Monday 1st October- Lirangwe- Friends of NeverSeconds

I didn’t sleep well because the fan in my room is noisy. It is nice to be cool but I may turn the fan off because it kept me awake. I was very nervous in the van going to Lirangwe. I was shaking with nerves. When we got there all the children were lined up singing and I could hear them over the sound of the van engine.

When we got out and stood in front of them you could feel the song in your chest. Dad, Mum and Grandpa all had wet eyes and I had to squeeze dad’s hand. It was a nice song and I went down to the children to thank them. I said ‘Muli bwanji’ which means ‘hello how are you’ and ‘Zikomo kwambiri’ which means ‘thank you’. After we had said hello properly we went to the headmistress’s office. Joe spotted a wad of papers pinned to the wall. It was the school Death Record and it was very thick.

Next we went to the kitchen to meet the ladies making the likuni phala. They were very happy and danced.

There were 6 massive pots of porridge being cooked and the ladies were singing as they stirred it. One lady had her baby strapped to her back but he didn’t wake up. I had a go at stirring but I got smoke in my eyes from the wood fire because I am short. The pots were massive and I think I could have had a bath in one. The sign had been left for me to complete and there was a sand pile for me to stand on.

I liked the colour of blue I used to finish the sign. It’s my favourite. I was very careful about doing it and I almost used too much but the artist helped me. I hope you like our sign. I tried my best and Joe and Polly helped.

I helped serve out the phala to the children. I used a jug to give everyone the same.

Some children didn’t eat all their porridge so they could take it home to their family to share. I find it hard not to eat when I am hungry and it is one of the bravest things I have ever seen.
I had some phala with an older class. One boy in the class was called Gilbert and he had sent me a message through Mary’s Meals. Gilbert’s an orphan. His dad was eaten by a crocodile and Gilbert lives in the market at night on his own.

Gilbert wants to be president when he grows up and he said he would make sure no child will be hungry in Malawi. Gilbert for president!
We all made lots of friends. Here is Polly’s friend. They stayed together all day.

Everyone is very proud of the kitchen at the school and so am I.