Hello Harshi from India

Hey guys,
This is Harshitha Narayani (Call me Harshi) from India.Thanks to veg and NeverSeconds for the opportunity to write.

I am from Chennai, South India. India is a big country and it is divided in to 28 states and 7 union territories. Though each state has different cuisines and culture, we Indians prefer freshly cooked food over tinned food.
So the availability of tinned food is low. Indians mostly do not prefer meat daily. So there is a restriction in most of the schools in bringing non veg food to school.

Before going on to the school lunch, I'll brief you guys about my school and our hygienic eco friendly kitchen. Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam ( Vidyalayam means Temple of education) is my school. Here we we have a specific
and strict uniform dress code.Despite being a modern school, it strictly follows Indian culture. We call teachers 'ACHARYA'. In the kitchen the helpers are known as' AAYA AMMA' ( Means caring mothers) to us. They prepare the food for students and teachers. To thank them we students throw a Thanksgiving party every year. For a change they sit back and relax and we do cooking with the help of
teachers and parents.

The main coarse for lunch is rice always. And different kinds of lentils are used in our food for rich protein. We had Sambar (You can call it as lentil soup.) and it has to be mixed with rice to be eaten. And the vegetable name is Snake gourd. Don't be afraid. It is the name of the vegetable! It is also cooked with some lentils and coconut. Curd (yoghurt) is to be mixed with rice to be eaten after Sambar rice. We had sweet called Kesari made with fine semolina (A product of wheat) and ghee .

Every day we have a sweet. And of-course buttermilk to wash down. Curd and buttermilk on a daily basis is needed for the extreme Indian climates. As you would have observed no preservatives or pre- packed stuff is added to our foods. Aerated drinks are strictly not allowed with the food.

Food-o-meter- 10 /10
Mouthfuls- Did'nt count.
So time taken- 15 min.
Courses-Main/Dessert
Health rating - 8/10 (Ghee in sweet)
Price - Paid with school fees.
Pieces of hair - 0

Some News Reports.

Veg's Dad Here

Just wanted to share some news reports that went out when we were in Malawi from the BBC Scotland news team.

At 7pm today we're live on the BBC One Show and will be meeting up with Jamie Oliver and discussing our Malawi trip. Immediately after at 7.30pm on BBC1 Scotland 'Martha, Meals and Malawi' a 30 minute documentary airs.

Martha and I are in London for the One Show and we won't get a chance to watch the documentary until it goes on iPlayer and we'll post the link to it as soon as we can. Versions of the documentary will also be broadcast on BBC World on the weekend of 20th/21st Oct and on the News Channel on the weekend of Nov 3/4.

It's quite a nerve wracking day ahead of us. We'll try not to be shy and we'll tweet on @NeverSeconds as we go.

Veg's Dad (Dave)

Tuesday 2nd October- Backpacks, Ntenjera Primary School

This is William loading the truck at the Mary’s Meals warehouse in Blantyre.

We bounced all the way to Ntenjera Primary School. I thought the lorry might fall over onto a man on a bike but it didn’t. No one at the school knew the backpacks were coming and so all the children were in their classrooms with their teachers. When the children saw the lorry they knew it was full of backpacks and I could hear how excited they were.

The children queued up and I handed them each a backpack. Some classes had more than a 150 children in. It was great fun because they were all so happy. When all the children had a backpack I counted to three and they opened them. Everyone seemed to like the pens best.

There was a big queue of girls waiting to get backpacks. It took a long time to hand out all 1960 backpacks and it was very hot in the classrooms but some children sat on bricks outside. I gave my backpack to Christina who was older than me but the same size. It’s hard to tell how old children are because they grow up hungry and they are smaller but older than me. All the kids loved their backpacks and I am going to send more.

When I had an interview with Laura I took a photo of Ray so you can see what it is like to talk to a camera all day!

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.

