It's been another busy time in Malawi at the start of the new school year and 4 of our children have gone on to secondary schools. 

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Ulemu came top of the class in year 8 and won a place at a top Government school at Dedza. We are so pleased for him as he has studied hard and thoroughly deserves his success. He spent the summer holidays helping the bridge build and wants to be a civil engineer. Dedza is a boys' boarding school near Lilongwe so Ulemu won't be able to come home until Christmas but he's so happy it doesn't matter!

We were really thrilled that Lucy, Aleka and Junior also passed the year 8 exams and have started at our local Bvumbwe Secondary School as day students. We now have 13 children at secondary school, one that has just completed secondary school and three that have gone on to college courses.

 

Ulemu arrives at Dedza Secondary School after a 4 hour drive. It's in the middle of nowhere!

 

 

First day back to Machemba Primary School

 

 

Lucy, Aleka and Junior happy in their new uniforms for Bvumbwe Secondary School

 

 

Yamikani and Shakira who are in year 1 & 2

 

Not forgetting the little ones! They all returned to Machemba Primary School on 18 September with lovely new uniforms made by our local tailor. Our thanks to Mark Carroll and Bill Peak (see below) for providing the funds for these!

 

 

On the Home front...

The bridge to Kapeya is complete and was officially opened and handed over to the community on 29 September at a ceremony attended by 16 local Chiefs, the MP, the Traditional Authority and many, many villagers. It was a wonderful day of speeches and traditional dances followed by lunch for 100 people at our home. The bridge has been built by our local staff assisted by 6 civil engineers from England who volunteered to go out there in pairs to supervise the construction.  They were also helped by many of the villagers and some of our elder boys. Everyone had a great time building the structure and the VIPs at the ceremony all said that it is one of the best bridges in Malawi. They had never seen a brick arch bridge before and Elspeth explained that it is one of the simplest but strongest forms of bridge which should last for well over 100 years. It was also low cost using local materials and will need little maintenance.
 

 

The completed bridge

 

 

Elspeth, the local Councillor, Malawian Trustee Glad Munthali, the local MP and Chief Kapeya

 

 

The VIPs and villagers listen to the Traditional Authority's acceptance speech

 

 

Probably the first brick/stone arch in Malawi!!

 

 

Our thank yous to you...

We have many people to thank for the bridge project starting with Ken Newell, a retired civil engineer who helps Smile Malawi and took on the initial fundraising for the bridge as a special assignment. Once construction started engineer Mark Evans set up a further crowdfunding site to raise more funding. We would like to thank everyone who gave so generously to the project.

Elspeth continued construction in June 2017 with our builder, the local people and Davie Kambani, our Malawian carpenter who made all the timber temporary supports for the arch to Elspeth's design. Davie has worked with us for ten years building all our roofs but he had never done anything like this before!

Network Rail engineers Gavin Baecke and Andrew Brown used their knowledge of brick arches to help our builders to construct the arch itself correctly. The first layer or ring was the most important and needed their constant supervision. The arch has a total of 3 rings and took just over a week to build.

Network Rail engineers Ben Wilkinson and Mark Evans then arrived to continue with the wing walls, arch backing and spandrels that support the pathway going up the banks. Here they are with our manager Malsen Chatengwa who kept everyone supplied with materials and tools.  

Finally Keltbray managers Mark Carroll and Bill Peak, who have worked with Elspeth for over thirty years, completed the waterproofing, backfill and parapet walls and supervised the removal of the temporary timber supports, an operation that really benefited from their considerable experience.

 

The bridge will be well protected by one of the best waterproofing membranes called 'Hytec' and this was donated and shipped out to Malawi by Stirling Lloyd Polychem Ltd, a company that Elspeth has worked with throughout her career as an engineer. Many thanks are sent to them by everyone.

Thanks also to another civil engineering company Keltbray, the Friends of Malawi Association and COAP from Kent for supporting us on this project.

 

 

Our plans...

It is with great sadness that we have to report that our wonderful matron Mirriam Kamanga is retiring following her accident earlier in the year when she broke her ankle. Although she has had expert medical care she is still unable to walk properly and cannot return to work. We are providing further treatment for her at the Beit Cure hospital in Blantyre and will ensure she is taken care of.

Finally, do you remember that students from Chapman University in California USA visited Smile Malawi last year to make a documentary about us? Well, please SAVE THE DATE as we are holding a first screening of the film on Saturday 2 December to celebrate Smile Malawi’s 13th Birthday and the completion of the bridge project. The evening will be held at the Avenue Cinema in Sittingbourne, Kent, commencing at 7.30pm. Tickets are £10, available from Ken Newell at kenneth.newell@btinternet.com

From Haven's Facebook page https:/www.facebook.com/havendocumentary/