matter what you are doing, carrying buckets of water on your head, riding a bicycle, playing in the sand, or just walking – You all have to freeze as this strange person on a motor bike goes past ! ”  It really reminds me of the times when you walk in to a strange bar and the minute you open the door all heads just turn and look.  Almost saying “What are you doing in our bar and who are you?” Its just one of those things you get used to . 

Again the customary wave and the response is generally a smile back.  On my first occasions of not really knowing where I was going I stopped to ask those who stand watching – usually at the water pump which are situated within a group of houses, only to realise that the vast majority of people out in the countryside don’t speak English at all and they usually call for their children who quickly and thankfully translate.

 

There are no signs to follow but again thankfully, off any road or track, there is a stone plinth which says the school name.  Follow this and eventually you get to buildings which are always the same.  Usually buildings which comprise of two classrooms each building.   The buildings are usually in a square or just placed in rows, or to be honest any configuration that the contractors decided to build them in.  Consisting of general breeze block ( sort of ) for the windows and a door and 4 walls.

 

 

This is a Standard 1 classroom i.e. the first year in school

A blackboard inside and thats your average Malawian classroom

 

 

I recently held “Sensitisation” meetings in the schools where we are constructing new Learning Centres.  When I say I held what I mean is I was there and was introduced to the school community to explain who I was – but as the whole meeting is conducted in Chichewa – this is These are meetings that are held to inform the Community of what is happening in the school and telling them all about the project.  The main groups invited are The Senior Management Council  who kind of oversee the activities at the school – bit like Governors I guess but not – doesn’t make sense I know but its the closest I could find ! , the PTAs which is a group of parents obviously and every school has one, and the Mothers Group who are obviously a collection of ladies from the village who also are an important factor the school and again all schools have them, the local Headmen of the tribes and the rest of the community.  

 

 

 

 

We held 5 of these meetings in total and an amazing number people turned out, almost 1,000.

 

 

It means such a lot to these communities and as well as a number of very lengthy speeches, there were so happy that very often they broke out into song and some even danced.

 

 

Just thought Id mention Copley School on Yorkshire who are the first school to take up my offer and have sent me some great questions from their Eco Group.  Thought Id just copy some of their questions and my answers

How many classes are there in a school? 

“This varies but an average schol has about 1200 Learners going up to 3, 000 and there are usually  2 or 3 classes in each Standard.  We don’t have Year groups we have Standard 1, Standard 2 up to Standard 8 in all the Primary schools.  The biggest classes are in Standard 1 and each Standard reduces in number as you get up to Standard 8 who may only have 40 Learners.  This is because unlike English schools the Learners don’t automatically go up to the next Standard each year. Learners start at the age of 6 in Standard 1 but as many are kept back until they reach a certain level they are a mix of ages anywhere from 6 to 11  This means huge class sizes in Standards 1 and Standrad 2 & 3 Many Learners just drop out of school and don’t attend which is why the numbers drastically reduce as you go up the school”

Do the children have play times and if so, where do they play/what does their playground look like? 

“They do have playtimes However, throughout the day you see lots of children out of their classrooms.  This is usually because their teacher is doing something else or is on a course or is absent because they are poorly and the Learners are outside. They don’t have any one to look after them.  Sometimes when I arrive in a school I ride up on my motorbike right up to the classrooms .  I am surrounded by 50 – 100 children because they want to just see the bike and to see me.  They want to talk but their English isn’t very good. Generally the teachers chase them off.

Their playground is just the land around the classrooms. They don’t have walls or fences like you do.  The whole school area is just open.  Usually it is in a small village and the school is part of the village. Some teachers have  brick built houses next to the school.  If the teachers are unlucky they have to live in the village which usually means no water or electricity and sometimes a long walk to school

School starts at 7:30 and finishes at 12:30 for Standard 1 & 2 The rest finish at 2:30

 How do the children learn and the teachers teach without interactive whiteboards? (The children really could not get their heads around having no technology whatsoever!) 

“The teacher stands at the front of the classroom and writes on the blackboard – which can take a long time.  The Learners sit and wait.  The teacher then explains to all the learners. The usual lesson consist of a the Learners sat on the floor and the teacher stands in front teaching.  

In many schools they don’t have enough rooms for the classes so a classroom is literally the shade under a tree and a blackboard and easel  is placed there for the teacher

            This is one reason why the schools like the iPads.  It has even brought Learners back to school who had not turned up for a long time, just to go on the iPads.”

