TWO Beath High School pupils have talked frankly about how their Malawi experience is going to be with them for a long, long time.

Niamh Scott and Victoria Warnock were among the party of pupils and teachers from the Cowdenbeath Secondary School who set off to visit their two partner schools – Mapanga, which is in Mulanje district, and Njale, which is a short distance away in Thyolo district.

They spent almost two weeks working with their Malawi counterparts and helping decorate the rather bare classrooms of the African schools.

But it was something that will live for a long time with the Cowdenbeath youngsters as Niamh and Victoria told Cowdenbeath Rotary Club on Thursday.

With the assistance of some slides of the visit the girls recalled their experiences which left a strong impression on them.

Said Niamh: "The thing that strikes you straight away is that all the things we take for granted at Beath are simply not there in our partner schools.

"But the thing is that the children are a really welcoming and happy group of young people who always give their all and try their best.

"We were delighted to help them in any way we could and I would love to be able to go back and visit the schools again."

Victoria took with her, her bagpipes, and along with fellow piper Megan entertained the the Malawi youngsters in several musical interludes during the visit.

She added: "The thing that really struck us was that while we have around 20 to 30 pupils in one of our classes there could be more than 60 in the classrooms of our partner schools.

"Yet they just get on with it and really are engaging people."

Both girls said that the trip to Malawi was something that will live with them for ever and they hope that one day they could return there.