Meet My Students, Part 3

Name: Patrick Nkhoma

Age: 14

Home Village: Blantyre, Machinjiri, boarder at the school.

Favorite Food: Spaghetti, Nsima and Rice

Favorite Subject: Computer, Biology and Physics

Hobbies and Activities: I like watching movies and cartoons, playing Frisbee and football, and running around the school.

Siblings and Family: I have two sisters and one brother. I live with my family.

When you grow up? I want to be a doctor

If you could have anything what would it be? A computer I could use to get more knowledge to be a doctor.

If you could go anywhere where would you go and why? To the United States of America to meet some doctors and have knowledge about it so that I can be the best doctor in the world after school.

Something you wish you could change about Malawi: How many people get sick and die.

Something you want Americans to know about you: I want them to know I want to be the most known doctor in the world.

Things you are thankful for:I am blessed with opportunity to learn daily. My Friends. Teachers. Batman. Food.

Teacher’s Notes: If Form 1 had a class president it would be Patrick. If I ever need to know what is going on, or if I need help with something Patrick is my go-to guy. He is always keeping me on my toes and loves this school and his fellow classmates. I have also instilled my love of batman in him 😊.

Name: Comfort Magoa

Age: 14

Home village: Blantyre

Favorite food: Sausage and Chips

Favorite Subject: Biology, Physics and Chemistry

Hobbies and Activities: Singing and Dancing

Siblings and Family: My 2 brothers, 2 sisters and I live with my parents.

When you grow up? I want to be a Surgery Doctor

If you could have anything what would it be? I would like a laptop

If you could go anywhere where would you go and why? I would go to Botswana to see different things and to visit my Uncle.

Something you wish you could change about Malawi: I wish I could change how people live.

Something you want Americans to know about you: I want them to know about my school and how hard I work in class and that chemistry is my favorite subject.

Things you are thankful for: I feel blessed to have teachers, my brothers, my sisters, my parents and all my relatives.

Teacher’s Notes: Comfort is such a hard working student. She always participates in class and you can tell that she just loves to learn and be with her fellow classmates.

Name: Angel Chapondera

Age: 13

Home village: Blantyre

Favorite food: Nsima and Meat

Favorite Subject: Physics

 Hobbies and Activities:  I like playing different games.

Siblings and Family: I have one brother and one sister and we live with our mom and dad.

When you grow up? I want to be a journalist

If you could have anything what would it be? I want to be top of my class.

If you could go anywhere where would you go and why? I would really like to go to India because I like to watch Indian movies.

Something you wish you could change about Malawi: I would like to make Malawi a famous country and to make education free.

Something you want Americans to know about you: I would like them to know that I love school.

Things you are thankful for: I feel blessed that I have my mom and dad who love me so much, that I have my brother and sister who are very lovely and I also feel blessed because my parents pay my school fees.

Teacher’s Notes: Angel lives up to her name. She is so easy to have in class. She is always smiling and seems to have such a good time learning new material. She is fun to have in class.

Name: Gracia Kanyemba

Age: 13

Home village: Blantyre

Favorite food: Pizza and Ice Cream

Favorite Subject: Biology

 Hobbies and Activities:  Dancing and Playing Netball (similar to basketball)

Siblings and Family: I have one brother and live with my mom’s sister.

When you grow up? I want to be a brain doctor.

If you could have anything what would it be? I would like a laptop.

If you could go anywhere where would you go and why? I would like to go to the USA to see the Disney house.

Something you wish you could change about Malawi: I would like there to be enough medicine for the whole country.

Something you want Americans to know about you: I want them to know about me and my friends.

Things you are thankful for: I am thankful for God to keep my mom alive and for her to manage to pay school fees for me, for my cool biology teacher, for having good friends, for scoring good marks in exams, for having the life that I am living.

Teacher’s Notes: Gracia is a fantastic student. She is very hard working, but always manages to have a smile on her face, which causes everyone else around her to smile as well. She is very bright and I think she will do great things in her future.

Someone Learned the Language

They say the fastest way to learn a language is to be surrounded and immersed by it. I can honestly say that is absolutely true for one member of our household. Remus, our 5-month old German Sheppard puppy seems to only understand Chichewa commands. It seems that Remus has decided to stay in touch with his African roots by choosing Chichewa over the English that his Azungu owners try to speak to him in. 

I’m not exactly sure how our puppy came to learn Chichewa. The woman that works with us loves playing with him and she talks to him in Chichewa, as do our students when they play with him, but a majority of the time he hears English. 

It was only after I was frustrated in his lack of response that the idea of trying commands in a different language even occurred to me. Luckily I know the Chichewa word for come here, so I decided to try it out on him. Much to my surprise his giant ears perked right up after I said “Iwe tabwela” (hey you come here) and he came trotting right over to me. My jaw just about hit the ground. 

I now am feeling an even larger desire to learn the native language here, not only to communicate with the people around me, but also with my puppy.  I also can’t allow a puppy to have better Chichewa than myself. I would write more, but I have to go look up the Chichewa phrase for roll over. Wish me luck, and pray that my Chichewa is better than Remus’s soon. 

Meet My Students, Part 2

Name: Mbumba Hanjahanja

Age: 14

Home village: Blantyre

Favorite food: Pizza and Chips (French Fries)

Favorite Subject: Biology

Hobbies and Activities:  I like listening to music and I like chilling with my friends.

Siblings and Family: I have two sisters and one brother; we live with our mom and dad.

When you grow up:  I want to be a surgery doctor.

If you could have anything what would it be? I would like to be number one in our class.

If you could go anywhere where would you go and why? I would like to go to New York because I would like to meet famous people.

