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Introducing Mystery Class #5 Lilongwe, Malawi 41.217 N, 9.400 E     Hello, and welcome from Bishop Mackenzie International School in Lilongwe, Malawi ! Our School  Greetings from the students in Ms. Leanne Silvestri's 6L class, at Bishop Mackenzie International School in Lilongwe, Malawi. Here we are! Our School is in the older part of town and it is the biggest school in Lilongwe. We have primary and secondary classes in school, so you can come here from reception (age 4) all the way to IB (age 18). There are three classes per year group and usually about twenty people in each class. Our school is a great and exciting place that has children from over 40 different nationalities. Each year we celebrate our different nationalities with a parade of flags. Our school is a happy and busy place that we think is the best in the whole of Malawi! Our school has big fields, swimming pools, tennis courts and a tuck shop. There are also many grassy areas but most of them are fenced off at the moment, so that we can give the grass a chance to grow! The younger children have a great play area full of swings, climbing frames and lots of other fun things! We start school at 7:10am and end at 1:30pm. From Tuesday till Thursday, we have a variety of after school activities that we can choose to participate in. Here's our computer room--does this look like yours? Here's one of our classrooms. Our library. "Let me see...any overdue book charges today?" Outdoor play areas include two tennis courts, a volleyball court and a basketball court. An assembly hall with stage and lighting box doubles as a sports hall for badminton volleyball and gymnastics. And we have a swimming pool complex comprising a newly constructed 25-metre pool, an older 18-metre pool and an infant splash pool Plus, there are sports fields and gardens, and these complete the sports facilities. One of our new swimming pools A table to sit and talk at in the gardens Outdoor basketball court Our classroom is near the Music and Art rooms, next to the teachers’ car park and opposite the tennis courts. It is a small, cozy brick room that is bright and sunny, with a big tree, flower beds and a pond just outside the front door. We think our classroom is the tidiest, most colorful and organized in the whole school! We have a reading corner and an art area as well as our desks and things like that! Reading in the reading corner Our Classroom is one of 21 primary rooms and is built separate from the others - maybe because it is special. There are 15 of us in std 6L and most of our lessons are in this room, except for special subjects like Art, French, Music, ICT and PE. The 1960 bags we sewed We have learned about loads of interesting things this year - our class performed a play in assembly about a dragon who had a sore throat. In Humanities and Design Technology, we designed and made clothing, and a bag from the 1960’s which we modeled in a fashion show!   Busy making tin helmets in Design Technology for the WWII topic Our Teacher is Ms Silvestri. She started teaching at BMIS when most of us were in Std 2. She comes from South Africa and has two children that come to our school. She teaches us for most of our lessons and she is very kind and loads of fun! She teaches us the difference between right and wrong and we think she is a very good teacher! She does not copy from others because she does what is right for us. Our teacher makes our classroom bright and colorful with lots of displays on the walls. She is very organized and makes things very fun for us! We think she is the best teacher in Std 6! Our City We live in the capital city of Malawi called Lilongwe, which is situated in the Central Region. It is a very busy town and always is full with the hustle and bustle of mini buses, trucks, cars, bicycles, and people who are walking to get to get where they need to go. There are shops, markets and street vendors, so you can always get what you need! Lilongwe is dirty in some places and has potholes on the roads so you have to concentrate to avoid them when you drive around town because if you don’t it will be a very bumpy ride! As compared to some other African capital cities, Lilongwe is politically stable, safe, and quiet. Many European and South African expatriates live in Lilongwe, and many international aid organizations (Peace Corps, USAID, DFID), and international corporations, particularly tobacco-related firms, operate out of Lilongwe. As a result, most western visitors will find the city to be accommodating and friendly. Thankfully, the new government is trying to clean and fix it up. The town is divided into numbered areas - we don’t have suburb names like other countries. There is an international airport on the outskirts of the town and many tourists come to see attractions like the first president, Kamuzu Banda’s memorial burial site and the Wildlife Sanctuary for its wild animals like hyenas. Lilongwe is where our current president, Bingu Wa Mutharika, lives in his presidential palace - State House. The Old Town of Lilongwe is distinct and separate from the new Capital City. While Old Town has all the appearance of a traditional African settlement, the City has much in common with other twentieth century urban developments around the world. The City's gleaming modern buildings in their spacious garden-like settings contrast with the hustle and bustle of Old Town. But both of these different parts of the town are worth touring. Modern buildings in Lilongwe A traditional market in old town Our Country Malawi is one of the most peaceful, friendly and beautiful countries in Africa, and one of the least well known. You know by now that Malawi is located in the southeast area of Africa, and is known as the "Warm Heart of Africa". Known as the "Warm Heart of Africa", Malawi has a thoroughly deserved reputation for the friendliness of its people. Wherever you go you will receive a welcome which is unsurpassed anywhere else in the world. This is a land of smiles, of genuine friendship. Malawi is a small landlocked country in Africa, south of the Equator. The country is bordered to the North and North-East by the Republic of Tanzania and to the East, South and South-West by the Republic of Mozambique. The Republic of Zambia forms the Western border. The country is dominated by Lake Malawi which runs southwards parallel to the main strip of land. This magnificent fresh water lake is 568 kilometres long and 16 kilometres wide, accounting for 20 percent of Malawi's total surface area. It is said to be the third largest fresh water lake on the continent of Africa. It's length in miles is about 365 miles, and so it is sometimes called Calendar Lake. Lake Malawi This is the third largest freshwater lake in Africa For much of the year the Lake is placid, a gentle giant, but, especially when strong winds blow north or south, it can become an angry monster. Because of its potentially rich harvest of fish, the Lake plays an important part in the country’s economy. Fishing villages are scattered along the length of the lakeshore and the traditional industry and practices are an attraction to visitors. Our Climate is usually wonderful and hot. There is mostly a lot of sunshine, even in our winters, which are not that cold when the sun is out. Only the early mornings and nights are chilly during the months of May to August. The summer months, from September to April, are amazing and always very hot with very little rain - sometimes even no rain at all. Almost every day is a great day for a swim. The rainy season is during the months November to January. This season is when the rain comes bucketing down! This makes the local farmers very happy! The storms are very heavy, but temperatures are still quite warm! It never snows in Malawi as we are near the equator, so have a sub-tropical climate. Most days of the year end with magnificent, breathtaking sunsets! The predominant vegetation of Malawi is the savannah woodland. Ever-green forests are found where ground water is plentiful as in river valleys and on mountains. Grasslands are found on high plateaus and river-basins. Malawi has a population of about 13,603,181 and the population of Lilongwe after the 2000 national census was estimated at about 1 Million. English and Chichewa are the official languages while all the other major languages such as Tumbuka, Yao, Lomwe, Sena and Tonga are used on the radio, in the media and in schools at local level. Malawi prides itself on a mosaic of unique cultural practices and norms. The main traditional dances and rituals as well as arts and crafts found among the people act as an identifying factor for the many but united ethnic groups of the country. The local currency in Malawi is the Kwacha and Tambala. 100 Tambala equals One Kwacha (MK1.00). Malawi has a variety of religious sects and denominations practicing their faith in total freedom and tolerance. It is estimated that about half of the country's population is Christian while Islam has more than 12 percent of Malawians as its adherents. Other faiths claim about 38 percent membership. Religious freedom has, in turn, made it possible for the faithful to cooperate and participate fully in nation building. Would You Like to Write to Us? If you want to correspond with us, you can write to our teacher Ms. Leanne Silvestri at this address: l.silvestri@bmismw.com