Not for sale....

Left just after 6am to go to Euthini to supervise training caregivers. It was a lovely journey but on dirt roads and extremely dusty and sandy in places. It was market day in Euthini but unfortunately did not have time to go and have a look!

Took quite a few nice photographs today, many of which you have seen similar shots of before. This child took my eye as the bag she was carrying on her head said 'Not for sale' For me this would make such a good poster for Malawi in a country where we have a high rate of child trafficking (mainly for sex purposes) and a high rate of early marriage (from as young as 9 years).

There are a lot of organisations trying to fight child trafficking - it is not easy in a country which is landlocked by Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique and also has a large lake. Early marriages are partly cultural and a lot of teaching is being done to try and prevent such practices. Sometimes poverty is the problem where a family sells their daughter to a wealthy older man (sometimes as old as 70 years) in order to get a few kwacha. I remember in 2001 we had quite a severe famine in some parts of the country and a lady tried to sell me her child for K200 which at that time was around £2.

Anyway that is my rant over for today. I am tired, its been a long day so I will not apologize for not checking any other blips tonight. Thanks for your concern about my leg - its almost recovered for which I am really grateful!