Random Episodes

Mob Justice

One morning when I had just woken up there was a huge quarrel going on outside. Apparently what happened was that there was a thief at school, who was dressed like one of the students, going into hostels stealing clothes and other things. He wore several layer of clothes, but got detected by one of the kids who was sick. He got beaten from all the students in the front of the hostel, getting kicks from all sides…

Crazy about Soccer

Many Malawians are crazy about soccer. And when I say crazy about soccer, then I really just mean crazy about the premier league, or to be more specific, crazy about Manchester United. I presume that about 95 % of all Malawian football fans support ManU.

Crazy about Fighting

Be it Chinese Kung Fu movies or show wrestling: Malawians love to watch fighting. Henry, the school director watches show wrestling usually twice a week and knows all the wrestlers.

Lyssig Day

Usually, all the students have to wear a school uniform, as is the case in almost every school in Malawi. Last Thursday we had a day, though, where everybody could dress up however they wanted. As a “punishment” you had to pay 200 Kwacha (50 cents), which is goin to be donated to elderly and people in need. Here are some pictures:

Yes, my tie is made out of toilet paper ;)

Queing in Africa

Whether it’s at the airport, at the store or to get food from our cooks, African are very bad at queing(or very good at cutting the line, however you want to look at it). On our trip to Cape Maclear we made a stop at a store. Doris and Tobias were in line to buy something, and it took them about 15 minutes. The only thing that got shorter was the line behind them. So when the students are extremely respectful in class doesn’t mean the y won’t cut in front of you in any line.

Our Fridge

Our apartment is quite luxurious for Malawian standards. We have electricity and a toilet (but no running water inside the house). This is what all the teachers here at this school have (all the apartments were paid for by the Roger Federer Foundation). But what really makes it luxurious is our fridge. Some workers bring stuff to put in our fridge for them and then they come to get it later.

Teachers Missing Classes

The class schedule here is that there are no breaks for the students. Each lesson takes 40 minutes, and the next lesson starts exactly when the prior one has finished. Having that said, it very rarely happens that when I show up for class (even a couple minutes early) I find a teacher still teaching, and it very rarely happens that a teacher comes to take over after I finished (even if I take 10-15 minutes longer). When I walk to other classes they are very often unattended, which means that the teacher either just gave them an assignment to work on, or they didn’t show up at all. Last Tuesday we now had a meeting that introduced a new system: Every time a teacher taught a class, he had to sign a paper that one of the students was carrying with them, to ensure and control that the class was taught. The reactions of the teachers to this new tool was very harsh, they got really angry. However, I feel that this system shouldn’t be, but at this school is, necessary.

Sport

The students are really quite sportive and also like to play sports. The volleyball that I brought along is in high demand. Whether it is touch rugby, or Frisbee, the students learn very fast. In volleyball and Basketball I’m sure that some of them have played it many times before. However, girls are not as enthusiastic about sport. Only for Frisbee a couple of them joined. We deliberately also included Netball in our program (we were reading about all the rules and watching youtube videos in preparation), but no single girl showed up for that, so we played basketball with the guys instead.