Volunteering with Tikondwe and Zomba Plateau

As with any new job, after a week or so everything starts to become normalised. This is exactly the same with volunteering. After my first week in Malawi the dusty roads, njinga taxis to and from

A group of lads fishing in the local stream I met whilst on a
village walk. They loved posing and were absolutely
hilarious!

places, constant carbs, cacti farms, tiny houses, children screaming 'muzungu' and pigeon roosts became pretty standard. I taught the younger kids from 8ish to 11:30 or 12ish and the elder children from 3 to 4:30/5. My lessons ranged from English to Math to Science to playtime with a different focus for each day. During break the volunteers ate lunch and enjoyed activities like playing with the local children, writing diaries, going for village walks, lunching at the elders homes, playing the local game Bawo, or cake baking (an activity, which has to be completed on a fire, is extremely difficult in my opinion).

Lessons were again like any job you'd have at home; some days were wonderful, others were downright boring or just crap. The younger kids were entirely aware that I was like a substitute teacher in comparison to Diana and so whenever she left the room the morning class would go wild. INSANE.

Satan in the girl on the far right. Don't be fooled by her cute face.

    A lesson which was to be held inside would suddenly be outside as 40 or so children would go running around everywhere making any learning environment impossible to control. Another example of this craziness is when the Parla arrives; the children suddenly stop anything they're doing and crowd around the poor njinga boy struggling with this large bucket of porridge. Some days it would drive me mad and I could not wait to get back to our little common room and have a nice rant about what evil brats some children were. There was actually one child I'd nicknamed Satin as she clambered all over me as soon as I arrived at Mapanje and then proceeded to hit, kick and bite any part of me she could find. She was only about 3 and thought this was hilarious. I didn't care how old she was, it drove me crazy!!

Excitable children in my afternoon class on my last day.

So happy for school to be over and get
some stickers (pody) and mangoes!

There were some lessons though that were an absolute joy to be a part of.
When the younger children listened you could have a LOT of fun with them and felt as though you were making their day that little bit brighter. The elder children were far better behaved and actually managed to learn a fair amount during lesson-time and retain the information for weeks after (as proved by tests at the end of each week). They were active during teaching hours and kept me on my toes constantly, either by finishing work extremely fast or asking relentless questions about the subject at hand, work I had set, and a lot of the time England in general. They were also extremely cute on my last day and sung me a leaving song (which will be put up as soon as my external hard-drive is fixed!).

They were(/are) wonderful kids. I even stayed after school most days to play netball with them. The most aggressive games of netball I have ever, and hopefully will ever, experience! Rules are loosely enforced as criterion's such as 'obstruction' and 'contact' were never applied. At one point I full on body slammed into my TINY partner who didn't even seem to notice! It wasn't just me taking part in sports with the locals; all the volunteer boys were cajoled into playing a game of 'Muzungu vs Malawian' football. It was hilarious! And such a brilliant way to really immerse yourself in the local life. We also won 4-2!

There are some experiences I will never forget, one of which is when Diana invited myself and another volunteer, Sherene, to dinner with her and her family. We bought a few sodas for the kids and proceeded to go inside her home (first time ever even though I visited nearly everyday after school). It was extremely quaint and she had popped a table in the middle of a room set for two. Well there were most definitely more than two of us given the sheer amount of children outside, but she insisted they all ate on the floor whereas we were guests and so should eat at the table. She had cooked rice and an egg, tomato curry; a real privilege in Malawi as rice and eggs are far more expensive than nsima and beans. It was really wonderful to spend the evening with her family and be treated to such a lovely dinner. I felt extremely honoured to have been invited.

A second experience I wont be forgetting is when a long term volunteers grandmother died back in the UK whilst she was in Malawi. It was horribly sad and she dealt with it very, VERY well. Papa had contacted a priest and asked him to come and say a few words in her memory that night. I am in no way religious, but I thought the gesture to be really touching. That evening I heard a group of people mourning and singing from inside Mama and Papas house. This demonstration of affection and appreciation for life shown by the people of Domasi has really stuck with me. I thought it was so beautiful that people who have never met the one who has passed away could mourn so earnestly.

