Climbing the mountain

???

All will become clear. First, though, a picture of breakfast "phala". We've been meaning to share one, but until today have pretty much finished the lot before thinking of it!

Our morning pot of phala from Matrida - Gillian dishing up.

I agree with Phil and Ruth that raisins are a great addition!

Thus fortified, Gillian, Phil and I set off to the Main Office for a meeting with school staff, thinking it might be just the three Heads of School. By 8.30am, more teachers had arrived than would comfortably fit, so Patricia (a Primary School teacher who helped us enormously during last year's refurb) suggested we go instead to the Secondary School Staff Room. As even more arrived, it wasn't long before that, too, wouldn't do! So we played it safe and headed straight for the biggest venue on site - the Main Hall. We were 30 in all.

For a long time our visits to Home of Hope didn't involved much if any interaction with school staff, even though the majority are accommodated in purposed-built houses for them and their families on site, and are there through most of the school holidays. In was in 2019 that our team visiting included a retired teacher, Kay. She struck up a conversation with teaching staff, and it became "a thing" - a connection refreshed last year by team members Gill and Helen (also retired educators). Perhaps this explains the big turnout today

A round of introductions to start. We heard from everyone which of the schools they work in - Nursery, Secondary, Vocational Training College - and for how long: 5 to 7 years was typical, with just a few relative newcomers. We, from the UK, began not by welcoming everyone (that's not our place - it's we who are so warmly welcomed every time we come), but by thanking them as extraordinary teachers in an extraordinary place. Despite considerable difficulties in terms of conditions and resources, they stay. The UK education jargon "value added" is part of teaching parlance here, too - and we put it to them that there can be few places in the world where greater changes are made to children's "outcomes" than here.

We had in mind for the lion's share of the meeting a potentially sensitive conversation. Instead of talking of schools plural, what insights might be gained by setting aside thoughts of "my area"? What becomes apparent when we think "our all-through school", singular? Which is likely to benefit students more: a spirit of competition for scarce resources between the phases of their education, or a joined-up approach?

Before digging in to this - some expectations setting. We reminded the teachers that Malawi Orphan Fund is a small volunteer-led charity - able to tell their story to potential supporters? - yes; able to fund grand ideals outright (we joked about Olympic swimming pools)? - no.

So, to begin the session, a picture - on paper that suddenly looked tiny in the middle of such a big group!

For many children at Home of Hope, the Nursery (N) starts their formal "education journey" - another teaching buzz-phrase also recognised here - then on they go to Primary, Secondary, and for these purposes, Vocational courses. Another away of saying it: the Primary School receives its pupils from the Nursery. Are they healthy, settled, secure, well socialized? The Secondary School welcomes pupils from the Primary. Can they read? Numeracy? Each part has a stake in the others.

Below on the same picture, about that "education journey": many sections appear smooth, but look - there's a fire to avoid (not great drawing - but I was kneeling on a concrete floor), a large pot-hole to swerve, and (here it is), a mountain to scale. Now here comes someone with $10 to spend on improving education. Where on the road do we invest? How about some flowers to cheer up the charred pupil? Or a nice big sign at the end to congratulate the descending mountaineers? Irony bounces off some cultures. Works just fine in Malawi.

Spot the difference

Time to break into small groups, mixed by school phase (important!), with fifteen minutes to discuss "What achievable changes might make the biggest difference to children’s education outcomes at Home of Hope?”

Wonderful to hear the passion as I wandered the hall, dropping in on conversations. No shortage of problems identified and solutions proposed, and there were clearly several strong themes in common across the groups. Back in the big circle, time for feedback from each group.

Appointed spokespersons from each summarised their findings. It's more the spirit of their sharing than the content that I want to convey here. Who raised the issue of the VTC boys' temporary accommodation, following the loss of their hostel? The Secondary School Head did. Not "her area", but her concern as a member of Home of Hope's "one school". Who spoke with feeling of the mountain to be climbed by Secondary students preparing for further education? It was the Head of the Primary School. Again and again, the staff of one area voiced the needs of another. A real sense of pulling for the pupils, rather than pulling for "my patch".

"This was good. Why didn't we do it before?" challenged the Primary Head teacher wryly after closing the session with a prayer. He was gripping my hand and fixing my eye. "Well, we only just thought of it!"

