Tuesday was a productive day. I got up early and was enjoying the morning in the village. It would be my last morning spent ordering coffee and breakfast there and enjoying the staff and the surroundings. For Tuesday and Wednesday night I would move up to the lodge in order to prepare for my trip home and also be around to have some meetings before I leave. The plan for the day was to walk to Adziwa with Scott and a lady named Tovia. Tovia lives in Malawi with her husband and 5 year old son Desire. She has decided to be our representative in Malawi. This means that she will be here and on site at our project all year round. The potential is very exciting. There is so much to monitor and so many decisions to be made during the year and for me being so far away it can be difficult. Having someone here on the ground communicating with me about the status of our project is a huge step in the right direction. I needed to introduce Tovia to all the people at Adziwa and share with them what her role would be. We took off for “the walk”. I think I’ve walked this 6 mile round trip at least 15 times since I arrived in June! Tovia enjoyed the walk and laughed at how different it is to walk with Azungu (white person). All the children yelling and waving and calling out “Azungu Azungu!”. We talked a lot along the way about what her role would be. She will help to train the caregivers At Adziwa in farming, gardening and the environment. She will also deliver the food each month for the feeding program. Our organization feeds the 50 children in the community who are under 5 yrs old. We have been providing one meal a day for them for the past year and want to continue that. For the past year it has been porridge that we provide. In Malawi it’s called palla (sp). After reviewing the budget we realized that we could use the money and revamp the program. We now have a plan to add fish, rice, veggies and fruit to that daily meal. We have worked with a woman at Adziwa to create a weekly menu that will change each day. The kids will be on a rotating schedule and will be able to look forward to some variety and nutrition! I believe that without feeding their little brains healthy food at this stage they will have a struggle when they reach school age. I didn’t realize that we could afford to provide something better than porridge until now. That is exciting progress. Another reason we can upgrade the food is that we now have someone (Tovia) at the project daily who can buy and deliver that fresh food when needed. We also have made arrangements to use veggies from the garden in that meal plan. As of now the garden is divided among the caregivers. Each family having a plot to grow food on. They can use that food to feed the orphans that live in their home or they can sell the produce and are free to keep the money they make. We now have made a rule that each caregiver must contribute a certain amount of veggies to the feeding program each month. Tovia will keep track of all of that as well.

Our meeting with James and Chimwemwe went great and they received Tovia well. I let them know that when they see her it should be like seeing me everyday. They laughed, but I think got the picture. James let us know that there would be a caregiver meeting at 2pm that day and we decided it would be good to be there for that. James would explain what was happening with Tovia and the plan that With Change In Mind had for the next year.
We made the walk back to Kumbali and Scott said he would drive us back to Adziwa at 3pm. I questioned this because James had said the meeting would begin at 2pm. “Don’t worry” Scott said. “Everyone won’t arrive until 3”. Malawi time at its best 😉
Since all my things had been moved up to the lodge Scott and I both took the dirt road up instead of going through the bush back to the village. As I’m sure you remember the dirt road is LONG and it’s one big hill. I quickly began asking the universe for a car to pass so we could hop in and get a lift. Chances were good since it was a work day. Sure enough a truck passed and we jumped in the back and bumped along up the hill. We got dropped fairly close to the car park at the lodge so the walk back was much easier than anticipated.
I sat on the porch and ordered a cheese sandwich and checked in with home. I also spent some time on fb 😉
Around 2pm Scott picked me back up and we went to collect Tovia. To my surprise when we picked her up on the road she was wearing a lovely smile and her With Change In Mind t-shirt that I had given her earlier that morning. This of course made me grin.
Along the way we stopped at the state house secondary school (high school) so that I could meet the headmaster and take a quick tour. Wow was this different than our Kauma Primary school! Fewer students and a MUCH quieter campus! The headmaster was friendly and we spoke about the possibility of bringing teachers to work there next summer. He was open to the idea and excited at the possibility. This will allow us to accommodate both elementary and highschool teachers on our next teacher trips!!! Yay!!
Off we went to Adziwa for the community meeting. The meeting went great. I have to assume most of this because out of about 40 people I was the only one who didn’t speak Chichewa. Most of the meeting was done in Chichewa so I did a lot of sitting and smiling. Tovia was introduced and she did great addressing the community members and thanking them for welcoming her with open arms. I think she will do well there. The one part of the meeting that was in English was when one of the caregivers stood and wanted to speak directly to me. Sai was there and jumped up to translate for me. She thanked me for the well that our group had provided to them last year and told me about how it had in fact not only served them at Adziwa, but it also had served the entire Kauma community the other day. Apparently the city water had gone out and nobody had water. Droves of people cam to Adziwa asking to use the well and they were all able to get what they needed that day. Again that made me smile. She thanked me for my commitment to the children and to the gardens and promised that they would all work hard to make me proud. I had a small tear drip down my cheek as she spoke, but quickly wiped it away as not seem to sappy 🙂 I love seeing the progress we have made and love hearing the excitement of the community when we talk about our future plans. I will save telling you all about next years projects because that news deserves it’s very own blog! I can’t wait to share!!!!
I think I have talked enough for now and hopefully later or tomorrow morning ill post again. Almost time to wrap up here and head home. Tomorrow I’ll be heading to the airport and I can’t wait to be home with my family! Love to all who continue to follow. In the coming year we are going to need support from all corners of our contacts 😉 you won’t want to miss being a part of what we have planned!