Saturday on the road

Today I started off at 6:15 a.m. to catch the coach to travel from Lilognwe to Blantyre. A friendly fellow, Mark, share the taxi with me to the other hotel to catch the coach. He happened to know the new employee at the second hotel who had lost his job at the first hotel. Mark and I determined that the second hotel was much nice, newer and only 70% of the price of where we were staying. So.........I guess I'll stay there when I return to Lilongwe just before leaving Malawi.

The four hour coach ride was very interesting and comfortable. We drove through small villages, and ventors of all kinds were lining the road to sell their products. Perhaps vendor implies something I don't mean...these folks had a small pile of wood, some peanuts, orka, etc. Goats were very near the road, along with some cattle. Everyone walks on a path or rides a bike. The ground has a reddish cast to it that probably leaves your feet red at the end of the day.

Remember Mark? It's a good thing we had become fast friends, since there were three stops in Blantyre and I didn't know which one to use. I got off with Mark, used his cell phone to call my contact here, Moses, and chatted with Mark's wife Stella. Stella is a retired educator and told me about the schools here. Some rural schools have grades 1 - 8 with almost students. Since they teach all subjects, they have two teachers, but Stella doesn't think it's possible for students to learn. The average ratio of teacher per students is 1 to 60. However, there is a shortage of classrooms, so it's normal to have 200 students in a room with 2 - 3 students.

When I arrived in Blantyre, I learned about the NGO for which I'll be working. On Monday, I'm going to Zombo where there is a five day teacher training course. I'm glad that's set, because Moses has been very busy with a crisis at his office due to an accountant leaving.