Children's Charity Malawi Archives

9 year old Happy needs a sponsor

Time goes by so quickly and I can’t believe this post was from 1/1/2019. So much has happened since. Thankfully, Levison now has a motorbike (bought with money generously donated by Strathblane Kirk ) and also a truck. Levison sees this little boy, Happy, from time to time, but I hadn’t seen a photo of him and am delighted to see him looking well. Happy is 9 years old now. The family was gifted a wheelchair for him from a charity in another district. Lovely to have an update thank you Levison.

It would really help Happy and his family if someone could sponsor Happy so that he has a food parcel each month, regular welfare visits, books, blanket, soap etc. If you could sponsor him it’s only £25 per month or two friends could share the cost. Email me at

contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com if you’d like to help. Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x

(the wall of the skills shed is now looking a bit scruffy as so many children lean on it so some paint has been bought and some older children will be helping with painting that wall)

Original Facebook Post from 1/1/2019 LEVISON’S SPECIAL NEW YEAR OUTREACH

We said earlier that Levison was on a special outreach today.
He went to see Happy, the little boy who is paralysed, whom we met some months ago in the video, and his family, to give them gifts.

Sarah and Stuart bought a chair for Happy and other kind people donated gifts just for him –
Terry nappies, waterproof pants, sudocream, soap, solar light, blankets, clothes, and a selection of toys to help engage him as he is unable to get to school.

His mother was overjoyed, and she cried with tears of happiness.

Poor Levison, though. His bike has done so much hard work and the trail was hard to Happy’s house. On the way back his bike broke, and he had to walk home, but hardy as ever he has made it home.

Happy and his mum when Levison went to visit them with gifts we and other supporters sent 1/1/2019

every journey was long and difficult with only a bicycle

Happy, age 9, is needing a sponsor to help make things a bit easier for him and his family. Can you help please?

Happy was gifted a wheelchair from a charity in another district. It’s great to see him.

Keep collecting Kilometres!

Sarah’s blog 15/09/22

Just a quick update with how the challenge is progressing. We are raising funds to build a desperately needed secondary school for some of the most vulnerable young people in rural northern Malawi. Education is the way out of dire poverty for these young people and they are desperate to go to school. Secondary education needs to be paid for in Malawi so most of these young people would not afford to continue their education without help and support.

To raise awareness and funds, we are collecting kilometres to travel the distance that the boxes go from here to Malawi….over 13,000km. If you would like to help us along the way and add your kilometres to help, then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com We have supporters cycling, walking, hill walking, cycling on stationary bikes and using rowing machines at the gym. If you could add your kilometres from walking the dog or walking the kids to school then every little helps! The new total is 4,484.333kms completed so far which works out at 34.12% of the total journey! Well done everyone and please keep the kilometres coming! The newspaper wants to know when we get to 50%.

Here is the previous news article that was in The Stirling Observer. Team Mackay made the news! – Changing Lives Malawi

We have raised £12,516 so far and we thank everyone for their generosity. Work is starting on the foundations of the first phase of Bright Futures Secondary School this week which is very exciting!

However, we still need a lot more money to provide education to these very vulnerable young people. As well as the two classrooms we are building, we need to build toilet facilities and make desks and buy more textbooks. Then phase 2 will see another two classrooms built and so on until we have a whole school providing quality secondary education at The Foundation. No longer will vulnerable children have to leave their families to board at a school that is a distance away. Please donate here https://gofund.me/ece5753a to help us give the gift of education.

I’ll add some more photos over the weekend and would love to see some photos of your kilometres. Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x

Traci set herself a big challenge and donated her kilometres. An amazing achievement Traci, very well done!

Great job! Team Mottram climbed Ben Nevis in the rain!

Some of the older kids joined in by running a 4km race… great work!

Gifts for the staff

Sarah’s blog 13/09/22

Some of the boxes have been opened and clothes are being sorted into age groups so they can be given out at the weekend.

