Classes in the web design course are continuing.
Despite being thrown in at the deep end, the students are coping very well. Yesterday in our first lab, around half of them were viewing web pages for the very first time. Today the whole class were looking at a webpage editor, dreamweaver, for the first time! In a class of ten, three have progressed particularly quickly, and all are showing promising levels of interest. We've also seen great patience on their part with the fairly disorganised running of the course. This morning class began an hour and a half late due to the double-booking of the classroom...we mzungus were getting pretty frustrated but the students weren't too bothered, African Time i guess! In general though I'm optimistic about the prospects for this web design business idea.
Yesterday I had an interesting chat with Dave, an Irish guy here working for a small volunteer organisation called Solar Aid. A businesslike fellow, he had valuable insights on the workings of a small, independant development agency such as Ungweru. In particular he had two decent practical suggestions. The first was to investigate the possibility of mobile internet via 3G, as an internet connection alternative for Ungweru. The second was an addition to Cormac's tourism website idea for mzuzu.org, that we might use it as an information portal for ex-pat volunteers wanting to come to Mzuzu. Local landlords could advertise things like accomodation.
This evening Cormac had the good idea of showing a movie using the projector in the conference room. Some of the youth group and some local kids watched it as well. Jamie and I listened to an informed view on Malawian politics from John. Jamie had a lot of questions for him from his daily reading of The Nation.
Jun 19, 2008
Jun 17, 2008
Web Design 101
The first class in the web design course went very well, the second not so good.
Seven students attended today – hopefully we’ll have the same number tomorrow. We went over the basics of the internet to begin with, as some of the class have never once used the internet. Hard to imagine coming from our background of itunes, facebook and youtube. They were very quiet today but hopefully they will relax and become more responsive over time. For the afternoon lab class we were hoping to get them started on browsing some locally stored websites via the network. Technical problems with the network though meant that they sat around doing nothing for an hour before we sent them home. It was terrible! Later in the evening we managed to get everything sorted, with Jamie’s help.
This evening we had a visit from Jim, an Australian man who has been living here in Mzuzu for the last twelve months or so. He has been to Vwaza Marsh four times and was able to offer some info on what the accommodation is like as well as a few tips on what to bring. He suggested a bottle of Malawian brandy and a crate of Kuche Kuche! It sounds class, the main attraction being the elephants and hippos. The best part though is that John is coming with us!
Seven students attended today – hopefully we’ll have the same number tomorrow. We went over the basics of the internet to begin with, as some of the class have never once used the internet. Hard to imagine coming from our background of itunes, facebook and youtube. They were very quiet today but hopefully they will relax and become more responsive over time. For the afternoon lab class we were hoping to get them started on browsing some locally stored websites via the network. Technical problems with the network though meant that they sat around doing nothing for an hour before we sent them home. It was terrible! Later in the evening we managed to get everything sorted, with Jamie’s help.
This evening we had a visit from Jim, an Australian man who has been living here in Mzuzu for the last twelve months or so. He has been to Vwaza Marsh four times and was able to offer some info on what the accommodation is like as well as a few tips on what to bring. He suggested a bottle of Malawian brandy and a crate of Kuche Kuche! It sounds class, the main attraction being the elephants and hippos. The best part though is that John is coming with us!
Jun 15, 2008
Visiting Kafulufulu
Out of respect for Patrick, the painting was put on hold today.
Instead we attended a mass given by John in a tiny village of one hundred people located way out in the bush. As the first “visitors” in over a decade we were treated like kings and queens. The mass was of course pretty lengthy, and nearly every prayer was celebrated through song and dance. Well worth the journey, even if it was an hour and a half on dirt tracks in the back of a pick-up truck.
The villagers are for the most part farmers, growing tobacco and maize. A bail of tobacco will bring a farmer Kw25,000, and a hard-working family can produce maybe fifteen of those a year. John tells us that around 80% of the 12 million populations live in similar conditions. Although in many cases quite isolated from the more densely populated city areas, these villages do not escape AIDS. Jamie noticed one boy with a swollen belly – I guess his father hasn’t been working hard enough on the land. Or perhaps his mother was HIV positive, and isn’t around any longer to feed him.
This evening Jamie had arranged a trip to a nearby bar with Macneil and some of the other University students. We played a few games of pool and watched Turkey execute an amazing comeback against The Czech Republic. A cracking match, but I was wrecked and failed to make much conversation with the lads. I think they were pretty happy to get a few free beers.
Jamie and I have been wondering what we should do when we start travelling. The trip to Nkhata Bay this weekend should throw up some ideas. Jamie’s driving license would be a huge asset in that it would allow us to rent a car, but right now it’s sitting on his desk in Cork! Hopefully we can get it posted over.
Instead we attended a mass given by John in a tiny village of one hundred people located way out in the bush. As the first “visitors” in over a decade we were treated like kings and queens. The mass was of course pretty lengthy, and nearly every prayer was celebrated through song and dance. Well worth the journey, even if it was an hour and a half on dirt tracks in the back of a pick-up truck.
The villagers are for the most part farmers, growing tobacco and maize. A bail of tobacco will bring a farmer Kw25,000, and a hard-working family can produce maybe fifteen of those a year. John tells us that around 80% of the 12 million populations live in similar conditions. Although in many cases quite isolated from the more densely populated city areas, these villages do not escape AIDS. Jamie noticed one boy with a swollen belly – I guess his father hasn’t been working hard enough on the land. Or perhaps his mother was HIV positive, and isn’t around any longer to feed him.
This evening Jamie had arranged a trip to a nearby bar with Macneil and some of the other University students. We played a few games of pool and watched Turkey execute an amazing comeback against The Czech Republic. A cracking match, but I was wrecked and failed to make much conversation with the lads. I think they were pretty happy to get a few free beers.
Jamie and I have been wondering what we should do when we start travelling. The trip to Nkhata Bay this weekend should throw up some ideas. Jamie’s driving license would be a huge asset in that it would allow us to rent a car, but right now it’s sitting on his desk in Cork! Hopefully we can get it posted over.
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