Chiperoni ku Basel

Month: January 2006

  • Very south

    One week vacation in Blantyre. It feels more like a month than a week. A lot has happened since I arrived at Chileka last Saturday.
    I even managed to fall ill for a day and a half. I still feel a little bit of nausea. It’s a long time since I have been in Blantyre during the rainy season. It’s extremely beautiful but very humid. So far it has rained every single day. Everything is lusciously green.

    Some stuff I’ve been doing:

    • Getting insight into the administration and management of Chombo Children’s Village, a home for abandoned children in Blantyre. Chombo was opened in June 2005 and now has about 25 kids. And there’s a long waiting list. The concept is similar to SOS Kinderdorf and fits well with the extended family tradition of Malawi. Malawian “house mothers” takes care of the Chombo children in the traditional Malawian way.
    • I’ve met with local companies and NGOs that have donated food for Chombo children. I also learnt that a WFP feeding program has started providing a meal at all primary schools around Blantyre.
    • I’ve met 2 Social Welfare Officers of Blantyre City and learnt about the community-based approach Blantyre City is pursuing to take care of orphans. Before abandoned children are referred to an orphanage, these officers investigate and find out if there are any relatives who can take care of them. This week a new girl, aged about 9 or 10 years old, moved to Chombo Children’s Village. She was chased from the house where she was staying and slept outside for several nights, before trying to find shelter in another part of town.
    • I’ve installed Ubuntu Linux on laptops for administrative and management purposes at Chombo. And now I’m teaching how to use OpenOffice. Which is fun.

    > More about Chombo: http://www.chombo.ch

    Books I’m reading:

    I finished reading “The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” by Alexander McCall Smith, and now I’ve started “Mukiwa – A White Boy in Africa” by Peter Godwin.

    Comments at chiperoni.ch:

    I don’t have Internet access from here. So I don’t know if my cron job has published this. I guess that’s something I really would miss if I ever moved here. Broadband Internet Access. ADSL Flat Rate. Google Search for “How to treat distemper in dogs”…. As you know, comments are moderated at chiperoni.ch. Which means it will take a couple of weeks before your comments will display at chiperoni.ch. Unless I find an Internet connection…

    yours truly,

    nchenga

  • No hassle ?

    Nobody around to hassle you? No problem! Web 2.0 has a workaround for you. If you need someone to nag you at regular intervals, set up hassle emails:

    HassleMe

    (filed under Erfindungen die die Welt nicht braucht)

  • condizionale passato of scendere

    looking for the condizionale passato, 2nd person, plural of scendere?

    see:
    Verbix

  • BlogAfrica 2005 Quiz

    Been following the news in Africa?
    Take the BlogAfrica Quiz:
    AfricaQuiz

    via Mike McKay

  • Sales Tips for Small Businesses

    I’d just like to share this link which I found helpful and encouraging:

    Small Biz 101: Tips for Increasing Sales – Signal vs. Noise

    The 5 ways to avoid discouragement also hold true for other situations in life:

    1. Be realistic.
    2. Make daily goals.
    3. Find someone to encourage you.
    4. Get the hard stuff over with first.
    5. Don’t take rejection personally.

    via del.icio.us

  • africanflyer

    Blog on African airlines and aviation:

    africanflyer

    Entries on Air Malawi

    [Update] Air Malawi has a website at www.airmalawi.com
    For reservations contact: reservations at airmalawi.net

  • retrievr

    for future reference:
    retrievr – search by sketch

    source: kottke.org

  • Overview of Public Holidays in Switzerland

    Just in case you’re considering to move to Switzerland, remember the catholic Kantons have more public holidays:

    Feiertage in der Schweiz

    Here’s the
    English Version

    (Wondering: Would a regular print encyclopedia include an overview like this?)

  • Nyala Lodge, Lengwe National Park, Malawi

    Roz of the Friday Team has posted this photo of Nyala Lodge in Lengwe National Park:

    an ideal retreat and so near to Blantyre, I really think it’s yet another one of Malawi’s hidden gems..

    And it’s always warm there.

    More infos:

    Malawi Tourism

    Jambo Africa

  • The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

    Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint:

    a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points

  • slickr on my laptop

    re-discovering many old photos in my Flickr archive with Slickr. I like the way Slickr zooms in and out…