We watched groups of staff walking away, animated, still chatting. The Secondary Head 'phoned Lucy to say how encouraging it had been. Meeting over, we had not a penny more to throw at anything, but a much clearer story to tell.

Do you know a school that might want to hear it and contribute or link in some way? As of today, they're officially invited on an Educator Exchange (one of the Primary Head's ideas)!

Once we're back in the UK, would you like to help us digest what we heard and look for solutions?

Let us know at info@malawiorphanfund.uk.

After lunch [note here: the lads on the team (Phil and I), not known for our cheffing skills, wish to publicly thank Gillian, Jo, Ruth, for the lunches! Important to add that we can and do wash up]... after lunch, Ruth, Phil and I accompanied VTC staff over to the Store Room with tools, some donated, some new. Tools are heavy! so there was a limit to what we could bring in our airline luggage as a small group. More to follow in due course, perhaps in a container leaving UK next month. They showed us lists of the items sent in a container earlier this year - some already in use, some held in reserve as spares.

Ruth noticed quite a large number of sewing machines in a section of the store. They're all in need of repair. "These need specialist attention". It turns out that for the older Singer-type machines, Ruth is one such! "These things are the Land Rovers of the sewing machine universe. You can take them apart and get them back to together no problem." We hope there will be time here for Ruth to pass on some of her confidence and skills. "This dust," she said, wiping a finger across the plastic case of an electric sewing machine. "It's not good. These machines aren't going to work." Indeed those very machines are also in need of repair. Tough on buildings, tough on machines, this environment.

Sewing machines in need of repair

A large quantity of new and used tools donated by Phil's Bedford-based company SDC and sent by container were there safely in the Store. We asked whether the VTC staff were familiar with the 240 to 110 volt step-down transformers, and associated power tools. Phil plugged in a transformer and demonstrated it powering-up a 110V angle grinder.

Tools donated by SDC, Bedford

"Please don't hesitate to ask us questions about anything we send," we encouraged them. "Tell us when we get it wrong. If something's not suitable we'd rather you sell it than just keep it taking up space." Indeed as we look around, there are many old items on shelves - some not used for over a decade. There can be an intense feeling that everything given by donors (who of course mean well) must be honoured by keeping out of date or even frankly useless items. An all-too common sight here is shelves of text books from other countries. Right subject: wrong syllabus. Do I walk into a UK school and find students studying from a Canadian (genuinely random example) text books?

This isn't a criticism of the Store Room manager, rather the all too common and utterly cringe-worthy power imbalance between North and South. Shudder. (Are we allowed a little rant once in a while?) And I'm not saying we're immune. We (I, us here) need to guard out attitude closely and regularly.

Anthony Liwewe the VTC Principle, and others of his team, are waiting for us in the staff room - actually one of the spaces intended for teaching. We spend an hour or so all together, first wrestling with how Level 3 status and associated benefits (see yesterday's post) might be achieved in manageable steps. Anthony has been thinking along similar lines. "We can complete just enough of the Admin Block to get approved," he agrees. "And other colleges have the Library [another condition for Level 3 approval] in the Admin building - we don't have to have a separate one for that at first." In our view, this brings Level 3 approval from a million miles away to something with fewer zeros. Good news, but "no cigar" just yet.

Another angle on shortening the delay on approval: does it need to be for all four VTC courses? "The majority of applications for the VTC are for Carpentry and Joinery, we can start with just that one." From the point of view of finding support, this is more good news. And there's still more. We learned that the machine tools required don't have to be the big monster kind you'd find in a commercial joinery, but something more like a serious hobbyist or DIY'er might have. Much more achievable.

Mr Liwewe (centre) and some of his VTC team

Final topic of the meeting, the existing Level 1 and 2 courses' immediate needs, and things are less upbeat. In the last ten minutes of our time we learn that the Tailoring course is sitting on no materials (zero, none) with start of term only two weeks away. The teacher's calm about this is understandable: it's nothing new. We ask in detail about budgets for consumables for the courses (fabric, timber, sheet metal, sand etc. etc.), and where best to buy. "VTC materials" is one of the hungriest budget lines here. Reminder to ourselves: even in such straightened circumstances, almost all the students pass - and most who don't probably shouldn't even have been entered for various reasons. It's a huge achievement. Laugh? Cry? It's a bit confusing! Let's try Don't Panic.

Back to base.