Last few trainings in Lilongwe (don't cry Ruth)

Team Malawi have had quite a few varied and unexpected days! On Tuesday we had our final day of training with the patrol leaders in Lilongwe. We trained the girls on Violence against Women which they were all very knowledgeable about. It was interesting to hear some different comments from the girls than we heard in Blantyre but also was promising that even the youngest girls were very clear on what behaviours are abusive and non-abusive in a relationship. It is good to see how involved the girls get in our trainings and how much information they take on board.

In the afternoon, we taught them some of our much awaited crafts! We changed things around from Blantyre a bit, this time teaching paper flowers, pencil toppers and friendship bracelets. All of our crafts were very popular and we had to rapidly prepare extra resources whilst the girls were rushing to do all three!

On Wednesday we were invited to the MAGGA board meeting, but unfortunately when we arrived in the morning, a lot of the board members were still travelling to the offices. Never wanting to waste a dull moment, we pitched up outside and used the time to plan our trainings for camp at Senga Bay. We were invited to join the meeting in the afternoon and the board members were very interested to hear how our project has been going. We updated the board on the progress of the girls and the MAGGA GOLD team in particular so that we could give them feedback on their next steps to develop the project for the future.

Thursday was yet another unexpected day - as you may have gathered from Facebook and Twitter, we were invited to the MAGGA AGM. It was not quite the format we expected and a bit difficult to know what was going on at times due to some of the speeches being in Chichewa, but it was great to see so many people there all passionate about guiding. The theme for the meeting was 'Let us unite to end violence against women and girls'. There were a lot of passionate speeches on the topic from all ages, including a very young guide from Mzuzu. A lot of the girls we have trained in Lilongwe were involved in the meeting with their fellow Brownies, Guides and Rangers showing some of their chants, sketches, self defence and exercises.

An MP from the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare was a guest of honour at the meeting and gave a rallying speech to the girls and women, encouraging them to stand up against violence and abuse. She also presented flowers to members of MAGGA who were being recognised for their achievments and even called Ruth up to the stage to represent our GOLD team!

We were given our moment on the stage to summarise the whole 6 years of GOLD in Malawi and the work we have been doing this year. In true guiding style we finished our presentation with a few songs! We lit some candles to sing Guiding Light and finished with the Rainbow, Brownie and Guide closing songs.

We were invited back onto stage a few more times including during a speech from the MP, however since a lot her speech went into Chichewa, we ended up looking very confused on stage!

At the end of the meeting, we were scooped up into a bit of a disco on the stage with all of the Brownies, Guides and Rangers. A lot of the girls who have been to our trainings came running over to see us, some already with badges pinned on that we had given them.

Since returning from the AGM, we have been hastily packing for camp at Senga Bay and will be on our way on Friday evening. Quite an eventful few days but the adventure is not quite ending yet!

GOLD love,

Alice and Team Malawi xx