Great news! Two little girls have a sponsor. This is a single parent family with three children. Mum is really struggling to feed them. We were introduced to these children last month when Levison saw them walking the huge distance to the maize mill with someone else’s maize. They would walk all day with no food or clean water to drink. It’s a long, hard journey carrying their burdens. It’s also a dangerous journey so children stay together to reduce the chance of being attacked along the way.
You’ll see from their ages and the classes that they are in at school that they have missed some education, especially the oldest, as they will have had to work for a pittance to help bring food into the family home. Thanks to the new sponsor, there will be food going into this home each month, the children will be given blankets and soap and they will have new clothes. Thank you for making a difference.
You can imagine, when there are over 500 orphans and other vulnerable children to support, there can be many challenges along the way. One of these is that some children are called by different names by school, at home and by their friends. The children had told Levison their names were Martha, Hope and Joseph. However, Levison has asked that we use their proper names that are registered at school to avoid confusion when checking records and speaking to the teachers.
So here is a family whose lives have been changed for the better through a kind sponsor having read my previous post. Their mother was crying with happiness when she heard that her daughters would now be supported. It’s less than £1 per day to sponsor a child and there are many, many children who would benefit from having a sponsor. You can sponsor as an individual, a family or share the cost with a friend. Or a club or business can sponsor a child and we will, of course, give your business some publicity. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com to change a life today. It might be the most important thing you ever do for one of these very vulnerable young people. Thank you for reading and supporting, Sarah x
NB I will be doing an appeal over the next couple of days on behalf of another family who desperately need a helping hand. Sarah x
Life has been very hard. Mum cried when she heard that her family now have some support.Mphatso has missed a lot of school. As the eldest child, she has had to be working to earn some money to help feed her siblings. Roda will benefit from having a sponsor as there will be two food parcels going into the home each month and the children will receive new clothes and blankets. Hopefully, they won’t be going to the maize mill with other people’s maize.Chikumbusko will receive new clothes and a blanket and benefit from having more food at their home via two food parcels each month. If anyone would like to sponsor him then please get in touch.
This blog comes with very mixed feelings. We are so near to completing the first phase of Bright Futures Secondary School. But we aren’t quite there yet. The children need us. The children need you. Https://gofund.me/44a92444 Please donate to help the most vulnerable children have their own school.
I am absolutely delighted by the progress of everything that is happening in Malawi. I’m proud of our fundraising and so thankful to all of you who have helped us to support the most vulnerable young people in rural northern Malawi to have an education. I’m so proud of the hard work that Levison and his team are doing to project manage all the building work. The builders, carpenters and others who are helping are doing everything they can to make Bright Futures Secondary School a reality.
You will see from today’s photos that the staff accommodation is now complete. Due to the rural location, for safety and convenience, female staff will be offered accommodation. The staff latrine is underway. Due to the dry soil, it is very hard work but should be completed by the start of the week.
Bright Futures Secondary School – phase 1. These two classrooms are taking shape and are going to be an amazing place to learn. The most vulnerable young people, many of them orphans, will be able to have the education they deserve and a brighter future with a way out of poverty.
However, we need to raise more money. Over the last few months, due to the cost-of-living crisis, fundraising has become more challenging. So, the fact that people have been so generous is even more amazing. Now we need another big push… please help us to finish these classrooms and give the gift of education. https://gofund.me/44a92444
The roof panels are already bought and are being fixed over the next couple of days. But window frames and glass need to be bought, classroom doors need to be bought, as well as some plastering and flooring. We have 130 chairs on the container that is on its way, as well as school uniform and school bags and stationery. But we do need to build desks and buy some more textbooks.
