Day 2 Kaufipa School

Day 2 and Boma school had a holiday and was closed so I went with Miss White to Kaufipa Primary School. Kaufipa is much smaller than Boma with 500+ children and is an hours drive away from the town of Kasungu, where we are staying, so it is out in the countryside. 


The children here were so excited to see Miss White and today, and to have a visit from Chris Knott from Starfish Malawi. 

We were introduced to the PTA representative, the govenor's rep, the head teacher, the deputy head and the chief of the village. After a very purposeful and productive meeting with all these representatives, Miss White carried out a P.E. Activity with the school in competition with their partnership school from StarfishMalawi, Borough Green. The children did speed hops, chest-push throws with a ball, a tennis ball throw and long jump all of which were counted or timed and then compared with Borough Green's results. This really reinforced the links between the Kaufipa School in Malawi and Borough Green School in Kent. 

This was the longest long jump from a Standard 6 child in Kaufipa school.

The children crowded round to see the competition. Two climbed up a tree and the older prefects stopped the other children from pushing forward which was a constant problem! 

I spotted one young girl who was selling something from a bucket. It turned out to be a small cake, similar to a doughnut. She was buying these locally and selling them during break time at double the price - an entrepreneur in the making? As at Boma school, the children at Kaufipa School have an easy going, happy attitude. Except for pushing and crowding, they are very respectful and well behaved. Even though they crowd and push, it is very rare for any child to get hurt or to be pushed over. The older children generally look after the younger ones. They, also, are fascinated by visitors from Europe...'Mazungu'. 

Miss White, Chris Knott and I were taken to the head teacher's house for lunch. We were joined by teachers George and Charles, Mattheus and the chief, Walter who was 87 years old. We ate chicken and rice with Irish potatoes and a tomato sauce. We had a very interesting conversation about Malawi culture and community. George told us that he had moved to teach in this area because his daughter has encephalitis (where water gathers around the brain) and they could get medical treatment for her in this district. He said that her head had swollen to twice the normal size and she had to stay in hospital. She now has a drain inserted at the back of her neck and after treatment is back at home. She is three years old. Charles told us that people in Malawi do not worry about time in the way we do. George told us that Malawian people have a tremendous sense of community. This is for their extended family but also for fellow Malawians as a whole. For example, when George and his family moved to this area, the local people arrived with maize and potatoes to ensure that George's family had food. All for one and one for all! We compared the good and bad things about life in England and life in Malawi and I summed it up by saying, 'We have quantity, but you have quality.' 


Walter, the chief, led us in prayer before our meal.  Before we ate, the headmaster's wife Rose brought round a bowl and a jug of water for each person in turn to wash their hands - this is repeated at the end of every meal. Lunch was eaten without knives and forks. Generally, these are offered to visitors but people mostly eat with the fingers of their right hand and we wanted to join in with the local traditions. I then asked to see the hens at the back of the house and found lots of chickens with small, black chicks running after them. The chichewa word for chickens is 'Koukou' and is very difficult to pronounce! Malawians seem to love it when I try to learn their language and are very keen to teach me - I can count to four and know the names for some animals so far! The kitchen was outside, and is an open fire housed inside a small hut with a door. From this room smoke pours out from the cooking fire. This is very bad for the women who cook on the fires as they are breathing the smoke in every day and it makes many women ill as they get older because it hurts their lungs. A young woman called Melody was washing plates in a round plastic bowl and there were noisy chickens everywhere and a few goats wandering around as there are everywhere in Malawi - even next to main roads.

I expect you will want to know what the toilets were like! They have pit latrines so people  go in to the toilet and there is a hole in the floor - they don't sit down, they squat over the hole and there is a pit underneath the hole ... that's it. Very practical and does the job but not what we are used to!