African adventure for Morrison’s girls

Jan 28 2011 by Greg Christison, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

FOUR Perthshire girls embarked on a trip-of-a-lifetime to remote Africa thanks to a “fluke moment”.

A year-long fundraising campaign to pay for a 5000-mile excursion to disease-stricken Malawi was sparked after a discussion between the Morrison’s Academy 17-year-olds was overheard by their teacher Peter Lovegrove.

The head of history heard the girls speak of their desire to visit Likhubula House, an orphan-support centre in the country which the Crieff school has supported since 2006, and urged them to “make it happen”.

Mr Lovegrove and S6 pupils Emma Robertson, Emily Coffey, Anna Tong and Rachel Cram spent 16 days at the Mulanje centre and endured a thought-provoking, eye-opening experience.

“On our first day we just got to know the people in the village,” Emma said.

“They were all really interested in us and wanted to look at the photos we had brought.

“Their homes were made out of mud-bricks, some had thatched roofs and others tin. They all had their own land where they grew maize and other crops.

“Their main food was nsima – maize flour mixed with water. It wasn’t bad but was very plain!

“We didn’t really know how we’d integrate into the culture but as soon as we started speaking to people and began teaching we made friends.

“Everyone was so friendly.”

The party were especially delighted to meet respected local teacher Mr Nyambalo (62), who is paid by Morrison’s Academy to run classes on Saturdays from Likhubula House’s specially-built classroom, which the school funded.

Mr Lovegrove revealed the idea of its Saturday classes was to make local orphans “feel special”.

Emma explained: “In Malawi the education is different, it is almost like the teacher is doing the kids a favour.

“The children have to turn up before school begins to do the house-keeping beforehand.

“The primary school headteacher took us into her office and there were two eight-year-old girls on their hands and knees scrubbing her floor with a rag.

“And another day the children were even told to bring in wood to repair the teacher’s fence!

“But it wasn’t like they were unhappy, out there it isn’t seen as hardship.”

The African adventure saw the students spend Hogmanay washing clothes and playing board games in their chalet accommodation.

But their low-key celebrations were short-lived as hundreds gathered the next day for a lively church ceremony with a gospel-singing choir, featuring the girls.

Despite the visit being interrupted 10 days in after Rachel contracted malaria, the party labelled their mission an “amazing success” after teaching alongside Mr Nyambalo.

Celebrating their departure with a Scottish night, where the students taught the Malawians traditional dances, the group were gifted small, personalised wooden boxes carved from Mulanje Cedar.

Looking back on her journey, Emily concluded: “It was just incredible. It makes you a lot more grateful for what you have and puts things into perspective.”

Anna added: “Leaving was really hard. We have all said that we really want to go back, but it was really sad.

“It still feels really weird how it came about, it was such a fluke moment.”

Indicating that a future return to Malawi was “extremely likely”, Mr Lovegrove said: “Often you have to force children to do things and make decisions, but for the initiative to come from them, it made it very special.”

Emma, Emily, Anna and Rachel raised cash for their expedition by hosting several events throughout the past year including ‘Morrison’s Got Talent’, cake sales and a raffle.

In 2009 it was estimated that 650,000 Malawi children were orphaned due to the deadly AIDS virus.