Great photos and videos of practical science classes last week at Bright Futures Secondary School
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Sarah’s blog 12/5/25
Science lessons at Bright Futures are a lot more interesting since more resources have been purchased. Students have said that they never realised science was so much fun!
Mr Kanyimbo, Deputy Head at BFSS, (white shirt) sent these great photos and videos of himself and Mr Kalambo (blue shirt) teaching last week. They are a great way to see what happens during classes at Bright Futures Secondary School. Thank you to Mr Kanyimbo for sending the photos and videos. Thanks also to everyone who contributed to our fundraiser to buy practical science equipment. There are more resources on the way on the container which will be there for the new term starting in September.
Also, thank you to everyone who is supporting the education of these students. They wouldn’t be having the opportunities for learning or having a free school lunch every day without your kindness. We are looking for more sponsors for the students who will be looking for places at BFSS in September. It’s still only £25 per month. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
What an amazing morning we had yesterday at Balfron 10K (sponsored by The Mulberry Bush Nursery). The sun was shining and spectators and runners were out in force…what a great community atmosphere!
Many of the hundreds of children and young people we help to support do not own a pair of shoes. They walk long distances to get to school and nursery and their feet need protecting. Also they need trainers for playing their favourite team sports; football, netball and rugby.
So many people where we live have several pairs of shoes and children are growing quickly so their shoes still have lots of life in them. We were delighted when the race organisers agreed that we could come along and collect preloved shoes that we had asked for via social media. We also asked for £1 donations to cover the cost of sending each pair of shoes. We pay £17.50 per box on the container that goes to Malawi and there are associated costs in Malawi to collect the boxes.
We were absolutely delighted with the response and the 85 pairs of shoes/trainers that were donated. Thank you so much everyone! This is life changing for young people who do not have shoes or their shoes are far too small. I have also had two bags of shoes handed to me today so that takes us over 100 pairs now! This is an ongoing project so we are happy to accept preloved trainers, shoes, crocs or sliders at any time. Could we please respectfully ask that shoes are clean and in good condition.
I have included in the photos below our QR code if you didn’t manage to make a donation to cover sending your shoes yesterday or if anyone would like to make a donation in general via the QR code or website or you can email me contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com for bank details.
The 10k organisers kindly donated some surplus t-shirts from one of the previous races. These will help young people feel part of a team when playing football etc so will be shared between local primary schools. Thank you.
We had a great time chatting to people yesterday and made some good connections. I want to say thank you to my hubby Stuart who, as he calls himself, is the lifter and shifter… couldn’t do this without you. Also to Jackie who provides so much support in the background and willingly helps at events like this. We really do need more volunteers though just to make things a little bit easier and share the load. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com if you’d like to get involved. Many thanks everyone and hope you enjoy the photos and video, Sarah x
ps we are also raising money to buy soap for each of the children and young people to take home to their families to help protect against the Mpox outbreak. If you can help then here is the link, thank you. https://donorsee.com/project/27307?share=1
Lots happening in preparation for more teachers & students at Bright Futures Secondary School in September.
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Sarah’s blog 02/05/25
Now that the rainy season is over, it is far easier to get on with building work. As there will be four classes next year at Bright Futures Secondary School, and more teachers need to be employed, a staffroom is needed. As you will see from the photos, the builders are working really hard and it won’t be long until it’s finished.
All students at Bright Futures Secondary School have been matched with sponsors to support their education. Secondary education needs to be paid for in Malawi and none of the young people we help to support would have the opportunity to progress past primary school, even though they passed their primary school leavers exams. Teachers salaries have to be paid, students receive a free school lunch every day (for most their only meal each day), school uniform and other clothes, stationery and exam fees are all free of charge to students.