One box that we had sent was for the staff and volunteers. I had found a large quantity of blue adult t-shirts in a sale so I bought them and boxed them up for the adults. Levison gave out some of the t-shirts this morning and everyone was pleased that we had thought about them.

In the video, Alice, thanks us for remembering them and for their gifts. To us, a t-shirt is just an ordinary item – nothing to get too excited about. However, when you aren’t used to receiving gifts, and don’t have many clothes of your own, it means a lot to them. I hope you enjoy the photos and the video, Sarah x

Levison distributing t-shirts to staff and volunteers

Levison with the female staff and volunteers

Nakaonga – the sewing instructor with Loveness

Alice thanking us for the t-shirts

Mrs Domingo and Nakapenda – the nursery cooks

Fundraising Calendar 2023

Sarah’s blog 12/9/22

We are excited to announce that we have finalised the layout for a new fundraising calendar for 2023. We should receive the calendar in approximately 10 days when it will be available to buy for £10 (plus p&p).

Here is a sneak preview of the calendar…these images are just photos of my laptop screen so aren’t very good quality but I was excited to share them with you. These will make great gifts for Christmas and can be easily posted, or would be good to purchase for your own house!

One of our trustees has generously paid for these calendars to be printed, so you know that when you purchase one all of the money will be going towards the building of Bright Futures Secondary School, providing secondary education for some of the most vulnerable young people in rural northern Malawi. Please email me contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com if you’d like to place an order and give the gift of education. Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x

The front cover of our 2023 fundraising calendar

The back cover of our 2023 fundraising calendar

Levison is finally back with all the boxes and fuel in the truck!

Sarah’s blog 11/09/22

I wrote the comment below on Facebook on Tuesday 7th September. Levison and Sam had been waiting at the fuel station since the afternoon of Sunday 5th September. Little did we know that petrol deliveries wouldn’t arrive in Chitipa until Friday and diesel, which Levison’s truck needs, didn’t arrive until yesterday afternoon. Seven days after they first arrived to try to fill up the truck. It’s been an extremely stressful week but, thanks to friends in Ekwendeni, all the boxes were delivered safely to Levison at the petrol station. Then they still had the long wait for fuel. Thankfully, it seems the country’s fuel shortage is now over.

The first few boxes have been opened today and the donations of clothes will be distributed to the children during the next few days. I will post more photos when I get them. Thank you to everyone who has donated and supported. We couldn’t do what we do without you. It’s always about teamwork. Thanks, Sarah x

“The last couple of days have been extremely stressful for Levison. We have also been concerned. There is a fuel shortage in Malawi, especially in the far north where Levison is. He knew the container was being unloaded yesterday in Ekwendeni, a few hours drive south from him. He had no fuel for the truck and sat at a petrol station in a queue from Sunday afternoon until midday yesterday. No fuel arrived and has still not arrived despite people being told a delivery was imminent.
Levison had contacted some of his friends at the Bananabox Trust and other organisations who help supervise the unloading of the container. They assured Levison they would look after his boxes. Then they suggested that we pay for a truck to take everything north to Levison to save him worrying about when fuel would be available. A member of Bananabox Trust staff was also spared to travel with the truck to ensure everything arrived safely.
We are thankful and delighted to be able to say that the truck with all our boxes has arrived safely with Levison. It is very much appreciated when friends and colleagues go out of their way to help each other.”
Sarah Black, Facebook 7/9/11

May be an image of text — We are so grateful to our friends who work for Bananabox Trust in Ekwendeni and friends who work for other charities who looked after all our boxes when Levison couldn’t get to the container. They organised a truck, which we paid for, to take all the boxes safely to Chitipa.

Some of the lovely donations in the boxes that have been opened today

Team Mackay visits Dundee!