If theres any other school or organisation who wants to get in touch please do so

Again apologies for an uninspiring blog – next time what you do when the electricity goes off regularly for long periods of time, there is no water coming through the taps and you can’t unlock your security gate because the lock has jammed !!! – Happy Days !

 

Malawian journey on Tarmac

Well I can’t believe that its been almost 2 weeks since I last wrote on here – ‘Doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourself – as the saying goes. Many reasons I guess – the dog eat it ! –  I was late up because my mum didn’t wake me; – I left my cap at home ( only those who know me really well will know that story !)  but mainly because it’s a bit like walking into a sweet shop.  There are just so many things to choose from that I don’t know which to choose –  do I go for the chocolate bar  that I’ll have to eat all in one go or else it’ll melt -a common problem out here, or do I go for the chewy bar that you actually can’t share with anyone ‘cos you really have to bite into it hard or do I just go for the old standby of Fruit n Nut !  Well it’s just the same here.  There are so many things going on around it’s difficult to pick a focus.  If I were to just say everything you’d be here for ages and get even more bored than usual and Id only skim over all the things I want to say. The roads, the superb Lake, the people you meet, the amazing schools, some incredible work on Solar powered data projectors, the iPad work – all of which I could go on about for ages.  So lets just see where the pen, or should I say 2 fingered typing takes us ……………

Much of my time has been spent travelling along the roads of Malawi. Now I should at this point, make it clear that there are two sorts of roads in Malawi, those that are roads and those that aren’t ! No road signs at all.  The directions that are given are – “When you get to the tarmac ……. ” or “Or turn when the tarmac finishes ….”  But riding on your motor bike along these roads is just one of the most amazing experiences that Ive ever had.  One that I must admit when I was dodging around the cones in England trying to just sit on it and not fall off – is something that I hadn’t even thought about.  Even travelling along the tarmac and I will distinguish the two roads as ‘tarmac’ and dust/sand’ you just get a sense of open space that is populated by people who just move along the road.  Now that sounds weird but let me try to explain ………

People walk everywhere.  Literally they just walk. You think now where have you just come from, because there are no huts or houses to be seen, but very rarely do you ride along a road and not see anyone. Not many cars at all just lots of people – And not only where did they come from but where are they going to ?  Just people walking, on their own , in twos or threes.  Then this strange guy or “Masungu” as we are called rides past on a trials bike!  Inside my head I think i look like ‘Steve Mcqueen’ but realistically probably more like Mr Pastry ( for the younger generation ask someone to explain !)

All heads turn, literally and watch you go by.  It can be out on the open road or going through a trading centre, all heads turn almost as one.  At first it can be a bit off putting especially when you are also trying to manoeuvre your way through the crowds of people. But eventually you feel more confident and can even smile through your visor and wave – though this is not recommended with your right throttle hand as you tend to stall and even more heads turn to look at Mr Pastry who hasn’t yet learned to ride a bike and takes ten kick starts to start again – not that Ive done it of course but I’m just imagining it !!!!

Of course the people that you go past many of them (is that English) carry something on their head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This can vary between a bundle of clothes, a bucket of water, sticks, logs, an umbrella – literally anything that you could and sometimes with difficulty carry in your hand …. is carried on the head.

I stand to be corrected but the Malawian ladies and children have an amazing up right posture – You never ever see one who is not walking perfectly upright or slouched.  This just has to be because from a very young age they carry things on their head. Many have a baby on their back as well.  Lots of them, and this is a great trick, as they turn their head to look at something the container on their head stays in exactly the same position and doesn’t turn – amazing.  Whenever you go past them you just want to say – thats amazing – How do you do that And can I take a photo ? – but you don’t you walk past and as they turn their head to look at you – you just smile.

Next along the tarmac of course there are the huts that sell things. But you don’t really see the huts !  As you travel there are particular areas for different commodities. Rush mats are hung on specially constructed frames, baskets and hats, made I guess from reeds – not sure what they are made of to be honest but they they are just hung all alongside the road.

