Chituka, Malawi! After a breakfast of black Malawian tea, beans, an omelette and toast we went to meet 20 women who were excited about sewing MoonCatcher kits for themselves. One woman arrived with her sewing machine, but the rest received needles to make hand-stitched kits.

We worked in a church where half of the floor was finished concrete and the other half still red dirt. Everyone helped carry chairs and tables from Naymoti’s house. Sunshine poured in through the window shaped openings, so the light worked well for most of the day.

A Malawian MoonBee was born. The difference was that we worked all day long today instead of the usual 2 hours. I was totally beat, but we had a wonderful experience and felt pretty productive. We’ll go back tomorrow and finish the sewing and then cut the fleece for the pads. By day’s end I’ll bet we can take pictures of everyone holding up their completed kits. We’ll try to send copies back to the women with Keni when he comes here in May or June.

I’m not sure if we’ll be able to form a sewing guild here. These women only hand sew and that will be too time consuming in terms of production. Machines are needed and even more importantly we’d need women who can use them. I’ll need to keep thinking about this for the next day or so and decide what can be done.

I love hearing the waves lapping against the shore. It’s a pretty place. Off to read my book for a bit and drift off to sleep.