Another is that everywhere you go in the Domasi region, you hold celebrity status.

A young girl running after the njingas to town

The villagers really seem to enjoy having muzungus living near them! It's almost a game for the children to spot a muzungu miles away and yell hello to them so the volunteer looks around wildly trying to find the source of the sound. How they actually see us from so far away still baffles me! Adults stop you in the roads, streets and dirt tracks to say hello and ask how you are. You're invited into homes and schools and asked to play games from dawn til dusk. Children run after your njinga or taxi just to say hello and get a wave; it's so adorable it's unreal!

I really do love Domasi and would go back there in a second if given the chance. The project is entirely worthwhile and the villages surrounding your home could not be more typically Malawian even if they tried.




The local town Zomba was nowhere near as beautiful or as cultural, but it does have the Zomba Plateau which is STUNNING. Myself and 3 other volunteer girls went here for the weekend and it was entirely worthwhile (if you love hiking. If you don't it becomes entirely pointless). We stayed at the basic 'Trout Farm' which advertises some non-existent fishing and is a bog standard place to

Klara queen waving whilst walking uphill.

sleep. The best part of staying here by far was the sheer amount of fruit we were offered upon arrival. Berries upon berries, yellow, black and red and so, soooooo yummy.

Our first walk was to the highest point of the Plateau. It wasn't a particularly difficult walk but the views were superb; even my beautiful camera couldn't do them justice. We had a guide called Bonface (fantastic name!) who spoke little to no English but was brilliant all the same! The walk back took us through rocky outcrop and fields of ferns before getting to Chingwes Hole. This hole is where locals used to throw those affected by leprosy to stop further infection. Now its a large hole with various species of tree growing out of it and a bunch of touts trying to sell local rock to you. There is however another beautiful view and the walk to come was to be the best of our trip. We trekked through dense jungle-like plants with no idea where to put our feet so as to not fall over! We passed through a forestry village, a gorge, numerous impressive large rocks, huge baboons and a hollow rock. That's right, a large rock that was entirely hollow and sounded like a drum when you knocked against it. I studied this rock intensely to try and find how it had been hollowed out but every face was solid or touching the ground. Years ago it must've been hollowed out by a river or something and the opening is facing the ground right now so it can't be seen. It really did baffle me! The last part of our 6hour walk took us through some beautiful waterfalls which (much to Bonfaces delight so he could wash) we stopped at to clamber over rocks and generally splash about.

Me in my geek outfit.

Our second day was a lot shorter than the first with only 3-4 hours of walking. Bonface eagerly turned up outside our door at 7am which was excruciating on a Sunday, but we obliged and got changed quickly to walk to Chagwa Dam. This walk was another 'where-do-I-put-my-feet?!' moments as we scrambled over streams, through dense jungle-like-forest and generally got quite wet. Chagwa Dam was unimpressive, but Queens View and Emperors View a few minutes walk past it were superb. A full 180 degree view of Zomba town in all its glory, mountain behind and all. Absolutely incredible in the early morning sun.

Locals live on the plateau walking roughly 10km every day to buy produce from Zomba town then the 10km back again to use or sell it. The plateau has a section of pine forest (which is slowly becoming more and more scarce) where locals cut down trees to carry down to the town to sell to other town locals. The way they carry this is nothing short of incredible! We passed a bunch of men and women walking down with an incredible load of tree trunks on their heads! Just check this out:

WOW!

 

I can't do it. Believe me, I tried.

There are also some mind-blowingly skilled people working in the carpentry industry up the Plateau. Really amazing artistry.

This is to be my last blog about my time in Domasi, Zomba and with Tikondwe. I was genuinely sad to be leaving after my month was up. It was extremely tempting to extend my stay, however the Ilala was calling me up Lake Malawi to Nkhata Bay.