As everything is free of charge for these vulnerable young people who are living in extreme poverty, we cannot unfortunately accept additional students who do not have a sponsor helping to support the costs of their time at Bright Futures Secondary School. Levison told me this week that recently he has had over two hundred young people pleading for places at Bright Futures Secondary School. Their families have not been able to keep up payments for the secondary schools that these students are attending and they have been chased out of school due to non payment of fees. Unfortunately, all Levison can do is to take a note of their names. This is a really difficult situation. The more sponsors we have then the more students can attend Bright Futures Secondary School.
We are already thinking about September when there will be a new class of S1 students to find sponsors for. It is still only £25 per month to help support a student. If you would like to express an interest in supporting a young person in September then please email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . We also have younger children who are needing immediate support if you would like to be matched with one of them we would be very grateful.
Right now we are raising money to buy soap for all the children and young people who use the feeding programme each week, Bright Futures Nursery, Bright Futures Secondary School and Chambo Primary School. There is always soap for handwashing and showering at Bright Futures Campus but the vast majority of these children and young people do not even have one bar of soap at home. The Malawi Government have issued guidelines to help protect against outbreaks of the MPox virus. Thankfully, there are none in that immediate area but we must help with preventative measures. You can either email for bank details to donate or give via this link https://donorsee.com/project/27307?share=1 .
The students at Bright Futures Secondary School are also still fundraising to have their own beehives. This will give them more agricultural skills as well as providing honey and an income from selling surplus supplies. https://donorsee.com/project/25476?share=1
I’d like to thank everyone for the ongoing support we receive, both here and in Malawi. It’s always about teamwork and, playing our small part of a team, using our skills, we can do great things and help continue Changing Lives (in) Malawi. Thank you, Sarah x
The new staffroom at Bright Futures Campus is taking shape
More progress behind the scenes with solar power kit being installed.
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Sarah’s blog 24/4/25
Just a quick blog today to show you some of the work going on behind the scenes.
We had been fortunate to receive a grant from The Souter Charitable Trust last year and bought solar kits with the money. Here are some photos from last week of the kit being installed on one of the teachers’ accommodation blocks. Each room has a plug socket where teachers will be able to charge their phones, plug in a kettle etc. The accommodation block already has solar lighting with each room having a set of three; one for the veranda, one in the sitting room and one in the bedroom.
Thank you to The Souter Charitable Trust for helping us provide solar power. As Bright Futures Secondary School is in such a rural location, accommodation is needed to attract teaching staff. The first accommodation block was built with a generous grant from The Clive Richards Foundation. We are very grateful for all the support we have received to make projects like this possible. Thanks, Sarah x
Have a look at these great photos and videos from Friday’s fun day at Bright Futures Secondary School. The students had chance to relax and have some fun after working hard.
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Sarah’s blog 23/04/25
Teacher’s have given up some of their Easter holidays so that the students at Bright Futures Secondary School and p8 class at Chambo Primary School could have some extra tuition to prepare for upcoming exams. We are grateful to the teachers for supporting the students like this.
On Friday, they had a fun day so that everyone had a different day away from their normal classes. In the morning, the activities on offer were; drawing, sewing and knitting. After lunch there were netball, football and rugby matches.
I think you will see in the photos and videos below that everyone enjoyed themselves.
We are still trying to raise funds to buy notebooks & pens for p8 students at Chambo Primary. If you would like to make a small donation then here is the link https://donorsee.com/project/25617?share=1 or you can email me for our bank details at contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you to all our sponsors and other supporters for giving these young people choices and chances for a brighter future. Sarah x
Some wonderful photos and videos to show that a little bit of help can make a big difference. Thank you to everyone who has helped the Ng’ambi family.
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Sarah’s blog 16/4/25
Some of these videos have made me cry earlier on today along with the story I am going to tell you in today’s blog.
Last month we highlighted a family who are living in extreme poverty. Mrs Ng’ambi is now a single parent struggling to bring up her four children. She has nothing and her roof has huge holes in it. The family sleep on the floor in the mud during rainy season. My previous post is in the link below.
We asked for help for this family and the response was overwhelming. Have I said before that our supporters are amazing? We are so grateful to everyone for their generosity. The four children now have sponsors thanks to Willow & The Olive Branch gift and flower shop in Balfron Facebook (if you live locally to me, this is such a lovely shop and well worth a visit).
