NNN Bulletin: Volunteering in Malawi

I have been a little poor with updates this last month for which I apologise, but I've been busy. Actually I've been damn busy, 7am starts for the last 6 weeks to help out down at the local nursery school. Man kids can be funny, we have this one kid MacMillian he's the resident bully but man he is amusing. If he doesn't get his way he starts this tantrum where he falls down on the floor flat then starts kicking his feet around in a frenzy to the point where he starts spinning around on the floor break dancing style, it's seriously entertaining, well except that he is also screaming at full pitch. It is my first experience working with kids and apart from having to bury the occasional misplaced garden side poo it's been great. Kids really don't care, they'll drop their dacks in the middle of the classroom if they need a wizz, some of the little ones don't even bother to that point, with many a wet pant being hung out to dry come snack time.

Then there's the football team, I've been helping out coach the under 14's Butterfly boys football team. We actually won yesterday too! It was our first goal for 3 weeks and then we scored another 5 on top of that. 6 – 4 the final score and boy did they play well. The kids over here can seriously play, with flying bicycle kicks and mid-air volleyed goals a regular occurrence. And you should see their playing conditions, the pitches are mostly just patches of dirt, littered with pot holes and rocks. Goal posts just a couple of logs dug into the ground. Some players have shoes, most just the hard soles of their well trodden feet. The kids are tough over here and they have taught me much.

I've also been lucky enough to help out on a creative front too. I met a local musician on my first night here and discovered he was desperate to get his music onto the big screen. The issue being here that bars don't play your music unless it's a music video as the people like to see who it is they are dancing too. Anyway after much a logistic effort and many a power cut I managed to shoot a music video for him, get it edited and even cut the disc's. So now Foster Banda's tune M'Mbali Mwanyanja (it will be a hit, well in Malawi at least) can be heard blearing out the windows of the local Nkhata Bay bars. But more importantly it gives him a chance to chase his dream and there in lies my reward.

I've discovered here in Nkhata Bay that volunteering is full of rewards. And similar to my view about marathons I think everyone should give it a crack at least once in their lifetime.