Sunset in Domasi in the fields at what volunteers called 'the rock'.

Lake Malawis' heavenly Cape Maclear to the incredible local life of Domasi

 Welcome to Malawi, where your life becomes infinitely better just because of this beauty that's practically on your doorstep.

Lake Malawi

 

 As the Tikondwe schools are run by the charity they do not adhere to your normal Monday-Friday 8am to 3pm working hours. Friday is 'teachers meeting' day where the paid teachers meet with Emma and other Tikondwe employees to talk about their school, the curriculum, what to teach next week, how to do it, and bounce ideas back and force on how to generally improve things. This means volunteers get the whole weekend off to explore the GORGEOUS country of Malawi. The lake is obviously the number #1 destination considering it's almost 1/4 of the countries surface area and just absolutely incredible in every possible way. Cape Maclear especially.

I was lucky enough to come here twice whilst volunteering with Tikondwe. My first weekend and my last. The first there were many of us wanting to make the 4-6hour journey (all dependant on transport) and so we hired a minibus. Usually however you catch a minibus to Mangochi then another to Monkey Bay then clamber onto the back of any pick-up truck you can find (usually filled with wood and barrels of petrol or something) heading onto Cape Maclear. It's a hot, sweaty journey full of squeezing into small places and getting cramp all over your body BUT it's a whole lotta fun, and the green (Carlsberg; the ONLY beer that's sold in Malawi that is not home brew) at the end of it is the best. thing. ever.

Cape Maclear is a slice of paradise.

It's a peninsula situated at the southern end of Lake Malawi, a tiny village turned small tourist area, yet it still manages to retain its village-esque feel and is entirely untouristy many ways! There are various sleeping options ranging from very cheap to very expensive; we stayed at the cheapest and it was the most gorgeous guesthouse I was to stay in my whole time travelling. The village is the same as any other I'd seen in Malawi; a sleepy place with dirt roads, tiny eateries and tea houses, thatched roofs and mud walls. Dogs were in the streets and women did their washing in the lake whilst the kids splashed about around them. It was pure bliss and a real insight into local lake life, a life completely different from Domasi village.
--> Lake life = fishing, living off the lake, the water is your lifeline.
--> Village life = farming, living off the land, earning your keep working the fields is your way of life.

My time spent at the lake and living in the village were also significantly different for each other. The lake was the ultimate relax, a place to lie in the sun, where you could wear shorts that didn't cover your knees, a place where you could eat food that wasn't rice or nsima, stay out late and drink alcohol like you were a Fresher at University during Freshers week. My first weekend started a little like this with so many of us there was a definite party vibe, except this kind of party was never going to be the normal type you'd experience in England. It started, for example, with a band. The Brothers Band  consisted of 3 children playing drums made from old jerry cans and wooden sticks. They were actually fantastic and got us all up having a dance (as depicted by Sam here who accompanied them with a WONDEROUS on-the-spot rap!). We were then invited to a Malawian wedding party which involved the WHOLE VILLAGE coming out of their homes for an entire weekend of dancing in the streets! It was wonderful and I've never felt more welcome in my life. The next day we spent in a local eatery called Bana Paya where your beer takes an hour to materialise, food takes about 2 hours to find its way to your table and there's no electric whatsoever. Not that this matters at all considering you're too busy chatting to the local rasta population, playing drums with another group of musicians, and dancing around the large bonfire erected by the eateries owners; right on the beach.There is nothing closer to bliss than that. However if you do ever get bored of heavenly relaxation you can always pop to another local restaurant, Gheko Lounge, which turns from 'chilling-in-a-hammock-doing-nothing-sorta-place' during the day to 'getting-down-and-dirty-on-the-dance-floor-sorta-place' in the evening. It's also by far the most touristy area in Cape Maclear.