We also had a fundraiser on DonorSee for a new roof for the family. We still have other projects looking for funds. Changing Lives Malawi Supporters kindly donated money to buy supplies for a new roof. Because of the rural location and because there is so much to do, it can take a while to organise. However, yesterday was the day for the new roof. Just look at the difference we, along with all of you, and the team in Malawi, can make to individuals in dire need!
Levison and team arrived with supplies and had to carry them for the last part of the journey as the truck could only go so far. Mrs Ng’ambi was told she was getting a new roof. She didn’t believe Levison. She couldn’t comprehend what was happening. She kept saying to Levison ‘but where will we go’ ‘we have nowhere else to go’. She thought she was being forced to leave and the roof was being fixed for someone else.
Imagine having so little and it being a constant struggle. Mrs Ng’ambi must have felt she was not worthy of the help and attention she and her children were receiving. Even after it was explained to her again she said that she didn’t have any money to pay for a new roof. She tried to give them the few possessions she had in payment for the roof.
Mrs Ng’ambi was in a state of shock and untrusting of what was happening for the whole time the new roof was being built. Only afterwards, when Levison and the whole team each told her that there was no charge and the work was done for free for her and her children that she finally accepted that she wasn’t expected to either leave her home or pay for the materials that were used.
You can see in the last video that Mrs Ng’ambi and one of her daughters is crying as they are overcome with emotion that they have had such support and they are so thankful.
Levison had taken food with him so that they could all share a meal together. As Mrs Ng’ambi is so poor and not used to receiving anything or any attention, this was a big deal to be brought lunch and to be served lunch by Levison.
The roof was completed yesterday but the gaps above the bricks have been filled in today. The carpenter is making them a new door too that will shut properly at night. This will help keep the girls safe as they grow up.
One thing that made me cry is when Levison told me that the family had woken during the night when it started raining. They thought their new roof was breaking due to the noise of the rain on the iron sheets. None of them had ever slept in a building with a proper roof before. So they didn’t expect the noise or understand what it was. They are happy now that they have been reassured that rain bouncing off a roof is a normal noise and can actually be quite nice when you are inside and know that you are no longer going to get wet while you try to sleep at night.
It is so humbling to be able to help people who have absolutely nothing but, with teamwork, we can make a difference. We know we can’t help everyone or change the whole world, but we can change the world for a few people. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped this little family. Hopefully, they are now starting to feel better about their future. They have some food coming into their home every month, thanks to the children being sponsored, and now their home has a lovely new roof. Thank you again, Sarah x
At this point Mrs Ng’ambi is still unsure of what is really going on. She thinks she might be forced to leave her house. She doesn’t understand that the repairs are all for her and her family.
In this video you can see one side of the previous roof that is made of sticks fall off in one piece.
As the truck could only get so near, the supplies had to be carried the rest of the way.
Levison explains, again, to Mrs Ng’ambi and her children that this new roof is for them and it is a gift. Supporters wanted to help to make their lives a little bit better.
UN rights of the child states in article 24 that children have the right to nutritious food. Please read today’s blog and help us if you can.
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Sarah’s blog 15/4/25
The United Nations Rights of the Child states in article 24 that children have the right to the best health care possible, safe water to drink, nutritious food, a clean & safe environment and information to help them stay well.
The Sustainable Development Goals number 2 is working towards zero hunger.
As many of you know, we help to support a feeding programme that runs once a week. It’s nowhere near enough, but all we can afford as we help the community to set up sustainable projects.
500 orphans and other vulnerable children access this feeding programme. Some walk as far as 15km-20km to have this one proper meal each week. Some young people carry their younger siblings. There are NO children being fed in primary schools in rural northern Malawi. All are hungry and many are malnourished. Some girls, despite it being illegal, are married off at age 11 or 12 as their families cannot afford to feed them.