Next come the extremely neat piles of wood. Beautifully stacked in a criss cross fashion about one metre high.  Several piles of these logs just line the road.
No-one at all in sight just the piles of logs.  But stop on your bike or in a car and suddenly out of nowhere as if some magic infra red alarm signal has been triggered, people just come running towards you, persuading you to buy their particular bundle of sticks.  Most of these sticks are of course illegally cut down from trees , making the problem of deforestation even worse, but they are desperate to sell them usually at a cost of 10o Kwacha for 3 sticks ( which is about 10p )  Then they smiling load them into the boot of the car

Then the jars and baskets of fruit and sweet potatoes just laid there as though they are just left by someone.

 

 

Piles of stones that are built in pyramid shapes varying from fine grade to large rocks, and very often these stone piles are being worked on by people who just sit all day making the large stones smaller by hitting them with a hammer of sorts.

 

Next come the bricks all neatly laid out drying in the sun….. Made from the ground upon which they stand and put into a pile again like a pyramid where a fire is lit underneath to dry the bricks out

Many of the houses are made from these bricks. Actually its a sign of wealth to have the houses of bricks. A lot of the houses are of a natural construction The villages that you go past on the roads are all mainly of these constructions.

Carrying along the journey along the tarmac of course there are the crowds of people around the water pumps.  These are mainly women and children. Carefully filling their buckets and bowls from the pumps and then even more carefully balancing them on their heads to carry to their houses and villages. Although I have no idea how far they actually carry them, a few yards for me would be more than enough and it would be a little like ‘It’s a Knockout’ and see how much was left in the bucket after running with it over a short distance.  These folk walk two, three four kilometres or more with these buckets balanced on their heads, cross the roads and hardly spill a drop. All the time looking serene and dignified. 

And then of course along the tarmac are probably the biggest difference,  The animals !  But even those seem to be aware of the road.  The cows just wander where ever they want, sometimes in  twos and threes and other times a large group of twenty to thirty generally shepherded ( can cows be shepherded ??? ) by a very small boy with a stick who looks totally amazed at this motor cycle driving past .  

 

 

Goats just run across the road in a very haphazard fashion, although when one gets left behind as you approach, they almost seem to wait until you’ve gone past and then cross. The cows on the other hand own the road. They will only move when they want to  It doesn’t matter if its in town or in  the rural areas they just go wherever they wish.

Thats kind a brief tour along the tarmac roads in the rural areas. I haven’t even mentioned the views which are absolutely stunning, with a flat valley and mountains rising majestically above the landscape. – which as Im riding up into the mountains reminds me of Wednesday afternoon, Form 2B, learning about African Rift Valleys from  Mr Humberstone, my Geography master who would be so pleased with me remembering that particularly after my Classified U in Geography O’ Level ( again apologies to those amongst you who haven’t got a clue what Im talking about !)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And all this happens every day on my motor bike journey to my schools – makes the journey from Goosnargh to Fleetwood seem very uneventful – its just a case of perspective !

And don’t forget the journeys on the roads that aren’t roads ……….. well where do I start with that one  !….. except to say that the saying of “You’re not really a motor cyclist until you’ve fallen off ! ”   Well I can confirm that I am now a fully paid up member of the motor cyclist club who was totally surrounded by 30 children asking if I was ok and did I want a push ?? Thats what you get when you ride a back through sand – Steve McQueen eat your heart out !

Apologies to those who wanted to hear more about the technology side but next time ……………  Schools started back this week as well and I really wanted to tell you how that went, and the iPads and the potential of a solar powered data projector – but as ever – that’s another story …………….. well several really

 

Educational Technology might just be part of the answer

Thought it was about time that I went into a bit more detail ( not too much tho ‘cos I already know that some of you have already dropped off/logged off !!) about what it is that I’m doing out here. Promise it won’t be a long one  ( another sigh of relief!) but just some background and some events.   To be honest there are times when I have said – “What am I doing out here?” Maybe if I read my own blog its might give me the answer – or is that just too weird !   And I’m going to try and not mention any of the Donors ( they’re the international organisations which give money for the projects ) or Organsations/Companies in case I put something that they don’t particularly like.  I haven’t written it yet but just in case !!!  As ever all views expressed here are purely my own views and not those of the organisations that I’m working for.

Before I start as well –  just to say a shout out to all those teachers out there who are just about to start back at school – when you get to the Bank Holiday you always think “that’s it summer hols over for another year – if you are anything like me – thinking,  can I do this for another year or will someone twig on that Ive been fooling people for all these years !!!! Good luck to you all and it’s not long till half-term.  There may be some compensation in the fact that you only have about 30 children in your class – I can hear you shout – “ONLY !!!!!! ” but read on and hopefully by the end you may be thinking well actually I am quite lucky – ( you probably won’t but it’s a thought !)

