YOUNGSTERS from an Exeter school hoping to raise enough

money to rebuild and run a school in Malawi have arrived in the

African country to see what services their charity work will

provide.

Pupils at West Exe Technology College are working with

footballer David James, who runs his own foundation in Malawi,

to build the school in Mulange.

In the past year they have already raised £10,000, enough to

construct and resource it.

Environmentally-conscious David, who lives in Chudleigh, set

up the foundation to help the crisis-stricken country.

West Exe teacher Naomi Drake visited the charity two years

ago and was inspired to start the fundraising effort at the

school.

The group, who had to raise £2,000 to pay for the trip,

arrived in Nairobi last Friday before flying to Lilongwe.

So far they have been on safari, eaten breakfast with

elephants, stayed in a school in Blantyre and saw the town's

Treasure a Child programme in action.

Pupils are keeping an internet diary for the Echo, which can

be seen on this website at www.thisisexeter.co.uk/malawi

They spent the early part of last week in Marula, which

involved a bumpy coach ride over the Zambian border, passing

youngers who waved at them.

Friday 11th July to Tuesday 29th July

Day 1: Friday 11th July

We all arrived at school around 9am. The usual things

happened: parents and children got emotional, people thought

they'd lost their passports just to find them in the front of

their bags and teachers jealously said their goodbyes whilst

trying to sneak onto the mini bus. Lots of photos were taken as

we all struggled with our luggage, some more than others, not

naming names- Jess, then got in the mini bus and drove through

the town to Exeter bus station.

Our coach trip up to Heathrow was very educational; we

learnt that Africa is in fact a continent and not just a big

country, and Malawi and Zambia are countries not towns. It took

us 5 hours to get to Heathrow. Our first challenge came in

finding our terminal- I had no idea how big it was, it was also

the first time we saw the group from St. Peter's and the last

member of our group. It was passport and metal detector tests

ahoy before boarding and when we finally entered the plane we

sat down and resigned ourselves to twelve hours of in-flight

entertainment and restlessness followed by yet more

travelling!

Written by Anne Withecombe

Day 2: Saturday 12th July

Well… today was quite like yesterday, travelling,

travelling, and more travelling. We were on the plane until we

landed in Nairobi at 6.30am awaiting our next flight for two

hours where we were to land at Lilongwe.

Everybody was grumpy and tired and smelt a bit as we had not

been able to sanitise over a two day period.

Once we had reached Lilongwe we spilt from the St Peter's

group, we waited for our transport to our first destination,

the safari at Marula.

When the coach arrived, we were all quite shocked as a small

rickety bus pulled up alongside us. We struggled to get

everybody's luggage (especially Jess') on board as well as all

passengers. We spent a near 7 hours squatting on seat edges

travelling on bumpy mud dirt tracks. We drove past many

villages where young children ran up beside us waving

vigorously.

Crossing the Zambian border was not easy, we had to get out

of the bus 4 times to show different police officers our

passports. We were in and out and in and out. But it was all

worth it from what I have seen so far. Once we had arrived at

the park, Miss Drake was rather cranky, she must have been

tired, we were “not allowed to leave the bus until it was

spotless”. She cheered up when we saw an elephant walk past and

when she saw a frog in one of the chalets!

I was in a chalet of five, Annie, Amy, Becky and Gemma, we

were all quite happily unpacking when Miss Drake thought it

would be extremely funny if she was to shout “ROAR” through the

window: she only did this because she was afraid of being eaten

by a lion herself so she had to make some sort of noise to

hopefully scare away any wild animals surrounding her. I was

not happy, my heart was pounding!

Anyway, we showered and scrubbed in a COLD shower and went

to bed. It did not take long for us to drift off as we knew we

were to have an early start.

Written by Megan Knight

Day 3: Sunday 13th July

Today many exciting things occurred, first of all, we had

the delight of having elephants join us for our breakfast. It

was so amazing, and a great start to our safari day.

Fred was our tour guide, and has been doing this for 25

years. Our morning trip out, we bumped into zebras, of course,

as we know, Miss Drake likes to entertain herself and try to

entertain her students with the most immature jokes, e.g. when

the zebra started to walk across our road, she chuckled to her

herself and then said with delight, “oh look, a zebra

crossing!!!!!” Unfortunately she didn't succeed in entertaining

her students! (two days later and she is still laughing about

it!!)

After the zebra we saw some baboons passing by, as you know

they are quite comical creatures, but also, they looked

extremely cute with their small baby clinging onto their

mummy's tummy. As we carried on travelling, we met some lazy

hippos who were munching on their 'cabbage' with crocodiles

warming themselves up, it was an amazing sight. We then met for

a break, and had some tea, biscuits, and discussed the

different things that we had seen, we had to be split up into

two vehicles as we are such a large group. The other group had

seen some lions, and they were rubbing it in our faces, so the

competition had begun amongst us. Unfortunately, we did our

best but came across the most common ones that you would see in

the safari which are; elephants, zebras, impalas, baboons,

crocodiles, buffalo, hippos, and a wide variety of different

birds!!!! Then we arrived back to our beautiful lodge, where we

had free time and could do what ever we wanted to, chill out

basically! Gemma and I sat in nice arm chairs by the river and

watched the elephants and crocodiles swimming around while we

had a nice chat, it was amazing that we were in Africa. Words

nor song can describe the feeling, atmosphere and the views

that we were experiencing.

