Getting to know the neighbours

It was so nice coming back to Ntchisi. We spent the first few days talking to the staff at the lodge again. Reassuring them has been the most important aspect. Change and the unknown is always difficult, and we get the impression that they have been anxious about the future while we were in Europe.

We were gone for two months – a long time – and although we had prepared them for the length of our absence, they had started worrying we wouldn’t come back, that they wouldn’t have any jobs after the current owner left. So it was really nice to talk to everyone one-on-one and make them feel sure about what was going to happen.

We’ve also spent our short time meeting a few of the neighbours. Esten is one of our closest neighbours, an old man, now retired, who used to be a watchmaker and was trained in Switzerland. I’m sure he will turn out to be an interesting acquaintance. And he is supposedly a good Chichewa teacher, so we intend to approach him about that when we go back next week.

Yesterday we visited the local school in the village. It has 650 pupils, housed in sensible buildings, built by DfID three years ago, so the classrooms are better than most (they actually have walls and a roof that’s not leaking!). The Standard 1 kids did an impromptu song and dance for us and we joined in and, although it was a bit difficult keeping up with Frere Jacques in Chichewa, it was great fun.

We have set up a meeting with the local Village Headman and the Group Village Headman, who oversees the nearest five villages, for next week to introduce ourselves over a cup of tea. I’m sure it will be a pleasurable meeting and prove important to good relations with the village.