The 50 strong Scottish Team including 17 Explorers and Leaders from South East Region are now counting down the days on Facebook until they leave for their 4 week expedition to Malawi.  We have now had our penultimate training weekend, a long weekend at Lochgoilhead. The team attended a lot of information sessions including – Bugs and Beasties, First Aid, Personal Hygiene, Photography, Personal Safety, Basic Chichewa, What to Pack and registering with LOCATE. In between all that they did a lot of work on site, they put a new ceiling in the boat shed, built a wall, fixed some fencing and a stile and made a concrete plinth for the skip. All adding to the skills they may need when working in Malawi and building on what has been learned at previous training weekends.

The team flies out to Malawi Thursday 30/06/11 and returns Saturday 30/07/11, we are flying with Ethiopian Airlines leaving from Heathrow going via Addis Ababa.

While in Malawi we will be building on the work carried out in 2007, working with the Scout Association of Malawi to improve the facilities at their National Campsite near Zomba.  Our objective is to improve the campsite facilities to a standard that will encourage Western Scout Groups to visit and thus produce an income for the Association and to help them towards self-sufficiency.

The jobs we will be undertaking are constructing an additional  toilet and wash block, putting in an additional water supply, re-roofing and fitting out an external kitchen area, shelving a tuck shop and storage area, fitting a ceiling to a building that is to be used for accommodation and general painting and renovation of existing buildings.

The fund raising continues to go well and congratulations to those who have raised all their funds.  Our last training weekend, at Fordell Firs, is 10th – 12th June, where we will split the tents and cross the ‘t’s and dot the ‘i’s.