12. July 2026

Pandora's Box

So, with the end of term exams starting last Tuesday, there has been no teaching for me this last week (apart from a couple of revision sessions with Form 3). I got to invigilate one afternoon, but other than that, and a bit of exam paper marking, I busied myself with the task of tidying the school library.

Before making a start on organising the shelves, there were several boxes containing a mixture of books and old exam papers to go through. It's clearly been some time since anyone has had the time to tackle this task, so on the first day I wasn't too surprised (although not entirely happy) to find nibbled pages, old mouse droppings and dead spiders amongst the boxes as I emptied them! After a few hours, though, I could start to see the wood for the trees and had uncovered a number of great titles!

On the second day of sorting, I had some help with the remaining boxes. No more mouse droppings found, but still a few dead spiders and one of my worst nightmares. When I uncovered a scurrying family of cockroaches, it was lucky that there wasn't an exam in progress at the time - my resulting screech wouldn't have been helpful! The librarian, who was assisting, seemed quite amused by my reaction but swiftly took the horrid little blighters (not what I was calling them in my head, believe me) outside to run free! Suffice to say, I approached the final couple of boxes with great trepidation!

There's still more to do in the library this coming week, including getting a quote for some more shelving to be installed, but hopefully all the wildlife has now been relocated!

Always Take the Weather with You...

It was strange to know that the UK was once again experiencing much higher temperatures than we were in Malawi last week; we even had quite heavy rain one morning! Luckily for me, it has meant a much more comfortable night's sleep than I'm hearing family and friends in the UK have been having most nights. However, I'm told that statistically, 4th July is the coldest day in Malawi, so it will just get warmer from here on in!

Magic Moment

There was one particularly magical moment in the last week. One of the students, V, is being sponsored by a close friend of mine from the UK, so whilst I've been here they've been able to have occasional video chats on Whats App using my phone and fantastic portable router. They have struck up a lovely bond and the student's face completely lights up when they speak to each other. This week they chatted for about half an hour and there was much laughter going on! It's very moving to see the impact of sponsor input.

Life's a Beach

There has been some downtime at the beach this last week, too.

Monday was a public holiday in Malawi to celebrate Independence Day. On July 6th, the nation's liberation from British colonial rule in 1964 is commemorated. This is when the former Nyasaland transitioned into an independent state under the leadership of Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda. I wandered up to to a neighbouring lodge for some lunch to find a big party in full swing on the beautiful beach. I made sure to stay out of the way but even at a distance I could enjoy the music and soak up the happy atmosphere in the sunshine! The party-goers had drunk the bar dry though, so I had to make do with water. Fair enough, really!

It's Raining Orchids

With some windy days and some rain, the leaves have been falling from the trees at quite a pace. After I'd found a few bedraggled flowers on the path in the garden, I finally thought to look up - only to see that they were indeed falling from one of the trees by the house. Reliable old Google Lens informed me that they were the flowers of a white orchid tree. Stunning. Just a shame that the flowers are up in the tall canopy, so can only really be admired once they've rained down to the ground!

Blogging Off

An early night is needed as, last night, the house with the loud TV was blaring football all night long. I'd have been happy with a power cut (for once) after the England game had finished but, alas, we had full power until 2 pm this afternoon, at which point their party had to finally finish....

So, more next week, but in the meantime feel free to follow me on Instagram @malawi_enjoying_ourselves.

Thanks for reading.

Clare