Zed

Nothing much new here, but I thought I'd write a little something for my faithful fans.
It hasn't rained since the flooding. We were thankful at first; the road was saved! Now it's been more than a week without rain, and people are beginning to worry that the rains will leave completely.

No more imaginary students, but I am continuing to get a few real ones. We're starting to feel like we really need to split the form 2s, (they're almost 60 in one class now) but money for teachers is a problem.

My students laugh at me when I say Z instead of Zed (that's how they say the letter Z), and then they laugh at me again when I say Zed, because they all know I want to say Z. I can't win!!

The vocational school started a computer class, (I'll post some pictures of the computer room). Construction of 3 new classrooms for Gracious is well underway, thanks to money from an anonymous donor.

I still haven't seen Sibale (MCV's director) take a single day off, and I've been here almost two months.

A random picture of some Gracious Students

grammar lessons

I’ve decided to help some of the little village children with their Chichewa grammar. Many of them yell out “Azungu! Azungu!” when I walk by; this means “white people! White people!” Since there is only one white person (me) when they shout this clearly they are making a grammatical mistake, and thus the grammar lessons.

Little village children: “Azungu! Azungu!”
Me: “Siazungu! MMMMMZungu!” (Not white people! White person!)

The children are often quite stunned by this.

Dispatches

I was sitting at my desk the other day planning some lessons, when the headmaster sent in a student I didn’t recognize to see me. It was the sports captain from Ntonda CDSS, with a letter answering our request for a football match.

I love being sports master! It’s like I’m a general receiving dispatches about a distant battle. (My thought process here might be slightly influenced by the fact that I’m currently reading War and Peace). Anyways, the letter said that they would like more time to train, but will be ready to play next Saturday. I conferred with my commanding officers (MCV management) and told him that we would indeed like to play next Saturday.

I also found out last week, that not only am I a sports master, I’m also a math hero! One of my students, Siyabu (a sponsored orphan), asked me during class if he could talk to me in private. I talked to him later, and he asked me, “How do I become a hero of mathematics, like you?” It was definitely one of those moments where I love being a teacher. I told him to come work with me during lunch on Mondays.

Mvula yagwa kwambiri

No, that’s not Lake Malawi in the photo, that’s a puddle. After an amazing rain free weekend in Cape Maclear, it rained and rained for the next three days. We literally had to drive through a river to get to school this morning. Many of our kids were late to school the last couple days. One could hardly blame them, not only did they have to walk in the rain (most of them without umbrellas or coats), they had to navigate around newly formed rivers. And for many of them this was after spending the night in a leaking house. I wish I had some pictures of what the road was like on the way to school this morning; it was really incredible. Luckily it stopped raining this morning. We have our fingers crossed that it won’t rain for the next couple of days. If it does, we can probably kiss the second half of our road goodbye (see picture for what happened to the first half). Even if the rains have let up for now, they’ve already caused some serious damage for some villages. Entire fields of maize have been flooded; I wouldn’t be shocked if some villages need extra maize from MCV’s stores in the future. I also heard that all this rain has caused disastrous flooding of the Zambezi in Mozambique, but most of you probably no more about that than I do. I don’t get a lot of news here.

footballs fly for free.

If anyone is interested in donating used jerseys, footballs, etc. Kevin Denny would love to bring them over to Malawi when he comes March 18th. You could bring them to his house on Gorham Street in Canandaigua, or give them to my parents. I can’t even begin to express how excited the kids would be. (They’re slightly more concerned about getting this stuff than books, but don’t worry, learning still comes first at Gracious) As always, Zikomo.

Mpira wa miyendo

Loosely translated the title is the ball you use with the foot

After rushing back from Cape Maclear, I went to Namiase football ground where we were supposed to play our games. The matches were supposed to start at 2:00, and our players said that they would come at noon. Naturally, I was the only one there at 2:00, wondering if anyone would show up. It was raining, which always works to delay Africans even further. Everyone showed up eventually though, and I mean everyone. I don’t know how all the people knew about the game, but it seemed like everyone in the nearby villages was there. The girls unfortunately lost in netball, but the boys won (3-2)! I’m told they didn’t win a single game all last season. Clearly their new found success must be due to their new sports master. Actually I didn’t do too much coaching. It’s kind of hard to talk to your team at halftime when half the fans gather around the team, and everyone is speaking Chichewa. Some other interesting notes from the game:

Suddenly our team had uniforms. Apparently the kids borrowed them from a local village team. Lots of the kids borrowed boots as well. Don’t worry, Praise and Alex still played with one shoe on.

Everyone rushes on to the field whenever a goal is scored. (the picture is kids running back to the sidelines)

The netball girls and other students danced around the field singing songs in support. (One group for each school)

To my surprise, two kids from the technical school were suddenly on our team. You might call these kids ringers, but I figure our school is short two grades (we only have freshman and sophomores) so we can use the help without feeling too bad. Our best players are still from Gracious.

Mussa James, our captain, scored 2 goals. He’s ridiculously good.
We hope to have another game this weekend.