Thankfully, because they have sponsors to help support their secondary education, all students at Bright Futures Secondary School have a nutritious free school lunch each day. In the video below, Ethel explains how none of the students have any food at home.
One of the big challenges, apart from sourcing food for so many people, is that prices continue to rise and currently the price of maize, where they are, has doubled from last year, and last year’s price was double the previous year. How are people supposed to feed their families? Most are really struggling and the situation is getting worse.
There is a holiday study school running this week and next for all students at Bright Futures Secondary School and p8 at Chambo Primary School to prepare them all for upcoming exams. There are teachers to pay, notebooks & pens to buy for the students at Chambo who have none, and food for all of them each lunchtime. Please will you help us? https://donorsee.com/project/26846?share=1
Having a nutritious meal at lunchtime is a huge treat for the students in p8 at Chambo Primary School. They don’t eat during their school day normally and their biggest meal is usually at the weekly feeding programme. We could not expect these young people to do extra studying and not feed them. Will you help us please? https://donorsee.com/project/26846?share=1 or you can email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com for other ways to donate or give through the link on our website. Donate money and gifts to Changing Lives Malawi We look forward to bringing you photos and videos from this week’s study school. Thank you for your continued help and support, Sarah x
The price of maize has quadrupled in the last two years. Families cannot afford to feed their children and we cannot afford to buy as much food with the same amount of money.Some of the children lining up to receive food at the weekly feeding programme. They are all hungry. Many are malnourished.
This post comes with a big THANK YOU to Vets With Horsepower, The Clive Richards Foundation and The Inverclyde Trust who all generously donated towards new buildings on Bright Futures Campus. I have also attached some photos of the completed teachers’ accommodation block, wash block and sinks. The majority of the work was completed in time to be used by teachers but, due to circumstances out with our control, finishing touches have only recently been completed and photos sent.
I have split this post into two sections; the first being the difficulties that have been faced by the team in Malawi. But, despite all these challenges, they continue to achieve and we are delighted with how the new accommodation block looks and the difference it will make to being able to employ even more teachers next year.
Firstly, the challenges;
Prices have continued to rise regularly, their currency has been devalued several times. (bags of cement bought yesterday for the next building are now the equivalent of £20 each).
The truck broke down and was out of action for several months. An expensive part was sourced and purchased in Tanzania. There was no way of knowing if this would fix the issue but, thankfully it did! While the team didn’t have use of the truck they had to pay a local farmer with two oxen and a cart to transport bricks and water to the building site. As you might imagine, this was not easy or quick.
There has been no fuel in petrol stations (especially rural ones) on and off for months now. They have had to source fuel on the black market when they can, at very inflated prices, and other times just wait until tankers do refill supplies.
The government has started some building work relatively locally, so hiring workers has also proved problematic.
The weather. The aim was to complete building work before the rainy season but it wasn’t possible to do this.
Despite these issues, the following has been achieved:
There are now six lovely new sitting room/bedrooms for teachers which has been such a great addition to know that there is accommodation to offer staff. Because it is such a rural location and the community is living in extreme poverty, teachers must have somewhere to live on campus. So there are now 10 bedroom/sitting rooms thanks to a previous grant we received from The Clive Richards Foundation for the first block of four.
There has been a second latrine block built beside the staff accommodation too.
Clean water has been piped from the local health centre to that area of Bright Futures Campus. The teachers now have a water tap outside their accommodation.
There has been a wash block built with showers and sinks and a drying area for clothes. There will be an additional wash block built in the next few months so male staff/female staff have their own space.
Solar panel kits have been sent and are about to be installed on the teachers’ accommodation blocks, giving them plug sockets. Each room already has it’s own solar power x 3 lights giving one outside light and one light each in the bedroom and sitting room.
So despite a challenging year, we have a lovely new accommodation block thanks to the financial help we received. We are very grateful for everyone’s support in helping us to continue to work with some of the most vulnerable children and young people in rural northern Malawi and grow Bright Futures Secondary School.
