The Grammar School at Leeds' BLOG

Malawi Trip - Day 22, Friday 26 July 2009

Another action packed day (just for a change) started with a visit to see the amazing work of Mary’s Meals. The first stop was at two feeding centres in the township area of Chiradzulu. One of the centres had been financed by the 20035 tour and we were welcomed with songs, poems and smiling orphans. The boys and girls helped to feed the small children with a mug of Likuni Phala (a protein enriched soya porridge) – for many it would be their only food of the day.

The feeding programme of Mary’s Meals has been extended to primary schools in order to improve attendance and attainment. The progress has been amazing. The primary school in Chiradzulu is the same size as GSAL with over 2400 pupils – each of whom were fed by the volunteer parents. The tour party were welcomed with much dancing and singing. A presentation of footballs, netballs, pens and pencils was warmly welcomed by the enthusiastic student body.

Spotting a brief gap in the scheduled programme MR B quickly organised a brief visit to Open Arms orphanage in Blantyre. Although our party of 51 swamped the small building the staff welcomed us and soon every child had a boy or girl to help feed or to play with. However, Mrs Stiles was the envy of all as she cradled Emmanuela, a week old baby who had been abandoned in a toilet. The flying visit culminated in Joe Dawson presenting Adina, a girl with cerebral palsy, with a Kaye Walker to enable her to have more independent movement around the home

After a packed morning it was off to Mandala House, a national monument to the early days of Nyasaland and also home to one of the best art and curio boutiques, a restaurant and a small museum. Paninis flew out of the kitchen at an alarming rate and the queue for the home-made ice cream grew exponentially as everyone became aware of its quality. Meanwhile the ‘shoppers’ were adding to their hordes of wooden curios and artefacts (Kenya Airways have already arranged to add a roof rack and a trailer to the Boeing 777). Mr B succumbed, yet again, to the appeal of art work by Malawian artist David Kelly and a painting of a baby elephant was soon added to the burgeoning collection at chez Brindley.

In the afternoon we visited the new children’s orthopaedic hospital built with funds from the Beit Trust and CURE International. The facilities are second to none with a fee-paying service providing the funds for free treatment of people from rural areas up and down the country. During an informative tour we handed out soft toys to the children and mothers.

In the evening we assembled for the official farewell presentation in a beautifully decorated function room of Ryalls Hotel. Everyone donned their best finery for the occasion where we were joined by over 70 guests and Rotarians. Five of the boys and girls gave extremely polished reports on different aspects of the tour – no one could fail to be impressed by both the content and the delivery of the presentations

Donations totalling £13000 were handed out to Open Arms, Jacaranda House Children’s Home, The Children’s Fund of Malawi, Cure Hospital, the premature baby unit, the Mulanje Mountain Trust, the Endangered Species of Malawi Trust and the Rotary Clubs of Blantyre, Limbe and Lilongwe. As well as these amounts donations of over £5000 had already been made earlier in the tour. Also another 12 tons of medical and educational material was on its way in a container. Very generously Ryalls Hotel matched our main donation to the outreach programme in Thyolo which meant the charity had over £4000 to fund its magnificent work among the most needy in society.

The only task remaining was to pack ready for an early start next morning.

Question: How do you fit carvings, curios and cloth into an already full suitcase? Answer: With great difficulty.

Hmmm!

POSTSCRIPT - the trip has arrived back safely. Mr Brindley will continue to post from Spain, where he is now headed.