We are getting close to our teacher training courses. Our training is for teachers in how to deal with a school situation. An official from the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) arrives five minutes before we are due to start saying all courses must be run by qualified FIFA refs. Our referee Mr. Mpande who is a primary teacher is willing to conduct our course for the teachers. Our Mzuzu referees course is going on in a fashion. Mr. Chalenga and Mr. Mpande are delivering it and I’m observing. It was not really appropriate for teachers but at least it is something. I seem to be mobilising sports people to join a common cause. I feel it is a positive thing but I need more control next time. I have got these referees on my side and so now hopefully they will see my point of view more in the future.

One success of many on the referee’s course was Jomo Ngonga a teacher from Katoto School. He was very enthusiastic and had potential. He was thrown in at the deep end a week later when he was refereeing a big primary school match at his school. It was raining and he had just given a dodgy penalty. The crowd stormed the pitch and sat around the penalty box as per Malawian football custom. As I left he was dealing with it with a smile. I met him later for a well done beer. We drank and laughed all night in the ‘Kool Spot’.

Jenny has booked to visit in three weeks. First we are out of Mzuzu to deliver football and netball coaching and refereeing courses in the districts. It is a public holiday today and we have a social game at Kawalazi Tea Estate. We arrive but no opposition so we start drinking. By kick-off we are all drunk. We won 6-1 with lots of laughs. We have planned to have Karonga and Chitipa district sports meetings first and then deliver the courses. It was to be a very frustrating week indeed. VSO had warned us of the ‘denial’ phase and I was about to get it big time. Our promised transport is cancelled again in favour of the manager’s programme.

We arrive late by bus in Karonga and miss the meeting. The good news is the teachers have decided to stay so we will meet in the morning at 9 am. We find the cheap and grotty Enikani Rest house, which will become my Karonga home over the next two years. Kalumbi and Msiska arrive in a car each. In Karonga progress is being made and the schools are competing. I feel they doubt our competition will reach the divisional finals but I’m sure it will. Mr BAM Sibwakwe is my man in Karonga and I like him.

In Chitipa we are late for the planned meeting but the twenty six teachers present have been patient and are waiting. The atmosphere seemed good as we start to explain our programme. Then a teacher demands his allowances for attending the meeting. We have a united front of teachers now asking for money or they will leave. My ‘fully funded’ department letter had obviously got them excited. In the end I basically paid off the ones who wished to leave from my allowances. The rest who remained wanted the meeting and course to be a success so we carried on.

Our first football coaching course starts with sixteen participants. They enjoyed the active practical sessions and the chance to coach each other. The VSO lessons on ‘positive thinking’ were very useful tonight as I lay in my mosquito infested room. We managed two hours of theory, two hours of practical sessions and two hours of refereeing. It was enough and we vowed to return. We had ten participants on the netball coaching/umpires course. I delivered the course. It was exhausting and I finished with a big ‘mutu’ or headache.

It all ended on a positive note as we headed back to Karonga. I’m struggling so Fabiano does the three day courses while I sleep it off. I watch Fabiano deliver the theory ‘what is a good lesson?’ He did well and is learning fast. The netball course is well attended. The teachers are again thankful that we came and see some progress. There are some real characters in these districts. Bam Sibakwe from Karonga Government School is really supportive and really convinced others to be positive.

My mind is all over the place at the moment. I need to put it all in perspective and set a few goals in true VSO style. It works for me and it all feels more manageable. In the short term I will get our football and netball coaching/officiating booklets printed and distributed to all schools. I can get a VSO small grant to do this. I will visit the remaining districts and hold the courses. I will visit as many zonal competitions as I can ahead of the district finals due in July. I will try and collate all the zone report forms from the committees and get feedback on the progress so far. In the longer term I want to hold successful divisional finals later in the year as promised. It was all possible in my mind.

Between Fabiano and me we manage to visit all the districts and complete the courses. The sports coaching booklets were finally printed and distributed via the District Education Officer’s. We have achieved one of our aims and are proud of ourselves. Competition report forms are coming in with results and seemingly no problems. Feedback questionnaires tell a story of progress and appreciation. I felt our system was working mostly on the goodwill and hard work of our sports teachers who wanted change and progress. I had confidence in the teachers elected to the district sports committees. Their incentive to organise our competitions was purely personal satisfaction as they were getting no financial or material reward. This was how it should be but I knew it was against education department policies on allowances. I questioned the support from the DEO’s who told us they supported our programme but often let us down. My Divisional Education Manager was supportive and appreciated our efforts to rejuvenate school sports in the north. I always got the funds I requested. However it was a constant battle with bureaucracy, incompetence and people putting personal interests above work commitments. I was keen to get out into the districts and do some more training. I spent three days in Chinhame, south of Nkhata Bay delivering football and netball courses.

I stayed at the rest house where the teachers were staying. We would walk the three kilometres to the school each morning. It was a strange but enthusiastic group of teachers. I will never forget Mpande, Longwe, Mbewe and Zilimbe, the Nkhata Bay district sports committee and the bizarre conversations we had. We had the usual discussion about lunch allowances but in the end we all eat cheap together at the rest house. The football and netball courses brought us together as we sweated in the hot sun and all washed in the lake afterwards. They appreciated my efforts and it really made me one of them. I feel that passing on some skills one to one like this is the only way to make progress in developing school sports. If one teacher passes on some information to one child then it has been a success. It was all smiles as the sun set over the lake. A yellow life jacket came out before anyone was brave enough to get in the water. I feel this is a good start but there is so much to cover and such little time. There are some real characters here. Mr. FMC Zimba from Chinhame CDSS will make a good sports teacher. The children from the primary school were a constant distraction as other staff liberally used sticks to beat them back. We used two teams of local kids as the teachers took turns to referee. Some teachers did well but others were lost. It just takes practice I kept telling them. The reality of the lack of equipment was brought home to me as I tried to give out a few balls after the course. About ten teachers just jumped onto the bag and fought for things. I was sad but too tired to worry. It was just a case of getting a small ball for their children or just getting something for their efforts. Nkhata Bay district seems quite well organised. A good number turned out for the course and the competition was on-going. In my absence Fabiano has held some district meetings and tells me all is good.

My Likoma Island trip was here. I couldn’t wait to get out of Mzuzu and who could possible frustrate me on a beautiful island? The Ilala ferry arrives at 7 pm and leaves at 11.30 pm. It was a cold night on top deck but the sunrise was lovely. I settle into the Akusiki Rest house in Chipyera the main village.

I deliver a netball coaching course to ten participants and in the afternoon make a 2^nd half cameo for the Makalowe Red Devils in a 2-2 draw. The referee is the very reverend Leslie Mtekateka and he did a great job. I told him he was in the wrong profession and he laughed. He agrees to help me tomorrow with the football course. The sun is hot and we finish by 12 am. I watch the Likoma zone finals which go well. My ferry leaves at 11.30 pm. It is a long trip home as the lake is rough. The Reverend Jackson Biggers gives me a lift back home. Fabiano has gone to Mzimba and Ekwendeni to conduct the two courses there. We have now finished all our courses in each district.