07.09.09 Mrs. Hall's Malawi Experience!

Hi, well I made it and now I'm back. Thanks for all your help and support! I had an amazing time living and working in rural Malawi. The people were warm friendly and welcoming and I was sad to leave. Thanks to you, and working together we started several projects. The Chichewa books were the first reading books they had ever had and it was very exciting when they arrived. The children (and staff) were spellbound. I found that in the village I could read in Chichewa (my comprehension wasn't up to much though!) and they could not read but understood every word! Between us we read several books and they thought it was magic! The books are being well used in school by the teachers and pupils. We also started phonics in the school and workshops on human rights, Scottish dancing and cooperative games. The parachute was also a great success. I played sharks and cat and mouse with the teachers and also with the children. We used the parachute to reinforce phonics too! The classrooms are now being painted with lime and we bought blackboard paint so they can redo their black boards and also make displays. Every class had their very first painting experience in school using fabric, home made brushes and bicycle paint! I am planning to use the squares they have painted and stitch them into a quilt together with the squares I'm hoping that the classes in Gilmerton will paint too! The next special project is fundraising for some furniture for Chidewere school so they do not have to sit on the floor. They have identified this as a priority and have a local carpenter who can do this. It is also really encouraging that the community is being so supportive of their school and has started moulding mud bricks so that they can build another teacher's house.

I am having a fundraising ceilidh on 29th September in Edinburgh to help with this and for also for Link. I hope that you can come!

Hope to see you soon! Thanks again for all your support.

Liz Nagisale :-) (my new tribal name!)

Check Mrs. Hall's slideshows at our school Blog:
GilmertonPS Blog

More malawi pics!