Zuzana and Klara BBQing it up on
the island with locals

Of course the lake is not just about grabbing some greens and wasting your weekend away with a book in the sun (although this is perfectly fine as it's got to be one of the best places in the world to do so); there are many activities on offer. I've been canoeing, snorkeling, motorbike riding and on a boat trip. There's also a National Park with a bunch of beautiful hiking, however as a lone traveller with no one else wanting to hike it is expensive (hence why I did not do so, unfortunately). There are a bunch of small islands of Cape Maclear, the most obvious being right in front of the beach (its name eludes me...) which looks very close... until you try to canoe to it. My first weekend a few of us rented out canoes which is a wonderful way to get out on the lake, see the fish, swim about without a local guide and just enjoy life! My second weekend at the lake a small group of us female volunteers rented a boat from my local friend Morris which was equally as fun (and a lot less effort!). We were taken to the island once again and were lucky enough to be introduced to many locals throwing a welcome home BBQ for their friend who had moved to England. We were shown the fish eagles diving into the water to feed, we were taught how to catch a fish with your hands, and we were taken to otter point (where there were a significant lack of otters but a delightful amount of cliff jumping opportunities). The snorkeling in Lake Malawi is fantastic, the fish are thousands of different colours and are so used to your presence they just swim around you! The water is magnificently clear and because there are so many spots to see them you can swim entirely alone with no other tourist around you. The motorbike were also extremely easy

to organise and very cheap for just a quick drive around the peninsula and clamber to the top of a group of rocks for some INCREDIBLE views.
Cape Maclear captured my heart instantly and will always be a highlight of my journey. It is just so beautiful, has all the western amenities you could want, as well as being so typically Malawian it tugs at the heartstrings! It was also my favourite part of the lake, which is a BIG thing to admit considering the rest of the lake is equally is stunning.

In stark contrast to Lake Malawi, the village is a place where you are a role model, you do not drink, you wear appropriate clothing that adheres to the local culture. You eat local food and drink water that's been chlorinated by water purifying tablets Your free time is spent with the children or local families, you never sit and do nothing. It's like a job, just an awesome one. The volunteering is always incredible (despite the younger childrens' continuing insanity and craziness) and your part played in village life is extremely fulfilling, be it just playing with the children to give their mothers a break, to helping fix a roof that's been blown off by stray winds, to taking part in a traditional dance lesson in aid of the local community. This last activity was INCREDIBLE! A group of muzungus being taught local dances by some of the lads from Hayo village using objects akin to dumbbells. We stood in a circle, sometimes standing clapping the dumbbells against each other or sitting smacking them on the floor; it was fantastic! And EXHAUSTING!

Outside Dianas house with some local children and Shireen
another volunteer

The breakdancing classes continued as well as Charlie sharing his skills in separate schools throughout his time volunteering. His lesson at Mapanje came on my second week at Tikondwe and the kids LOVED it! Unfortunately the younger ones could not keep up so it was my job to keep them involved by playing various games so they did not feel left out (or piss the elder kids off by invading their extremely limited-already-dancing-space). I spent more and more time at Dianas home, the real, paid teacher working at Mapanje school, with her family who are all wonderful and extremely accommodating. They keep pigeons as a sign of prosperity despite having almost next to nothing. This is very typical of families in Africa; they will often keep pigeons, have expensive phones, large herds of cows to show wealth even if they don't have any. This allowance into a locals home unconditionally was a wonderful thing

Two of my morning crazies

to experience and gave me a real insight into local life. I've never felt so welcome anywhere in my entire life than I did in Mapanje village and would urge anyone thinking of volunteering to go with Tikondwe.

If you're thinking my work with the charity sounds easy and holiday-like, you'd be entirely wrong! Yes i'm based in a beautiful country full of beautiful people but the actual work is difficult and a lot of the time you're on your hands and knees doing various building work, painting, gardening, roof repairing, and absolutely anything else the villagers spring on you. The lake is extremely far away for a quick weekend, but there are other places you can go and explore/relax closer to home....

