Armed with a very generous donation of a Concept 2 Indoor Rower from Concept 2 UK, Jim Mostyn arrived in Malawi determined to share his belief in the Rower as the ultimate exercise and rehabilitation machine. The idea was to take it to a village in the central region of this poor African country and donate it to St Andrew's Hospital to help patients after operations. Jim was travelling with a party of students from Wrekin College in Shropshire who were to work on an Orphan House. Wrekin students, parents and staff had raised money to build the Orphan House through a sponsored swim, discos, a banquet and Chapel collections. Jim's rowing club – Wrekin Rowers - had also raised a substantial part of the sum through a sponsored marathon and 5,000 metre row on London Marathon Day.With a free trip for the Rower, courtesy of South African Airways, it seemed that finding a suitable instructor would be easy in Mtunthama, but on arrival in the village, the group soon realised that when most people lived in traditional huts and walked barefoot, where chairs were a luxury and space in the hospital was at a premium, finding a home for a Rower and a person with a real incentive to master the use of it, was going to be very difficult.Jim and the Wrekin party worked on the Orphan House and gradually a scheme for the Rower fell into place. At the nearby Kamuzu Academy was a Swimming and Athletics coach called Patrick Chilupa. He was also churchwarden at St Andrew's church, in the same community as the hospital Jim was donating the Rower to. When approached, Patrick was keen to learn how to use the rower and it was decided he would use it as a business, charging small amounts for locals and students from the academy to workout on it. In addition he would help patients in rehabilitation and would donate part of the income to the work of the St Andrew's community. This suggestion was given the blessing of the local charity, Medic Malawi and the vicar, Frank Zentenge.Jim took the Rower to the Orphan House before passing it over to Patrick. There all the volunteers wanted to have a go. Pictured here are the youngest and the oldest, Benson and Boyson, both characters and both very quick to pick up a good rowing technique. It looks likely that a small corner of the eighth poorest country in the world will be a centre of excellence for the ergo!