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 Home, an orphanage 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 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 Home. 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.chombomission.de

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