At 3:30pm we had tea and cakes before we were off on our

evening safari, (the food here, we must say is very different,

and things that we would have at home taste completely

different). The evening safari was amazing, it was a really

nice atmosphere with dusk falling and watching the sun set, and

then go hunting to find the many animals that we were longing

to see. It gets quite cold, so we were all loaded with warm

woolly jumpers and scarves - we definitely looked a picture!

Unfortunately we hadn't seen anything, nothing at all towards

the end. We returned to the huts and were given a nice

meal.

In the meantime, while we were waiting for our dinner drum

to go off, we (Gemma and Rebekah) wondered around looking at

the different views and taking pictures. We stumbled across

Miss Drake and Geraldine Taylor having a deep discussion in

their hut, and made the quick decision that we would scare Miss

Drake with a 'roar' and bang onto her window as pay back for

doing that to us. We scared the living daylights out of her,

she jumped a mile and her facial expression was immense!!!

Geraldine Taylor was laughing so much and said to us that she

was glad that Miss Drake had been to the toilet before

hand!!!!! We were highly pleased with ourselves and war had

begun!!!!

Written by Rebekah Poulter and Gemma

Bulley

Day 4: Monday 14th July

Once again we got up at a ridiculous time but little did we

know that we were in for one hell of an exciting day. We sat

down to have some breakfast when we were joined by some huge,

hungry elephants. There was a male, female and a baby elephant

all destroying the surrounding trees and bushes. With

trepidation we pegged it to the safari jeeps ready for an

interesting trip with Freddy, our safari guide (who Miss Drake

wanted to kiss). We set off to the national park to find some

lions for Miss Drake.

We drove past many zebras, elephants and birds all of which

are fascinating, however our aim was to see a lion. We were

annoyed that the other group kept going on about seeing a

giraffe… but HA! We saw five up close using their huge necks to

munch on trees. But still no lions. We pulled up for a break,

but before we even drank a sip of tea, Freddy had heard that

there were lions nearby, and told us to get back on the jeep,

and we zoomed off. We found the lions who were both male and we

were edging closer and closer.

I think we were all getting a bit nervous, as the lions

looked up at us, and appeared to lick their lips. After staring

at us for a while, the lions deemed us harmless (thank God!).

Just looking at them relax in their natural environment was an

experience I will never forget. As we were about to pull off,

the lion left us a little present, to mark his territory. We

heard news of some lionesses and cubs from the same pride.

Another amazing experience finished the morning perfectly. Do

you now see why Miss Drake wanted to kiss Freddy? I have to say

he looked a bit worried. Arriving back at the camp, the other

group told us they had caught a glimpse of a hyena. We were

pleased for them (well really we were jealous) but the day was

young, and the evening would yield a greater gift.

We sat down to our brunch, and saw the usual sight of

elephants, but this time they seemed particularly hungry. One

male elephant smelt the food being provided for us, and decided

to have a poke around. He stuck his trunk right in the tea

table, trying to nick our food. I have to say that it was

hilarious seeing the staff banging chairs to scare it away!

Later on in the afternoon, we heard some baboons fighting in a

nearby tree. As I went over to my room, a baboon with a banana

started hissing at me. Now tell me that you wouldn't just walk

past? No? Well I went back to Miss Drake to tell her of the

situation, and Miss Drake said she would accompany me, (quite

reasonable right?). Afterwards I got so much stick, and as a

result of an innocent and acceptable action from me, got

twisted into me crying and saying 'the monkey is attacking me,

shall I give him a banana?” I DID NOT SAY THAT!!! The time had

come to go out on our final safari.

The first hour was fairly quiet. Following our normal

routine, we stopped for a tea break half way through our

safari, by this time the sun had set. After driving around for

about ten minutes, Freddy received a call of yet more lions at

the spot we previously passed. It was in fact Jess who spotted

the lions and, no surprise, it was yet another amazing sight.

We saw about three tiny lion cubs following their mothers to

drink from the opposite lake. Hearing the lions lap up the

water brought it home to me that we were in Africa!

Is that enough for you? Well I have more! We drove around

the park for the final time when we spotted the last of the big

cats. An elegant leopard, seemed to glide out of the bushes. It

trotted over to the buffalo, which it was obviously trying to

catch for its evening meal. It appeared as though we had lost

him, but as we drove around the rear track, the night lamp

flashed over a pair of eyes. As we zoomed off into the bushes

we caught the final sight of the leopard, using its hunting

technique to stalk the prey.

This was a absolutely unbelievable way to end our time at

South Luangwa National Park, and the end of day four.

Written By Paul Berry

Day 5: Tuesday 15th July

Yet again we spent the day travelling, but this time it was

back through the borders to Lilongwe. This time we didn't have

trouble getting through the border but it still took a long

time as some of us weren't quite as organised as we didn't have

any pens to write our entry forms to get into Malawi. It was

hard for some people to get to grips with leaving the beautiful

national park in Zambia and knowing that we weren't going to

wake up and have breakfast with bull elephants. The coach

journey took six hours in the same old rickety bus, they say

time flies when you're having fun, literally!!

When we arrived in Lilongwe we had to find our hotel which

was very plush and a complete contrast to what we had seen on

the way from the bus. We were shocked at the variation between

previous accommodation, for starters it was clean and bug less.

We were served fresh orange juice in high-class champagne

glasses and shown to our cosy rooms with satellite television

and all mod cons. Later on we chose our three course meal from

the menu, it was delicious and really tasty. Shortly afterwards

Miss Drake came running into the dining room all happy with

herself as a man had approached her and shaken her hand

vigorously, he was someone from the United Nations. He

disappeared for a moment and came back with another man dressed

smartly who introduced himself as the Deputy Minister for

Education in Malawi. Miss Drake was shaking with excitement at

the prospect of meeting two such important men.

