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We’ve heard so often about the lack of role models for girls in Malawi, in the north in particular. It’s hard for them to aspire to a job or profession if they have never met anyone doing that job. The schools tell us that this is badly needed but that they can’t afford to bring people in to speak to the classes – the transport itself is too big a cost.

So, when we decided to commission a photographer with a grant we had received, we were clear that the photographer must be a woman. There are very few female photographers in Malawi, we learnt. However we did find Nerani Nthara and she visited two of our schools this month. The photos which she will provide will be very useful for our website. They will also be a valuable aid in our reporting to donors and supporters. Another important outcome, and one written into the brief, is that the pupils meet this young professional woman and see her working.

Nerani engaged with the girls to show them what she was doing and explain photography to them. We loved these action shots and can’t wait for the final photos.

Alastair Cuthbertson is a nephew of Mamie Martin, a first cousin of Mamie’s daughter, Margaret. He and his wife, Carol, are loyal supporters of the Mamie Martin Fund (MMF), carrying on Mamie’s vision.

Alastair and Carol have taken part in the MMF cycling projects over the last couple of years. Now in their 80s, they appreciate their ebikes for these adventures. This year, Carol is walking rather than cycling. She identified Offa’s Dyke as her #borders22 route. This is the boundary of Wales and England. Carol is not able to walk this in reality so she is doing it virtually in the Chilterns, England, where they live. Similarly, Sally Macpherson has walked the Berlin Walk in and around Edinburgh as part of #borders22.

Carol started this walk in April and updated us in July:

“The total length of Offa’s Dyke Path is 176.3 miles. So far I have walked 130 miles. 

Apart from a weekly walk starting from my friend’s house, all the walks have been from home, not more than 2 or 3 miles each time, so it’s taking a while! I tend to go in the afternoon. I have been having fun tying the Dyke walk with local points of interest.”

Carol writes up her walks on a regular basis and these appear in her blog on the MMF website. We think that she is very cool to have her own blog. Mamie Martin would have loved it. She kept a diary and would certainly be a blogger if she were alive today.

Daphne Loads takes part in our activity projects each year. She rides a trike around East Lothian. Her plan in #borders22 is to trike a star of East Lothian and you can read her blog about it on that page. As well as thinking about borders, she had been thinking about language borders, as it were. She has just published a book about poems in foreign languages. She is donating all the proceeds to MMF and she says this about the book and about why she is making this generous donation:

“Farfetched is a book about reading poetry in different languages: what we notice and what we miss, and how poems can help us to make sense of our experiences. I loved writing it, and I hope people will enjoy reading it.

I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without access to good teachers, books and libraries. What if I had been told “you can’t go to secondary school because we don’t have enough money, and anyway you’re a girl …” That’s what happened to my mother; and that’s why all the proceeds from Farfetched are going to the Mamie Martin Fund.”

The book can be purchased in paperback or Kindle format from Amazon.

Remember that if you buy any product through Amazon Smile and have selected MMF as your charity we get a % of each of your Amazon purchases. Click here for Daphne’s book.

On Malawi Independence Day, we honour our Malawian Patron, Vera Chirwa. She was born in Malawi (then Nyasaland) in 1932, the decade after Mamie and Jack’s time. Vera was the only girl at her primary and secondary school and went on to train as a teacher and lawyer. She was the first Malawian woman to qualify as a lawyer. Throughout her life she campaigned and worked for human rights. When we campaign today for the education of girls, we talk and write freely and seldom face personal danger as a result. Vera and Orton Chirwa, her husband, campaigned for Malawian independence in the 1950s, eventually facing a death sentence and years of exile and imprisonment. Vera was later released but Orton died in prison.

Vera’s autobiography Fearless Fighter tells her story and the story of Malawian independence. It’s a great book. Let’s remember that at the beginning of her great achievements and adventures, there was a grandmother who insisted that Vera was a girl who should go to school. In the Mamie Martin Fund, we are committed to helping girls in Malawi go to school, so that they can play their part in the development of their communities and their country.

Photo: Vera on her 90th birthday

This past week saw another group of MMF cyclists, in their yellow tee-shirts, cycling the Scotland-England border. At the end of the 91-mile ride (they were not able to start at Annan because of transport difficulties) they reached Berwick-upon-Tweed. There, the local library hosted a book reading and signing. Dr Alasdair Allan MSP read from this book, Tweed rins tae the Ocean. All royalties are donated to charity, the Western Isles Cancer Care Initiative and the Mamie Martin Fund.

