Do you realize that I will only have the town "Blantyre" in one more posting! Friday I write my report for CODE, and then I pack to leave Sat a.m. It has been a very busy two weeks, and I think I'm leaving this office in better shape than I found it. (Although Moses might not be...)
Last night I met an American from The Nature Conservancy. He's a lawyer looking at the Malawi laws for beginning a presence in AFrica. I guess the main office will be in Tanzania (Where's THAT on the globe? Hint to LJ and SK-- very near Malawi!) The production of charcoal is an issue here since it brings lots of trees down. At the same time, the Nature Conservancy is aware that people need fuel and ways of making money. It's a hard job to balance the needs of the environment with the needs of the people....I think that is not a new problem!
Today Cosmas and I went out to a rural school district now at all far from Blantyre. It's a district that has not had any teachers trained. The district has 1,700 students and 30 teachers. Yes, you read that correctly. It's the end of their term, so most classes were not in session except for one. There were 120 students in the class (grade 4) and they were all sitting on a cement floor. The teacher had only a blackboard to use. Not all of the students had textbooks. I asked Cosmas if he sat on the cement floor when he was a child (he's now 34 y/o), and he said yes. Where he went to school, students sat on the floor from grades 1 - 5, then grades 6 - 8, they sat on benches together with and shared desks. One has to pass a grade 8 "primary school leaving" exam in order to go on to secondary. Cosmas said once in secondary school, he was able to sit at his own desk.
BTW--I ate at an Ethopian (where's that?--hint: still on the continent of Africa). I had a chick pea dish with some kind of flat fermented wrap. Really good!
Any questions before I leave Malawi?
My grandgirls, Lindsay Jane and Sydney Kay, were able to enjoy my adventure in 2013 with Semester at Sea (SAS), but now I have an adventure of a different kind with Jackson Trippers in sunny California in the middle of winter in 2015!
M - How hot is it there?
ReplyDeleteL - Why are all the roads kind-of red?
S - Why do they have streaks of yellow on the road?
L - Are there more kids in a class if the grade goes higher?
S - Why do you see big letters?
L - What kind of toys do they have?
Love, the Thompson Girls on a day off school
I know,next gig,"Elephant Walk",so if we don't hear from you for the next week,it's because you're doing the jungle rumble and to think that four months ago I figured this was nothing but a brain fart! "Don't feed the animals"....love to you,'last seen in..'
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