Day 7 - Another Brick in the Wall

The mist had lifted completely off the mountain this morning and everyone could enjoy the panoramic views for the first time. Suntan lotion was applied liberally by all in anticipation of working in the full heat of the sun throughout the day. Although warmer, especially when working, it never felt hotter than a pleasant summer day in England.

The journey to the school is about 50 minutes in the coach, dropping down 800m from the top of the plateau to the hustle of downtown Zomba. This morning one of the vehicles needed to fill up with diesel, and although it was known that there was a fuel shortage in Malawi at the moment, this had proved a problem when the bus required fuel a couple of days ago. Today was another matter entirely. Last night a large line of parked cars had formed either side of the Total garage in Zomba and this morning it was obvious why – they were expecting a petrol delivery which had a just arrived as the car drove past. It was impossible to join the queue and in the end some fuel was sourced from a local retailer near the school. It was all reminiscent of the UK ten years ago.

The Nsamba school were putting on a Jamboree today to thank the boys for the work they had done on the school building. There was an expectation that there be as many as 2000 children there although in the end the number was probably closer to 1000. Considering that this was during their holidays it was quite impressive. In addition to the children there was also the local tribal chief, representatives from the local school board, teachers and parents. The children put on a range of performances for us, including poetry, a play, a discussion and a song. Following this there were a few speeches.

The walls all made steady progress today and by the time lunch was called most of them had reached the magic 1m and a few columns had also started to take shape. The promised delivery of steel re-enforcements failed to materialise so a party was despatched in the bus, armed with hacksaws to halve the rods, hopefully to return in time to pour concrete into the first half of the columns today.

Another small task that was completed today was the construction of a step to aid access to the doorways of the building. These are only required on one side of the building where the drop is greater than the other, and once the concrete has set overnight the wooden frame can be removed and used on the door further down that side of the building.

Eventually the bus did return with the steel, but too late to make use of them today. Everything is now in place to pour the columns tomorrow though, 50% first thing in the morning and the same again last thing in the afternoon.