Hello everyone. I’m Imani and I live in Malawi, a small African country with 
my 3 brothers and 2 sisters. My day starts very early, much earlier than yours! 
We get up at 4 o’clock in the morning, before the sun comes up. 
It’s nice and cool in the morning and doing chores is easier then. 
We prepare our breakfast and then we have to carry last night’s dishes out to the lake 
where we wash them so we can use them again. 
Thankfully, the lake is nearby, so we don’t have to walk long. My friends and I arrive 
at school at about 7:00, but before classes begin, we have to sweep the school grounds. 
Everyone pitches in; it’s really quite fun! Classes begin at 7:30. There are lots of pupils 
in each class, many times more than 50 – some classes even have 100! All ages are in one class too! 
We have one break at 10:30 when we rest and play games, skip rope or play ball. 
School is over at 1:15. The walk home from school takes about one hour. 
When we get home, we have to cook our lunch and then we do our homework. We don’t usually have 
much to do, so at about 4:30 we are free to go down to the lake. All the village children gather there to play or dance. 
We really have lots of fun. When we get back home there are more chores waiting for us. 
Sometimes we have to repair the walls of our hut with sand and water – everyone has to help. 
Or we help with the meal preparation for the next day by pounding corn to make flour. 8:45 is bedtime. 
If that sounds early to you, remember that we have to get up really early in the morning, 
so we don’t have much of a choice!