 

Basically I’m out in Malawi , one of the poorest countries in the world, to work on behalf of VSO (I’m allowed that one ) with primary schools. to try and raise standards in Maths and Literacy. Actually it’s Maths and Chichewa ( the Malawian Language ) but you get the idea .  Not single handily of course but with a number of other volunteers.   Before I go into the how maybe start off by describing a typical Primary classroom in a Malawian school.

 

 

The average primary school can have upwards of 2,000+ children  The classrooms are generally buildings scattered very often in a random order around a bare patch of ground, very dusty/sandy open space with a few trees which give some shade – but not much. The classroom has bare walls and no furniture.  The children sit on the floor.  There are little to no teaching resources in the room with just a very old blackboard at one end.  There is no electricity, no light and no running water.   The openings for the windows in general have no glass, and very often the doorway into the classroom has no door.  The schools often don’t actually have enough rooms for all the children so classes can take place outside in the open, usually in the shade if possible.
Add into this room one teacher and wait for it – to all of you who have 30 in your class —–  an average of 150+ children at least and sometimes as many as 250 and the problems start to develop. The challenges to teach such large class sizes with few resources are enormous. However, the children in these classrooms are amazing considering the cramped conditions and the difficulties of trying to engage in some degree of learning. The children sit beautifully, well behaved and eager to learn.

On arrival at a school you are literally greeted by hundreds of smiling faces who throng around you as you walk up to the buildings. They all want to say hello and just generally be with you as a huge escort.

So what exactly am I and my colleagues doing within this situation, I hear you ask – well you  may not be asking but let’s pretend for the sake of argument that you are …….

 

The aim is to build a room – poshly called a ‘Learning Centre’ with a solar-powered panel on the roof.  Into this ‘Learning Centre’ is placed a large cabinet.  This cabinet holds 2 large batteries, various wires and boxes ( which I won’t go into for the sake of those of you who are still reading) and a server with an SD card and Sim card exactly like a mobile phone. And this is where the interesting bit comes -( mildly!!) there are also 30 iPads with a purpose built Maths and Chichewa ( those of you who have been paying attention will know what that is !) App specifically designed for the Malawian Curriculum.   The solar panel charges the batteries which in turn charge the iPads. No lack of sunshine in Malawi of course means that they are charged all the time.

The children come into the room, sit perfectly on the floor , put their headphones on and work individually at their own pace  for half-an-hour. Each child logs onto the App by recognising their face and name. Every time they go on the iPad it starts off from where they left off, and reinforces or enhances their previous activities. Throughout the day there is a steady stream of children so that by the end of the day, up to 300 children could have had the chance to work on the iPad every day. The teacher of course monitors and supports the activities as the children work.

 

It is my job alongside my fellow volunteers to train the teachers and support them in using these devices.  The children during their sessions are absolutely totally absorbed in their learning and thus it creates the extremely rare opportunity of 1:1 learning for the child. Not only the children and the teachers but whole communities are excited by the Learning Centres and the learning that is taking place.

 

 

 

Alongside this project I am also currently working with a colleague  on developing a solar powered Data Projector which is easily portable, connects to an iPad and could be used to project images and activities.  I think that if it happens it could be a real game-changer ( whatever that means ) But maybe more on that later!

 

At this point I will say that I tweeted a similar picture recently and in the main fellow  ‘tweeters’ were very interested and made very favourable tweets about it indeed, from all over the world I might add.  That’s one of the reasons why I have focussed on it this time in my blog.  However, there were a few from a certain European country  who were appalled by the fact that we would use technology in a classroom and quite openly stated that this was not education at all and hoped that it would never happen – well if they do by chance read this I will repeat it again – Technology in the hands of a good teacher can result in outstanding Learning – let’s hope so anyway  for the sake of the children of Malawi and certainly we need to do something if we are going to tackle these huge class sizes.

 

 

Add into all this, escapades on dirt tracks on my motor bike to visit the schools, visits to idyllic lodges on beaches at the Lake, and getting locked out of your room    ( several times) ( thats another story !) and life out here is never dull.

 

And talking of dull……. apologies for uninspired blog as felt I was writing an educational document ! so kept slipping at times  into an old mode !!

