Reay and Chrisanne will be working at a school set up by AIDS widows for their children in northern Malawi and built by the widows themselves where the only teaching resource available is a blackboard and chalk.

Chrisanne realised she did not even know if the 78 children who attend the school have furniture when one of her pupils asked if they had chairs.

"I was talking to my class about it the other day and one boy came up afterwards and said: I'll bring you some money tomorrow," Chrisanne said.

"I told him: Don't do that — but you can bring me some seeds if you haven't brought any already."

Limited in what they can take with them to the landlocked nation, one of the least developed in Africa, Reay and Chrisanne can at least take seeds — pumpkin seeds, buttersquash nut, peppers, cauliflower, carrots, herbs — anything the women can grow for food or even, in the case of the herbs, for medicinal purposes. Some have been provided by friends and pupils including a donation from Paul Kelly of Klondyke, who own Howden's Garden Centre at Stoneyfield.

They have also, with the blessing of their head teachers, been busy photocopying resources they can take with them to Africa and laminating them so they can stand up to years of wear and tear from pupils who have little else to learn from or play with.

"I'm quite excited, but nervous too," Reay said as she looked forward to flying out at the start of next week.

"It's not really fear of the unknown, but what we might experience when we get there. But knowing the little we can give is going to help, that's what's carrying me through."

Chrisanne is equally anxious to get going.

"I can't wait to get there," she said.

"I haven't got nervous yet — though it might just hit me! I just hope I can cope with it."

The women admit that when they think about it, even they are surprised they are off to rural Malawi in just a few days time.

It was only at Easter that they talked about going to Malawi to help Brother Michael — an Anglican monk Reay had befriended while he was working in Inverness — and only in May that they booked their flights the day after Brother Michael texted them from Africa with the message: "Start packing!"

"He said that unless you have seen it for yourself, you can't really explain what it's like and if we are going to be doing fundraising, we had to go," Reay explained.

Reay and Brother Michael met when the monk worked at the Cameron House home on Culduthel Road where Reay does relief work.

Brother Michael had previously worked with refugees in Tunisia and Egypt and wanted to return to Africa, choosing Malawi as it is one of the poorest, but safest, nations on the continent.

Initially he had considered setting up an orphanage, but after arriving in Malawi in January, he realised the need to provide palliative care for victims of the country's AIDS epidemic.

He has now set up Hospice Mariya Mtuwa (St Mary's Hospice), the only hospice in northern Malawi, offering care to both patients and their families.

Reay MacGill (left), classroom assistant, and teacher Chrisanne MacLeod will spend half their summer holidays at a school for orphans in Malawi. Alasdair Allen

Back in Inverness, Reay's husband Brian has helped out by doing the paperwork needed to secure charitable trust status.

Brother Michael's hospice is in Mzuzu, the largest city in the region, but the school where Reay and Chrisanne will be working is a further 26 miles into the bush, where life is at its most challenging.

"They are so poor, they don't even have soap," said Reay, who will be adding toiletries to her luggage for the children and their families.

Neither Reay nor Chrisanne have any experience of Africa and rely on Brother Michael to give them an idea of what they will find there.

"He says it's quite like the north of Scotland, quite hilly and green and obviously the rainy season has been keeping it lush, but in the rainy season all the roads are just mud," Reay added.

"Trucks can't get through, electricity goes down, no phone, internet or anything like that. You can go for days without any communication."

Brother Michael came across the "widow school" by chance. It was created by 18 widows of various ages who joined forces to support themselves and their families, learned to make bricks and then build community nursery school. They continue to make and sell bricks as a source of income. They also have a community garden and the hospice was able to help out with a gift of seeds and money to buy more hoes and spades.

The school is run by three volunteer teachers and Reay and Chrisanne will provide them with some basic training, as well as working directly with the children and in the vegetable garden. In turn, they will discover for themselves what life is like for a typical Malawian.

"We're going to live like the locals. You have to do that to see what life is really like out there," Reay said.

"If you were staying in a hotel, having breakfast and then a nice shower, you wouldn't know how difficult it is for the ordinary people.

"We'll probably be going to bed when it gets dark about 7pm because there's no electricity. We'll get up when it gets light at 5am or 6am, and we'll just be sleeping on a mattress with a mosquito net."

First, however, they have to get there. After flying in from the UK, they face a seven hour journey — by truck — from the capital Lilongwe.

Though they are paying their own way to Malawi next week, fundraising for the school and hospice has already begun with a Country Casuals fashion show at Inverness Town House and Brian doing a 10K run.

Chrisanne stressed that they were very grateful for the support of friends, not only in Inverness, but also in Reay's hometown of Thurso and in Stornoway.

"I think it will change us," Reay added. "I don't think you can come away from something like this without it having an effect. I think we will learn to appreciate things more."

* Anyone who would like to support Reay or Chrisanne now or in the future, can contact Reay at reay.macgill@bluebottle.com and Chrisanne at inverness84@googlemail.com

c.macleod@inverness-courier.co.uk

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