Namitembo Revisited!

I arrived here in Namitembo on Wednesday (April 7th)! Namitembo is one of the villages in rural Malawi, which is a small country in southeast central Africa. It is also the name for the whole (Catholic) parish area, encompassing 15-20 thousand people, with one central church and seven other "outchurches." St. Bridget has had a partnership with the people of Namitembo parish for the last 13 years, and this is my fifth visit here. The immediate reason for my visit is the official dedication of NAMTAS tomorrow (Namitembo Trade and Agriculture School). The Minister of Education for the whole country of Malawi will be on hand to "cut the ribbon," as well as the bishop and several other noteworthy individuals, in addition to -- believe it or not -- the Malawi media! TVM (TV Malawi) will be here, among others. This is big news!

This project is fabulous -- there is nothing else like it in rural Malawi. Right now I am typing this post in the "Internet Cafe," which is next door to the computer lab on one side and a tailoring classroom on the other. Further down this row of classrooms is another tailoring room, and around the corner of the square are three other large buildings, for bricklaying and carpentry/joinery. Across the square from those rooms is the central administrative block, with staff offices, and a library -- then the large multipurpose main hall (for dining especially, but other possible uses) -- then the boys hostel, currently with rooms for 24 students although it will soon house more, and including flush toilets and shower areas (which really is a pretty big deal, since most of rural Malawi is without running water or electricity).

Looking over my computer and out the window I can see a row of four duplexes -- and very nice homes they are, with electricity and running water -- for teacher housing. Further down that row there is a large women's hostel, again with flush toilets, showers and a cooking/food preparation area. Still further down there are two more nice houses, for the Administrator and his assistant.

Behind the administrative block there is a water tower, where I'm going to climb sometime during my visit, to get good "overview" pictures to bring home. Then behind the water tower there is a large building that functions as a nursing school and child care center, serving both the students of NAMTAS as the Namitembo CD Secondary School, with its three large classroom areas beyond the perimeter of NAMTAS. Still beyond that are the three large classroom blocks of Namitembo CD Secondary School itself, and several teachers' homes beyond that.

If you kept going beyond the high school and housing you would reach a road (of course it's not paved, silly -- this is rural Malawi!) that leads to the left back to the large classrooms blocks and separate hall of Namitembo Elementary School, with more teacher housing still further on down the road.

Does it sound like a lot? It should! And with the exception of the nursery school, St. Bridget has been involved in providing the funds for building or rebuilding every one of those buildings over the last 13 years. And NAMTAS is the "crowning jewel" of everything.

If I can figure out how to post a few pictures tomorrow or the next day, after the big blowout celebration tomorrow, I'll let you see how things look. For now, we're all running around trying to get last-minute preparations. The celebration should last a good 4-5 hours, including blessing the buildings and a bunch of speeches. I'm giving one too, but it'll be short!