God's own people

There must be something special about people who are dealt such a poor hand. These are a group of our very special friends who are making the best of every minute. They are just winners, and particularly so as a group. They are just beating the crap out of adversity and we love them.
Collectively they are our first adult education group, who met in Jen's house this evening to welcome Mary, Casca and Miriam for a bit of a chat and a reminisce.
Early on in our first preschool Mary invited the parents to gather to discuss their needs in the most challenged of locations. They suggested and had clubs like netball and knitting, music and art, but the one that has endured was the Adult Ed. Women from the youngest to the oldest wanted to go back to school, all the way back to standard one, as many had just never got a chance. They excelled and learned maths and English for little businesses, They learned to write Chichewa and English, they did courses in health and nutrition. They just became the women they always should have been.
As a group, supporting each other, they could now tackle anything and will.
Last month they supported women prisoners and this month they are working with the hospital.
All now do little businesses. Margaret and Jen are now preschool carers.
One of my abiding memories of Malawi will always be the sheer joy and shouts the morning Jen read her first book in English while she cooked porridge for over 300 little ones (The book was for 6 year olds but she didn't care). She threw the book up in the air, then sang and did a little dance and so did I.
What a woman, what an asset to any community, as are they all.
This again was a low input project. Mary joined a few dots, which she alone can do with ease, got training for Casca and Miriam and we just stood back in amazement.