100 ABSTRACTS NUMBER 45 - FANCY A GLASS OF RIOJA?

I woke at 5.59 this morning and thought it was 6.59, so at 6.05 when I knew I wouldn’t go back to sleep, I decided to get up.  This is a most unusual occurrence in our house as Mr. HCB nearly always gets up before me - but today I beat him to it.

I was intending to go out shopping in any event and knowing that Aldi didn’t open until 8 o’clock decided to watch the first programme in the series on BBC4, “Great British Photography Challenge” and thoroughly enjoyed it.  There was quite a lot of traffic on the bypass, but it was quite quiet at Aldi, so I was able to whizz round, all the time looking for something to use for my Blip today.  

As usual, I got some strange looks from people as I took out my phone and started snapping - but I am quite immune to them now.  I like to Blip something from my experience during the day, so I rather liked this trio of “Baron Amarillo Rioja” bottles - with gold thread round them - not that I drink this early in the morning, I hasten to add - in case you should think I am an alcoholic as well as a chocoholic!

When I got home, of course, I had a little fartnarkle with the shot and it ended up looking like this, but of course, I’m sure you all know that Rioja isn’t this colour!  However, it’s fine for my 100 Abstracts Challenge for the Mamie Martin Fund, which you all know, now that I am up to number 45, is so that young women and girls in North Malawi can be helped to get through their secondary education, as most families in Malawi cannot afford to pay fees for their children to attend secondary school.

KANTAYENI comes from a family that has more than one child at the same level of schooling and they all need financial support from their parents.  However, her parents were unable to pay her school fees, so the MMF helped with those.  She attended  Elangeni CCAP Secondary School from 2013 to 2016 and from the following year she attended Mzuzu Technical College studying Human Resource Management.  

Secondary education is not free in Malawi - currently the annual school fees for each girl who attends boarding school are £350, which covers tuition, boarding and text book fees.  Today, while 27% of girls in Malawi enrol in secondary school only 13% actually attend and just a fraction of that group will finish school with only 5% passing their MSCE exam. Secondary education in Malawi is not free and many girls drop out due to financial hardship, which is where the Mamie Martin Fund helps so many of them.

I’m now going out to push the lawn mower around the outside of our lawn - just to make a path - but the rest of it will be staying uncut until at least mid August - I’m quite liking the daisies and I’m sure they are loving their new status without being cut down every week.

“I find the best way to love someone 
     is not to change them, but instead, 
          help them reveal the greatest version
              of themselves.”
Steve Maraboli