Sunset over Lake Malawi at Cape Maclear with children playing in the water.

Three canoes made from dug-out trees glide past our camp.

Arrival, orientation, action

I arrived in Blantyre, Malawi, mid-afternoon on Monday 14th October to a bloke called Melvin holding a sign with my name on it. I was then carted along dusty roads past people, cattle and cacti to the small countryside area of Domasi, about 30 minutes outside the main town Zomba (30 minutes in a taxi, it takes significantly longer by public transport). My reason for arriving here first? To volunteer with the project Tikondwe, meaning 'everybody be happy' in Chichewa, the local language.

The project is wonderful with a focus on just about everything that goes on in and around the Domasi area. 7 community schools for children of all ages, 2 HIV support groups, an orphanage, a youth group, community healthcare initiatives, a female empowerment group, the list is ENDLESS. And the villagers rely on the project so much for various crazy reasons ranging from needing a njinga ambulance (push-bike with a seat on the back for a passenger) to village quarrels which need to be solved by Emma the project coordinator. Her blog is fantastic to learn more about the project and keep up to date with what they're doing; http://emmacammmalawi.wordpress.com/. If anyone is interested in volunteering with Tikondwe just contact her! She is a fantastic person who works far too hard with very little support, so don't take offence if your email isn't answered within the next few days of sending it! She is in Malawi after all, the place where EVERYTHING takes roughly 10 times longer than it would anywhere else in the world.

I was to stay with the Tikondwe project for 4 weeks before moving on in Malawi to visit the rest of the country. My role was teaching local kids in the village of Mapanje, the main subjects being English and Math. A lot of the kids who came to this school (or rather brightly painted room with a blackboard) couldn't afford Government school and so I and the local teacher Diana were their only source of education. We had a morning class for children ages 2 to 9ish and an afternoon class for the elder kids. These students were to give me my first taste of what children in Africa are like, my initial reaction being that they are INSANE. Jumping on you, holding your hand, dragging you to the ground with hugs, constantly asking to be picked up and thrown about, doing handstands against you, cartwheels around you and chatting away in the local language/any broken English they can think of, the children of Mapanje school are exhausting! And absolutely wonderful! Diana is a fantastic teacher always trying to make the lessons as new and as interesting as possible and the kids love her. She has complete control over the class (something I never quite mastered) and always gave me the perfect amount of responsibility, never over-doing it and leaving me to my own devices so they children ran riot but never over-crowding me and my lesson plans in any way.

Mapanje school and the elder afternoon class showing off some of their work :)

Whilst working with the project myself and other volunteers stayed in the volunteer complex with a local family and our Malawian Mama and Papa. Mama can't speak much English but Papa knows how to hold a conversation perfectly. Themselves and their very large family live in 3 small homes nestled in between the volunteer bedroom (a room chock-a-block full of bunk beds), a common area (for eating, playing games, writing, socialising etc.), an outside toilet, an outside shower and a small courtyard area with a veranda. Although it all sounds very posh it wasn't, however it was very lovely. There is very (very, very) little electric in the village and so we had only one main light in the common area which sometimes did and sometimes didn't work; everywhere else at night had to be navigated by torch or candlelight. The outside shower was cold water only (a blessing in the October sun but I can only imagine the pain in the cold, wet season) and we cooked dinner bit by bit on the fire every night. It was wonderfully old fashioned and seemed to instantly bring all the volunteers and family closer together as a unit.

 Our dorm room. The people in this room changed over time but it managed to stay a girls only zone! This had 8 beds altogether and another 4 in a smaller room to the right. There were also bunks in the common area in two small rooms off the main room. Mattresses were provided and sometimes mosquito nets if you were lucky enough to have nabbed one!

 The Common area. Since 2011 (?) volunteers have been putting their handprints on the common areas walls to commemorate their time at Tikondwe. To the left where Toby is sitting is another 4 bed dorm room and Sam is sitting at the main table where we had 4 chairs. Around the room are benches to accommodate everyone for dinner and general social time.

