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Feb 1
Sunny Nsanje. Today started with the guys heading out a little later at 530 because the bus got stuck on the way in. They had a good headstart on the heat and got tons of stuff done before the girls showed up at 745 with breakfast and hot coffee. After a short break to chow down, we all went to work on the field. Ruben got some of us reluctantly interviewed with kids crowding around. Azungus (white people) are the highlight of the kids' day; always asking "How are how?" and "What is your name?" They all want to hold your hand and hang around you as much as possible.
After that, the girls and Ruben headed to the Nyamithuthu child center to do a presentation on feminine hygiene. There was about fifty girls from standard 6 and up with a teacher translating. Most of these girls have never been educated on menstrual health, because it's a huge taboo topic here so these girls miss weeks of education because theyre not able to keep themselves clean for hours at school. The highlight of the presentation was Ruben demonstrating how to use the reusable pads and women's underwear that Days for girls organization put together. We could tell the girls were very grateful for this, as they all left the classroom with smiles on their faces. We got back to Chigumikure in time for the lunch opening ceremony so we met with the guys again and sang Amazing Grace to the kids, and they sang a psalm in Chichewa for us. Some of us had a typical Malawian lunch of nsima, cabbage, and soy stuff. Mmmm! Others (those who were not quite so daring) had a granola bar instead. Since the guys were finished all the work in the field, all of us visited each classroom from nursery to standard 8 to give baskets of supplies to the teachers and coloring books with crayons, lollipops, stickers, and bracelets to the kids. The teachers and children were so grateful for everything. While we were visiting, Antonie, our busdriver washed the entire bus by hand. He is a good sport about it even though we walk onto the bus with filthy shoes everyday! That guy is truly the best driver around, doing everything we ask and some things we don't ask including taking our group pictures to playing with the kids at the center. We headed out around 330 to take a group picture at the child care sign and at a 1000 plus year old baobab tree that we pass every morning. The highlight of every bus ride is the speaker system, so Ruben sang us Wilhelmus, and Sweet Caroline today to try it out. We must be a sight to the Malawians we pass by! As we were resting at the lodge, we felt some spitting raindrops, so hopefully we can experience an African rainshower! The menu for dinner tonight is: rice, chicken, goat, and cabbage. We all chowed down and socialized for a few hours and then headed to bed to get good sleep before our last day in Nsanje