The young people are benefitting by having free secondary education, free school lunches, playing team sports and learning skills for life (practical agricultural lessons growing their own food and looking after chickens, pigs and goats) and by being in school, lots of teenage pregnancies have been prevented. Also, there are no girls that have been married off too young because families cannot feed them. Because of their free, nutritious school lunch, there is one less mouth to feed at home.
Primary School Leavers exam pass rates are increasing year on year because of our School Literacy Project, collecting preloved books to send to schools where there are little or no resources.
Thank you again for taking a chance on our small charity. With a great team of supporters we can continue Changing Lives (in) Malawi and give children & young people a brighter future. Thanks again, Sarah x
If you would like to help provide notebooks and pens for students from Chambo Primary School during the Easter holiday study school, please donate here https://donorsee.com/project/25617?share=1 This study school is to help them prepare for their school leavers exams. If they don’t have paper and pens then they can’t take notes. Please help?
Last week Levison visited Kalanga Primary School. Chambo Primary School is the nearest primary school to Bright Futures Campus and where most of the orphans we help to support attend. A few of the orphans who are supported through the feeding programme and with new clothes attend Kalanga Primary School which is further away.
As we collected so many boxes of preloved books as part of our School Literacy Project, we split the boxes between Chambo Primary and Kalanga Primary. As you will be able to see from these photos, most children are sitting on the floor at Kalanga Primary with no resources. There is no clean running water and there are no latrines. All of these students are suffering from hunger and malnutrition as they are living in extreme poverty and, although we have tried to involve big charities, there are no porridge programmes in schools in this area.
Strathblane Primary School and Balfron Primary School were renewing all their group reading scheme books so kindly donated a huge amount of books that we were able to share between Chambo Primary School and Kalanga Primary School. Lots of individuals as well as some other organisations like nurseries and an after school club also donated lots of lovely preloved books.
Levison also took sports tops that had been very kindly donated. Unfortunately, I have forgotten who donated the blue ones and there isn’t a badge on the front (if you donated these – thank you. Let me know and I will amend this text to thank the club) but the black/yellow ones were gifted by www.shoesharemalawi.org from a 10K race – thank you so much.
Already, the Education Department are noticing the value of our School Literacy Project as, year on year, p8 leavers exam results at Chambo Primary School (where there have been several donations of books) are improving.
This is a low cost project with a huge impact and we are very proud to be making a difference to so many children’s education in this way. Thank you to everyone who has supported us with this ongoing project. As all the books are preloved and donated, our costs are buying strong boxes to pack and send the boxes in and £17.50 per box to cover costs on the container. There are also costs in Malawi with collecting boxes from Ekwendeni when the container arrives. However, for the amount of chidren who will benefit from this project, this is a big project with small costs.
If you would like to help to pay for a box to ensure The School Literacy Project can continue then please do email me contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you again to everyone for supporting children in rural northern Malawi, Sarah x
Last month, there was a conference in Lilongwe organised by Malawi Rugby Union and Child Fund Rugby called ‘Grassroots to Global’. It was for girls and women to try to increase the numbers of girls and women taking part in rugby and coaching rugby.
Jack Mphande is the senior rugby development officer who has introduced rugby to the far north of Malawi. We have helped facilitate his visits several times and now have a great relationship with Jack. Hundreds of young people in the far north of Malawi are now playing rugby thanks to him.
Jack got in touch to say that there was funding for one girl from each district in Malawi to go to Lilongwe for that meeting. Maggie Kabaghe, a 16 year old student in S2 at Bright Futures Secondary School was chosen because of her skill and enjoyment of playing rugby and because of her positive attitude.
However, we knew that it wouldn’t be the right thing to do to expect Maggie, who has never had the opportunity to go anywhere, to travel on her own to the capital city, Lilongwe, all by herself and on more than one bus.
