Bandawe welcomes us.

A bedroom on Bandawe School for the Deaf. Eight children share a blanket on the floor!

It's nine o'clock at night and so much has been packed into the day I find it hard to remember the morning. I walked out from my lodge at 4.40 am only to find PC Meirion Williams sitting on the sand waiting for sunrise. Ladies were already at the lakeside washing their clothes and young men were collecting mangos that had fallen during the night. A Giant Kingfisher, the world's largest kingfisher showed amazingly close at it fished the lakeshore. Nearly the size of a crow, the splash it made as it hit the water was incredible. Mr Price joined us as we watched an incredible sunrise over the horizon before washing with our soap bars in the freshwater lake . PC Williams was due to travel to Mzuzu today to meet the Chief Constable of Northern Malawi. It was strange to see a fully uniformed UK policeman standing all in black on the beach in Malawi! He got some very funny looks from the locals. The rest of us were to travel to Bandawe, some 50km south of Nkhata Bay. Unfortunately for PC Williams the visit to Mzuzu didn't make it to Mzuzu as a riot had started in a local rubber plantation and all police were needed. PC Williams offered to help assist the police on the front line, but this was turned down much to the relief of everyone else and therefore rejoined the rest of the group. We arrived at Bandawe, a community set up in the 1800's by Scottish missionaries. The area was visited by Dr David Livingstone where he helped start the abolition of the slave trade as at one time hundreds of thousands of Malawian people were being exported to Europe and America to be slaves. The original church is still here which we fortunate to see. On arriving at our first school of the day, the Bandawe School for the Deaf, we were greeted by Mr Andrew Chulu the head teacher. We visited classes and watched how the 36 children here were taught sign language, lip reading and producing sound. Fascinating. All the children were completely deaf and dumb with some being mute as well. However they had the most wonderful smiles and were excited about our visit. The teachers were very skilled and concentrated their work on giving these children skills that would be able to use for the rest of their lives; vegetable planting, producing crops of trees and cereal, looking after livestock, knitting and cooking. As Bandawe is linked to Ysgol Craig y Don we had taken some resources that we had raised money for in our harvest festivals and I think the thinks we took were an instant hit. A large parachute which we had lots of fun with, Balls, Puppets, Paper, Pens, t-shirts and bags, all graciously received. It was sad to see their living quarters; no beds, no mosquito nets, no duvets. The children slept on the stone floor on blankets some five to a small, dirty looking room. We were served a traditional meal of goat, chicken, mashed maize and rice by the head teachers wife. Everything they eat here is from the land. We said our goodbyes and walked the path to the secondary school, walking over old rickety, or even dangerous bridges. This was the path used by hundreds of children every day on their way to and from church and school. Bandawe secondary school is linked with Ysgol John Bright and Timothy, the head teacher was keen to greet us and show us his school. We observed lessons and sat with the children taking part. We had an opportunity to teach the children about Wales and discuss various things such as the behaviour of the British towards Malawi in the past! Luckily it all ended up in smiles and a handshake. These pupils are the brightest students in the district and have to pass an exam to get here, their parents also pay a little for them to stay here for three months at a time. Their prospice project was an inspiration and a group of students showed us around their work; chickens, tree planting and vegetable patches. The children certainly were involved in this project and were proud of the fact. They guided us to their sleeping quarters which nearly had us in tears; crammed three to a single bed on which they also had to store their suitcases on or under. One room contained twenty bunk beds. There seemed like no room to move or even breath in there. The walls were crumbling and the stone floor covered in dust, windows smashed but again there were only smiles on the children faces. No wonder Malaria is rife here in these conditions. As we were there a poor girl was taken to hospital to be put on a drip due to suspected Malaria. There are over 200 cases at the school a year, that's half the school's population. It is a fact of life here and one they seem to just accept. We then visited a local lodge for a drink. This was also disheartening but in another way. At 200 dollars a night, almost half a year's wage for an average Malawian this hotel was only inhabited by the rich. Business men from the city and western tourists. I felt quite guilty being there which even the drinks were out of the price range of the locals. On little boy who didn't speak English had fun mimicking the local birds with me - Broad billed Roller, Little Beeater and Gunning's Akalat (the only place in the world where this species lives). After our whistles, he asked for my empty plastic drinks bottle which when given, immediately strapped to his belt which some grass. He had a new water bottle and was over the moon, running back to his mud hut smiling and shouting in excitement. I don't think our children would be so happy to receive something so simple. A local lady ran by carrying wood balanced on her head, each one around 12 ft long. I asked if I could have a go, to which she was most surprised as men do not do this here. The pile was lifted onto my head which assistance and after five yards my neck, head and back were aching so much I had to stop. Even getting the wood of my head was dangerous and cut my scalp. The woman laughed and showed her muscles before carrying on running down the path with the wood back balancing perfectly. We finished the evening off with a wonderful meal prepared by the older girls at the school. Mr Price played the game 'boyo', a game played by the all the men here. Hopefully he can remember the rules as I was lost throughout! The boys DJ'd a hip-hop disco and lots of dancing ensued. Their rhythm is amazing and I was embarrassed at my moves. The children had also written a play which they took part in dressed in traditional Malawian dress. What a great finish to the night. We are staying in a different lodge tonight. There is no air conditioning and mosquitoes are all around. The squeaking of cockroaches has woken me up and as I'm writing this at 4am in the morning a gecko has just run across my room. Even in the stifling heat I am grateful as at least I have a been to lie on and a plug to connect my laptop. I hope I remain as grateful for these small things long after I get back to Wales, however something tells me that this wont happen when I get back to daily routine. I hope not........