The office closed on Friday and we all had a really productive week completing all contracts before the break and the guys – Tione, Frank, Oganive and Mwabi – flying on with their Diploma and Level 3 Training Skills and Practice. Amazing good luck that so much group intervention came up at the time when the Diploma units were exactly this!
Had the opportunity to see the refurbished Mount Soche whilst Oganive and Mwabi were working there – really done a great job and looking good! The billboards in Blantyre still make me laugh. a Cheeky advert from Ryalls right opposite the Mount Soche!
I have often wondered if billboards work but this Carlsberg one is on our way home from work and always seems to work for James!
Some good times at the pantomime at the sports club. James was in Lilongwe working and so Maddie and I also nipped into Mustangs – whilst the cats away! Mustangs is as fun as ever and the “Boys Club” are still on form. Goodness knows how I will cope now without Mads ! . She left Blantyre yesterday and should be back in the UK tomorrow. She is going to be missed by all here – especially me! She has impressed everyone with her ability to get on with all age groups and types of people, what she has achieved here and her calmness.
I have just been wrapping Christmas presents for 30 children and am so excited- I cannot wait to see their faces on Christmas Day and may not be able to wait to givethem. This is the children next door waiting for us to come past for sweets and playing in the house they built with bricks. If they get so excited by sweets – they will be a joy to see opening presents!
We are off to some Malawian friends house for lunch on Christmas day - David and Fatima (that is David on the left of the last photo!) and am looking forward to it. Am just planning the games now to play - oh yes- games will be played like it or not James.
Abraham has been poorly with Malaria last week, but is fully recovered now. He scared us as he was so ill! A nasty disease indeed! It was an experience to nurse someone through it last weekend and I looked about 90 on Monday morning!
This week Mwabi and I are starting on a contract with Nali – who make a superb hot sauce. They are building a new factory and we are helping get them ready for HACCP certification and also export market research. The factory is in the middle of the tea plantations – so a great road trip for us on Wednesday at a time that fuel is so short. In fact Arthur is just out looking for some – bless him! The queues are now blocking up all the roads. One good thing is that everyone will be here for Christmas and not travelling
to the Lake – so plenty of people about. Also starting work for a biscuit company with Tione. We are all going to be getting lifts off Ernest in the New Year – he has a new motorbike and has been nicknamed Tom Cruise!
Tonight some girls we met in Mulanje are in Blantyre so we were going to meet them for a drink in Doogles – but no petrol! they are teachers and have a charity school in Dedza, supported by Bedford University – spookily up the road from us at home. Nieces wishing to do teacher training – apply to Bedford!
Hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year and lots of love from Malawi . I have asked Frank, who I work with. Frank is one of the four Local Consultants here at BCA-CBE working on client projects and taking the Diploma in Management Consultancy awarded by CMI. None of us knew this story and he published it to share with others what can be achieved through all challenges faced. He has given his kind permission to share this inspirational story with you – please do show your kids too. Please read - its inspitational.
This is my story by Frank Mkumba
who was sponsored through Chancellor College University of Malawi) by Nchima Trust.
Fran Mkumba remains in close contact with the Nchima Trust as a trusted advisor in the selection of under graduate students for sponsorship,ensuring that there is a real
need for the support we offer. He also assists with a variety of other administrative tasks, advises on local policy and chairs the Nchima Trust students association which
includes past and present beneficiaries.
Losing my Mother
I was born in 1984 at Holy Family Hospital in the Phalombe district of Mulanje, Malawi. I am the fourth born in a family of six; however the first born passed away four years ago. My mother, used to work with the Ministry of Works as personal assistant. My Father was an entrepreneur and at that time, he worked in the Gold mines of South Africa.
When I was five years old, for reasons best known to themselves, my father and
mother divorced.I am not sure whether it is right to call it a divorce because my mother still wanted to remain in the marriage. One of the reasons for divorce according
to my mother was that my father had another wife and few girlfriends.
In our culture, if the parents divorce, all the children are the responsibility of the mother. I don’t subscribe to this cultural practice, actually I hate it.
So, in line with the principals of our culture we stayed with our mother and my father
went to marry another wife without taking any responsibility going forward. We struggled a lot to make ends meet.
Unfortunately, my beloved mother passed away in 1996 when I was only 12 years old.
When my aunt came to me, and told me that I would never see my mother again, I cried at the top of my voice in disbelief. I was only young, but I knew that troublewas
looming. Who do I live with?
The family was to be broken up completely. While my mother was alive, she fobade us to visit our father, so living with him was not an option. We were then to be sent to various related families.
I ended up living with my uncle, who was a primary school teacher in Mulanje. What
was strange about me was that, while all my brothers and sisters went to live with relatives based in Blantyre and Lilongwe, I remained in the village. I remember sitting under the Jacaranda tree one day in Mulanje and reflecting upon my life. Then I was 13 years old. I remembered what my mother used to advise us about working hard in class and the importance ofeducation. I was convinced that her advice was right. From Standard 7, I began studying very hard, and I was always in the top 3 of the class.
I remember there was a boy in our class who was naturally very intelligent, his name
was Martin. This boy never studied, you could never see him with a book but he was
always on position 1 in class. I studied extremely hard and eventually took his place at the top of the class. The first time I learnt to fight for the best things in life.
