Building and Sweating
By: Tom Sears

When sweat equity started 10 years or so ago, digging and trenching and laying blocks was a challenge but doable by most of the participants. It is now 10 years later and some of the participants are finding that the heavy slugging is more than a challenge. It is a frustration. So how do we solve the problem. We team up with the communities with whom we are working and work as their assistants. This is much less frustrating – never mind the aching bodies - and it is great to get to know our new friends in Malawi.

We have been working at a small village called Kachere with a wonderful group of local residents who have great ownership on the building on which we are working. We cannot believe how strong the women of the community are. They carry the water, the sand, mix cement and carry the cement to the brick layers – really they are quite incredible. Then they turn around and cook a great (and safe ) local lunch for us .. Usually all this is accompanied by spontaneous singing and dancing. THEY ARE WONDERFUL.

Our other work location is at the Nanasalami school which is located at about a 45 minute drive from our hotel. This school has 8 levels Standard 1 to standard 8. There are 1675 students and 8 teachers - YES thats right - a pupil teacher ratio of about 200 to one!!

Steve, Jeff and Tom have put in a couple of days doing some cement work on the floors and preparing for the arrival of more team members on Thursday to do some painting. It is very interesting to see the impact of termites on mud brick structures. We are sure however that the students and the parents will appreciate the improved physical atmosphere when the return from their March break period. Its great to see the chidren around the school and it is a constant reminder of the importance of the school to these communities. We have had the participation of a number of the teachers and they have given us an insight into the educational program. Believe us – they need help and the government has no resources.

It has been a wonderful and eye opening experience for us and we look forward to completing our two projects next week