Getting to grips with town life

I’ve just realised that its been a while since my last blog ! Could blame the lack of connectivity, lack of electricity. lack of water, loads of events happening or just me not being more efficient with my time !  Although all of these have played a contribution I guess its probably the latter being the over-riding factor.

At some point I will blog about my visit to the Liwonde National Park, which was amazing in itself, or my journeys on the local bus on a 5 hour journey which literally had so many people packed in with bags and baggages ( I was sat in the aisle with someone else’s bag on my lap – haha ) that it took 30 minutes just to let someone off!.  

 

 

 

 

 

Actually before I forget about it just a quick mention of the bus journey.  I had to visit Liwonde and the only mode of transport was a bus – So I thought to my self well why not ? My only reservation was that someone helped me find the right bus.  How grateful was I that someone did.  Shamaah, who has looked after me ever since I arrived in Malawi, ( and I must say has been brilliant – have to say that as he reads my blog ! – but seriously without him I wouldn’t know what to do in Malawi at all ) took me to the Bus station.  Get rid of any ideas of one of our bus stations.  Imagine a wembley crowd before they enter the stadium and in the middle of these thousands of people place about 50 buses.  Now put a group of these people probably about 40 – 50 right out side the bus door all claiming that they had the most important reason to board the bus. Put about 5 drivers and Bus conductors ( kind of !) at the entrance shouting that there was no space on the bus  Add the sounds of everyone talking at a volume which would have gone down well in a football stadium, add a hot summers day and you kind of get the picture. Eventually someone and I have no idea who or what he was but literally took me by the hand saying I’ll find you a bus.  After several failed attempts I was again literally escorted on to a bus.  A quick scan around the bus told me there were no spare seats.  I walked down the bus hand in hand with the guy who said he would find me a place and suddenly he stopped and lowered a seat into the aisle of the bus and told me to sit down.  One by one the aisle seats were lowered down and the bus was full. No room to move but I was on.  Not ready to go of course, we sat there for a further half hour when a lady at the front of the bus got on and started talking.in Chichewa ( Malawian language) I felt a little nudge from a young girl next to me.  I turned to her and very quietly she said –

“We’re praying ! ”

“Oh sorry ! ”

and then for half an hour we had prayers, hymns and sermons before money was passed throughout the bus up to the front and our “Bus Service” was over and we eventually set off. To cut a 5 hour journey short the little girl talked to me throughout the journey.  Every so often we stopped to let people off and suddenly we were surrounded by faces at the windows of people selling anything from crisps, fruit, sweets, toys, onions, vegetables. and somethings that I didn’t even recognise but was set straight by my information partner next to me.  At the stop before I got off, I lost my little Malawian guide as she got off. She insisted that I took a selfie of us and she disappeared off the bus..  Just as we were about to set off suddenly she appeared back on the bus at the front gave the biggest smile in the world ever and waved.  It was just like an image from the closing shots of a movie and actually an image that I will always remember

Or tI could talk about the schools that I have visited which is probably deserving of 2 or 3 blogs. The sheer size of classes, upwards from 100 to 250 children in a room with literally a blackboard and no other resources. The expanse of ground that each classroom sits on with no real boundaries for the children to play in, just an open very sandy ground. Or I could talk about an amazing school and an Irish guy who is really trying to change the way children are taught by creating and building classrooms and working with teachers in order to bring the best out of the children.  I have got all those ideas stored in my head, but the trouble is each day brings a new situation and experience. There must be a book in this somewhere ( if only I could write !!! )

Over the last couple of days I have arrived in the area that I’m going to be living in for the next year. The town is Mangochi, a fairly large town by Malawian standards. One main road that runs through it with a few roads that lead off the main road.  And off each of these roads are roads which are not tarmaced just sand and dust. As you go along these paths and roads the overwhelming sight is one of people walking, bicycles, and animals, generally goats and cows of all shapes and sizes.