Please, please if you can, help us to provide a Bright Future at Bright Futures Secondary School for the children and young people we are supporting. It’s always about teamwork and we cannot do this without your help. Please help us to continue Changing Lives Malawi. Enjoy these photos and I’ll keep posting more over the next couple of days. Thank you for reading and supporting, Sarah x https://gofund.me/44a92444
The staff accommodation block is now completeBuilders have been working hard and this accommodation block is now completeCleaning the floors of the accommodation blockThe first phase of Bright Futures Secondary School is looking amazingThe builders are working extrememely hardThe carpenters are doing a great jobAlmost ready for the metal sheets to go onThe metal sheets are now going on the roofFixing the metal roof panelson the roof…you can see one of the existing latrine blocks in the backgroundthe roof should be completed within the next couple of daysdigging the new latrine is extremely hard work due to the ground being so dry
Things are progressing well with both the staff accommodation and the first phase of Bright Futures Secondary School.
The staff accommodation has been having windows put in during yesterday and today and will need painting and doors fixing. Apart from a bit of tidying up outside, that will be it ready!
The builders have finished their work on phase 1 of Bright Futures Secondary School and the carpenters are working on the roof. There are still some jobs to do after that but it’s exciting to see it taking shape! It won’t be long until the first students arrive.
A teachers latrine block is also being constructed and, when finances allow, we will be building another girls and another boys latrine blocks.
The children still need your support. As yet we still need to find money for windows in the school block, doors, chalkboards, desks, more textbooks and notebooks.
Can you help us help the children please? We are nearly there but need your support to give the gift of education to some of the most vulnerable teenagers in rural Northern Malawi. They wouldn’t normally be able to afford secondary school without help. At Bright Futures Secondary School, none of these vulnerable children will have to pay anything.
Here is the link to our fundraiser and we would be so grateful if you could spare a few £££ for the children. Https://GoFund.me/44a92444 Let’s give the gift of education! Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x
At sunset – the wooden roof supports on the first phase of Bright Futures Secondary School. Please help us complete this phase https://GoFund.me/44a92444 Let’s build a school!
The roof is going on the first phase of the school… two classrooms are being built in this phaseThe carpenters have been working hard today please help to get it finished https://gofund.me/44a92444The staff accommodation is almost complete. Female teachers will be offered accommodation due to the remote location. Eventually there will be male staff accommodation too.Bright Futures Secondary School is taking shape… thank you to all who have donated so farPutting the windows into the staff accommodation blockFemale teachers will be offered accommodation The staff accommodation is almost ready
The building of phase 1 of Bright Futures Secondary School is making great progress. We are so thankful for all the donations we have received so far. We couldn’t do what we do without you. It’s always about teamwork and our team of volunteers and team of supporters are amazing. Thank you!
However, as usual, we are aiming big even though we are a small charity. As we are volunteers, you can be sure all of your donation goes to the projects we support. We are still needing your help to get windows, build desks and purchase more textbooks. These young people are some of the most vulnerable in rural northern Malawi. Together, we can give them the gift of education. https://gofund.me/44a92444
On the container that will arrive in December are 130 chairs, school bags, school uniform and blankets. Already there, and waiting for phase 1 of Bright Futures Secondary School to be completed, are pocket dictionaries, calculators, windup torches and filled pencil cases. These young people are desperate to learn. They are desperate to have a better life. They are desperate for a brighter future. They are desperate for education. They need our help. Together we CAN help them and give them the gift of education. https://gofund.me/44a92444
The reason we are fundraising to build Bright Futures Secondary School is that there are not enough places in the current secondary schools. Even if you have a sponsor to pay your fees and you have passed your primary school leaving exams, if you are not offered a place at secondary school then you don’t get to go. That is heartbreaking. They have to repeat their last year of primary school, hoping for a better grade and hoping to be picked for a place at secondary school. This happened to eleven of our sponsored children last year. We will do everything we can to ensure that all children have access to the education they need and deserve.
On our kilometre challenge we are trying to complete 13,144km which is the total that the boxes we send travel from here to The Foundation. We are asking people to send us the number of kilometres you run, walk or cycle so we can add them to our total. We are almost at the halfway mark now! Please email me to donate your kilometres contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
In addition to this fundraiser, we have lovely cards and paintings for sale by one of our talented trustees, Christine Cresswell. We also have calendars for sale at £10 each plus p&p. All of the proceeds of these fantastic paintings, cards and calendars will go towards phase 1 of Bright Futures Secondary School and will make great Christmas gifts.