Once the thrill had died down we all settled for the night

in our snug twin rooms. It was really nice to have a warm

shower after the three days of freezing showers. As soon as my

head hit the pillow I was fast asleep and I am sure it was the

same for everybody else.

Written By Alice Huttley

Day 6: Wednesday 16th July

We had another early start today with, once again, a long

coach journey ahead of us from Lilongwe to Blantyre. After a

comfortable night in The Sunbird Hotel everyone woke early,

coming down for breakfast around 5.15. After breakfast we

collected our luggage and met Knocks, our driver for the past

four days, for the last time. He took us to the bus station

where we boarded the plush coach taking us to Blantyre.

We had left Lilongwe at around 7am. We had been travelling

for almost 2 hours when a problem arose with the coach. This

meant that we had to wait for another coach to arrive, and this

would be a long wait as we were now around halfway through our

journey. Whilst waiting for the other coach we thoroughly

enjoyed seeing some of the local people of the town. We had

conveniently stop outside a small nursery school and many of

the young children were playing outside. Miss Drake and Dan

went over to talk to them but, after at first appearing

extremely energetic and excitable, they soon returned to their

lessons. There were also some older children situated across

the road from us who, although they were having lots of fun and

enjoying our company, as we were theirs, many showed symptoms

of HIV / AIDS. This was one of our first encounters with the

harsh reality of living in this poverty stricken area. I found

this hard to see; these young kids are so full of life yet have

this devastating illness, but it was important we all knew.

After this eventful break, another coach arrived and we were

soon back on the road, arriving in Blantyre around 2.00pm. We

were met by our new driver, Massa, who was taking us to our

accommodation at St. Andrew's International High School.

Reaching our destination in several minutes, we collected our

luggage and settled into our rooms. We then enjoyed a relaxing

afternoon with delicious food on offer and explored the grounds

of the school including the playing fields. Although today was

mainly consumed with travelling it was very eventful and all

part of our experience whilst we are in Malawi.

Written By Amy Brimmicombe

Day 7: Thursday 17th July

Today, it was very nice to not have to wake up and face

another long journey. Breakfast was lovely, as there were

freshly made pancakes with sugar and maple syrup. It was a

lovely start to the morning, before we climbed aboard our blue

and white mini bus to set off to the Treasure A Child Programme

in Blantyre. It was only a short bus ride.

When we arrived, all of the children stood up to greet us.

We weren't expecting this, but thought that it was sweet of

them. We jumped straight into singing songs to them, like

'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes', 'If You're Happy And You

Know It' and 'Old McDonald'. We chose these songs as they are

quite repetitive, and we could either do actions or animal

noises (for Old McDonald) Most of them didn't speak English,

but they all joined in with a smile on their face!

They then all sung some Malawian songs to us, which was

beautiful in the way that they all sung happily. As we didn't

know the songs, we could only clap along, but the atmosphere

was amazing. We all got stuck in. Becky in particular was

really brave, as she sung a song on her own to the children,

called 'Popcorn Popping'.

Next, we played some skipping games, by jumping into an

already swinging rope. Jess, Megan, Jas and Dom, all managed to

run in and jump. Unfortunately though, when it came to Dom's

turn, his trousers fell down to his ankles as soon as he began

to jump, revealing his grey boxers! Everyone was in

hysterics.

The children then had their breakfast, whilst we continued

to skip. When the children had finished, we did some French

skipping, and every time we did it, it got higher until it was

around the children's waists. This to us, seemed impossible,

but to the children it was easy.

Afterwards, we made a circle, and played a game involving a

hyena chasing a goat, (this to us would be known as cat and

mouse). There was a hyena on the inside, that had to try to get

the goat which was on the outside, but the people in the circle

had to close the gaps, to ensure the hyena didn't escape the

circle to catch the goat. On the rare occasion, the hyena would

escape and we would have to let the goat into the circle and

close the circle up to keep the hyena on the outside.

Next we unwrapped the soap so that they were individual and

handed each child a pouch of sun cream and some soap. There

were four mums, who were also given some tissues or wet wipes.

Jess in particular was really hit by the sight of this because

they were so grateful for our gifts. As we were thirsty, Kulsum

(a lady that volunteers with the 'Treasure a child') invited us

to her house which was a two minute walk down the road, to have

a glass of water. This was very welcoming of her, as we had

only just met.

We then all stood in a circle and clapped whilst the

children sung and one child would go in the circle and pick

someone else to dance with. It was great fun and we all had a

go, even though the children were experienced dancers.

We then said our goodbyes, which was the hardest part and

got back onto the minibus, to go to 'Game', which is where we

could change our dollars into kwacha. We didn't know that we

needed our passports, but luckily Jas and Miss Drake had theirs

so some people put there money together, before sharing it

out.

When we got back to St. Andrews, we had lunch, which was

fish or chicken or a vegetarian omelette, potatoes and

coleslaw. Then we played some basketball and some other games

before tea.

Overall this day has been a real learning curve for everyone

and there have been many discussions about the things that we

saw. It has made us realise what we take for granted and I

think that we will all be grateful for the things that we have

and will receive in the future. We also realise that most of

the time we buy things for the sake of it, just because we want

it, not necessarily need it. By seeing the things that we saw

today I feel everybody will think twice when they are buying

things, to whether they actually need it or if their buying it

only because they want it.

