Blog Malawi

Busy Weeks

28.07.2012

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The past few weeks at Friendly Gecko Malawi have been loads of fun with the volunteers Esther, Sam , Sarah and Sophie.

School closed on the 13th of July so they have been teaching at the local nursery school in our village. Esther plays guitar and there was lots of singing and dancing as well many ABCs and 123s. The children were all  excited and turned up in droves. Every afternoon the volunteers also played games on the beach with the children and Sarah and Sophie tried the hand at swimming lessons. The children thrive on any type of interaction – you can imagine how popular our volunteers were! 

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We also took some time out and visited the local crocodile farm. They farm them for their skins so unfortunately no meat for the volunteers but it was interesting and a little scary to see the big ones they keep for breading. We also visited the elephant reserve up in the Tuma wildlife forest. They also took us on a beautiful walk with views of the rift valley. We then went on home and had a great bbq with goat meet the volunteer’s bought in the village.

One week ago we also walked up to see the hippos several times (it’s very close to the guest house). A mother and baby have moved in, both a bit shy but we can already hear them.

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We also bought two dogs for the guest house. Their names are Calvin and Peace. We bought them from the Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals, the only animal welfare organization in Malawi. Unfortunately the puppies love to chase our chickens…big fluffy things to play with! They even chased one chicken straight into Abbie’s tent at 5.30 in the morning! It was a rather unpleasant surprise for her 🙂

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Regarding Abbie: She has been riding her push bike from Uganda and is headed all the way to Cape Town a journey that will take her six months. She is an amazing woman with some very interesting stories to tell! Good luck Abbie! 

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We had a great time with Esther Sam Sarah and Sophie and wish them all the best and safe travels. We hope to see you again next year! 

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We are looking forward to welcome our new volunteer Philipp from Switzerland next week.

Have a good weekend,

Erin Straford and her team in Malawi