Francis Hoffman

Today was the first day of work; and work we did–after meeting the students of Mbidi School and receiving a magnificent welcome, and touring the facilities.

Getting off the bus, the day began quite overwhelmingly. Pulling into the school area was also quite emotional watching the children run after the bus. Once off the bus, the students came in swarms, crowding around to say hello and get their pictures taken.

They absolutely LOVED seeing their pictures after. They would giggle, and crowd around the camera, giggle some more and ask for another picture.

We saw the 4 classrooms, one storage room, the teachers’ office, and the latrines. Now let me say something about the latrines. As first time users of a latrine, Rhonda and I had a fun experience. It was literally a brick room with a cement floor and hole in the ground that you do your business in. Not as smelly as I was expecting, though. There is one girl and one boy latrine and 700 students at the school; hence our building the school another set.

The welcome was very well organized. Many of the kids had prepared songs and dances to welcome us. There was a poem, the choir sang a couple songs, and there was a theatrical performance with costumes and stilts. One of the most spectacular parts was a song and dance that the “All mighty Flame of Africa” (which is the name the school’s standard 5 teacher goes by) choreographed. All of these were focused on thanking the Rotary for their great support.

Time to talk about the classrooms. There are four of them, and their sizes were too small for the classes—all of them, sitting on the floor. Two of the classrooms were not even classrooms at all. They were outdoors, under a tree. As well, the teachers’ office *see below was too small for any type of productivity.

So then we began. As part of the building process, a couple of inches of sand is left on the cement floors to help it cure. The group had to remove the sand before anything else in the rooms could be done. We also prepped the walls for painting, cleaned up the area surrounding the building, assisted with laying bricks, and put in a couple skylights.

The children were great workers! Every one was eager to help; so eager, in fact, my shovel, or my mop, or my broom or whatever I was using would be confiscated by either a student or school worker to use to help out. The extra help made it quick work, and it added to the atmosphere. Rhonda even had a line up of kids passing bricks one by one from one brick pile to a brick pile closer to the worksite.

Agnass cooked us lunch. That was delicious, and I look forward to her cooking all next week. Traditional method of eating in Africa is to use your hands as utensils. The headmaster, Andrew, was interesting to watch because he would roll the rice, etc. in his hands into a ball and then eat it like that.

When lunch was all said and done, and the children had gone home for the day, the team was done too. We hopped back on the bus and headed for Annie’s Lodge for some R&R. Now we’re at Paul’s place writing this blog and getting in contact with all of our loved ones.

Frances Hoffman

Roosters, and bells. Malawi has loud and really early mornings. We started our day (well we had breakfast) at 7:30 this morning. Most of us were awake before thanks to Mr. Rooster outside the cabin doors. The place we stayed at last night (Dedza Pottery and Lodge) was quite posh.

Weather report: warm, but not too hot! It gets really cool at night, which I thought being the raddest snowboarder in all of Calgary that it wouldn’t be a problem. It’s much more humid, though. Malawi smells like a constant bonfire, which I guess it is. People are constantly burning the remnants of harvested crops. Also surprising is how green the vegetation is. At the moment, it is the most green the landscape will get (the wet season just ended, so the most rain the country will get . It is absolutely breathtaking. Because a picture is worth a thousand words, I’m not even going to try. Here’s a picture from the backyard last night.

So then guess what we did. Got back in a bus. We have finally arrived in Zomba, and unpacked at Annie’s Lodge. Also beautiful.

This afternoon we had an exciting trip to the market, where Chris and Paul organized a little “scavenger hunt” for us. They gave us 6 articles to find Chichewa and bargain the best price for. Winner paid the least and got all the correct items. Apparently years past some people were tricked by the vendors, and incorrectly translated the items to something that they sold. Winner of this years’ competition is still to be announced.

As you would expect, it was small and narrow alleyways and quite dirty. The people were very nice, many people eager to help us on our quests. There was everything from live chickens and dead cows hanging up, to screws, mops and plastic plates. What else is there to say about the market? Definitely worth exploring.

And a big shout out to the 04.25 Club! I love you so much Jamie and Dave. Happy birthdays! I got chocolate cake 🙂 Thanks Paul and Helen

Frances Hoffman

I feel… like the last… forever of my life… has been spent on this plane. Destination: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Just a quick 15-hour flight from Toronto–no big deal.

Once we arrive in Ethiopia, there will be a two-hour layover before our next three-hour flight to Lilongwe, Malawi. THEN we have a bus to Zomba, Malawi. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? NO!

I am slowly going crazy

That being said…

All this travel will be worth it. I’ve been doing some reading on the country and figure now is as good a time as any to brief everyone on Malawi and what exactly it is the Malawi Sweat Equity Trip 2013 is to accomplish.

SO Malawi *eh he hem. This is a small, land locked country in South Central Africa, with one of the poorest economies in the world. In fact, it has one of the three lowest GDP per capitas in all of Africa at just under $200 USD. The country’s economy is heavily dependent on agriculture with coffee being one of the country’s main exports (Brian has warned me, though, that the coffee where we will be staying will actually be terrible. At least that’s something to look forward to…)

Health standards in Malawi are shocking. A person’s life expectancy is 35 years old! (2008 statistic, which has improved over the last 5 years but still shows the drasticity–is that a word?) The maternal mortality rate translates to approximately 13 deaths per day. Malnutrition is also a problem; it is associated with over half of the childhood deaths in Malawi. HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and Malaria are not only prevalent, but the populations most immediate causes of death. This is clearly a country that needs to focus on improving its health care. Unfortunately it is unable due to its slow economy, illiterate and uneducated workforce, and dying population.

Health system and education financing in Malawi is obviously problematic considering the country’s poverty. Most money spent on health and education is externally sourced. A sweat equity trip of 12 Canadian Rotary members for example…

Our group is there primarily to build a library for a school in Zomba. The school has been built in former years’ sweat equity trips. We are completing the library (and latrines) portion of the plans. The team has raised $25,000 towards materials and funding with the plan to make a lasting difference, and to truly understand the situation people in this country are faced with. They are also bringing a bag per person of school supplies, books, toothbrushes, etc to Malawi, so a big thanks to Ethiopian Air (way better than Air Canada) for letting us all take an extra bag. I have absolutely no idea what to expect. This trip, I expect, will open my eyes to the realities other people have to face every day, and to how I can make a real and positive difference in this world.

But on a more serious note… the flight is still not over!