Written By Jasmine Davey

Day 8: Friday 18th July

Today we woke up for an 8am breakfast which was rather nice

because it meant we had a little bit of a lie in. We had a

relaxing morning at St. Andrew's before heading out to Dzanja

La Chifundo, an orphanage near Blantyre, at 1pm, just after our

lunch of pieces of fish that were rather pleasant. We set off

to the Dzanja La Chifundo (The Compassionate Hand) on our cool

coach that has white leather interior. We arrived at Dzanja La

Chifundo and were greeted by Gordon and Lucy who are the owners

and leaders of the organisation. We entered a lovely building

and walked into the main hall which was covered with photos and

pictures drawn by the children. Gordon introduced himself and

Lucy to us and told us a little about the place and what goes

on there. He explained to us that practically all of the

children there had no family or carers to care for them. We

were then introduced to the children after walking through a

brightly coloured room that had been decorated with children's

art work. The children were very welcoming towards us and shook

everyone of our hands. The age of the children ranged from 4 to

about 18 years. They took us to their sports area where we

played volleyball and football with them to start off with.

After playing for a while we introduced them to a few of our

games like 'duck, duck, goose'. We played this for quite a

while and everyone seemed to really enjoy it so everyone joined

in. It was great fun. Then after that some of us took some

children to do some colouring. Demi drew everyone a picture and

got some beautiful drawings back in return which was very

special.

We all enjoyed the place and loved what they were doing with

the children. We didn't see one child without a smile on their

face which had to be a good sign. The children were very

friendly and were open to making new friends even though they

didn't totally understand us we still managed to interact with

them. Some of us really bonded with some of the children and

have memories we will never forget. For some of us it really

hit us hard leaving them but we had to look on the bright side

as we knew they were happy and in a place that they could call

home.

This was a real eye opener to us and a very special day. We

met some very unique people who we will always remember. We

said our goodbyes after having a group photo and we were waved

off by the children, Gordon and Lucy. We got back to St.

Andrew's and really thought about what we saw and how lucky we

are to have what we have.

We relaxed for the rest of the day still thinking

about………….

We will always remember this eye opening day that we

had.

Written By Russell Back & Demi Khan

Day 9: Saturday 19th July

Today we woke up for a 7:30 breakfast. Some people didn't

make up until 7:15 and then were panicking to get ready before

they got a lecture from Miss Drake.

Once we ate our eggs and rolls we set out to 'Game', a multi

purpose shopping mall. Many of us had to change up our money.

We arrived at about 8:28. It took about 45mins to change up

everyone's money which was in fact very tedious and boring.

We arrived at the Samaritan Trust at about 9:30am. We looked

around but not much was set up yet. Many people brought some

really delightful things. They were all hand made and really

unique. There were many stalls that sold things for young kids

and didn't really get much attention.

Once we had looked around outside, we went into the main

hall. There were loads of children from all ages. We played

games and taught them songs, Like 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and

Toes'. I think that they may have found our songs boring so

they were looking forward to us teaching some of their songs

and playing the 'hyena and goat' game.

Once that was over they all lead us to the football pitch.

There was a football competition going on that was about to

start. Many of the players were just warming up.

We sat around for a bit, interacting with the other people

that were there. It was pleasant because they seemed to be

interested in our cameras, and also the pictures of the animals

that many of us had took.

Becky and I (pro volley ballers), played a quick game of

volley ball but because Becky was so good she decided to stop

playing and got a drink.

After this, we went and had a tour of the crops and plants

that they are growing after receiving funding from the David

James Foundation. It was good to see the work that the

Foundation are doing with the Samaritan Trust. This lasted for

about 30-45mins. Promptly after we headed back to the stalls.

This time, many of them were set up.

Once we got back to St. Andrew's I went to sleep. I was

absolutely exhausted. I woke up with Becky and Gemma jumping on

me and just generally trying to annoy me! :( We all had dinner

that was delicious, followed by desert.

For the rest of the night we just chilled out and listened

to music.

Written By Jodie O'Reilly

Day 10: Sunday 20th July

Today breakfast was at 8 o'clock. We had the taste of an

English breakfast with bacon, eggs, tomato and a bread roll. We

all enjoyed this as it was a reminder of home.

We headed to Yamakani House at 10 o'clock so we had some

free time to do what we wanted after breakfast. Most of us just

chilled out and spent the morning relaxing as we had a busy day

ahead. I must say, I took the opportunity to do a bit of

sunbathing and Dom went to 'shoot some hoops' at the basketball

court.

We arrived at Yamakani House at 10.30am. As we got out of

the bus, we were all greeted with a handshake from each child

and the people who were running the home. One of us was

carrying a hoolahoop to give to them and they started playing

with it right away. We all gathered round as they showed us

their skills of hoolahooping, and I can say, that they were

much better than most of us!

After this exciting start, we had a tour of the building and

the grounds. Mrs Lifa is the matron of the home and she told us

some interesting information about the house and the farm that

they own. She showed us through the house, where we saw the

rooms, the kitchen and a place where they store their maize

that they have grown themselves at the farm. We were shocked as

she showed us their food. She explained that it was all they

had for the rest of the year. There were about twelve 50kg bags

full of maize and one bag would last them a week. Obviously,

this means that they only have three months worth of food if

they cannot buy any more. The maize is used to make nsima (A

national Malawian dish) which will feed the twenty children at

the house.

