Dear Boys and Girls,

We are halfway through our last week here and all is well. I have been very busy seeing secondary students about school fees and meeting with teachers and students at the primary school. The students in grades 1-7 are off this week, but the students in grade 8 are preparing for exams. I am including a photo of my students from last year who were in 1st grade and are now in 2nd grade.

Yesterday we traveled to Karonga to do some banking business and to buy supplies for the craft shop that will benefit orphans here. Can you find Karonga on your maps of Malawi? It is north of Livingstonia along the lake. Tomorrow, I will begin my journey south and on Thursday I fly out of Lilongwe and eventually back to the U.S. We stop for a short time in Dakar, Senegal. See if you can find that country on the world map. Dakar is the city furthest west in Africa.

The students here remind me of you in many ways. They are very excited about learning, but they also enjoy recess as much as you. Of course, their lives are much different in many ways, too. Many come to school hungry and without shoes as we talked about. Classrooms are very crowded - as I told you before, there were 83 students in the 4th grade classrooom here, but the enrollment is actually 92. But I am always surprised by how joyful they are. They make me smile every day. When I return, we'll do some things that will help you understand what their experience is like, including the water on the head contest - remember?

I hope your week is going well. I miss you all and will look forward to seeing you when I return on Monday.

Khaloni makola,

Mr. P.

Anyamata na asungwana,

Moniri! Mwauka Uli! Ms. B. and I have made it to Malawi! We're sitting by that big lake that I said reminds me of Lake Superior. Remember the name, Wyatt? That's right, Lake Malawi. The picture shows the view we're looking out at right now.

We landed in the capital city two days ago. What is that called, Emmalie? You got it - Lilongwe. Today, we're headed to Livingstonia. Remember traveling there with Google Earth? That's where I'll be for the next 10 days. I'll be working in the primary school there and visiting some secondary schools. I'll also be giving your letters to students in standard four (fourth grade).

I hope you all had a fun spring vacation. I'll write again soon.

Best,

Mr. P.