July 9, 2008 - Things are coming together

Today we visited the Day Care centre for lunch. We intended to go for breakfast but we couldn’t find transport to get us there one time. Apparently the children came at 6 o’clock this morning. They ate porridge made from ground maize. At lunch they ate bread and tea with beans and the staple food nsima (also made from ground maize).

I was able to distribute the clothes to the children at lunch time. Some of the skirts I brought were too short as Malawian girls wear skirts at about knee length. The children are much larger than I had anticipated. Two girls are small, about the size of an 7 year old in Canada. The other girls are quite tall, some are taller than I am. The boys are also tall but all are quite thin.

We have now bought more serving bowls and one more plate. We have yet to buy a food warmer, a basket to hold the ground maize flour and some furniture for the place.

Today the children also ate vegetables including tomatoes, onions and greens (rapiea?) which cost about $150 for the nine children.

Some things I have bought so far are:

Toothpaste @ $110
Bar of soap @ $0.40
Spoons @ $0.15 each
Bowls @ 0.35 each
A bunch of small bananas @ $0.20
Notebooks @ $0.10
Pencils @$0.10

The estimated cost of firewood is $20 for a month. Meat once a week should cost us about $20 a month.

The children seemed more relaxed today but are still didn’t speak to me. I feel shy around them too. I don’t know what they are thinking. Malawians tend not to express emotion which I find very frustrating.

Tomorrow I will go back to the D.C and say “hello”. On Monday we will begin to build a pen for the 30 chickens we will buy. 30 chickens for laying eggs will cost about $20 and will provide at least one egg a day for each child as well as some eggs to sell at the market. The sale of the eggs will raise money for firewood.

Things are coming together.