|
News Feeds |
|
Blog Entries
|
Blog Entries
|
-
Last words
Where as my last entry found me sitting in my house in Usisya looking out over the mountains and watching the kids playing this one finds me back in London looking out over a block of flats. It's not quite the same (nice flats though I'm sure they are).I said a fond farewell to Usisya in May after an interesting, exciting and enjoyable 20 months there; and I left with two strong feelings: firstly that I want to return soon to see my friends and see how the communities are progressing, and sec [...]
-
Spread the wealth
As I sit writing this entry I can hear the dulcet tones of a Yamaha 125 driving away to drop some cement off at the house that we are building for the next manager here in Usisya. The bike is the latest edition to our fleet of two vehicles - purchased with funds from the 2007 CVS Ball, thanks to those who attended the CVS ball last year. It has proved to be extremely useful; especially given the fun we've been having with the four wheeled variety of vehicles recently. Matt Cape (our volunteer co [...]
-
Filming starts in Usisya
It's been a couple of months since I last put fingers to keys to tap out a diary entry so there is much to catch up on. We are now coming to the end of our horticultural training and, by all accounts, it has gone down very well. Farmers have come away with improved knowledge on soil fertility, making compost manure, managing domestic gardens and a variety of up to date horticultural techniques. Monitoring over the coming months will show how well the training has sunk in and is being put into pr [...]
-
Projects update from Malawi
As I write this I can hear the noises of hammer on metal and hammer on wood coming through the wall behind me. These are the welcome sounds of the roof being put onto the library building. Since getting over those delays in April and May construction has been swift and the main work is done now (the walls are up and the roof is almost on). We are looking to be on track for an opening ceremony in early September if all goes according to plan. Only three months longer than originally planned!Sa [...]
-
Winter's on its way
I wore trousers in to work last week! Not that exciting I know but winter is arriving here, and with it cooler temperatures (a blessing at night) and some high winds. These whip the lake up quite a bit making lake transport and fishing a little trickier than normal. Fortunately yesterday was calm enough for us to send a small boat load of supplies for the Stepping Stones course that will be running in Mtawa from next week. The village of Mtawa is a good 5 hour walk from our offices and this cour [...]
-
Library construction starts
The past 6 weeks have been pretty busy. Not long after my last entry I took a trip to Lilongwe to gather materials for our resource library, do some useful networking and, most importantly from a personal perspective, collect Kate from the airport (Kate is my girlfriend who has come to volunteer with Temwa). I was successful on all three counts. Sam (the previous project manager) had done a really good job of building up the resource library so I wasn't able to add as much as he had done but we' [...]
-
Rainy season is here
The rains have arrived in force. The weather has gone from clear blue skies to nightly thunderstorms on the horizon and torrential downpours. The road from MZ has deteriorated markedly but is still passable in our 4x4 once the sun has had a couple of hours to dry it out.A lot has happened since the last entry. The new committee is up and running after successful democratic elections that would have made Bush and Blair proud. We gave them two days of training last month and they seem to be a g [...]
-
1 month in Malawi
Coming to the end of my first month in Malawi, I feel that I'm starting to get to grips with how things work around here. Hot off the back of rental negotiations with the fisheries department I've just been calculating salaries for our staff in Nkhata Bay, and this afternoon I shall be visiting a couple of local NGOs and the District Assembly (local government assembly) before heading off to one of the local lodges this evening for a well-deserved BBQ and a beer. This job is nothing if not va [...]
|