After Mrs Lifa had shown us around, we went into their

classroom where we interacted with the children. They started

the interaction off by singing us one of their songs, which

welcomed us to their home, and we all clapped and tried to join

in as best as we could. We then got ourselves into a big circle

and we all spread out and stood next to some of the children so

that we could talk to them and sing some of our songs with

them. We started off by singing 'Hello My Name Is Joe'. This

was great fun and easy for them to join in as there is lots of

actions. Then we sang the ' Hokeykokey ' and ' Head Shoulder,

Knees and Toes'.

After this we went out of the classroom and played some

games. We played ' The Hyena and the Goat' (a Malawian game),

'Duck, Duck, Goose' and 'Sticky Glue'. This which was great fun

as everybody got involved and we had a good laugh!

We then got all of the toys that we had donated and gave

them to the children and we watched and played with them and

their new toys. They seemed like they really enjoyed us being

there and were very grateful for what we had given them. It was

an amazing feeling to know that by giving those children some

small gifts, that we had put a smile on their faces and to know

that they were gratefully received. This was a fun filled three

hours, and did not feel like it had been this long. I guess the

statement 'time flies when you're having fun' really is

true.

We then got onto the bus and headed down to Yamakani Farm

and some of the children and staff followed in a different

minibus, although a couple of the children sneaked into our bus

and travelled to the farm with us. The aim is that this farm

will, in time, provide enough maize to feed all of the children

in the home as well as children from the neighbouring village

(the poorest in Blantyre).

When we arrived at the farm, we saw some remarkable sights.

We saw some amazing views and lots of people working hard.

There were a couple of boys pumping a water pump and the water

was trickling down a man-made gully. At the end of the gully

there was a holding tank where all of the water was being

stored ready to be put into watering cans and taken to water

the crops of the one of eight hectares they have. They are

currently trying to grow wheat, maize, tomatoes and aubergines.

Mr Punjuani (the chairman of Yamakani) explained how they are

trying to increase their capacity of growing crops throughout

the farm but require extra bore holes to enable all of the farm

to be watered.

After the guide of the farm, the group as a whole decided to

give the watering of crops a go. We thought it was only right

to do it the traditional African way and carry the buckets and

watering cans on our heads. This gave us a real taste of the

African culture and it was harder than we all expected. We got

very wet and very muddy but it was a good laugh and we were

just happy that we were helping the people who are making every

effort to produce their own food through sustainable

farming.

It was sad to say goodbye to the people of Yakamani as they

had welcomed us so warmly in to their home and family. On the

journey back, all of the group agreed that when we return, we

are going to do some fundraising events to raise money to help

develop the farm to its full potential.

By Jessica Hitt and Dominic Boult.

Day 11: Monday 21st July

This morning breakfast was at 7:30am. We had to be packed

with overnight baggage for the next three days and two nights.

We finished this and were on the coach ready to set off.

We travelled to the Mulanje View Motel where we were to

stay. Being in Mulanje means that you are always going to have

a beautiful view of the mountains. We dropped our luggage off

and set off to Mulanje LEA Primary School where we were greeted

before we had even had time to get off the bus by most of the

pupils, the staff, PTA and Chiefs of the village. The students

had come to school especially, despite the fact that that it

was their holidays; they had finished for their summer holiday

on Friday. Scrambling off the bus, we were greeted by excited

children who sang to us and gave us the most amazing welcome.

This show consisted of dancing, singers, comedy acts and even

children on stilts!!

After the children had demonstrated their 'activities' to

us, we were given a guided tour around the school. The

classrooms were in a bad state; there were holes in the roofs,

no windows or doors, no desks or chairs. These classrooms were

built to hold eighty to one hundred students however, you would

be more likely to find up to one hundred and thirty students

crammed in the room, all sat on the floor. In fact, we were

told that now it is winter, children are finding it difficult

to concentrate during lessons as they are shivering because

they are sat on the cold, concrete floor. In England these

classrooms we would have a maximum of thirty students in each,

all of whom would have a desk to sit at and a chair to sit

on.

We are all extremely pleased with the David James'

Foundation and FOMO's (Friends of Mulanje Orphans) finding this

school to rebuild so that the £11,000 West Exe have raised can

go in to a building that is in such a bad state of repair.

There are obviously more schools that are also in need of help

and we wish we could help more of them. Hopefully, we will be

able to in the future.

After having drinks with the teachers, governers and parents

we left and walked ten minutes to a FOMO centre. Here we were

also warmly welcomed with singing and dancing. After

interacting with the children we had a quick lunch provided by

FOMO. We finished lunch and then immediately went to play with

the children. We all became attached to the children and knew

it was going to be hard to say goodbye in a few days.

We left FOMO at about 5:30pm and drove back to the motel

which didn't take long. We relaxed, had dinner and then an

early night.

Written by Fern Knowles

Day 12: Tuesday 22nd July

Today we were up early again. I say early because it's early

for us British students who are used to getting up at 7:30am

and having to be at school at 9am in the morning. We were ready

for breakfast for 7:30 and we had egg on bread and tea. The tea

was made with rice milk and we had to strain it. Some of the

people on the trip have never made tea this way and asked me to

make their tea for them.

We then left to go back to FOMO. I really enjoyed going here

because I made friends with a lot of people there and became

very close with a little girl called Dalluli (not entirely sure

of how to pronounce or spell her name as she was only about

four years of age and was very quiet). She loved having hugs

and basically wanted a bit of attention.