People walking probably equal the number of bicycles being ridden. If you’ve ever been to Cambridge or Oxford, you’ll know that there are bicycles everywhere.  Compared to Mangochi the number of bicycles in these two University towns are minimal.  There are bicycles everywhere.  Many of them are taxi bicycles, with a padded seat on the back of the saddle.  When I say padded, slight exaggeration as its more like a very thin seat covered in leather. You can either sit sidesaddle or just go for it and sit with your legs either side. Walking down the roads every 50 metres there are ‘taxi bicycles’ strapping enormous loads on to the back of the bikes, people climbing on to the back of the bike with all kinds of articles and bags just balanced on their heads, boxes, plates of fruit, clothes wrapped in a large sheet you name it they balance it on their head.  When you initially see the goods balanced on the head you think that its amazing how they do it, but to then get on the back of a bicycle and still balance it, is just awesome. Whilst walking along the street today, I was continually asked if I wanted a ride.  I declined adding Id rather walk.  With every request to ride you get a very cheery smile, and a laugh and a joke about why not ride instead of walk.

The main streets as I said are mainly tarmac but the side roads are very much dirt tracks. deciding to go and explore, particularly on the motor bike can be an experience as the back wheel slides from side to side as you go over the sand.  I guess its a bit like riding on a beach.  Which is very similar to the paths that people walk along when they aren’t walking along the road! It’s exactly like a path that leads down to a beach, reasonably hard but covered in sand and dust.  In many places there are small blue plastic bags which have been discarded. Being one of very few none Malawians, if not the only one ! I walk down the street and I am  fairly conspicuous. Most people look at you and a great many say hello in all different sorts of ways but the main greeting is – “Hello, How are you, Very well thank you” This is usually said with a smile and in one continuous breath even before I can say “Hello” and “How are you?” The warmth of people is amazing.  If you smile even just slightly the greeting always always comes straight back “Hello, How are you, Very well thank you”

Today I went to a TNM shop ( which is one of the main mobile phone distributors in Malawi) to ask how I put additional air time on a wifi device that I have purchased as it is difficult sometimes to get wifi.  There was a very long queue as usual – they say the British are a nation of ‘queuers’ but compared to Malawians – wow – just try and go to an ATM machine or the bank at the end of the month i.e. payday – you can be there for hours ! I complain when I have to wait 5 minutes in Nat West in England !!! but here they wait extremely patiently and don’t complain at all. Any way I was in TNM, waiting I guess behind at least 8 other people and you moved along a seat when the person had finished at the counter. When, a lovely old man ( actually he was probably younger than me ! ) just said ” You go next !” I declined the offer but he insisted again and again.  The rest of the queue agreed with him and despite my protestations I was literally forced to go next and sit at the counter and feeling very uncomfortable as my query took ages, but when I had finished, the queue which had now doubled in size, just smiled at me and said ” No problem !” Can you imagine that happening in England ???   Throughout my time here I have only met with a great sense of warmth and helpfulness – they say Malawi is the Warm Heart of Africa – so far it certainly is !

 

 

Buttocks and Bouncing Balls

Well, having been here for a while – actually only 3 weeks but it seems like a while. And I guess that its debatable if three weeks is a while or not …… anyway I digress …… having spent every weekend in solitary confinement within my accommodation I was fortunate enough to be invited out by other volunteers who are working in Lilongwe. So in the words of Beverley Knight I decided to “Get Up” and accept the invitations. (showing my Pub Quiz pop knowledge there ! )   The first invitation was to join in a hill climb / walk. The hill in question is called Bunda – a Portugese/Brazilian word apparently that means Buttocks , Ass or Bum – no comment ! (Google it – it is honestly !) Now ‘Bunda’ is a bit like Moel Fammau (I think that’s how it’s spelt. ) because when I used to live in Chester I loved to look out to the Welsh mountains and listen to the Welsh choirs singing ………. ( well maybe not !) and see Moel Famau (Ive checked the spelling now and also started talking with a Welsh lilt – what’s that about  ?) This was the tallest mountain that I could  see from my house.  Well similarly ‘Bunda’ stands in the distance when you are in Lilongwe …….. except it’s steeper. higher , more remote and far far more difficult to walk up.  But not to be discouraged by that fact off we set in two cars to the foot of the hill. There are a number of things you have to understand in trying to envisage what I mean by the foot of the hill.  All around the land is perfectly flat and then like a cone just stuck on the land, Bunda rises up in front of you. There is no road of course that leads to the bottom, but a very bumpy dirt track with numerous pot holes and ridges, On arriving at the foot of Bunda there were a number of adults and children milling around two or three straw thatched houses.
We parked the cars and gave some money to the ladies sat on the wooden bench who said that they would look after the cars.  Now this wasn’t a “Do you want us to look after your cars mate or else we’ll pull your wing mirrors off” which one might find in some certain cities in England , but more of a ” We will look after your cars for you sir” and as we were kind of parked within 2 feet of their front doors – fair enough.

