This is the second and last set of pictures.

On Monday, we visited this SACCO in Rumphi. These folks were very proud of their new building, as they indeed they should be.

Heidi delighting more kiddies with their picture.

The Manageress of this SACCO in Rumphi.

A shy little girl let me take her picture.

Heidi and Ezekiel as we were working at the last SACCO to produce a report.

The Board of the Rumphi Community SACCO after we presented our report. A year ago, this SACCO wasn't given much chance of surviving. They had experienced a large fraud by the Manager, on top of huge delinquency caused by a failure of the tobacco market. Their membership were mainly tobacco farmers and the world markets for tobacco have essentially collapsed. They have re-focused their business on women groups and public servant professionals and the SACCO is turning around financially. The credit goes to the Board for their determination not to let the SACCO fail.

A scenery shot of the northern region. As I said earlier, this is a beautiful country. The north is quite mountainous. These rocky protrusions really stand out.

About 20 years ago, Malawi imported pine trees to build a lumber industry. Ezekiel thinks they are Canadian pines, and they certainly look like pines we might see in Canada. Heidi and I pretended we were back in cold Canada by putting on coats and (in her case), mittens.

Another SACCO we stopped to visit on the way back to Lelongwe from Mzuzu.

People all along the road are selling one thing or another. These are potatoes.

Tomatoes in this scene.

Some school kids who agreed to have their picture taken, maybe even insisted. Note the buildings in the background. These are the typical structures of houses used by rural Malawians.

Kids love to see themselves. The fellow behind asked if we would send pictures back to them. I hope Ezekiel can deliver them for us.

Back in Lelongwe. Heidi and Lennie wanted to have their SACCO cloth made into outfits. They took the cloth to this fabric / tailor shop way back in a marketplace. From the time they were measured until the outfits were completed, the work took about 3 hours.

I had an opportunity to spend some time with the MUSCCO President, Sylvester Kadzola, on the last day. It was a good visit.

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Well, that concludes my picture presentation of my trip to Malawi. Thanks for dropping by and checking out my blog.

Garth Sheane