Malawi : Term Two
- Lydia Hogg
- Mar 22, 2017
- 3 min read
The long, first half of Term Two is completed, and by the end we were all ready for a break. After coming back from our Christmas holiday, it was fantastic to see all the amazing people we have made relationships with over the past 6 months. I was most excited to see our housekeeper, Margaret, or as I call her, my 'Malawian mother'. Margaret has become one of the most important people to me, and I love that this year with Project Trust has allowed me to form such incredible relationships with the people of Malawi. Margaret is helping me learn how to cook nsima and always gives me mini Chichewa lessons, making me feel more and more immersed in this fascinating and loving culture.
As per usual, there were good days and bad days in the classroom. Days where the children ran around like chickens with no desire to listen to their stressed and frustrated teacher (me), and then days where a child who before couldn't spell their own name, got eight out of ten on a spelling test. A massive boost of confidence for me this half term came from Parents Day. This was a day where we got to meet all the parents to go through their children's work and discuss any issues or problems. I was overwhelmed by the amount of gratitude I received that day, having parents thank me personally for what I am doing and how much progress their children have made since I began teaching them, made me feel like all the stress and mountains of school work was worth it. It was also comforting to hear that a lot of the behaviour issues certain children had in school, were very similar to problems parents had with them at home. This gave me the reassurance that I needed, helping to kick start my self-belief again.
The fruit this season has also got us through challenging school days - utterly juicy pineapples for lunch and crunchy coconuts straight off the palm tree in the garden for breakfast. Rainy season truly hit hard this January, and living under a thatch roof with severe leaks meant we felt the brunt of it. However the dusty dry plains of the dry season have turned into utterly beautiful luscious green lands. Although I'm not sure a good view is worth having your bedroom turn into a mini version of Lake Malawi...
We've also had many hellos and goodbyes these past eight weeks. We sadly had to say goodbye to one of the girls, Niamh Martin, who taught in Standard Six. We wish her all the best back in Scotland, everyone here in Bolera Village will miss her lots. We had an extremely happy hello to the wonderful Kirsty Pattison who joined the project for just two months after Christmas. She had a massive impact on the children and all of us here, and was sure to make us laugh every single day. We will all miss her very much.
We are now coming to the end of our half term break, but it's been a fantastic adventure in Zomba; eating strangely amazing Italian food, climbing Zomba Plateau, and finishing in Blantyre with a visit to Steka orphanage. There's lots of exciting news linked to this visit however I will update you all on this in my next blog post.
I hope this post finds you well, and I thank you greatly for taking the time to read about my time here.
Sending love from Malawi, Lydia
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