from Brian Edwards

Hoorah! Day 1 at the work site. After 4 days of travel and jet lag our purpose of being part of this team is coming to fruition. When we arrived at Mbidi Pre-primary school we were welcomed with song and dance from the students. Approximately 450 children from Form 1 to 6 (ages 6 to 12) bursting with joy brought tears to our eyes. The ten members of the team sat on the only bench, which had been set out for us. The students gathered on the ground in front to sit quietly under the watchful eye of the 8 teachers.

Our partner in the school development program is Emmanuel International,(EI) a Canadian Christian missionary organization with a large active organization in Malawi. The school principal welcomed us, explaining to us the history of the school and work to be done, and explaining to the students our commitment to service and to help. Paul Jones, the EI country director explained the term “Sweat Equity” – we provide both physical and intellectual labour, our “sweat” to create value or “equity” for a community. The local teachers and parents also participate to provide their “sweat” to build “equity” in the community. After a play put on by some teachers to further explain to the student our work and speech from the Ministry of Education primary schools advisor, the Rotary team lead Chris Snyder spoke of our efforts and commitment to development of the school. We are participating in the building of 2 new classrooms to be a total of 6 for the school. Currently much teaching occurs outdoors or in thatch built structures.

Our day was spent painting concrete walls and doing some carpentry for doors. We will be painting for much of the time we are here as many, many coats are required to make the classrooms bright and conducive to learning. We will also be working with local carpenters to build benches and tables for both students and teachers to enable them to get up off the floor.

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