Butterfly runs a youth club three times a week, one of which is for children with disabilities. Alice has always worked with children back in England and has really enjoyed getting creative with the children of Nkhata bay. Tuesday afternoons are always a craft activity where the children come down into butterfly and gather round the big table of reception. There have been many different kind of activities so far ranging from sock puppets, to masks, to big murals and just recently we have hung all our wishes up creating a prayer tree down by the bar. There have been many international visitors who have volunteered for a fleeting afternoon or taken over for some weeks. It is always so great to get fresh ideas and new innovative ways of entertaining the children. The children of Nkhata bay don’t have all the opportunities that we are blessed with back home so it is really rewarding to share simple ideas such as jigsaw puzzles that they made themselves. They can always take home what they make and although it might not be hung up on the fridge at home, they can play and learn outside of the club. Thursday is a much more active afternoon where the children get to play sports. I have managed to collect some equipment so we can play cricket, badminton, table tennis as well as all the creative games like obstacle courses and treasure hunts.

 

Wednesday afternoon is for special need children. A woman is employed by butterfly and by a couple who stayed here, Kate and Geoff that left some money behind to support the group after Kate made biscuits with them. Evelyn gathers the children as some of them find it difficult to get up here by themselves. They arrive to tea and then activities begin. These sessions are a lot more sensory, including work with dough and paper mache, a big colorful parachute provides many hands on games and making musical instruments to deafen the surrounding areas. My skills are not very experienced in this area so a link with Constance Chunda has been welcomed. Constance is daughter to a very well respected member of our community and accountant and she works for the Malawian embassy in England, and shares my passion for children. She has many visions similar to my own and although she has gone to England we will be working closely together in the future. She has many ideas and is really inspired with what is going on at butterfly and rather than starting her own thing has plans has decided to develop what exists at butterfly. She has also suggested that Evelyn and I could go down to Blantrye for some training as they have a big school for special need learning. Evelyn is also running a session away from butterfly thanks to the funding so the children can be having activities twice a week without the distance. We have just been blessed with the visit from world challenge and have a brilliant playground that is heavily used after school hours every day. I really hope for an indoor space for the club, as it is not always appropriate to run it in reception especially with the special need kids. This would also enable things such as homework clubs to be set up and more skilled base learning. Also I would like to tackle the issue of gender as not many girls attend youth club. I also have been told that I should contact the traditional authority (chief) to let him know what I am doing, as there have been some suspicions on his part. It can all be cleared up with an invitation and to let him see what a positive thing this is. This is why the link with Constance would be such a blessing as she can help bridge the gap between the two cultures.