A photographic Tour of Aug-Dec in Malawi

	The view from Fisherman's Rest has to be one of the most remarkable in the world. This picture can't really do it justice, but what you are looking at is the Southern end of the Great Rift Valley, out in Mozambique, and the Shire escarpment that stretches down to it. Majete National Park is in the near distance, and off to the left is Chikwawa, where we regularly visit the prosoners and which is currently (as of Jan 08) flooded. Fisherman's Rest has been my home for the past 5 months. It is a tourist lodge with a particular bias towards mission teams...with a swimming pool in the shape of Africa, its own cafe and gift shop, 50 acres of wildlife park, and a view to die for, it is truly a unique place, and I've been spolit rotten staying there. As of February, however, I will be moving into Blantyre to be nearer work and the community.
This is the Coffee Shop, where I have been staying in one of the back rooms since August. In the background is the Toyota Landcruiser, a cantankerous old vehicle which I have just about succeeded in keeping running while its owner has been away. IN the foreground is my first guitar student and my friend, Nadrew Makwiti. Andrew is 14, and has just graduated from the local primary school. He is hoping to go to secondary school this year, but is not sure how he will fund this education. His mother, Rhoda, is the district superintendent for the schools around Fisherman's Rest, but wages in education in Malawi are low and don't always arrive. Andrew likes volleyball and football, is an avid guitarist with a passion for country and western music, and enjoys crime fiction novels.   The tree on the right is an avocado.
	This is Chadzunda market. The bustle and activity on market days is impossible to miss, and as you can see, it is mango season. There are no fixed prices here - bartering is much more fun!
My music team is built largely around these three individuals. Reuben McCreal (left) is British but has lived with his family in Blantyre most of his life. He plays drums and a little bit of piano, besides being a gifted actor and drama-director. Kyla (centre) is a Malawian singer and songwriter who leads Chichewa songs whenever I can persuade her to, and Eddie Matiya is one of my more advanced guitar students, also a songwriter and a fourth year medical student at Queen's Medical School. Apart from these three, I have almost a dozen singers, guitarists and drummers who tend to come and go without much notice, and three adult co-leaders (Kerry, Matt and Gail). By June we hope to have three separate teams operating and a diversified range of instruments being played. And through all this, we at CPC hope to build a lasting legacy of praise and worship that our God will find acceptable.
	The young people's group meet Wednesday nights and Sunday afternoons for Bible study, films, prayer nights, outreach and service, and a host of other activities. The events are not organised by anyone's standard, but these youn g adults are committed and growing Christians who take the light of Jesus with them wherever they go. In stark contrast to Bethel, CPC has a preponderance of boys in the group, so we're praying (with varying motivations, I'm sure!) for more girls to join the group.
I was invited this past term to head up an afternoon activity at the local international primary school, Phoenix, focussing on percussion. 12 students in years 5 and 6 attended. We had a lot of fun playing games and learning the basics of rhythm, and towards the end of the course, each class composed a piece of percussive music which they then mastered and performed in front of their school mates at the Christmas assembly. Phoenix is by no means typical of Malawian schools - these are the priveleged few, but it has been very useful for me to see this side of Malawian schools, after my visits to a rural government school with the STORM teams.
	This is the Tiyamike Mulunge centre in Bangula. Will and Pam Philips head up a sprawling orphanage which has been growing steadily since they (somewhat hesitantly!) began their work in 2003. Will and Pam are fast friends, an older couple from Canada with a tremendous faith and servant hearts. I've learnt so much from them. They live in 3rd class conditions, trying to feed, clothe, educate, provide medical attention for and love into life 140 young Malawians whose parents have died or abandoned them. Many orphans die each year from AIDS. Many more arrive and become part of the family. This month, Will and Pam will finally be joined by their first ever long-term partners, a family from the midlands. Hopefully this will free them up from the relentless pressure of the next meal and the next malaria epidemic. My work here has been limited...I visit, play guitar and sing with the kids until they're too tired to move (you can guess what state I am in by that time!), help with games, and try and be a friend to Pam and Will, and the short-term workers who are inevitably there.

Thanks for reading. I hope this gives you a slight flavour of my time and my work in Malawi. Don't hesitate to contact me at ianomore@yahoo.co.uk if you would like more information, to come out to Malawi yourself and find out more, or if you have any encouragement to pass on to myself or the ministries out here in the Blantyre region.