100 ABSTRACTS - NUMBER 65

HOORAY - it’s raining!  I know we had lots of rain in May, but as Mr. HCB has been watering the garden, he has emptied our five water butts, so to see and hear the rain on our conservatory roof this morning is wonderful.

However, I wanted to do a “two in one” shot for today - not that you would recognise this as our foxgloves - but they are quite beautiful and all grown from seed by Mr. HCB.  We have dark pink, and also light pink ones and against our new fence, they look splendid.

With my anorak on and holding an umbrella, I ventured out and had a lovely time wandering around the garden, looking at all the flowers and I’m sure I could hear some of them whispering “Thank you”!  I then came indoors and had a little fartnarkle with my IColorama app and another app called Carbon to make the surround for this shot.

So here is Number 65 for my 100 Abstracts Challenge to raise awareness of the Mamie Martin Fund, which is doing such wonderful work in North Malawi to enable girls to obtain their secondary education.

Mchengautuba Community Day Secondary School is a new school in a deprived area of Mzuzu city. It is a co-educational school of approximately 500 pupils, double-streamed across four Forms. Boys and girls each make up about 50% of the pupil numbers with gender equality a key part of the school’s mission.


Many of the pupils in this school are part of a child-headed family, with neither parent alive to support them. The school is managed by a collaborative team comprising the Parent-Teacher Association, the School Management Committee and the ‘Mothers’ Group’, which is a community-based group set up to ensure the pastoral care of the pupils.  In 2021, the Fund supports 16 girls, 10 of whom are ‘Alison Girls’, supported by the Scottish Government through the Alison Cameron Scholarship endowment.

In other news, we have just returned from Mr. HCB’s follow-up appointment with the Eye Consultant.  He is very pleased with the outcome of the two operations and says as long as Mr. HCB can read a number plate from the required distance, he can drive again.  He is going to the optician on Monday;  he will need glasses to read and possibly to drive, but is so pleased that the two operations were a success.

“A good education 
     is a foundation 
          for a better future.”
Elizabeth Warren

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MaureenIles