Hello! My name is Annie, I am the activities and cultural coordinator for this trip. Today, I will tell you about leaving Chigumukire and our first day at the Naisi school in Zomba.
This morning we were all supposed to wake up at 5:30, but we were all so tired from packing last night that we actually woke up at 6:20. I took a super fast shower (thank you to the 2023 travel team and the FPI contractors for the running water) and quickly finished getting ready for the day.
We got up very early because we were leaving Solomoni to go to Zomba district today. During breakfast, we surprised Kate with a small early birthday celebration!
Then, Paul came to say goodbye to all of the travelers. We thanked him for all of the help he has provided and gave him donations for the primary and secondary school students including electrical kits, school supplies, and soccer uniforms.
Everyone said goodbye to Paul, Angel, Kate and many others who helped us throughout our time at Chigumukire Schools. We were all really sad that we had to say goodbye so soon, but we were excited to meet a new community later today!
Sue, one of our JOCC partners, picked us up from Solomoni with John the driver, and we squished into her van with all of our luggage. She drove us to the city area of Blantyre where we said a quick goodbye to Chikumbutso and met Jordan, who would be our driver for the Zomba portion of our trip.
We said goodbye to Sue (and her dogs— Gordon and Gecko!) and started the drive to Zomba. However, we weren’t driving for long when a security officer on the road pulled us over to look at our registration. Long story short, after getting the car caught under a tent and a quick trip to the insurance agency we were back on the road!
Our first stop in Zomba was the office of a local contractor, KB Building and Civil Engineering. There, we met up with Manuel, who is an engineer for FPI, and with the manager of KB Building and Civil Engineering. We discussed different kinds of latrine projects that are common in the area, what might make sense for the Naisi school, and what local materials are available and recommended for a potential future project. After our very productive meeting, we popped in next door and saw the FPI office for the first time! We met the new FPI intern, and had a quick lunch in town.
Next, we finally headed over to the Naisi school!! When we arrived, we were welcomed by the head teachers and the heads of the Parent Teacher Association. We got a chance to talk to many students since there were a lot of people attending summer school. We did interviews with some of the students, walked around the school, and had fun practicing our Chichewa with the kids. There were also so many monkeys!
As the sun went down, we said goodbye to the people we had met at the Naisi school and met up with Costa, our hiking guide. We did a quick shop at a local grocery store and then drove to our lodge for the night. We weren’t expecting the lodge to be up a mountain but it was an exciting suprise since the views of the city at night were beautiful from above. After splitting up the rooms (Adda, Sophie and me in one room, Gordon and Hudson in the second room, Costa in the third, and Natasha on the couch), everyone came to the kitchen to start preparing dinner. We made curry, rice, and sausage, as well as eggs for us vegetarians.
We ended the night by discussing our plan for the next day, the work we have done, and all the potential projects for the Tufts EWB Malawi chapter.
All in all, it was a really productive day full of meeting new people and learning more about the community at the Naisi school.