Dr Pat Lund outlines the fund raising initiative to support community projects in Malawi.
Dr Pat Lund outlines a few of the varied cultural experiences on the 2014 trip to Malawi
We visited the mosque when the Madrassa was in full swing.
Danish, a student member who was very active in raising funds from his community in Birmingham, made a donation which the mosque has used to build a large shelter outside so that all the villagers can now attend Friday prayers under cover.
Before our work experience visit to Malawi students raised funds to support projects in the villages where we stayed. One was a nursery on Lake Malawi, run by Janepher and Packson.
They e.mailed to thank the group for their support:
We’d like to express our profound thanks and gratitude for your recent visit to Malawi and especially to our school at Mdalachikowa. We felt greatly honored for your decision to visit our school among the so many schools. We really enjoyed the interaction with the team during the two planned days and the kids still have fresh memories of such a wonderful experience. We really appreciate your generous support to our school. Please convey our gratitude to each and everyone in the team with you, we love you people you’ve been so wonderful. May God richly bless you.
Regards, Packson & Janepher
We hope to raise funds to get piped water from the lake to the nursery.
This nursery teaches 157 children under five.
During our stay at Nanchengwa lodge at Lake Malawi we visited Mdalacikowa Nursery where we all donated some toys as they had nothing before we arrived. The children’s smiles lit up the room when we gave them each a toy to play with. We spent two mornings playing with the children, this was a lovely experience and really good fun. They sang twinkle twinkle little star to us in English and they loved playing clapping games. Beth Doda
We went to help a village high up in the mountainous region, too far and treacherous for any vehicle to enter carrying building supplies such as bricks. We arrived to be engulfed by a large group of the children, as was the case at most villages we worked at. We met a group of villagers who were making bricks from the water, mud and clay dust which was available from the ground itself. The process involved mixing water and mud together with hoes, then all of us jumping around in the mixture till it was a smooth dough like consistency. I definitely shouldn’t have worn jeans! The mixture was then placed in casts and left to dry in the sun. As we started to get involved more and more villagers came out to help which showed a strong sense of community. Sunny Nahal
Upon our arrival at Nanchengwa Lodge (on the shores of Lake Malawi) we had the chance to observe an initiation ceremony- the last part of a 30-day ritual- and see a local Nyau dance.
Words can’t describe the experience of volunteering in Malawi. I enjoyed every second of it and hope to go again in the future. From day 1 we started learning Chichewa (the main language spoken in Malawi) and a little about the culture and African music by meeting a chief and an artist. Dan Javed