 The toilet and shower block. The toilet is the far left door (the proper flushing kind, privilege in Africa!), the shower is the middle and the door to the far right was some kind of storage. The floor was concrete and never clean, so showering was interesting! I don't think I was ever properly 100% clean once considering the sheer amount of dust you accumulate on your body throughout the day. But it did the job well enough and is better than a bucket shower any day!

The veranda and garden area. To the left is Mama and Papas house and the fire area and to the left is the common room. I'm taking the photo outside of my dorm room. This veranda was wonderful. There was often a lady called Mrs Perry sitting underneath it sewing all kinds of things with her sewing machine and the family would usually come and sit here in the afternoon when it was too hot to stay in the sun.

The volunteer and Mama + Papas compound. To the left is the volunteer common room, the white house next to it is the dorm area with the toilets behind the common room. In front behind the trees is the veranda and behind that is the kitchen area and Mama and Papas home. There were two other homes beside theirs for other family members and their children. It was one big, happy family; literally!

Unfortunately (or fortunately?!) the day after my arrival was Malawis' Mothers Day, a National holiday and therefore no school. As disappointing as it was to not jump straight into volunteering the day was a blessing in disguise as I was taken around the local town (and old capital city of Malawi), Zomba. Zomba is the nearest town to the project and is a mere hop, skip, njinga ride (see picture) and minibus journey away. Old minibuses are the only way to get around Malawi without your own vehicle and are crammed full to the brim with people, luggage, chickens, shopping, bags of maize, crates of soda and just about everything else you can possibly think of. Zomba is a fine enough town with a fair sized market, few guesthouses, small botanical gardens, a few eateries and all your general basic needs (bank, post office, internet cafe etc.)


My second full day in Malawi came and went still with no volunteering as the local teaching staff had become confused as to whether school was on after yesterdays holiday or not. Why it wouldn't be was rather nonplussing as the day was a perfectly normal one with no national holiday to be had. This sort of inane confusion became very normal to me over the course of my time in Malawi where everything seems a little out of sorts and a tad backwards! Luckily I was to meet some of the children from other Tikondwe schools as we found a long band of rubber piping which we managed to tape together to make a kind of basketball hoop.
The kids near the house LOVED this and Amos (a longer term volunteer) hammered it into a tree so the children could all try their hand at shooting some hoops!

Finally, 3 days after my arrival on 17th October I was introduced to Mapanje school by Amos and the crazy children that reside in the village. It was also incidentally my birthday. Diana and the children were so very, very sweet singing happy birthday to me and making me feel more than welcome! The younger childrens' English has very little to be said about, it's practically non-existent. Unfortunately without a real Government education where the children HAVE to go to school every day (Mapanje is a charity school and therefore rules are not enforced to ensure the children arrive every day), retaining information seemed slightly impossible to the youngens. We wrote numbers on small blackboards and played number games into the early afternoon, but after a while of doing the same thing the children get very bored. There's no stopping them going mad when the parla turns up; a

thick runny porridge like mix that the morning class are given around midday as an incentive to turn up to school and learn (see picture of children sitting down ready to eat parla). Plus alot of their families can't afford breakfast OR lunch and so this parla would be many of the kids first meal of the day.
The elder class knew marginally more English and so teaching them was a little easier, however they are all at SUCH different levels of learning having 30 odd children all in one class, all of a different abilities, learning the same standard as each other was very difficult. The first day went well though and the afternoon class was always significantly less mad than the morning!

