We had our first visit to Chuluchosema as a group today. It was wonderful for Margaret and Alan to see friends again and to see the changes since our last visit. For the rest of the group it was variously mind blowing, very interesting, great, incredible, informative and overwhelming. There was a lot to take it as we visited the kindergarten (including their morning porridge enriched with vitamins), primary school, sewing project, church, water project, teachers houses and clinic. We also met members of the partnership committee, teachers, elders, cooks and many others. 

In addition to Chuluchosema, we saw the Mary’s Meals project in Zomba, filter by the street children project and had a quick visit to Zomba Theological College.

The challenge of the day came when an ATM greeted Alan with a Windows error message and reboot screen instead of returning his bank card – after closing time on the day before a bank holiday. But this is Malawi, so the friendly security guard phoned the manager, who had not yet gone home. He came and unlocked the front door, listened to the story and returned two minutes later with the card. Sorted!

Tomorrow is the day when Malawi celebrates independence from Britain, so we will not visit Chuluchosema. Instead, we get a night near Liwonde Wildlife Reserve, while Gavin and Silas attempt to recover our bags which are due to arrive at the airport. Then they will join us.