CELTIC FC Foundation�€™s band of more than 20 hardy volunteers have touched down safely in Malawi. The group of 20 are visiting Blantyre in Malawi to provide practical support to the Scottish charity, Mary�€™s Meals.

The 10-day work placements in Blantyre will be provided by Mary�€™s Meals and involve the renovation of six of their Under-6 centres, assistance with the feeding programme, and the construction and installation of a double pit latrine at one of the facilities which currently has no sanitation.

Among the volunteers is our Celtic TV crew and Summer Harl will be sending back regular updates for the Celtic website.

Here is the second of Summer�€™s Malawi Diary pieces.

We�€™ve had four days in Malawi now and things are really starting to take shape. After picking up more paint brushes and tools at the local supermarkets, the volunteers got back to work at their designated schools on Thursday.

The base coats applied to the walls on Wednesday had dried so the teams began stencilling and painting the educational murals.

The gloss paints being used will last up to 10 years, meaning the hard work of these volunteers will stay long beyond their trip.

The painting was interrupted at one of the centres, as the volunteers helped with lunch duties. With over 100 children to feed, the gang stepped in to hand out the porridge which Mary’s Meals provides.

However, a quick post-porridge song and dance later, the team were back to painting before finishing for the day and heading for the bus back to the lodge, covered head to toe in paint!

And head to toe in paint is also how they stayed!

Water is in such short supply in Malawi that there has been very little running water since we arrived, meaning that wet wipes have come in very handy!

It’s day three of work for the volunteers today (Friday) and the last day at the schools, before moving on to new centres tomorrow.

The painting is almost complete, with a brilliant array of alphabets, numbers and murals now on the walls of all three classrooms.

The guys building the latrine have the foundations laid, which given the extreme heat and conditions is fantastic.

Celtic TV camera man Jordan McKinley organised a kick around with a few of the students at the under 6 centre in Ndirande, while the team there helped serve up porridge for lunch.

Tionana for now. That’s see you soon!

If you would like to donate towards Celtic FC Foundation�€™s Malawi Adventure, you can do so ;HERE