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 !!
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!. 
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
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 !!! )
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”
to have transport. As I’ve already mentioned this means learning to ride a motor bike. A long time ago, before the BCT training ( i.e. having to pass initial training before going out onto the roads – yes I’m that old !) .) I rode a motor bike to a school. Quite badly I might add – who can forget the wheelie (is that how you spell it ?) down the drive towards the garage door ! As those of you who are keen (or daft ) enough to have read the previous blogs will know I passed the figure of 8 in the car park and was allowed to venture out onto the roads of Blackburn. Well something very similar happens in Malawi except ………………………. its zig-zags around very closely spaced 10 cones. I’m sure they were further apart in England ! At the beginning of the week I managed to kill 9 of the 10 cones, but after much swearings and repetitive shouts of “Come on I can do this !!! ” at the end of the week I was judged to be safe to ride on the roads of Malawi. When I say roads I of course mean roads and …….. dirt tracks. Fortunately they drive on the same side of the road. So off I went following the instructor through the roads of the capital city of Malawi. That’s where the similarities between Blackburn and Lilongwe stop.
Mini-buses rammed full with people ( the popular form of transport in Malawi, similar to our buses but nothing like ! ) who never show any signs of pulling away, turning left or turning right……… in fact no indications whatsoever, except to yell out of the window at fellow road users; a great number of cyclists who compete for the roads and side ways with the pedestrians, a few goats who randomly cross the road, dogs who usually just cross the road with no thought of the Highway Code and of course cars and motor bikes!
confident when we turned down a track that even if I was on foot I would consider fairly difficult to walk down. …………….. managing to avoid large ridges that go along the road, humps that go across the road , holes that appear from nowhere, slopes that disappear into large ditches and all on extremely dusty, sand like surfaces…………. and of course the goats, people, children and the whole world going along this track at exactly the same time as me ! Just about managing to weave my way through these challenges bringing back memories of going to Motor Bike scramble events at Hawkstone Park – here I was the ‘Lampkin’ ( how on earth do I remember his name I was 14 the last time I went to a scramble event !! ) of the Malawian dirt tracks ……..
this point I did what all motor cyclists people do when they think – Oh My Goodness ! …………. ( well I did anyway ) I leaned as far as i dare to the left, the truck being on my left ……. and yes you’ve guessed it …. closed my eyes !!!!!! I know you shouldn’t but I guess it was a reflex reaction. Waiting to hear a noise of my wing mirror being ripped off I opened my eyes and somehow, and I’ll never know quite how but the truck had gone past me and I was carrying on up the track. ………….. They say Four wheels move the body and Two wheels move the soul – well I have to say it was more than my soul that moved !
The staple diet is either chicken (in all forms) and Nsima. This is cooked, ground white maize flour that is used as the stodge ( and I mean that in the nicest way) for the majority of malawian meals. Eaten with your fingers this was my introduction to Malawian food. But to eat it you have to wash your hands first. I walked over to the sink and turned the tap on but no water. Fortunately my ‘minder’ while I’m country orientating was with me and asked them to turn on the water. Apparently it is turned off to save for when there is a problem with water supply. As I don’t have a big appetite I only managed one Nsima. As people had previously told me it has no taste at all but is very filling. So filling that I haven’t eaten another one – yet !
My home for the next few days is the Country Office in the guest house. I’m staying here until accommodation can be found for me in Mangochi. I guess at the moment I’m very lucky as I do have a fairly secure wifi access something I won’t have when I go ‘into the country . We have guards on the gates and it does take some getting used to them letting you out and then knocking on the
out for a yoghurt ! ( not that I used to eat yoghurt but you get the gist …………..and I do now! ……..)
money into a machine and click its done – in Malawi you get the personal touch. A lovely photo shop with a pulled curtain and a chair at the far end of the room. A gentleman with a camera appears and takes your photo – telling me head to the left, no thats too much, not enough – ( I really couldn’t do a photo shoot. ) And then hey presto in a few minutes you’re given your 2 Passport photos.
this is devised by people who just want to create patterns with cones and make you drive around them on a two wheeled vehicle that was never made to go round cones spaced only a few metres apart. So here we go again and according to local legend (or so I am told) if I’m ok on the bike then I will only need 5 days of training to be ready for the Malawian roads and if I hit the cones or don’t manoeuvre in a figure of 8, 6 times successfully I’ll need 15 days !!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait ! As I write this I am awaiting to hear the full verdict and the sentence !
Then we come to the Comfort zone……….. well actually not the comfort zone at all. As far removed from the comfort zone that you can get! Two days after the VSO training – oh by the way we’ve booked you on some motor bike training days and it’s in 3 days time !
I decided to take the cowards way out, and just sit down, like a child waiting outside the headmasters office, and wait to be told what to do whilst a collection of other riders came in and donned the gear. Clearly they all had experience of riding and being there before, as these largish gentlemen ( well larger than me – not difficult I know) many bearded, put their armour on ready to do battle in the gladiator ring known as the ‘The Conned Playground’