While the children in the nursery school had their

breakfast, we all headed down to a football pitch for the West

Exe vs. FOMO football match. I was a substitute and swapped

with Dom at half time. It was amazing to be playing football at

the foot of Mount Mulanje. We attracted quite a crowd as a

number of people from the local villages followed us to the

pitch and made quite a noise on the sidelines.

We were trashed by the FOMO team. Towards the end they must

have pitied us and gave us a penalty. Our bus driver, Victor,

took it and he scored! Our fellow supporters began singing our

song ''We love you Victor, we do. We love you Victor, we do!'

Shortly after we were told it was a draw and this led to a

penalty shoot out. We thought that the referee would ask the

traditional five players to take the penalties however they got

the whole team to take them, including the goalies.

Unfortunately lost. We had some photographs taken and walked

back to the FOMO centre. There we had lunch and were told to

get into groups of four and produce an interview to be filmed

by Simon (the David James' Foundation's cameraman. We didn't

get enough time to film everyone's interview videos and decided

to leave it for another day.

We left this FOMO centre to go to another, which was about a

half an hour drive away. Here the children were working on the

farm and were surprised to see us but still managed to put a

show on for us at the last minute. Their shows were truly

breath taking: these children are mainly orphans but they are

still happy in life, they are truly grateful for everything

that they have. We sat and watched their singing and dancing

and then had to shoot off to yet another FOMO centre who were

also surprised and excited to see us.

The children at the Mwamadi Centre were very excited to see

Mary Woodworth who is the founder of FOMO. She had been in

England for a while and the children hadn't seen her for some

time. They also sang us songs and lead us into their classroom.

Here they said prayers and the girls sang us some songs. The

children said that they wanted to see us again soon which is

great because we are all keen to go back.

After we left here, we returned to the Mulanje View Motel

were we met Sandy and Simon who joined us for a while and had a

few drinks with us. There a powercut so we had to sit in the

dark for a while. Sandy and Simon left during our dinner, after

stealing a few of our chips. For me, the vegetarian, the meal

was a whole fish, head and all! It was delicious.

We then went to bed after a long night of chatting.

Today was a very tiring day. I wished I could have spent

more time at the FOMO centres. Today was truly amazing but

emotionally tiring. However, it was fascinating to see the help

and hard work going at FOMO. It also allowed us to see the

benefits that the children get from these centres.

Written by Pollyanna Hember

Day 13: Wednesday 23rd July

Today we had all had an egg “sarnie” for breakfast at the

Mulanje View Motel, which has an amazing view of Mulanje

mountain; a truly remarkable sight to behold.

We all boarded the bus for a 9:30am departure; we were on

our way to the Lujeri Tea Estate, which was huge. We had to

travel through a lot of fields of tea on our way, waving at the

families living in the local villages. There was a patchwork of

green fields surrounding us sloping in every direction. We

arrived at the main processing factory to begin our guided

tour. After fitting into our white “lab coats” and washing our

hands we made our way into the fast factory to learn about how

the leaves come from the field and are processed until the

final product is produced: believe me it's a lot more complex

than it seems!

After our guided tour we arrived in the final room, which I

believe was the head office, for a bit of taste testing, there

was a variation of approximately eight blends of tea. I was a

little bit reluctant after watching the manager swilling the

tea around his mouth and then spitting it into a bucket. The

tea was nice but could have done with a sugar or two! After we

had all finished at the estate, we all got back onto the bus to

make our way back to FOMO to say our final goodbyes.

When we arrived at FOMO we went straight to the office where

Gift was. He has a touching story of growing up as an orphan

and how FOMO has helped him. He also creates his own music in

his band called The Real 3, band members include himself,

Andrew and Daniel. He also came up with a freestyle rap while

Dominic and myself were beatboxing which was amazing. Although

we hadn't spent a lot of time at FOMO we had all became very

attached to the inspiring people and their stories. I had

written a poem about poverty and HIV which I recited and was

recorded by Simon, who was a cameraman for the David James

Foundation and an excellent guy himself. Mary Woodworth who is

the founder of FOMO also read the poem the previous night and

wants to upload it on to onto the website which was great to

hear.

I played Frisbee for a while with Yamikani Chikala who I had

bonded really well with. He is also an orphan and his story was

truly touching. He is the same age as me too so it made me even

more grateful for what I have. It was amazing to hear how much

FOMO have helped him in the. For the days I spent at FOMO he

was like a brother to me and I definitely want to go back to

FOMO soon so I can see everyone again. The leaving was the

hardest for everybody and was so emotional, because we had

become so attached to these people and the stories they had to

tell were so moving. I know that we all want to go back again

as soon as possible. The journey back to Blantyre was full of

emotion and tears however we were also pleased to know that our

friends are in the safe hands of FOMO.

When we got back to St Andrew's High School we had the

traditional Malawian dish of nsima which is made from maize. It

was especially nice mixed with the sauce from the chicken.

Overall, this has been the best day of the trip so far. An

emotional rollercoaster of ups and downs, but this is the

reason why I'm so happy to have come to Malawi.

Here is the poem I wrote whilst on this trip just a few days

ago:

What We've Got

The economy of this nation is ready to burst,

I had no idea until I'd seen the worst.

Back in England I found it's difficult to see,

The real life repercussions of HIV.

People have no money and none to borrow,

You'd think they'd be upset but there is no sorrow.

Family members lost and the rest begin to cry,

Do you know what it's like to have your own mother die?

One of the poverty stricken areas of this earth,

A mother can even die during her child's birth.

