The ‘Midnight Express’ left Alnwick on time and seven hours later after a restless night we arrived at Heathrow. My two big suitcases weren’t moving well until I found a trolley to help. They would prove quite a challenge to get to Chitipa. The Ethiopian Airlines flight leaves on time and I am soon having a ‘Habesha’ beer with my food. We arrive into Addis Ababa around 10 pm so I just find a quiet place and try to sleep. I have another restless night but soon on the way to Lilongwe.

After an hour or so of visa fun and games I walk out into the sunshine with my heavy trolley. The junction to the main road going north is 6 kilometres away and Lilongwe bus terminal 30 kilometres away. It is decision time. It is 2 pm and I want to be in Mzuzu tonight. A taxi driver tells me there are Mzuzu cars that leave from Kanengo on the outskirts of Lilongwe. It sounds like the best option so he drops me there and I soon find a car going north with enough space to fit my two suitcases and the bags of the other six passengers. Our driver Gifty is going well until he hits a huge pothole and seconds later his tyre is flat. We pull over and a group of men decide we need their help. They get paid very little for their efforts.

The road north to Kasungu is really poor. The edges drop away and there are lots of potholes. There is only just enough space to pass but in the dark the oncoming drivers both put on their right indicators to help avoid any collisions. Headlights are dangerously on full beam as trucks fly past at speed. After Kasungu the traffic is less and the road a lot better. We arrive in Mzuzu at 9.45 pm and Gifty kindly drops me at the Zingilirani Rest House. I am soon asleep but my alarm goes at 6 am as I still need to get to Chitipa today. I am on the 6.30 am bus to Chitipa sitting upfront on the engine with Alex Ngwira, the Chitipa Utd coach next to me. We have a good reminisce about the old days as we make our way north crossing the North Rukuru River before the road rises up past Machenga Coal Mine and down to Chitimba. The lake shore scenes were as beautiful as ever and we are soon in Karonga. The final 99 kilometres to Chitipa is easy these days with the new road finished in 2014. We cut through the hills with Nyika to our left and Misuku Hills to our right. We pull into Chitipa at 12.30 pm, a long and tiring 61 hours since leaving Alnwick.

Room 12 is available so I move in. On my previous few visits I was completely unaware that hot water is continuously heated in a big oil drum out the back for bathing. My cold bucket washes were never that enjoyable. This time I had two big buckets of hot water as I squatted near them with a plastic cup I had found outside. I take a walk and meet Rowland in his office. All the windows in his government office block have been smashed. Sometime in the period after the May 2019 general election young thugs had looted shops and offices and even petrol bombed the Forestry Department building nearby in protest of the unfair elections.

‘Tipex’ was on one of the official records. The International elections observers refused to sign the official results and left the country. Rowland tells me that some of the football kits and boots were in the office and were taken. One had been recovered by the police and was ready for collecting from the court this week.

The 2019 general election had a 74% turn out. The official results declared Peter Mutharika (DPP) the winner with 38% of the vote. In second place was Lazarus Chakwera (MCP) with 35% and third Saulos Chilima (UTM) with 20% of the vote. In the National Assembly now the DPP has 62 seats, MCP with 55, Independents with 55 and other make up the rest. The results were highly controversial and opposition leaders led by Lazarus Chakwera and Saulos Chilima disputed the results in court. They also resulted in nation-wide protests in May, June, and July 2019 in which supporters of the opposition accused the results of being rigged by Peter Mutharika and Jane Ansah, the Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission. A huge number of Malawian youth organised a ‘Jane Ansah Must Fall’ campaign which included multiple days of protest in several cities. It was during these riots that the kit was stolen. A few months on things are still tense with lots of protests nationwide.

After some serious eating and a good night’s sleep I am feeling a lot better. Rowland usually reports for work by 8 am so I meet him at the office. He has four more UNICEF metal boxes this time full of sports things designed for a primary school. A very comprehensive guide is inside with instructions for a number of activities. It is far too complicated for Rowland to deliver so he just hands out bits and pieces when people request. We always have a laugh about what is in his boxes. This time there are two mystery boxes which he is reluctant to open. Finally I get a look. Inside are some ‘indestructible’ footballs like I have never seen before. Another NGO had given him two boxes as thanks for providing the waiver to get them into Malawi. The balls might be suitable for training but not games. Jane Mvula the netball coach drops in asking for balls but Rowland keeps his new balls quiet.

We talk about the Malawi Cricket Union and the current situation with them. So the story goes after I left in July 2018 there was a work plan which I had seen. The primary schools held the cluster games at U12 and U16 level using the softball equipment. The planned zone finals did not happen. Some of the committee had visited Meru and Nkhangwa zone to deliver the course to teachers there but little kit was able to be left. So after November 2018 the first instalment of MCU money was finished. In November the MCU asked for a financial report and activity reports. Rowland and the committee completed these and returned but very little feedback was given. In January 2019 two coaches returned to Chitipa but did no training as more interested in collecting receipts for the first instalment of 500,000 MK. There was no more contact until May 2019 when someone from the MCU contacted Rowland asking how they could help in the future but nothing since. I met the committee and they were just confused and surprised that if the MCU were not satisfied with what they had done why the MCU hadn’t told them how to get it better. So basically since January 2019 primary schools had been playing each other individually with the kit each cluster had been given. They said the children really like playing but their plans to expand were hindered by the refusal of the MCU to send the second instalment. It all made sense to me but only one side of the story. I would inform Vivek on my return and see what the MCU had to say.

The rest of the day was all football. We visited Chitipa Utd training and saw Alex Ngwira. One of the players Christopher Mtambo has been awarded ‘Player of the Month’ four times this season in the Super League of Malawi. He is a Chitipa boy and one of Wachisa’s old players and greatest success. The Chitipa players still struggle with boots and shin pads. They have a sponsor this year, a Mr Savenda, who is from Chitipa but is a businessman in Zambia. He is obviously not covering everything as they still hire and borrow boots from people. A bit later I meet Wachisa who is training his young boys at U12 level. He has four of his U14 players helping him as he looks on. It was great to watch all this happening.

FOMA had given me £500 to construct some football goals. This morning I was at the National Bank of Malawi to change up the money. Wachisa has a quote of 100,000 MK for a set of goals. I gave Wachisa 200,000 MK to get started on two sets we need for the festival at the end of the course. Our attention turns to the cricket cage. Rowland and I visit Nachiwe Primary School and they agree to let us reassemble the cage there as it is a walled compound and a lot safer. Rowland begins to tell me the story of the cricket cage. It was being used fairly regularly by students from Chitipa SS and Yamba CDSS. In early 2019 the guards at the school decide it is being tampered with and it would be taken down and stored. They do this and lock it away at Chitipa SS where it remained until I asked about it. Tony from Charles Metal Work says he can fix it up at the new site. He visits and takes a look and says it needs some repair. He moves it to Nachiwe and on assembly realises that two metal pieces are missing. This will be an extra cost. Rowland and I decide to share the cost. I pay my share and Rowland will have to get from his monthly budget. He says he will get it done as soon as possible. We walk to Isalykira Primary School to collect the kit and boots they have. The kit is returned but ten boots are missing. To be honest Rowland hasn’t managed the kit well that I left last year. In hindsight I think it would have been better to just distribute then.