I hope you enjoy the photos of how the school is progressing. Please help us if you can. If you are unable to help at this time, then please share our posts. Thank you for your support, Sarah x
One of the lovely cards we have for sale. Taken from an original painting by Christine Cresswell, one of our trustees. Pack of 8 cards for £5 (blank inside for your own message)Our 2023 fundraising calendar £10 each plus p&pWork is progressing well on phase 1 of Bright Futures Secondary School
As most of you will know by now….a secondary school is being built at The Foundation….Bright Futures Secondary School. Because of costs it is being built in four phases. Work is progressing well, and Phase 1 is nearly finished. We need your help to get the roof on and to get desks made and more textbooks for the students. Will you donate to provide a textbook? Will you help with the cost of desks? What can you do to help these vulnerable children? Education is their way out of poverty https://gofund.me/44a92444
We have been raising funds and awareness for the new school by going on a virtual journey….following one of the routes that the boxes we send travel between here and Malawi. That’s a total of 13,144km. We are asking people to donate kilometres to our total to help us complete the journey quicker. So you might be out walking the dog, walking to work or round the supermarket or going for a run….just email your total and we can add it on! Or are you a runner or a cyclist? We would love your kilometres too.
Email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com to add to our total kilometres travelled. Let’s see if we can finish our journey before the container arrives! The latest total is 5943.493 kilometres! That’s 45.22% of the journey completed. Well done and thank you so much to everyone who has and is contributing to our kilometre challenge only 7,200.507 kilometres to go! Every little helps, so please do get in touch to add your kilometres to the total.
If you can, please donate to our fundraiser to give the gift of education to some of the most vulnerable young people in rural northern Malawi https://gofund.me/44a92444 We need your help to complete phase 1 of Bright Futures Secondary School. Please help us help the children who will have a brighter future if they can go to secondary school. I hope you enjoy the photos of the school build. Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x
We want to celebrate International Day of The Girl by showing you some of the amazing girls who we help support in rural northern Malawi. Through a variety of projects, we are supporting hundreds of vulnerable girls and boys. However, this post is about the girls and how their lives are improving through the projects in rural northern Malawi.
Because many families struggle to feed all their children, the teenage girls are at risk of being married off too young. Matching the most vulnerable with sponsors has ensured there is some food going into their homes each month to supplement their income and make things a little bit easier.
Matching girls with sponsors enables them to stay in school and have a chance at a brighter future. Better literacy and numeracy and, hopefully, a choice of career after finishing school. They are encouraged to use the library and have access to a variety of subjects of books.
The period poverty project enables girls to have access to education full time like the boys do. Previously, girls had to stay at home for a week every month feeling embarrassment and shame at what is a normal bodily function. We sent hand turn sewing machines, fabric and sewing supplies and some of the girls have been making reusable sanitary towels for those who need them. They have also been making drawstring bags and girls have received; a drawstring bag, 5 reusable sanitary towels, 3 pairs of pants, 2 bars of soap and a health information leaflet. This project is a relatively cheap way of empowering girls and making a big difference in their lives.
Young people are encouraged to learn life skills like agriculture, animal husbandry, basket weaving, knitting, sewing and cooking. As well as helping them prepare for the future, these activities are keeping the young people busy and helps prevent accidental pregnancies.
Girls are encouraged to play team games and keep fit and healthy. They enjoy netball, rugby and football and their self-confidence is growing as they learn new skills and spend time with their friends.
Thank you to all the sponsors who are helping support girls. There are many more girls who would benefit from being matched with a sponsor to enable them to have a brighter future. It’s only £25 per month and you can sponsor as an individual, a family, two friends sharing the cost, a business or a club. Email me if you would like to get involved and help support a vulnerable girl today contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
We should never forget that these girls are amazing and will have bright futures if they are nurtured and given opportunities. Despite the trauma of losing loved ones, being hungry and cold and whatever else life has thrown at them, these girls are survivors, and they will achieve great things. Thanks for reading, Sarah x
Margaret is now going to secondary school thanks to her sponsor. As you can see, she has been learning to sew on the hand turn sewing machines we sent.