Tikondwe is a lucky charity in many ways, one of which being the sheer range of volunteers that arrive to help out. It's not all about teaching! Some volunteers don't want to be surrounded by crazy children all day (although whyever not surprises me greatly as they are fantastically hilarious 99.9% of the time!). For example a 70+ year old Aled was more interested in working in the garden associated with a HIV group, and a man called Richard was passionately trying to sort out a local ambulance service for the village. That's what makes this project so great; there are tons of people out there with extraordinary passions which can easily be used in the volunteering efforts. One guy called Charlie was a FANTASTIC breakdancer (you can see him busting some moves in these photos!) and so an early evening breakdancing class started which proved to be a great success and a WHOLE LOTTA FUN! It doesn't matter that myself (and all the other volunteers come to think of it) sucked, the kids and teenagers had a whale of a time and were 1000x times better than us muzungus'** ever could be! So my first day of school was followed by a break dancing class in a tiny room with about 10 other people. Fighting for space was difficult and actually managing to dance was near impossible, but Charlie is a brilliant, energetic teacher who kept the kids on their toes (and hands, knees, bellies, heads...) so they had a fantastic time!


My first few days at Tikondwe were pretty full on culturally as you're just thrown straight into hardcore African living. I'm glad it happened this way as I experienced absolutely no culture shock as I was so busy doing things, like being bombarded by the locals who LOVE having someone new to chat to, and just generally getting used to the local surroundings!

Besides, the weekend to come was to be one of the best in my entire life...


**muzungu means 'white person' throughout Africa. Everywhere a white person goes the tag 'muzungu' follows! It's not derogatory at all, although sometimes it may seem like it, it's purely just a term Africans use as if to state 'tourist' or 'someone who was born in a 1st world country'.

The problem with technology in third world countries

Hello world! 

How wonderful it is to be able to sit and use ones own laptop again on a sofa or bed rather than using slow old school computers at a grimy old desk with dodgey plastic chairs! I am home in British-lands once more and can only apologise profusely at my lack of blogging correspondence. Turns out logging into your goggle/blogger account whilst abroad in an Internet cafe is just not possible. Well... I'm sure it is, just not with MY security settings, and no matter how many unwilling helpers I enrolled in the "un-lock my blogger account so I may blog in Africa whilst in the Internet cafe!" cause, I just could not log on.

This means all my travel experiences are lost as I can't possibly recall 6 back 2 weeks ago, let alone 6 months.







Juuust kidding! I wrote my blog on paper so as to re-write upon my return home. Well that time has now come, so as often as I can I will be uploading information, pictures and videos about my travels; what happened, how I survived, people I met, things I did, trials and tribulations, the happiness and wonder, and of course the incredibly wonderful, superb, vibrant African culture and its people.

I have so much so say and so many incredible photos (a lot of credit due to others for those!) and so I hope many of those who have tuned in over the past few months will revisit this page to experience a little of the continent that I have fallen in love with :)

More newsworthy information two weeks prior to departure!

Another article, this time in The Wealden Ad! Thank you VERY much to the lovely Lisa at the magazine who has kindly popped my trip and climb mentioning those AMAZING sponsors of mine in the 'News of the Weald' section. Check it out!

That's pretty coooool!

Something even cooler?

I wrote to Staplehurst Carnival and Fete Committee requesting/wondering-if-I-could-get some funding for the voluntary parts of my trip and the Kilimanjaro climb. They have been EXTREMELY generous and donated £200 towards the trip! Just incredible!!

Thank you so, SO much, I really cannot express enough gratitude.

Lastly, after raising just under £100 for the NSPCC raffle I drew the lucky winners out of a hat last Friday! All the winners have been contacted and received their prizes. Congrats to Stuart, the winner of the 2 free powerkite lessons donated generously by The Kitesurf Centre at Camber Sands, who sounded extremely pleased with his luck!
Enjoy!

Keep watching this space, the adventure is only 2 weeks away!

In the news!

Who would've thought that a small village (if you can call Knoxbridge that) girl like myself would be in the news? Definitely not me! But I am and that's AWESOME!

