Happy Families

As I got back to the office from the AXA coach station, I saw lots of very proud young people walking out from the Polytechnic having received their degrees from the President.  They were all wearing the traditional academic gowns and mortar boards, and looked great.  I said "congratulations" to each one I saw, which seemed to go down quite well.

The downside was the the presence of the President (or more "importantly" the police on the roads), causing enormous traffic jams, so I had to leave the office particularly early to get to my next meeting in town.  No matter.  It gave the chance to go to a shop I'd been advised to visit to get hold of a good album of Malawi gospel music, so I'm looking forward to listening to that.

Delighted Families

I popped in to Ryalls for a quick drink late afternoon, and it was wonderful to see all the very nicely dressed families out in the hotel restaurant to celebrate their children's graduation.  The Malawis love academic success.

I went over to a family who were just leaving to say how nice it had been to see all the smiling faces around the place, and to ask if I could take a photo, thinking that the two young men who had graduated would stand together and have a shot taken.  Instead, I was encouraged to follow them to an outside spot of the hotel to take a family photo - well, actually a load of photos, including additional ones when the father turned up late.

Nice flowers, too

I've promised to email the pictures to the families this evening. Unfortunately, looking at the photos when I got back to the house, it seems that the centre of my lens was misted up, so there's something of a soft focus look to them. Oops.