Malawi Day 9: Blood and Art
School is just back in session today so we’ve scheduled a MoonCatcher class and distribution tomorrow at a school not too far from Mthuntama.
Today we stayed close to “home”. Charlotte gave blood at St Andrews hospital which is right in this compound. The Kids from Bridges to Malawi were giving blood too but you must be under 55 to qualify so I escaped the needle.
Charlotte was amazed at all the tests given, for free to donate. We were happy to find that she doesn’t have malaria, syphilis, hepatitis, or HIV. PHEW! The hospital blood bank was pretty depleted, so they were extra happy to have her donation.School is just back in session today so we’ve scheduled a MoonCatcher class and distribution tomorrow at a school not too far from Mthuntama.
Charlotte donates blood at St Andrew’s Hospital.
We hung out with the tailors readjusting the MoonCatcher drawstring bag ties and chatting. Esme and Mary made Charlotte a wrap skirt and me a Chitenje the traditional Malawian skirt. We also gave out some KES cards from Frank Quinn with educational materials on them, useable on phones or computers. The preschool orphans were enchanted with the videos we showed them. Yay Frank!
Children at the orphanage watch educational videos.
And in the afternoon, we went back to the orphanage to run a little arts workshop with the children. We brought bubbles, jump ropes, bouncy balls, and lots of art supplies. After running around outside for a while blowing bubbles, throwing balls, and jumping rope we took the children inside for art. Thank you again to all of you who donated fabulous stuff for me to bring. (BTW I gave out more reading glasses today too.)
The kids loved the markers, stickers and crayons and drew picture after picture and then posed for photos of themselves with their masterpieces. Someone found a pair of scissors and various shapes and origami creations were created too.
The children hugged us and waved big goodbyes and invited us to return next year. Before dinner, Charlotte and I took a nice long walk down to the main street outside the compound to watch the vendors make chips and sell veggies, and other street foods. Dinner was corn on the cob, plantains in a green pepper and tomato sauce and a different kind of “meatball” made with dried peas. Delicious!
Off to bed!