This book is a fascinating exploration on the history, culture and literature of the border area. Alasdair walked the border but it’s not a walking book and certainly not a guide book to that route, as he himself stresses.

The next day, Alasdair joined a circular bike ride around the border. There are many places of interest very close to Berwick and it was wonderful to hear stories about Paxton House, Ladykirk and Norham from Alasdair. Like so many stately homes, Paxton House’s history includes money from plantations worked by slaves.

“Ninian (Ninian Home, the then owner of Paxton House) was the British Governor of Grenada. Despite his various assertions that he (somehow) managed to be an enlightened or benevolent slave owner, most of those best qualified to judge took a different view. He was captured and executed during the great uprising of Grenada’s slaves in 1795.” (p.60)

A more cheerful story at Paxton House was that of the glove. Read the book!

The cycling group were ‘delayed’ by an art event and tea/cakes at Norham. It was that kind of cycle ride. Their final stop was at the Chain Bridge Honey Farm. The Chain or Union Bridge, which should cross the Tweed is still under refurbishment. It was the longest wrought iron suspension bridge in the world when it was built in 1820 (p.62). Even in semi-completed mode, it is impressive. The honey farm is a ‘must visit’ place. We gratefully accepted a donation from them towards our fundraising.

One of the participants for Borders22, Sally Macpherson, shared her 106-mile walk in her blog. She completed a virtual walk along the route of the Berlin Wall, remembering what happened at various points and paying homage to those who suffered there as she walked in Edinburgh.

For this walk, she used a guidebook, published in 2002, ‘Cycling along the Berlin Wall Trail Germany’ by Michael Cromer, one time chair of Berlin City Transportation Committee. He campaigned to keep the remnants of the Wall and to make this trail. 

Sally walked the 106-mile route in 14 stages based on the guidebook. She made a connection across time and place for each stage. She researched it all thoroughly, using not only the guidebook but also the internet for the most valid information so that she could introduce and share the stories in her blog.  

The trail starts and ends at Potsdamer Platz and goes right around the route of the Wall. Stage 6 includes this interesting information, giving you a flavour of the blog,  

This is a longer stage of about twelve miles, again through countryside. Perhaps this is why many escape attempts were made here. Sadly several were unsuccessful as shown by the memorial markers that we pass. One memorial is dedicated to “all the victims of the division of Germany”. 

The last entry in the blog is a contribution from her sister, Bridget Smeall, who shared her experience of living and working in Germany in the 1970s. 

Thanks Sally for your work and Bridget for your contribution. We hope you all enjoy her blog as much we did! 

Inspired by Alasdair Allan’s book, Tweed rins tae the Ocean, Moira and Liz set out to recce a cycle route along the Scotland-England border. Moira writes: “Wearing our MMF tee-shirts, our first hitch was a cancelled train at Carlisle. We had meant to start at Annan, where the land border ends. But we cycled to Longtown instead and set off along the border the next day. The scenery all along the border is breath-taking. So are the hills.

The first full cycling day was through Newcastleton, via the Olive Tree café, up the hill to Bonchester Bridge. The hill is high and fairly steep so the downhills are exhilarating. Too much speed over a rough bit of road resulted in a broken mudguard. No bike shop (no shop of any kind) in Bonchester Bridge, so we asked the garage for help. The kind owner effected a repair with superglue and cable ties. Great meal and sleep at the Horse and Hound Hotel.

Next day was also very hilly but shorter – 30 miles, including a detour to Morebattle where there is a wonderful community shop. The scenery on this leg of the trip was glorious, as was the weather once the wind was behind us. That night we stayed in the little hostel in Kirk Yetholm. It is small and very old but the facilities are great – everything you could need.

Kirk Yetholm to Berwick-upon-Tweed was easy going, again with a following wind. We went through Ladykirk where the kirk is worth a visit. We had been criss-crossing the border, often without signs. The crossings at Coldstream and Norham are at impressive bridges over the Tweed. After Norham, we went to look at the work on the Union Chain Bridge, which is being restored. Then into Berwick along some stretches of busy road but a bike trip can’t be all idyllic.”

All royalties from the book are going to charity. MMF is delighted to be one of those. Alasdair is being very supportive of our Borders22 project, to the extent of cycling one of the border rides with us on 25th June.