Friday - our first real workday at Misangu School!

The two-classroom block is walled and parged and they were starting on the roof. Nick and the teacher Matthew had primed the senior students the day before about a vegetable garden so when we arrived they had large bunches of tall strong grasses to make the fence to keep the animals out. The young boys had their machetes (this is not a Canadian no tolerance school) and in short order they had a beautiful fence completed. More work to come on this project!
Nick then joined the painters who had completed the first coat on the first new classroom and were starting on the first of the teachers’ homes. These buildings have probably not been painted in over twenty years and being small, get a lot of abuse from movement. We only got the first house half done but our plan is to paint all of them with two coats. They are very depressing so a bright new look should boost spirits. We asked for a ladder to reach the peak and had to wait a bit – they built it for us, big, heavy and twisty! But we held it firmly and it worked.
Andrew met a huge group of new friends among the carpenters who are building 60 bench/desks with hand tools. It takes an hour what we can do at home in two minutes. But at $2.50 daily they aren’t in a hurry. We’ll see next year how they stand up to the use.
Some observed in a grade 8 class of life skills. The ABCs. Abstinence, Be faithful, and if not the first two, use Condoms. Safe sex and health education are very much encouraged by the government, which is taking an active part in HIV/AIDS education – a very important thing to counteract the stigma of AIDS.
We ate at the school – it may have been the first time some of us had goat.
We meet at 5:30 to plan the next day, eat and then socialize. And good news, at least some of the missing 15 bags are in Blantyre and more may come Saturday! The bag of Jays shirts arrived which have helped and some people bought pants in the market. By Maureen Bird, Toronto.

Thanks for following everyone and talk to you soon,
Monica