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.

Our Story

Just wanted to let you all know we've been given the chance to tell our behind the blog story for the first time.

Martha and I have written this together to share the highs and lows that will take us to Malawi next month. Most importantly every sale will feed 25 children in Malawi for a day with Mary's Meals.

Out Nov 15th. Pre Order here and share the experience with us.

Thanks,

Veg's Dad

A lunch from Lagos

Hi Veg!!!!

I just read your blog and wanted to say FANTASTIC work!!! Keep it up!

I went to school in Lagos, a city in Nigeria which is a country in West Africa. We had to be at school every morning at 8am, but we left school everyday at 1.30pm (except Fridays where we left at 2pm because we had clubs after school). Because we left school so early, we only ever needed snacks to eat at school which were usually sausage rolls, meat pies, sandwiches, cookies and sometimes even cheese balls. The school did not provide any meals for us so we had to bring these from home, which usually meant everyone brought their favourite snacks. On Fridays, however, because we stayed at school a little longer, our cook at home always made us an awesome Nigerian rice dish called jollof rice. Those were the best days! We sometimes had sweetcorn on the side which I loved as well, but mostly it was served with chicken or beef and 'dodo' (the English word for dodo is plantain: it looks like a banana but you can't eat it without cooking it. It is so yummy!).

Because jollof rice was my favourite, I've attached a picture of what our school lunch looked like on Fridays. I'm now at boarding secondary school, and on holiday at the moment, so I sadly don't have these anymore.

The dodo is in the top right hand corner of the picture and the stewed beef and chicken on the left side. There were always 0 pieces of hair because our food was cooked at home, haha. We had to use coolers to keep them warm till lunchtime.

Well done on your blog once again!

Sandra

Smell of African air

Dear Veg,

I saw on your blog that you are asking for African themed meals. I used to live in Cameroon, and whilst I don't cook many Cameroonian meals, I thought I would share a few of my favorites. Perhaps you'll try these, or similar meals, in Malawi.

Plantains

Snails!

Favorite Cameroonian meals:

Poulet DG: a chicken dish with lots of veggies, notably plantain. 'DG' stands for 'directeur générale' since the dish used to be expensive so that only the well off could afford it.

Fried plantain: scrumptious. Not terrifically healthy, but scrumptious.

Fufu and ndoleh: Manioc boiled and pounded into a paste like dish (fufu) and bitter leaf (ndolé) pounded until the bitterness is gone and mixed with groundnuts and meat/prawns if affordable (ndoleh). The cats I had in Cameroon were named Fufu and Ndoleh.

All the best for your trip to Malawi; I hope you love the smell of African air the way I do.

Best,
Janet

Fingerprinted for lunch.

Nice to meet you everybody, the name's Jess! I come from a small West Midlands Village in England and I'm in year 10 (I think that means grade 9 in the USA). I think my high school is considered small compare to others, we have about 120 students in each year and we have years 7-11. My canteen doesn't have set meals like VEG, we have are fingerprints taken at the beginning of the year, and using these machines around the school we put money on our accounts so when we queue up to choose our food all we need to do is swipe our fingerprints near the till. My canteen doesn't have much of a variety unfortunately, there's typically sandwiches, pizzas, burgers and chips available each day but no super healthy options; the rest of the food is cake and chocolate bars so I bring in pack lunches. I am over the moon to be considered for a guest blogger, I love trying new recipes and different foods, and I love to try and be healthy as well.

For lunch today had thick wholemeal granary bread with lettuce ham and Marmite on it; an apple and some grapes; a Fredo, a apple Caprisun (can you tell I like apples) and a little cup of veg (tomatoes, radish and sweet pepper). I also went to costa coffee after school and indulged in a soy milk cappuccino, yum! I'm not lactose intolerant or anything, I just like the soy milk taste.

Food-o-meter- 9/10 (not that keen on the radishes)
Mouthfuls- Can't remember I forgot to count!
Courses- Lunch and sides
Health Rating- 9/10 (Freddo)

Thank you for this opportunity to post and I hope Neverseconds never stops! :)