Life after PrimarySchool
Despite my excellent performance in Standard 8, I was not selected for a government
school. Very unfortunate indeed. I was very disappointed. At this time, my uncle had just been transferred to work in Phalombe. I chose to go and live back in our village with my granny before starting Form One.
While in the village, I was given a small piece of land where I grew maize and rice. I
worked on my small plot of land earned some money from the crops harvested. The
good thing about my home that time was that we had lots of Mangoes, so when in season, you would be tempted to just camp there.
I also liked my village because I had time to have fun, there was enough food and I enjoyed simple things like riding a bicycle.
A boy at Namalowe Secondary school
However, I knew that I needed to continue with my education and so I went back to
live with my uncle in Phalombe. I started my Form One at Namalowe community secondary school in Mulanje. I used to cycle a distance of about 20km to get to Namalowe as there was no community day secondary school nearwhere my uncle
lived.
I did this for about 1 year. Unfortunately, my uncle passed away when I was in Form
2. It was a difficult time for me as I had not fully recovered from the death of my mother.
All hopes seemed dashed and I went back in the village to live with my granny. I
established a small dry fish business. The earnings helped me to buy some school materials which enabled me to continue my studies at Namalowe and I worked
hard. I remember after a day at school I would go into the bush and sit under some
shady trees just to study. At last I was happy;I passed my Junior certificate exams with flying colours.
Finally in Blantyre
(A City in the Southern Region of Malawi)
Life proved very difficult for me in the village. I was waking up early in the morning to
farm in the garden. Before 6am, I was back to start preparing for school. Without eating
anything, I was leaving for school and returning home at 4 pm. During the rainy season,
in the afternoon I was also supposed to go to the garden. I got used to it but still it was
hard to strike a balance between farming and going to school. Fortunately, an uncle
from another family member, who lived in Blantyre, offered me a place to stay. It
is very common in Malawi to accommodate relatives especially with so many people
dying of AIDS. I went to live with him. He kindly offered me accommodation and food, but he was unable to pay my fees. I stayed in Blantyre for the whole of form three first
term without attending classes. I then enrolled at Berlin Private Secondary Schoo,
or as it was know then, Wonderful Garden secondary school. There was only one qualified teacher at this school. But frankly speaking, Blantyre was even harder for me.
I struggled a lot to get my school fees. Most of the time I was sent back home and stayed out of class due to delays in fee payment. When sent home, I retreated to the nearby hill to study, until the School Principal called me back. I had earned some respect from the school administration because I was the best student in the
class and was also Head Boy. In most times, the school principal called me back to
continue learning while I was looking for school fees.
Thinking of going back to the village
While I struggled to get the tuition fees, I had also serious problems with my aunt, the wife of my uncle. She never liked me living with her family. She made my life hard and I began thinking of going back to village. To avoid getting in conflict with her, I used to
avoid her by going into the hills to study and solving mathematical problems with a friend of mine.
I stayed with the family for about 2 years. Still in Blantyre now living with another aunt I finished my Form Four examson a Friday and the following Saturday I was on my way to Chirimba, a township where my aunt, who is a government school teacher, lived.
She was willing to accommodate me. When the form four exams were released, I was
informed that I had done well. I began preparing for university. I then began looking for work in local companies and I was recruited as a teacher at one of the local private
schools. I began saving money for my university. Good news I was offered a place at Chancellor college, the premier Unversity in Malawi. Bad news: the place was offered on a none residential basis which meant that the costs were going to be very high.With
my earnings from my job at local private school I managed to save some money which
I used to pay part of my tuition fees for my first year in college. It was determination and the thoughts of my mother that enabled me to start college despite the fact that I knew that I did not have the full funding available for the entire course and no realistic m eans of finding them. None of my relations was either able or willing to help me.I
carried on until I was introduced to Nchima Trust in second semester of my first year. The story changed when Nchima Trust paid all mytuition fees. IT was time for a SMILE at last.
My University education was now assured and life was very interesting. I think life becomes easier when you are a student and know that someone will pay your fees.
I could now concentrate on my studies and that is what I did. I passed with flying colours. Dring the holidays I would return to my village and share my knowledge by teaching and mentoring on an informal basis. I also ran some Womens literacy
classes at the Nchima Trust Communiity Centre in Thyolo.
As I discovered from my mother, women are a critical part of Malawi’s
development and many people believe that the future lies in their hands. I was
happy to help Nchima . it has been good to me. I now have a very interesting job
working for a Consultancy business which asissts small businesses in Malawi.
I still help Nchima Trust by assessing applications and applicants who need help with
fees. I hopethat this means that the money is going to those who really need help and I
am very happy to do this. Between my mother, various 4 other kindly members of my family and the supprt of Nchima Trust I have overcome number of challenges and I feel lucky.
not yet fully open to the public. Fantastic new golf course and superb to see the views, countryside and the animals so close.
We have also had some lovely evenings at peoples houses in Blantyre over the last few weeks. A superb evening at Ray and Mitches took us back in time with all the men sat at a bar in the middle of their lounge and all the women sat outside. We did have a giggle though trying to work out what “a wooden tattoo kit” was – the suggestions were nothing like a tattoo kit! Mustangs is always fun but limited to a few times a week as James has now been nicknamed- HJ- Home James as that is all I say from 8pm! Rory’s daughter had a little boy Cameron 5 weeks early! So small and cute -dwe dropped in to see him yesterday and had such a nice afternoon.
He is missing all hos e mail addresses so do e mail him at 