And so began the walk/climb up Bunda. We were joined by a group of 4 or 5 boys aged between 6 and 10 who offered to be our bodyguards, and guided us as to the best way.  This wasn’t like a walk up a  hill in the Lake district, or the Pennines  where you weaved your way through the rocks or at the very least some footholds to aid your ascent.  If you can imagine getting hold of your tiled bathroom floor at one side and tilting it at an angle of 60º, and trying to walk up it with a lean of 45º then the is what it was like climbing up Bunda – smooth granite rock.   Needless to say the boys, barefooted, jumped and danced their way up the slope, clearly knowing every turn. rock, slope that there was.  They had obviously grown up on this mountain and it was theirs. They took great delight in showing off its hazards and wonders.  Even more amazing was that as we were walking up, leaning at an angle of roughly 45º, coming in the opposite direction were ladies, many with babies strapped to them walking absolutely beautifully down the mountain, no panting, no looking that it was difficult, no looking tired, just walking , ………and there is no other word for it … majestically down the slope

It was an amazing walk up and I soon realised that this mountain had  certain religious connotations as at the top were some very crudely, yet beautifully  built shelters for people to go and stay in possibly for 2 or 3 days to pray.

At the top the views were absolutely amazing, due to the flatness of the surrounding land.    

Views that were well worth the climb. In fact it was so calm and peaceful to just sit on the top that there was clearly a danger of staying up there for too long, and let the sun go down behind the horizon, as in Malawi it does tend to get dark around 5:30 to 6:00.  But we pulled ourselves away from the views and set off down, marvelling at the amazing sunset.

Thankful that our guides knew the exact route down as the sun eventually set, and we made it down just as the sun had set and we were in darkness.

The next excursion the following day, was completely different – a football match between two of the biggest teams in Malawi – Bullets v Silver  Now Bullets who have no sponsor,  apparently are ‘The People’s Team of Malawi and Silver do have sponsorship.  They are two rival teams who are from Lilongwe. Walking to the stadium was very much like a football match in England, crowds, people selling souvenirs. food etc.  We went into the expensive seats because this was the only side with a roof..  When I say seats it’s actually steps that you sit on, but everyone sits on the steps and no-one stands up on this side at all.  Whilst on the other three sides it’s all standing with no cover at all. The stadium probably holds about 15,000.  The pitch showed a few signs of grass but was extremely hard which meant the ball bounced excessively.  This bounce invariably meant that tackles were occasionally high and a number of injuries were sustained.  Whether this was normal or not I’m not sure but at least 8 players were taken off by stretcher during the game. There were various dances and considerable cheering as Silver took the lead 2- 0.  Two highlights of the match occurred towards the end of the Game, some stones were thrown at a player from The Silver team.  This resulted in the players and the referee standing around while the armoured car, throbbed into action and sped around to the far side of the pitch.  Now at this point I was going to take a photograph, but remembering my previous interaction with Officials within Malawi, I slid my camera back in to my pocket, as these guys in the Armoured car clearly meant business and I didn’t fancy explaining that I had just arrived and was unaware of anything at all !!!!!!.  The crowd who clearly were the target of the armoured car quickly disappeared, as the armoured car carried on its way around the pitch trying to spot the stone thrower – thoughts of Life of Brian came into my head ……….(Im not going to explain you’ll just have to watch the film and look out for the stone throwers !) –

Whilst all this was going on the referee restarted the game, and Bullets scored a goal but it was not acknowledged as a goal until at least 4 minutes after it had been scored ! The crowd needless to say were not happy with the result and as the match finished there were various ‘discussions’ going on between supporters.

 

 

To round the day off we visited a bar on the way home.  With iron bars on the counter of the Bar you had to pass your money through the bars and receive your drinks in a similar manner.  With our drinks in our hands we no sooner had put the drinks to our lips than all the electricity went off, and we were plunged in to the dark. Fortunately I remembered where my mouth was and it didn’t stop me from drinking a ‘Green’ , the local ale.

The electricity and hence the lights stayed off for the rest of the evening – drinking to the light of the torch on the iPhones – just a normal evening in Malawi, but a great one at that.