Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

In 2001 I went to Africa for the first time. I went on an African Odyssey through Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania. In three weeks we saw the chimps at Gombe, sailed up Lake Tanganyika on a working ferry boat and travelled from Kigoma to Dodoma on a train that went so slowly on the incline we could buy honey through the window from traders by the side of the track. (You can read about this and my other trips to Africa on my web site www.knoware.co.uk.

Since then I have been back to Malawi several times, but only ever for a few weeks at a time. It has been my dream to spend a year there, amongst these wonderfully cheerful and friendly people, see this beautiful country go through its full cycle of seasons, and if possible give some small measure of help to these desparately poor families.

I love the English language, and I get on well with kids, so I decided to leave behind (as far as possible) the computers that have earned me my living for the past thirty years, and try my hand at teaching. To give myself a head start I enrolled on a course in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, four weeks of extremely intensive training. Then had to decide where to go. I remembered meeting some people from Ripple Africa in 2006 when I was at the Lake Of Stars Festival, Malawi's own music festival held every year on the banks of the beautiful Lake Malawi. I applied and was accepted for three months starting at the beginning of the new school year in January.

So on 01/01/10 I will be on a flight to Lilongwe (the capital of Malawi) to start a year of voluntary work, starting with three months on Mwaya Beach with Ripple, and after that - who knows.

Ripple run a number of projects from their base at Mwaya, on the banks of the Lake, including schools and a nursery as well as projects to help the environment and the local community. Your donations will really help their efforts. And please note that the money you give will not go towards offsetting the costs I have incurred for my trip, or the money I have already given to Ripple. I am all paid up out of my own pocket. Your gifts will go straight to Ripple.

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