Something you wish you could change about Malawi: I wish everyone had enough food so we could end world hunger.

Something you want Americans to know about you: I like people that are nice; I like being nice.

Things you are thankful for: I am thankful for my family, for my friends, for my teachers, for my school and that we have peace here in Malawi.

Teacher’s Notes: Mbumba is a great student. She seems to love being in class and is always engaged in the lesson. She likes to answer questions and be involved. She is a hard worker and is very determined.

Name: Vincent Mlandu

Age: 12

Home Village: Mulanje

Favorite Food: Spaghetti

Favorite Subject: Physics

Hobbies and Activities: I like to run around with my friends

Siblings and Family: I stay with my mom. I have no brothers or sisters and my father died many years ago.

When you grow up: I want to be a scientist.

If you could have anything what would it be? I would like a laptop

If you could go anywhere where would you go and why? I would like to go America because there are more scientists there so I could learn more about them. 

Something you wish you could change about Malawi: I would like to change the power outages. I want to make a super battery that charges itself.

Something you want Americans to know about you: I want them to know that I want to become a scientist when I grow up.

Things you are thankful for: Education. Wisdom. My Teachers. My school bag. Life.

Teacher’s Notes: Vincent is a quieter student but has a huge heart. You can always find him smiling and laughing with his fellow classmates and he is always attentive and eager to learn during biology. 

Name: Janet Phiri           

Age: 12

Home village: Blantyre

Favorite food: Chicken and Chips (French Fries)

Favorite Subject: Biology

Hobbies and Activities:  I like to play games, sing, study and chat with friends

Siblings and Family: I have one sister (Madalo) and one brother (Innocent) and we stay with our mom and dad.

When you grow up: I want to be a doctor.

If you could have anything what would it be? I want A’s in all subjects.

If you could go anywhere where would you go and why? I want to go to India to see the way they dress.

Something you wish you could change about Malawi: I would make sure everyone has food, protection, power and education.

Something you want Americans to know about you: I like singing, dancing and playing games. I am in Form 1. I am number 7 out of 73 students. I love my biology teacher in Form 1.

Things you are thankful for: I am thankful to God for the things that He did for me, He gave me parents, a brother, a sister, education life, food and friends.

Teacher’s Notes: Teaching Janet is such a joy. She works so hard in the classroom, always giving her best, which shows with how well she is doing. She is so young and is conquering tough subjects without a problem.

Name: Alinafe Hendrenson

Age: 14

Home village: Blantyre

Favorite food: Chicken and Chips (French Fries)

Favorite Subject: English

Hobbies and Activities: Singing, watching Korean Movies

Siblings and Family: I have one brother and two sisters and I live with a family that took my siblings and me in.

When you grow up: I want to be a doctor.

If you could have anything what would it be? I would like a computer.

If you could go anywhere where would you go and why? I would like to go to Korea to see how the people of Korea live.

Something you wish you could change about Malawi: I would like to change Malawi from having electricity problems; I want Malawi to have electricity like other countries.

Something you want Americans to know about you:  I am good at singing

Things you are thankful for:  I am blessed to have my family, to learn at St. Andrews, to have friends that I have, to have my teachers, to have my relatives.

Teacher’s Notes: Alinafe is such a sweet girl. I love seeing her and her friends talking and joking around outside of the classroom, but also helping each other and challenging each other inside the classroom. She is a joy to have at this school.

Backyard Beauty

Mulanje Massif, more commonly known as Mt. Mulanje, is the tallest mountain in Malawi. The mountain’s maximum elevation is 9,849 feet at the highest point which is Sapitwa Peak. Mt. Mulanje measures approximately 13x16 miles and can be seen jutting out of the surrounding Chiradzulu Plains for as far as the eye can see. The mountain is covered by a combination of rolling grasslands and deep forested ravines. The forests consist of the Mulanje Cedar trees (which is the National Tree of Malawi). These trees, however, have become limited due to deforestation of the mountain, and efforts are being made to plant, protect and restore the forests on the mountain.  

 

The mountain is home to native wildlife and is also a large tourist attraction for those who wish to climb to the top. (I will be doing this at some point this year; stay tuned for that blog entry.) Due to the elevation of the mountain, rain clouds easily form around the peaks, making it a large source of rain water for not only the villages surrounding the mountain, but also many of the rivers that flow throughout the entire country. Out of curiosity, I looked up if there has ever been snowfall on the mountain. To my surprise I read that snow is very rare but is possible; the last major snowfall with ground accumulation was in June 1954. I’m still holding out some hope that I will be skiing down Mt. Mulanje later this year. Another fun fact I learned while doing a little research about my new backyard, is the mountain is rumored to have been inspiration to J.R.R Tolkien as he wrote the Hobbit … this mountain really is magical.  

Recently I was going through all the pictures I had on my phone and I couldn’t help but notice that almost every day I take a picture of the mountain. In Pittsburgh, when coming home from a trip out of town, I know I’m home when I can see the beautiful skyline of the steel city in the distance. Here in Malawi, I know I’m home when I see this magnificent mountain rising from the plains. There is not a day that goes by that I am not grateful and that I don’t feel blessed that this unbelievable structure is in my new backyard. 

Watching the sunrise breaking over the mountain or a full moon rising above its peaks will be something that I will remember forever. Seeing a rainbow stretch across the sky framing the peaks and valleys of this massive formation will always take my breath away.  They say pictures are worth 1000 words, if that is true, here is  short novel of pictures I have collected about my beautiful backyard I am now blessed to call home. I hope that its beauty brings you as much joy and peace as it does to me daily.