One of her teachers, Rose Thawi, agreed to accompany Maggie. It cost quite a lot of money to cover the costs for Rose for the weekend with travel, food and accommodation. We were so glad that Rose was happy to go with Maggie as what a wonderful opportunity for an orphan, living in extreme poverty in rural northern Malawi. Maggie was given a bag, trainers and new clothes, soap and a towel etc for her trip.
There was space for Rose to join the conference too and they both enjoyed their weekend a great deal. There were lots of discussions about barriers to sport for girls and women and they learned a great deal and enjoyed meeting new people.
They left early on Friday morning and didn’t get back until late on Monday evening. They were very tired but happy. Maggie was treated like a celebrity by her classmates on her return.
Once Maggie’s exams are over, she and her teacher, Rose, will put together some ideas on how they can get more girls involved in rugby in their local area.
Thank you so much to Jack Mphande for his hard work and support and for giving Maggie this wonderful opportunity. Thank you to the other organisers in Malawi Rugby Union and for Child Fund Rugby for the funding.
I hope you enjoy the photos from Maggie and Rose’s weekend. Thank you to everyone who sponsors the young people we help to support. With your help they have a brighter future with opportunities, choices and chances that they wouldn’t otherwise have had. Please do email me if you would like to support a young person it only costs £25 p/m. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thanks, Sarah x
There was much excitement yesterday as there were lots of eggs to gather. These eggs were from the hens that had been hatched in the incubator so everyone was very excited that those hens have started laying.
Two students from Bright Futures Secondary School, Martha & Wongani, gathered the eggs and put them in the incubator to hatch.
Once the rainy season is over, an extension to the hen house will be built to ensure there is enough room for birds of different ages. It will be such a good learning environment for the students at Bright Futures Secondary School as they have practical agriculture lessons in their curriculum as well as classroom based learning.
Martha and Wongani aren’t used to talking to a camera but did a great job! Well done girls.
If you would like to support Martha and Wongani and all their friends at Bright Futures Secondary School and in p8 at Chambo Primary to eat a free school lunch each day during at the holiday study school please donate here https://donorsee.com/project/26846?share=1 None of the students have enough food at home and rely on their school lunches. The p8 students will all come for extra lessons during the holidays as they don’t get fed at primary school. It will be a real treat for them to have free lunches. And how can we expect young people to concentrate to study if they haven’t eaten? Please help.
Thanks so much for supporting our projects, Sarah x
Forgotten Voices – hungry children. We are making a few very short videos with some of the most vulnerable people talking about issues they face. These ‘Forgotten Voices’ are from the far north of Malawi where help is scarce.
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Sarah’s blog 24/3/25
We are making a few short videos under the heading ‘Forgotten Voices’. There are not many charities working in the very far north of Malawi and certainly no big charities feeding children in primary schools.
These videos are a way of hearing some of the issues that the most vulnerable face. Their stories, told in their own words, making an impact. This video is ‘Forgotten Voices’ – hungry children.
Ethel, a student at Bright Futures Secondary School, is living in extreme poverty with her aunt. She has a long walk to get to and from school. She says that she and her other fellow students do not have any food in their homes. At least these students at Bright Futures Secondary School have a nutritious free school lunch each day. The children and young people in primary schools have nothing.
We help support a feeding programme once a week that feeds approximately 500 children and young people. Some children walk for 15km/20km for that one decent meal of the week. We are trying to help set up sustainable projects but these children need feeding now. Please will you help us?
There will be an Easter holiday study school running again for the BFSS students as well as the p8 students from Chambo Primary. Feeding 60+ students from Chambo Primary every day during this study programme is a huge cost and one that we need help with. However, we will not support these holiday revision sessions without feeding these malnourished young people. How can we expect them to concentrate without having food in their tummies?
So we would love your help with feeding the students during the Easter holidays please. If you’d like to help then the link is here https://donorsee.com/project/26846?share=1
Also, the students in p8 at Chambo Primary still need new notepads and pencils (well the whole school does but we cannot afford to help them all unfortunately). If you’d like to support purchasing notepads and pencils/pens then please click here https://donorsee.com/project/25617?share=1