Sunday 30th sept- Meeting Ben and his family

I didn’t mind getting up early to meet Ben. Ben is my age and lives in a nearby village with no roads or electricity. He gets up and starts his jobs when it is light and I was going to meet him.

His house is square with 3 metre long sides. The thatched roof comes very low and we sat under it to chat. Florian from Mary’s Meals translated for us. Ben liked my photos from home. He doesn’t understand snow because he has never seen it. He liked my sheep and hens though. Ben didn’t have any toys but his friends had a car made out of a milk bottle. I have never met anyone with no toys.

Ben has to help his mum with jobs if he is not at school. I went with him to fetch water. The pump is a long way away and Ben carries the water home on his head. I tried to carry a small bucket home and I got very wet.

Dad helped Ben with his bucket and said it was very difficult. Once we got the water to Ben’s house it was time to go to school. Ben doesn’t wear shoes and he is much faster than me walking also. It wasn’t hot yet because it was still very early. It was hard to keep up with Ben up the hills. I spotted the school in the distance. I didn’t realise what it was because it is just a few buildings. There is no sign and the classrooms have no doors or windows. Inside there are plastic benches to sit on given by the last president. They are the colour of his political party.

Ben likes school and wants to be a doctor. I told him Mum is a doctor and he thought that was lucky for me so that I always had the right medicines. Primary school is free in Malawi and you must pass a written exam to get into the next year. Classes have lots of different ages because of this. Ben gets a Mary’s Meal every day and he showed me his mug. He likes the likuni phala because it gives him enough energy to study well. I was hungry at Ben’s school after getting water and walking there even though I had a breakfast. Ben’s family only have enough food for an evening meal and so he gets nothing before school.

I played lots of games in the playground with all the children that came. I learnt new skipping games and new clapping games.

I gave Ben a football from Scotland. We had a lot of fun playing catch. He tricked me by looking at his brother but throwing the ball to me. Ben was so happy I forgot he was hungry. I don’t think Ben forgets.

Saturday 29th Sept- Arriving Malawi

I didn’t sleep much on the plane. It was quite cold in Johannesburg and we met Ray and Laura from the BBC at the airport. We played cards because the flight was delayed.

It was hot in Blantyre and I lay down on the marble floor to get cool. My chinchilla has a marble slab for the same reason.

Blantyre airport is very small and they use a tractor to pull the baggage carts. It was a massey ferguson and dad was excited about it. There were lots of porters waiting to carry our bags and it was very noisy as we left the airport.
We stopped at a stall on the way to where we were staying. There was a lovely toddler on her mum’s knee. He held my hand for a second and then got shy. Lots of children my age have babies wrapped up in material slung across their backs and it looks really heavy. None of the babies cry. There are no pavements and even children walk along the road. There are people walking everywhere. I spotted 5 Mary’s Meals shelters on the way to where we are staying. It got dark very quickly and Mum made me put on insect repellent which tastes bitter if you get it in your mouth. If I roll over at night a mosquito may bite me through the net. I am going to sleep right in the middle of my bed.

When I got on the South African Airways plane at Heathrow to fly to Johannesburg I was very excited. I sat next to my brother and I could look out of the window. On the back of the seat in front of me was a screen and I could see how far we had to travel.

I had earphones and could watch the plane from a camera on the tail fin and it was the best take off ever. The stewards brought us our dinner and we had a choice. I chose the lamb.

It was very tasty and I visited the kitchen to see how they make it. The steward said they heat it dry or with steam. They also recycle lots of things including the foil lid and cup. They are a good airline for recycling. There were lots of dishes including a dessert and the cheese and biscuits were very good. I ate everything apart from the roll which I gave to dad.

Food-o-meter- 8/10
Mouthfuls- I was far too excited to count
Health Rating- 9/10
Pieces of hair- 0

It was hard to sleep on the plane because the people behind us had their lights on all through the night. I managed to sleep a wee bit but I was very tired. We woke up early and had breakfast before landing at Johannesburg.