That's me in the Maidstone KM (feel free to ignore the photo and remember I am actually 22 not super wrinkly). I'm not sure they've really got the gist of why I'm going to Malawi quite right BUT it's amazing I'm even in the paper and they mentioned my climb for the NSPCC (check out that fetching t-shirt!). 

I've also been told an article will be in the Wealden Ad under "News of the Weald" section on 27th September so look out for that! AND I've been offered funding and an article in the Village Mag in Staplehurst; INCREDIBLE!  A massive, MASSIVE thank you to Nick L at the KM, Lisa at the Wealden Ad and Elaine Downton in Staplehurst for helping me out.

I leave for Blantyre on October 13th, only a month away, so keep on this blog for updates nearer the time!

BIG LOVE going to everyone whose helped me out thus far in my travels (and that's a lot; you are all absolute stars and I could not have done it without you.

Bucket collections and raffles!

Another day, another fundraising activity!

Saturday 17th saw myself and a friend, Stevey V, onto the streets of Tunbridge Wells for a bucket collection to raise money for the NSPCC and awareness of my impending trip. It was surprisingly great fun and the weather held out despite promised rain. We raised an insane £166 exactly! Well worth the 6 hours standing outside hastling people (sorry!).

I was also on a raffle-ticket-selling-roll. So far 100 have been sold with plenty of time to go before the draw on September 21st.

I have been lucky enough to have some amazing people behind this raffle who have donated the most INCREDIBLE prizes. These include 2 free powerkite lessons, 2 free cinema tickets to a 2D film of your choice, 2 free lunchtime menus at CROMA restaurant in Tunbridge Wells, a £50 Topshop voucher, a beautiful frame, bottles of wine and an eye-shadow beauty pallet.

I'd like to thank the following people for these really awesome prizes;

The Kitesurf Centre have very, very kindly given away two free powerkite lessons worth up to £100 for the lucky winners of this raffle.

The centre specialise in offering various kitesurfing, landboarding, buggying, paddle boarding and wakeboarding lessons as well as kit hire, repairs and sales. Based at the beautiful Camber Sands, Kent, this is an amazing centre and well worth checking out! Just give their website a look to see the sheer number and variation of courses they offer! All instructors are BKSA certified. I really can't do this place justice, you have to check them out yourself to see!
http://www.thekitesurfcentre.com/
info@thekitesurfcentre.com
07963 763 046
Broomhill Sands, Lydd Road, Camber, East Sussex, TN31 7SB.


Odeon cinema in Tunbridge Wells have been extremely generous in giving away 2 free cinema tickets for any 2D film.

They have also offered their foyer for my fundraising activities (bucket collections, raffle ticket selling etc.) and so I am eternally grateful. A fantastic cinema with a brilliant wide range of films on offer, this raffle prize is extremely popular!
http://www.odeon.co.uk/

Croma restaurant above the Odeon Cinema in Knights Park, Tunbridge Wells, have also given away two free lunchtime menu meals (includes a drink and main meal between the hours of 11 and 4).

This is an Odeon initiative whereby cinema goers can enjoy a fantastic Italian style meal before their movie making the cinematic experience all the more enjoyable!
http://www.cromapizza.co.uk/


The Arcadia Group have very generously donated a £50 Topshop voucher which can be spent at any Topshop in the UK.

The Arcadia Group is the UKs largest fashion retailer with over 500 stores in more than 35 markets. Their brands include Burtons, Topshop and Topman, Miss Selfridge, BHS and many more.

Website: http://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/


And lastly, Spice Giftshop in Cranbrook have not only donated items for my various other events but also a beautiful silver frame which will go to another lucky raffle prize winner.

Claire, the owner of the shop, has been extremely supportive of this cause and is an absolute star for giving me so much of her time and effort! The shop really is fantastic offering beautiful items ranging from jewellery to candles to bags to stockings to home trinkets. Please show your support for a local business and check the shop out on facebook; you will not be disappointed!
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Spice/58528613277

Thank you so, so much to everyone who has donated, I am very appreciative and love each and every one of you!