Karibu means ‘welcome’ in Swahili. I don’t know its exact meaning in Chichewa (Malawian language), but when one of the staff at the school in Zomba said Karibu I was pretty sure he was inviting me over to share their meal (lets hope so because thats what I did!).

We’d just come out of the pool and it was dark (in Malawi it turns pitch black so quickly its almost like the lights have been turned off) - so just out of the pool in the darkness, and I can see two men and one calls over “karibu”. So over I go, and I see they have a plate of nsima and a bowl of beans.

Nsima is a bit like a thick porridge or loose mashed potatoe, its a mix made from maize which is the staple food of Malawi. I’d had nsima before - its not very exciting - you roll a small Continue Reading »

On Tuesday some of us are (hopefully!) spending the evening at a tented conference centre in Worcestershire. I say hopefully because over the past couple of days much of Worcestershires been on the news featuring helicopters airlifting people out of floods!

I’m assuming they’ve chosen their location well so that its not subject to the weather - if not it effectively writes it off as a potential venue for us anyway! Lets hope not though because it would be brilliant to get some outdoor based courses back into our programme. Continue Reading »

I realised I should explain the ‘Breakfast Society’! At one point we really did intend to form a Breakfast Society. The idea began after regular trips to the Blue Moon cafe in Chester down by the river to experience their all day breakfasts. The first time we went to the Blue Moon on ordering our breakfasts we were told to expect a 45 minute wait. We decided we didn’t mind waiting - there was a cool old jukebox playing very old music and we’d managed to find a seat so all was well.

When the breakfasts did arrive they were well worth the wait. After that we decided we’d set up the Breakfast Society. Continue Reading »