August 3, 2008 - A Boring Day
Today we were supposed to go to the Day Care to build a thatch roof on the kitchen. The kitchen is quite a small building only about 60 square feet. I was looking forward to being involved in the building. So far I have felt a lot of frustration at being only involved in giving money. Ultimately decisions have been mine to make as well but they are based on information provided to me by Mabvuto. Sine he knows best the cost and the methods involved I generally agree with him. So, today I was looking forward to a hands on involvement. Unfortunately, we are not as organized as we should be. We forgot to remind our cook Kelita to bring us her trees. The grass had not yet been delivered. We had trouble finding nails for sale. We did buy plastic garbage bag to put under the grass and binding to secure the trees to the building. I don’t know when we’ll actually build it.
I’m getting a bit nervous because time is drawing to an end here. We still have to pay to have the toilet constructed. I’ve yet to teach the children to paint because a nursery school shares our space and I don’t want them to use our supplies. I have yet to visit the homes of the children. This week we are supposed to travel to the north which will mean we’ll be gone from Tuesday until Saturday. That leaves only 2 weeks for me to teach them to paint and visit their homes. I doubt I’ll be able to do as much as I’d hoped.
I feel like I’m not being successful here in Malawi. I don’t seem to be adapting very well to the conditions. I don’t feel like I’m making much of a connection with the children. I wonder if I should just send money next year instead of coming. My money is of more use than I am in Malawi.
No comments yet.