After scaling the heights of Mount Mulanje last weekend, it was back to business as usual this week. Our sub-team of 3 has been based near the Zambian border, working in the Mchinji District. Primarily, we’ve been visiting schools and villages where projects have already started, to monitor their progress and also to spearhead education initiatives concerning water and sanitation.

Travelling to and from these project locations is an experience in itself. We hire taxi-bikes for the day (for the princely sum of around £5); we are then peddled around by our cycling hosts, while we try to balance on the back of the bikes as best we can. Although we do have the benefit of cushioned seats, that doesn’t offer much comfort when you’re being driven at full speed through a maize field, dodging oncoming cattle and being buffeted about by all the potholes in the road. I say ‘road’ - they’re all really dirt tracks, meandering through the lush countryside, which can turn into small rivers after a torrential downpour.  

After maybe an hour or so, we’ll reach our intended destination. We’re always guaranteed an enthusiastic reception from the villagers, who turn out in huge numbers to greet us. We usually hold some sort of communal meeting in the village, which includes a discussion forum between them and us. A lot of our work so far has centred on making impact assessments, discovering  how a particular project has benefited the community and what further improvements could be made.

We also talk about best practice, in terms of how to use water and sanitation facilities safely and effectively. Most villagers already seem to have a good level of awareness about these issues, probably thanks to previous initiatives. At times, it does feel like we’re little more than a fairground attraction – our mere presence as white foreigners adding a certain panache (but nothing in the way of purpose or practicality) to proceedings, a sort of sensationalising effect. But, it is still early days, and we will hopefully be beginning a construction project in a local school next week.

I’ve also been asked to help draft a funding proposal for our charity, which is seeking to capitalise upon a new scheme by the World Bank. There was me thinking that I could forget everything to do with my legal education whilst out here in Malawi! At least I can put my skills to good use, though as the deadline for submission is only 4 days away, it’s going to be hectic.

Must dash, I’ll send another update soon.