Malawi Day 7: Visiting Schools with Emmanuel

We got on the road early today to meet Emmanuel on our way to Nkhata Bay, to see schools where he has delivered MoonCatcher kits during the past year. I think we went to seven schools, but I’ve actually lost count.

Charlotte rests in the car.

We met a few girls at each school and did some follow up interviews with them to see how they like the kit and how it is helping them. By and large we got positive wonderful comments but were surprised by one school.

At this school we heard that though they love the kit, they wanted new ones because the ones from last year were worn out. Truly, this kit lasts for at least 5 years if you take care of it, so we were perplexed. After lots of questions for the girls and feedback from the head teacher (a woman) we were told that the girls were not using soap and not drying the pad outside in the sunshine. They hang them under beds and tables, out of sight. When we asked why, we were told that hanging that nice piece of fabric in plain sight would invite their brothers and fathers to take it to use for whatever they needed. (like washing tools or even themselves) Our next question was ‘why not tell them what it’s for and ask them to leave it alone”? This was met with astonishment as this is not a subject you ever talk about with a male, even if you are the wife. So, back to the drawing board…

Here we are at the Chilala School - Emmanel is on the left and Mary, the Headmistress is on the right.

These students wanted to pose for us with their new MoonCatcher Kits.

What we landed on was to give the school some soap and have the head teacher set up a washing station where the pads could at least be made very clean. They could then take them home and hang them inside. Though not getting the sanitation of the sun, at least the pad would get clean.

Maybe not a perfect solution but it’s what we could do on the fly.

We went to Lake Malawi and ate lunch overlooking the water. What a pleasant way to relax after all those visits.

Above: Lake Malawi. Below: scenes from our travels today.