Friends and family are regularly torn,

For every death they've got maybe another is born.

But there's hope to end the suffering and strife,

And a loving mother still holds the gift of new life.

The kids on the street can be content with not a lot,

Maybe one day we'll all be content with what we've got.

Written by Daniel Pethick

Day 14: Thursday 24th July

We left St Andrew's (which now felt like our second home) at

about 9:00am. Victor and Masa (our wonderful drivers) nearly

broke their backs, yet again, heaving our suitcases onto the

top of the bus. We travelled for six hours, a relatively short

journey compared to some of our previous expeditions. We

enjoyed some laughs along the way with suicidal goats running

in front of the bus and a frighteningly rickety bridge.

As we neared our destination at about 3 o'clock we noticed

Lake Malawi in the distance. Not difficult as it is 50km wide

(it covers a third of the country!) As we entered our lodge we

realised just how beautiful the location was; the lodges were

situated on a private beach which was right on the lake. After

a minor drama about who was going in what room, and how many

beds there were, we all settled in to our new dwellings. The

chalets were all in the style of the traditional buildings with

straw roofs. There were nice warm showers as well. We spent the

night settling in and eating dinner. After sunset we sat on the

beach, watching the stars and wildlife; glow flies and bats. We

made a little fire from stray wood on the beach and tried to

spot the constellations. We went to bed at 11pm because Miss.

Drake had already informed us that she was going to wake us all

up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise over the Lake.

Amy, Demi and I went to sleep as soon as our heads hit the

pillows, after nearly choking ourselves on copious amounts of

deet. We were all exhausted after our emotional time at FOMO

and it was nice to know that we had a few days to relax.

Written by Anne Withecombe

Day 15: Friday 25th July

We were woken up at 5:30am by Miss Drake banging on the door

yelling at us to get up. She was eager for us to see the sun

rise over Lake Malawi. Despite not being happy at the time of

the alarm, it was amazing so it was really worth getting up

that early. It was quite cold at that time of the morning so we

were all sat on the beach under blankets. Victor thought he

would bury his legs in the sand to keep warm. We all went back

to bed after the sun had risen to get a little more sleep

before having to get up again for our 8 o'clock breakfast.

After breakfast we split into two groups. The first group

walked a small distance along the beach to get to the pottery.

When we got there we each chose a piece of pottery and then the

colours to paint it with. We were given two hours to paint

whatever we wanted. There were a lot of different designs. For

instance, Paul created a plate with some funny comments on it

and cartoons outlining comic moments of the trip (all of which

I can't repeat here) which was funny. There were also some

brilliant paintings like Jodie's painting of a map of Malawi on

a vase which was really good. After that we wandered along the

beach back to our chalets for a relaxing day.

After some sunbathing a few people really fancied a bath so

it was convenient that we had a bath on our balcony. We managed

to fit six girls in one bath which was quite impressive, even

if I do say so myself. The other group, at the time, were still

painting their pottery and came back just after we had finished

with the bath. We all relaxed and had a break for the rest of

the day talking about the weird pottery paintings and what we

are going to buy on Sunday when we go back to buy souvenirs

from the craft stall outside of the pottery.

Written By Russell Back

Day 16: Saturday 26th July

We woke up at 7am and followed the usual routine of a shower

and getting ready for the day ahead of us. We were going on a

cultural visit so I had to make sure that I had my camera.

We had a delicious breakfast, yet again, which consisted of

toast, egg, sausage and bacon. When everyone had finished their

breakfast and filled up their stomach for the day ahead, we

chose what we were going to have for lunch.

We then met our guide, Frank. He was very enthusiastic about

the history of the places we were going to visit. Firstly, we

went to a village which saw the beginning of the slave trade in

Malawi and we learned a lot about the culture and traditions

here. It was fascinating. Some of us felt upset that Britain

had ever been involved in the slave trade, although Britain did

not obtain slaves from Malawi. After we left the village, we

visited the site of the tree dedicated to David Livingstone

during his second visit to Nkhotakota.

After this, we made our way to the remains of the mosque

that had been destroyed when Lake Malawi flooded several years

ago. The people of Zanzibar had built this to help create a

Muslim culture in the area. This had also acted as a head

quarters during the slave trade. As we made our way back to the

bus, we walked past a tree that was planted at the birth of the

slave trade so it was more than two hundred years old.

We then made our way to an Anglican church were we saw the

tree that Dr Livingstone had camped under during his first

visit to Nkhotakota. Frank pointed out the bell that had been

placed in the tree. The purpose of the bell was for Livingstone

to be able to call the local Chiefs and the people from

Zanzibar to him. Frank told us that many of them were scared of

Dr Livingstone. Frank took us in to the church opposite the

tree, where we saw how people would have been converted from

Islam to Christianity.

We then drove to a local village where we shown how to

ground dried cassava in to flour to make nsima. We were then

offered the opportunity to have a taster with some fish. For

the next hour, the villagers entertained us with a selection of

traditional songs and dances. It was after this that we made

our way back to the safari lodge, had lunch and relaxed for the

rest of the afternoon / evening.

Written by Dominic Boult

Day 17: Sunday 27th July

This morning, as with every morning during our stay at

Nkhotakota Safari Lodge, we woke to the sound of waves crashing

on the shores of Lake Malawi.

Today was to be a relaxing day and that is just what it was.