These two girls are benefitting from The Foundation’s support through the Feeding Programme, School Uniforms, and The Nursery. Naomi first brought Modester to the feeding programme when they had both been orphaned. They live with their grandmother now. However, they both need sponsors to improve their lives further….can you help?Alice, Loveness and Jean all work at The Foundation. Alice has been accepted to do nursing at college but has deferred for a year until she saves some more money.Monica has a sponsor so she has a food parcel going into her home each month to supplement their income. Her sponsor will help pay for her secondary education.Chikumbusko is an orphan who was living with her grandfather. Sadly, he was taken to hospital and subsequently died. Levison got medicine for Chikumbusko as she had malaria. We put out an appeal for a sponsor. Levison then found a foster home for her with the grandmother of another sponsored child. Chikumbusko is doing well now.Maria has had an extremely difficult life and hadn’t passed her primary school leavers exams. Levison saw what a hard worker she is and supported her with studying for exams. She passed her exams, and we matched her with a sponsor. She is now working hard in secondary school. Granda came to ask Levison for help. Her mother is on her own with 4 children. Granda was at risk of being married off as mum couldn’t feed them all. Thankfully, we matched Granda and one of her brothers with sponsors. They now have a food parcel each month to supplement their income. Granda has been learning to sew and to play touch rugby and will be supported to go to secondary school. Granda learning to play touch rugbyMercy has had to drop out of school as her mum has no spare money. Mercy also has a disabled younger brother. Please could you help Mercy get back to school?
Last year we had a very generous donation of preloved bibles from St Michael’s Parish Church, Slateford Road, Edinburgh. The congregation kindly also donated some clothes and lots of other useful items.
The bibles and other donations recently arrived on the container. Many of the bibles have been kept for the young people supported by The Foundation to help with their studies. One box was sent to a different organisation. Whilst we are not in a position to support other organisations financially, occasionally we are able to pass on donations.
Last November, I was honoured to be invited to an afternoon tea with The First Lady of Malawi at the City Chambers in Edinburgh. I was invited by Joyce Juma-Phiri who is CEO of Fair Trade Scotland and also Head of The Associations of Malawians in Scotland. It was a lovely afternoon, and I met some wonderful people. One lady, a Malawian living in Scotland, is Gertrude Kadzuwa who runs this organisation for widows in Mzuzu. As well as bibles, we put lots of bars of soap in the box. The widows have had a meeting today and Gertrude sent me this photo and a great video. I hope you enjoy the video. Thank you again to the congregation of St Michael’s Parish Church for your donations, Sarah x
I am so happy that the calendars are finally here! There are some lovely photos on each page and some information about the projects we are supporting. They will make great Christmas presents or just to treat yourself to a calendar for next year.
The calendars are A4 size and will be £10 each plus postage. All money raised will go towards the first phase of Bright Futures Secondary School.
Please email me if you’d like one or more fundraising calendars. I can either post them to you or directly to the recipients if you’d prefer. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you for your support and helping us continue Changing Lives Malawi. Sarah x
Our fundraising calendar for 2023 – £10 plus p&p goes towards Bright Futures Secondary School
The builders are continuing to work hard on the walls of the two classrooms in phase 1 of Bright Futures Secondary School. It’s exciting to see it coming together! Some of the most vulnerable young people in rural northern Malawi will benefit from your help https://gofund.me/44a92444 Please help us help them. Every child deserves an education. These children want to learn.
Yesterday, more supplies were bought in Chitipa. However, there was no diesel again until this morning. They had to wait overnight at the petrol station before a delivery of diesel arrived this morning. Nothing is straightforward but, despite setbacks, the team are succeeding… the most vulnerable young people, supported by The Foundation, will be able to go to secondary school within their village at no cost to them. Education is the way out of poverty and young people are desperate to have the opportunity of education.
