Wednesday Lori and I attended Standard 1 to Standard 7 Classrooms to distribute toothbrushes and toothpaste to all the children. There were 182 students in Standard 1 alone! The Standard 8 Class was writing exams to qualify for high school. All the toothbrushes and paste were donated by fellow Rotarian Dr Raffy Chouljian.

With the assistance of the teachers translating the children were educated on how important it is to brush their teeth, even when the toothpaste runs out to continue to use their brushes to clean their teeth. As you can see from the photos the children were very happy and Lori and I were overwhelmed by the comments and expressions of the children.

Maureen Bird

We started out at the market to pick up 3 doz. tangerines for the ladies then off to Kachere. I had taken a group picture and they were delighted.

Kachere Ladies

While in Blantyre I had been able to get a copy for each one of them which we gave to them along with a Canada bracelet. When we get home we’ll post Joyce’s video for you to see their excitement. Two of the machines they have are not as sturdy as we would like so that meant another trip to the market for replacement parts as screws seem to strip easily. The replacement bobbins were not the greatest, seem to be homemade and difficult to wind. But we are plugging away. Yesterday we had 51 pre-schoolers there but today is a holiday, May 1, so no school, just the women working. They are so enthusiastic despite all their problems and are working so hard. The building we did in 2009 is in good shape but needs a coat of paint. We will see if we have time. Tonight we are going to the home of a Dignitas doctor for a BBQ/fundraiser. She is from Argentina so hopefully her cow won’t have died in vain. Some of the beef has been rather overdone to say the least. But nobody is starving. All of us are fine and finding it a wonderful experience.

On Wednesday we went into the City of Blantyre, known as the commercial hub of Malawi. Our first stop was at Beit CURE hospital where Rob Brown gave us a tour.

The Cure is a hospital that performs orthopedic surgeries on children in Malawi. The hospitals major supporter is Rotary but it also has private rooms where many adults, who can afford to pay for surgery, do. It was amazing to see the work that was being done there not only by the surgeons but also by the physiotherapy staff.  Below is a web link for your preview to see for yourself.

https://cure.org/malawi/

After the hospital tour we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Café Mandala also referred to as La Caverna. The restaurant is on the main level of the oldest house in Blantyre (Mandala House) with Canadian, Italian and vegetarian cuisine and wonderful desserts! Here you can view and purchase local artisans work and upstairs enjoy the museum featuring David Livingston’s work and a history of the early British settlers in Blantyre.

After lunch we had a brief stop to see the oldest church in Blantyre, St. Michael’s. The church was constructed between 1888 and 1891. A magnificent architectural building to see!

In the evening we attended the Limbe Rotary Club meeting. Along with Paul Jones we were invited to do a presentation on the work that we are doing at Mbidi School and at the Village of Kachere. It was a joint effort PowerPoint presentation, showing pictures of the school in 2013 and pictures of the new school block built now, in 2015. One Rotarian was so moved by the work that the Ladies of Kachere are doing that they offered to purchase another sewing machine for the Ladies of Kachere!

A fantastic day all around! Back to work at the school on Thursday with a visit to the local Fire Hall in Zomba in the afternoon!