I was buried in the sand this morning while others caught the

sun a little too much. During the afternoon, Gemma and Becky

went off to the local pottery to buy a gift for Miss Drake,

which the whole group had chipped in for. They bought her an

interesting figure of a baboon with a set of plates with a

hippo design. Being Miss Drake, here life-after-death ambition

is to become a hippo in her next life … great!!

Later in the afternoon, we all had a chance to go to pottery

and craft stalls to presents and souvenirs for people at home.

We then returned to the Safari Lodge to prepare for the

evening's entertainment.

After dinner, an emotional Mr Carah started the evening with

a speech about the trip as a whole and, of course, a big thank

you to our hippo loving friend, Miss Drake. Everybody else had

an opportunity to say what they wanted, which they delivered

from their heart with true feeling. Yes, there were more

tears!

The tears were soon wiped away as Dan and I stood up to sing

for Miss Drake. We had composed a truly brilliant song to the

tune of the Grease classis, “Summer Lovin'”. The lyrics are

below:

Summer time, in Malawi,

Started off with a safari.

Got chased off by a baboon,

Never seen you run so soon.

Chorus

Mrs Drake, we're not allowed in the lake

But oh, we love you anyway –

Oh Drakey, Drakey,. Drakey, Drake.

Tell me more, tell me more,

Like did you shed a tear.

Tell me more, tell me more,

Now we can we have a beer,

Uh huh, Carlsberg, Uh uh, Carlsberg or Malawian gin.

In Blantyre, we met some kids.

You got angry, and flipped your lid.

But it's ok, we're all safe now.

Don't ask us why, we just don't know.

Repeat chorus

Tell me more, tell me more,

Like did you shed a tear.

Tell me more, tell me more,

Now we can we have a beer,

Uh huh, Carlsberg, Uh uh, Carlsberg or Malawian gin.

Then we met FOMO down at the Mount.

People cried so much, we all lost count.

Oh Mrs Drake, we're not allowed in the lake,

But we love you anyway.

Tell me more, Tell me more, more, more.

A further couple of hours of singing and dancing finished

our visit to Malawi beautifully.

Written By Paul Berry

Day 18: Monday 28th July

Well, what can I say? Homeward bound and travelling for yet

another twenty four hours.

It seems as though each and every member of this close knit

group are filled with mixed emotions. Many people have said

that Malawi will always be in their heart, as it will be in

mine. I think that everybody is ready to be in the comfort of

their own home but I am sure that most people in this group

will think twice before taking things for granted in the

future.

Written by Megan Knight

Well, keeping this short and sweet, I just want to say a

huge thank you to the lady who made this trip happen .. Miss

Drake. I would also like to thank Mr Carah, Nick and Geraldine

because they have done so much to help this trip run

smoothly.

Of all the school trips that have happened from West Exe,

this has got to be one of the best. It has been a great group

of students and adults. Yes, we are all individuals and most of

us do not share the same likes and dislikes and, I have to say,

I did expect there to be more arguments within the group but

everyone has put their differences aside and focused on the

real purpose of being in Malawi. We have met a number of people

who are less fortunate than all of us but they have hope of

helping themselves in the future.

We have become close as a group and most of us are unhappy

about the thought of having to leave Malawi when we don't know

how soon it will be before we can go back. I feel that I am

speaking on behalf of everyone when I say that you can not just

visit Africa and forget about it; it has been a truly amazing

experience and I am sure that we are all going to treasure

these moments for the rest of our lives. Perhaps we could add

some more by visiting the 'warm heart of Africa' again.

I would like to add a special thanks to everyone who has

supported this trip, especially the businesses and individuals

who have sponsored many of us to travel here. Without you, we

would not have been able to take part in this amazing

experience and we are all extremely grateful for your

support.

Written by Fern Knowles

As I sit here in the departure lounge of Nairobi airport,

the heat for some is only just bearable and there are not

enough seats for everyone who enters, I find it hard to be

disheartened. I am now feeling extremely grateful as my

thoughts drift back to the amazing, yet sometimes

heartbreaking, experiences I have just left to travel home.

On the 11th July I stood in Heathrow and it soon became

clear that everyone of us in the group was very different. I

knew from the first moments that this was going to cause an

interesting group dynamic. However, I think that it is these

differences that have made the trip what it is. We have all

seen a lot, experienced a lot and been on our own personal

journey but, at the end of the day, we have all had people we

can laugh with, talk with and, most importantly, cry with.

This really has been a sensational trip and I personally

know that I will come back. Malawi doesn't just get under your

skin, it goes right to your heart.

Written By Gemma Bulley

Malawi July 2008 - Sponsorship

Many thanks to Unichem, Exeter for their generosity in

supplying the group with all of the medical equipment

required.

We would also like to thank all of the following companies

for their support and generous sponsorship of this trip:

S Smith & Sons Carpets

T A Petherick Steel Engineers

R C Contracting- Roofing & Scaffolding

Utopia Works- Suspended Ceilings & Metal Partitions

Steve Mills Decorators

Kilbride Roofing

Hart-Ireson- Chartered Building Surveyors

Hodges Bridle & Co. Ltd- Building Contractors

Inter-Line Builders Merchants

Jewson's Builders Merchants

Trentrun Mechanical Services Engineers

Dawson News

Colgor Properties Ltd

Wannells

ROK

Brewers

Beale & Cole

D & P Construction

Ashley Housing Printing

Red Rocket

Marion Hair Fashions

Broadoak Carpet Services

Dave Soper Flooring and Carpeting

Rhino Auto Electrics Ltd

Martins of Exeter

Exeter Friendly Society