Easter in Malawi

Lydia Hogg
May 25, 2017
6 min read

The last 5 weeks of Term Two were some of the best with my class. We welcomed a wonderful new Teaching Assistant called Madam Jacqueline - a lively, caring lady who helped me massively in Standard 2. With her help, I was able to do lots of fun and exciting activities with the children. For example, finger painting to make pictures of fruit trees, and eating fruit salad, linked to our theme of plants and eating healthy. We also sang a song in assembly in relation to our term theme called 'Plant A Little Seed', one which I learnt in primary school. The children performed it beautifully and I was very proud of them. Some children enjoyed the song so much I could hear them singing it as we strolled through the village.

I also took the opportunity to visit some of the children's homes in Mangochi. I first went to visit a girl in Standard 6 called Wonderful. My close housemate, Charly, and I went to her mother's shop 'Cheapest 2', which was colourful and welcoming. There we ate plain biscuits and drank sweet juice, before going to her home in the town, where we were given a grand tour and offered tea with chips. It was fascinating to see a townhouse with electricity and running water compared to the village houses back in Bolera. The house had a dirty but functioning toilet and shower, two bedrooms with several mattresses and beds squeezed in, and a living space with a stiff sofa and a broken TV. The walls were dirty and stained and the cooking area was outside. Looking at Wonderful's home with European standards in mind, you'd question the family's happiness and believe they struggled massively to make ends meet. However, Wonderful and her family were so proud to show us their big home with electricity and running water, with actual beds and mattresses. Compared to Bolera Village standards, this house was a palace. It was fantastic to see how excited Wonderful was to show us her home. I have found that it doesn't matter if you're visiting a village mud hut, or a Mangochi townhouse, the families in Malawi are all so proud of what they have, and will always welcome you into their special homes.

I also had the chance to visit two other homes in Mangochi with Charly. I went to see Sean and Blessings - two lovely boys who are both in my class. Again, it was fascinating to see the way these children lived compared those in the village. Blessings, a hardworking and quiet boy, welcomed us lovingly into his home and introduced us to his father and siblings who greeted us with mandazis and Coca-Cola. We chatted for hours with his caring and interesting father, Wellington, who wanted more than anything to give his children a good life and help them work hard to succeed. It was amazing to see such ambition in Wellington, and I wish him all the best for the future. Sean, a chubby boy who loves to draw, took pride in showing us his HD plasma screen TV. We spent the afternoon watching programmes on the Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel and chatted to his wonderful mother. We were also invited to Sean's birthday party the following weekend. Here we ate a big, blue iced birthday cake ordered from a bakery in Blantyre, and watched Sean open his presents - funky sunglasses, a new watch, chocolate and a big toy truck. It was extremely exciting for Charly and I to eat cake and watch TV, but fascinating to start to understand the difference between rich and poor in Malawi, and notice the big divide between them.

Times in the village this term have also brought many happy memories. A lovely girl named Jessi in my class had a new baby brother, and I was kindly asked to give a name. I decided to name him Matthew, after my own amazing brother. He is a strong, healthy baby and it was an honour to be able to welcome him into the world. I also spent some time to visit baby Dorothy, who has just turned 6 months old. It's lovely to have such a close relationship with a family who do not have children in Bolera Palms School, as it gives me some time away from that part of my life here, and helps me get to know more of the village. I spent a lot of time at Margaret's house too; trying sugar cane and raw cassava, having my hair plaited and playing with the twins, Lisa and Laura - my 'Malawian sisters'. We also celebrated Margaret's youngest daughter's first birthday. Holly was full of giggles and smiles the whole day and was fascinated by all the colourful balloons at her party. We tucked into Margaret's incredible food and listened to all the girls' favourite music, it was a brilliant day. I also went to visit my good friend Agnes who has recently been very sick. Agnes decided it was best for her to go and see a Witch Doctor, also called a Traditional Doctor, to help cure her illness. She left her eldest daughter, Mary, in charge of the family with MK1000 for soap, and went to a neighbouring village to see her doctor. For a period of time, it was quite worrying for us. Agnes' health got worse and worse, and she became so weak that she could barely speak. It was clear that the herbal medicines and traditional methods used by her doctor were not helping as much as they needed to. In this case, Agnes was in need of a medical doctor and prescribed medicine from the clinic. She found it very hard to leave the Witch Doctor's as was told that if she did, she would most likely die. But with our support, she made it to the clinic and has been given the appropriate medicine to cure her sickness. Agnes is already so much better and is back to her usual giggling self. It was lovely to sit and chat with her one hot, lazy afternoon when she was back comfortably at home.

There was lots of school work to be done throughout this term too, as per usual. Standard Three - Seven had to complete exams whilst we had to write reports for the children. Margaret helped to get us through the long days of school work by feeding us her incredible rice and beans, and we also made it a mission to watch all the Harry Potters. To celebrate the end of exams, and the finishing of all the reports, Charly, Charlie, Hannah and I, the Bolera Palms School volunteers, went for our last holiday as a group to Cape Maclear. We spent the weekend eating pancakes for breakfast, sunbathing in the hot sun and drinking a few too many ciders in the evenings.

The short term finished with Prize Giving and Sports Day. Prize Giving is a celebration of all the work achieved by each class, performances of clubs and handing out of reports. It was fantastic to see the children show their work, and there were some brilliant performances. The 'Gule Wamkulu' club wowed everybody with their performance of a traditional Malawian dance with costumes and props, and my dance club did very well too, showing all the different styles of dance we had learnt about. Sports Day was also great fun. Everyone took part in a range of races; from 50m sprints to sack jumping. There were also races for the parents, the toddlers and the teachers, which were all great fun, but hilariously competitive. The three houses; Green Zebra, Blue Elephant and Yellow Hippo, sang and chanted songs to spur on their teammates and celebrate each victory. In the end, my team, Green Zebra won the Sports Day cup. The children exploded with excitement and ran around the field clapping and dancing, and showing off their well-deserved trophy. It was a brilliant day and a lovely way to finish the term.

On the first Monday of the Easter Holidays, I travelled to Blantyre for a very exciting reason... To pick up my family from the airport! After not having seen them for eight months, it was an emotional reunion. We had the best ten days together and did so many lovely things; walks through the village to meet baby Matthew, baby Stevie and baby Dorothy, a feast at Margaret's house and an Easter egg hunt for the girls, a boat tour around the stunning islands of Cape Maclear as the sun set over the lake, a trip to Liwonde National Park where we saw baboons, antelope, hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, many beautiful birds and at the very end an elephant, a hike up the Zomba Plateau to visit Williams Falls followed by delicious Italian food, and finally a trip to STEKA Care Home in Blantyre. It was such a fantastic ten days to spend time with my beautiful family and show them everything I love about Malawi, I will treasure the time here with them forever. During these ten days, however, we had to say a very sad goodbye to Charly who left to go home to Germany. Charly has been a massive part of my life here and I will miss her so much, we all wish her the best of luck in her studies and hope to see her very soon.