We still need some more donations to complete this first phase of Bright Futures Secondary School. Please help us help these orphans and other vulnerable young people to have the gift of education https://gofund.me/44a92444 If 400 people each give £10 then Bright Futures Secondary School will be educating and nurturing young people to provide them with a brighter future. Please donate £10 today to help us continue Changing Lives Malawi. Thank you for reading and supporting, Sarah x
The wood has been bought to build the frame for the roof of Bright Futures Secondary School.
Yesterday, The Alana, the container ship carrying The Bananabox Trust container with our boxes, has now arrived at Antwerp, Belgium after leaving Scotland from Grangmouth Port. We were following its journey earlier and took these screenshots at lunchtime today.
So, the race is on….can we collect 13,444 kilometres, which is the distance the boxes travel from here to The Foundation, before the container arrives in Malawi at the end of November/start of December? We are now 40.58% of the journey covered which is 5,334.133 kilometres! Well done everyone!! Now we need to try to get the other 59% of kilometres collected….can we do it before the container arrives?
We need you to donate your kilometres….just from your usual walks, runs or cycles…. just email me to tell me how many kilometres and I’ll add it to the total. If you want to send a photo too then that’s great but not necessary if you want to remain anonymous. The more people who take part then the quicker we will get to our total….so please do email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
The whole reason for collecting kilometres is to raise funds for and awareness of the new school we are helping to build…. Bright Futures Secondary School. The most vulnerable young people who are supported by The Foundation will be able to attend secondary school free of charge. We want all children to have the gift of education. It is their way out of poverty. If you can spare £10 we would be so grateful. We just need 400 people to each donate £10 then we can get the roof on the school! You can donate here https://gofund.me/44a92444 I’ll post more photos from the school build during the next couple of days. They builders are working really hard, and progress is being made every day!
Thank you for reading and supporting and please do get in touch to donate your kilometres. Thanks, Sarah x
The Alana is the container ship on which the Bananabox Trust container has been loaded First stop Antwerp, Belgium
Everything takes so long to get to Malawi that we sometimes forget about the lovely things that have been sent until they get there!
Mwiza has additional needs. He has low muscle tone and we thought it would be a good idea for him to have a chair to support him some of the time rather than him lying down when his muscles were tired.
We didn’t want to get a normal height folding chair as it would be difficult for him to get in and out of without him falling and hurting himself. Mwiza’s sponsor bought this chair and I think they’ve made a great choice. Levison went to the Mtambo house this morning and said Mwiza was delighted with his new seat.
Sometimes it’s the little things that we take for granted that can make all the difference. Thanks to Mwiza’s sponsor, for his trainset and toys sent previously and his new chair, his life is just that little bit better.
“How do we change the world? One random act of kindness at a time.’
Morgan Freeman
Mwiza relaxing in his new chair, thanks to his sponsor
These lovely blue t-shirts were sent by Julian of whose small charity is called ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’. Julian collects sports clothes and other clothes like school uniforms every weekend to send on to people who will make good use of them. He’s previously sent boxes of gifts to The Foundation including football strips and boots, tracksuits, hockey equipment and Christmas jumpers and hats. We are very grateful to him for all he does and to the people who donate to him.
I’m going to be doing a few posts over the weekend as there is so much going on at The Foundation! It’s exciting to see the school building progressing and the children will be adding some more kilometres to our total virtual fundraising journey over the weekend. The link to the fundraiser is https://gofund.me/44a92444
Julian thank you again and thank you to all our supporters. We couldn’t do what we do without your help. Thanks for reading and supporting. Sarah x
l-r: Chance Kaonga, Laston Nyondo, Loveness Siyame, Austed Silungwe, Tryness Sichamba, William Nyirenda, Weston Nyondo, Bonface Nyondo, Maria Chizumira, Peter Kaonga and Obrain Nyondo are all delighted with their new t-shirts.
