When In Rome ...

9/14/2017

One of the highlights of visiting another country is getting a chance to meet the kids. Totally loved every moment I got to play and dance and sing with these awesome children. No trouble understanding each other here. We all smile in the same language.

2 Comments

Jodi V

9/17/2017 08:48:40 pm

Hi Mrs White! The class and I are curious about the common sports that are played in Malawi. Oh yes...and what forms of transportation are used to get to and from school? Do most kids walk or possibly ride a bike? Are the subjects similar to the ones in Canada? Do any stand out as being quite different? Thanks and we are looking forward to your next post :)

Donna White

9/19/2017 07:09:31 am

I think the most common sport is soccer - called "football" in Malawi. I saw a lot of soccer fields set up in clearings along the road with kids playing using rocks as goal posts and balls made out of plastic bags wrapped into a ball and tied with string or vine. Some kids had "real" soccer balls but that was a rarity to see.
Some of the other things I saw kids doing were rolling an old bike tire along the road and pushing it with a stick. I saw other kids with long sticks and a plastic lid from a spray can or something like that, attached so they could push it along. One day I saw a couple boys pushing homemade trucks made out of wire - and having a grand time. It seems that every toy was homemade (except those World Vision bought for some of the pre-schools) using any material available including wire, plastic, tin cans, string etc etc.
Most kids don't have much time to play. They have lots of chores to do, and Malawi, sadly, is a country where child labour is rampant. Especially in the tea and tobacco plantations.
As for transportation - you see a lot of people walking on the sides of the roads. There are bikes and motorbikes and cars but the most common form of transportation is walking. I saw some carts pulled by donkeys and oxen too. There was one school World Vision was sponsoring that provided bikes to some of the children who lived farther away but this is a rarity. No buses for the kids to get to school. If you can't walk or bike you simply stay at home.
And subjects - the schools were closed when I was there but from what I saw they would be basically the same. But the conditions are very different - no computers, except in specialty and private schools and teachers having huge class sizes (as many as one teacher to 300 students!) In one school they used flour bags to write on and then had them hanging from the rafters and on the walls of the school.
I'll be posting more blogs - so happy to have you join me on this trip. Have so many things to share ...

When In Rome ...

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Donna White

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