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Infancy to Independence, but no hurry.
Church this morning was graced by four choirs (this seems to be a minimum!). We tried to make the "talky bit|" (my turn - Phil got his wish) participative, with some of the children doing a mock litter pick-up from the church floor as part of a point on patience with others (favouring behaviour modelling over insistent "telling"). This all based on "The parable of the growing seed" - one of my favourites. God describes himself as many things - a woman looking for a lost coin, for example - and here, an expectant but patient farmer. Jesus requires little translation in rural Malawi.
In the afternoon - rest - a possible meeting in Mchinji, the local town, cancelled. Phil and Ruth went for a wander as the cool evening air began to refresh the place, and were hailed (in Chichewa) by a lady who wanted to show them the vegetable garden she'd planted around her home. They found her joy and and obvious pride in what she's cultivating in her own corner delightful.
I too was out and about, taking a few final photos here and there. Tomorrow's our last day. We'll set out for Lilongwe at 9am Tuesday morning. I bumped into Mr Kademba. Christopher is an instructor at the VTC. "Have you see it close up, what we finished last year?" He was referring to a small section of climbing wall the 2023 team worked to construct and fix to an outside wall of the Main Office. As we attempted to fix up the planks, adorned with their colourful, rock-texture hand and footholds, soft mud bricks in the wall had start to crack and/or move with the high pressure from the metal expansion bolts! Mr Kademba had said then, "Ah leave it. We'll finish it."
Mr Kademba, with children on the climbing wall
Fix it he did, using metal plates on the inside walls to spread the load.
"Do you know the significance of this place?" Christopher asked, then answered the question: "Here there's an end to loneliness." He looked around the whole play area - the broken swings, the vehicle tyres half buried edge-on, the termite-troubled climbing frame. "That one has parents [a child of staff]. That one has none. Can you tell the difference? They're all here to play."
I started musing aloud about a visit here next year with a larger team for a longer stay - what could be done to fix things up. "Please don't say 'next year' for this one," urged Christopher. Children come here every day. It's their special place." Noted! "Help us with the resources, and the VTC students can do any and all of this work. Students learn. Things get done. Two for one!" Compelling case, and something for us to consider as a group.
As Malawi Orphan Fund, this kind of tie-in between the Vocational Training Centre and the wider "Village" is just the kind of efficiency and synergy we look for. Christopher is pushing an open door - or perhaps, gate.
"Made in Malawi": Gates fabricated at the VTC
One of many benefits of "being here" again this time has been to sharpen our view on Enterprise possibilities. Fish and Macadamia - "green light", and they are just the start if investors can be found. The "pads project" is already producing marketable goods. Honey from hives on the hill? The list of possible targets for investment is exciting, and those gates point to another. "The government has started playing down carpentry and playing up metal work," said Christopher. This makes sense. Trees are scarce in Malawi. It just so happens that the "gap" to be closed for the VTC to produce saleable metal-work goods is very low. Almost all the tools are here. The needs, then? Raw materials (metal sheet, tube section, nuts-bolts-screws-washers, paint etc) and consumables like welding rods and cutting and grinding discs. There's a real sense that 2025 can be "lift-off" for Enterprise revenue. "But why do you say 'next year'?", I can hear Mr Kademba say!
What do you think? Comment below, or email info@malawiorphanfund.uk
So, tomorrow: wrap-up day. Our heads are feeling a bit "bursty". Patience. Things take time to grow and change. Many seeds sown here, in many directions. Some will flourish, we're sure.
Canna lillies spotted by Ruth. Seeds + tending + time.
Alex, Gillian, Jo, Phil, Ruth
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