This workshop was planned in advance by Faculty of Education professors , Vi Maeers and Kathy Nolan , along with two of the Polytechnic faculty , Elias Kaphesi and Vanywk Chikasanda , who came to the University of Regina from February 27-March 9 , 2012 . Elias and Vanwyk returned home on March 10 , and Vi and Kathy spent the following week smoothing out details of the workshop . What follows are some comments from their experience .

We arrived in Blantyre , Malawi on March 21 ^st , 2012 , and were greeted by Rabson , our amazing project leader . The following day we were taken to the Poly where we met with Elias and Vanwyk to put the finishing touches on the workshop schedule .

We had tentatively planned a short side-trip safari to Hippo lodge prior to the workshop which was to occur at Lake Malawi , but that trip was cancelled due to the death of Rabson ’ s secretary , Violet , and the funeral service that took

Submitted by Vi Maeers and Kathy Nolan

place at Violet ’ s house in Blantyre on Sunday , March 25 . This was a funeral to remember forever — at least a three-hour experience , led by a fiery Pentecostal minister in a three-piece suit , in sweltering heat and humidity , pacing back and forth along the length of a city block , shouting at the top of his lungs in both English and Chichewa , to send Violet off to her heavenly home . We bought special skirt / wraps , called chitenjes for the occasion . Following this ceremony , we drove to Lake Malawi , where our workshop began the following day .

The workshop officially opened on March 26 , 2012 . We were a bit

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