Our Partner School In Mngwere

Tuesday morning was a morning we all were looking forward to! We had arranged to meet Ivy (a hands at work staff member), and two volunteers Meriah (Canadian), and Melissa (Australian), to take us out to the village in Mngwere, where we would be met by Francis a local organizer and care worker.

Francis was a delightful, soft spoken Malawian man who retired from a career in Agriculture, and now is deeply invested as a volunteer supporting the widows and orphans in his community.

The first stop on our visit was to tour the first of two local primary schools. We were introduced to the Principal and some of the staff before Francis arranged to have all the orphan children come out to meet us. In this school there were about 500 students of which 120 were orphans. The orphan children were distinguished by a green dress for the girls, and green shirt for the boys. All the boys and girls also wore a red sweater with an embroidered crest.

The second stop on our tour was the second primary school in the area. This school served approximately 400 students from grades 1-9, of which about 200 were orphan children. Unfortunately for us many of the orphan children were away on Tuesday due to a severe Malaria outbreak within the school. In this school, the children wore the same red sweater but a blue dress or shirt.

The third stop on our tour was the "Hands At Work" Care Center. This is a two building complex within the village that orphan students attend after school (approximately 12:00) to receive a nutritional meal, play games with staff, or get support with their homework. Upon our arrival we were greeted by the entire community team of approximately 30 men and woman who actively volunteer their time and services. Over the next hour Francis walked us through their model for supporting the orphans and widows and provided us with an opportunity to ask questions. Out of the questions it became clear that there are many more orphan children within the villages than the organization can possibly support! A fact that presents a strong case for more support!

We finished off our time in Mngwere by having the children view the video that was produced by Skye about life at LCHS. This was a neat moment in our day as kids were riveted to the I Pad and the images. I could not help but be reminded while playing the video of how different the two worlds inhabited by these groups of students really is! In a lot of ways the images on the video were irrelevant to the students in Mngwere, just as a video of an orphan students life would be irrelevant to the students at LCHS. Simply stated these life realities are simply worlds apart!

Our day ended with an opportunity to take pictures with the care workers and to get a personal picture with Francis as we passed over the money and friendship bracelets that were sent by the wonderful "Hands At Work" Team at LCHS!

I feel very blessed to have been able to play a small part in the exchange of cultural information that took place in Mngwere. For many of the village children I was the first Mzungu (white) man they had ever seen!

I am very proud of our students and staff for all the work they do in supporting these vulnerable children. I can say with great conviction that the work you are doing is making a difference, and is greatly appreciated! It is with great pride that I close this posting by saying....WELL DONE LCHS!!