Do something good today...

My good mate, Paul Turner's girlfriend, a qualified teacher from England, is in Malawi, teaching and caring for orphan kids and families that are victims of aids and famine.

She's blogging about her experiences here

This is her with a very very cute kid. There are lots of very cute kids she's working with who lack even the very basics - clothes, writing materials, food, shelter, a family. Even a small gift means so much to these kids. So if you can spare a few pounds or dollars...then consider dropping a gift directly to Caroline. T-shirts, pens, pencils, little notebooks, silly toys for kids who will be going to their first ever party...Send it to her at
Caroline Tredrea
CCAP Likhubula House,
PO Box 111,
Mulanje,
MALAWI

If you want to help, send things to her directly, or contact me. Paul's going out to Milawe in January and can take stuff to her directly. Otherwise, feel free to post things to Caroline. A little gift can make such a huge difference to these kids. Caroline will personally distribute anything you send.

She writes as follows....

Well, I have received a number of lovely lovely emails from people lately in support of what I'm doing but a common thread that seems to be appearing in many of them is that people still want to help. First off, this amazes me since I am still overwhelmed by the donations and support I received when preparing to leave and now the ongoing generosity is genuinely moving.

Anyway, if you did feel that you wanted to send out anything for the children here to help with school or just generally, I thought I'd write a little list of things that I know they would all appreciate so much.

PLEASE NOTE: I AM NOT ASKING FOR ANYTHING AND DON'T WANT YOU TO FEEL OBLIGED TO DO ANYTHING. THIS IS JUST IN CASE YOU WERE ASKING ABOUT WAYS TO HELP.

First off, any packages that you want to send out, can be sent directly to me at the following address and I will distribute where the need is greatest.

Caroline Tredrea
CCAP Likhubula House,
PO Box 111,
Mulanje,
MALAWI

Please note that the postage costs soar with parcels over 2kg, so if want to send out more than 2kg, it pays to sent two parcels! Also although packages have generally arrived within 2 weeks so far, the postal service (as with all the other services here!) can be hit and miss!

And so to things that would go down well here...

* Children are often without pencils or pens so any type of writing materials will be appreciated.
* There are NO reading or story books at the school. Children are taught from STD1 in English so any kids' English comics or light reading books would be greatly treasured by the recipient.
* Tiny toys such as the plastic ones you might put in children's party bags in the UK. I remember seeing bags of about 10 in ASDA for a pound or so. Oh, and playing cards or travel games that I can play on street corners with kids rather than trying to make conversation in basic English and it drying up within 30 seconds would be handy for me!
* (girls are not allowed long hair so hair accessories and the like would not really be used)
* T-shirts and things are tricky because once word gets around, 1000 children appear at the door wanting one. However, some of the children's clothes are in a terrible state - more holes than t-shirt, especially the little ones, so t-shirts for ages about 4-10 would find good and appreciative homes.
* Little non-perishable treats such as Haribo are like gold dust!

I'm organising a party for my class on 12th November, for most of them it's their first party, and although post wouldn't reach me before then, I am just appealing for any games ideas that would work during my party. I have had a good think but I get stumped by the following restrictions;

* There are 120 of them and if we wait for them to have a go each, we'd be there till November 13th.
* There is no electricity
* I am still not yet fluent in Chichewa so games should keep language to a minimum
* There are no chairs or tables so musical chairs etc are out the window.

Any ideas, please let me know!

I think that's about it. I hope you find these ideas useful. As I said before, please don't feel obliged to send anything, these are just ideas and I appreciate so much the generosity of people in the past.