TRAININGS

I was the primary trainer at the first few meetings and got quite into it jumping up and down off the front bench and so on trying to make my points. I'm actually a bit of an expressive.

I tried to explain the difference between progress and process. That, as you can imagine, was a difficult one. I taught, half in Tumbuka, half in English, embarking into some furiously drawn diagrams on the board. I always liked to start the training with something of this nature as people tended to come very late to training in Malawi. (Some of my farmers walked as far as 6 miles one-way.)

We next would go into the technical material which was lecture, board, (more diagrams of course) and discussion. We always ended with a practical (hands-on) section which began with a demonstration then time do the practical. Usually Mkandawire, myself, and Mr. Ng'ambi (Wabwera) would walk around to assist. That explains the forest material in the preceding photo (it wasn't just decoration); we did grafting and budding with our simulated materials.

At subsequent trainings, Mkandawire and I would split the training, breaking off the parts that were our respective strengths. This was quite a relief to me.

I traveled more than he and consequently had more exposure to new technologies, but he was sharp, a very fast learner. Consequently, I arranged to take Mkandawire to Mzuzu to see Lunyangwa Agriculture Research Station and Mr. Ng'wira's "Seed and Nursery Services" - a horticulture business and farm at Lusangazi. At Mzuzu we learned a great deal of practical information together, which was wonderful. Mr. Ng'wira's son showed us the farm with special attention on the grafting and budding operations. He shared with us the techniques they found to be successful "on the ground". This was a great relief as we'd been struggling with demonstrating shield or T-cut budding to farmers. He said they found chip budding easier to teach to grafters, affecting their work and success rates.

Mkandawire and I biked all over Mzuzu (Lunyangwa and Lusangazi being somewhat distant from the town center). As we arrived out to these communities he was very surprised when the local children ran behind me yelling "Mazungu, mazungu, mazunguuuuuu ..." ("Mazungu" being "foreigner" or non-black person.) He hadn't known the children do this (somewhat constantly). In Chisenga, the children knew me, and had been coached to use my name - it was more often something like "Mackymillany, mwakata!" ("McMillan, good morning!", in Chinyika.) He was a bit shocked but I assured him I was quite used to it.