Sarah’s blog 11/9/22

As you know from yesterday’s blog, Team Mackay have been very busy clocking up kilometres for us in our fundraising event. We want to travel over 13,000km from here to Malawi following one of the routes the boxes take on the container ship, raising awareness and funds for Bright Futures Secondary School. Team Mackay made the news! – Changing Lives Malawi

The Mackay Family are from Drymen and Ewan was involved in the planning of the recent refurbishment of the bus stop in Drymen. It was painted by a talented local artist Cameron Reid and highlights The Rob Roy Way which starts in Drymen.

Yesterday, Team Mackay aka Jackie, Ewan, Ben and Adam, volunteered their trailer to take the last of our boxes to The Bananabox Trust warehouse in Dundee to await the next container. The warehouse is almost full, so it won’t be too long until the next container is packed and sent on its way.

After visiting The Bananabox Trust, they clocked up another 20km in Dundee whilst enjoying the sunshine and visited Discovery Point. Another busy day for Team Mackay! Thanks Jackie, Ewan, Ben and Adam. We appreciate all your help.

If you’d like to pay for a box to go on the container, it costs £15, and you can email me at contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Or to donate to our fundraiser to build a desperately needed secondary school in rural northern Malawi here is the link https://gofund.me/44a92444 Let’s give the gift of education!

Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x

The newly painted bus stop in Drymen, the work of local talented artist Cameron Reid

lots of our boxes awaiting the next container

Team Mackay made the news!

Sarah’s blog 10/09/22

Because of the news that our Queen Elizabeth 11 had passed away on Thursday afternoon, we decided not to post anything yesterday. Our thoughts are with the Royal Family at this sad and difficult time.

We are very grateful to The Stirling Observer for featuring Team Mackay in yesterday’s edition of the newspaper. Team Mackay aka Jackie, Ewan, Ben and Adam are some of our supporters who have been working hard collecting kilometres for us in our effort to raise awareness and money for the new school we are building in rural Northern Malawi. https://gofund.me/44a92444

‘It is especially vital to support the charity as they are about to make a significant breakthrough. Changing Lives Malawi is supporting building a secondary school called Bright Futures Secondary School at Ibuluma, a four/five-year project – initially building two classrooms, extra latrines and teachers’ accommodation to allow education to start this October. There is already a library and other facilities at the Foundation. Then additional classrooms would be built over the further three/four years for the subsequent intakes of pupils until the full four years of education were available at the school’.
Jackie Mackay

We are following one of the routes that the boxes take from here to Malawi which is over 13,000km and have been asking people to take part and donate their kilometres to us whether it is from walking the dog, walking round the shops or on the running or rowing machine at the gym…it all counts so please do get in touch and donate your kilometres to help us on our journey. As the saying goes….every little helps!! Over 30% of the journey has been completed already which is brilliant! You can read my blogs on the website to see what people have been doing to add to the total kilometres.

Please donate a few £££ to show your support and to help us build the first phase of Bright Futures Secondary School. Without this school so many of the most vulnerable young people supported by The Foundation will not have a secondary education. Only primary education is free in Malawi. Education is the way out of extreme poverty for these young people and they are desperate to go to school. Can you spare a few £££ to help us give the gift of education? Here is the link to donate: https://gofund.me/44a92444 or you can get in touch for the charity bank details contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Any amount will make a difference to our total so please, please help us.

Here is the link to the press release: Malawi Release[11125].docx

To take part here is the link: https://forms.gle/twQYfx7LRRrtvdhx9 or you can email your kilometres too. Let’s build this school!!

We are very grateful to all those who have donated so far. If you donate £500 or over then you can name a room, £100 or over means your name or that of a loved one will go on the supporter’s wall. You can help us build this school. We can’t do it without you….it’s always about teamwork. Can you be part of our team? Thank you for reading and supporting, Sarah x

The wonderful Team Mackay. l-r Ben, Adam, Jackie and Ewan have been collecting kilometres to raise funds for Bright Futures Secondary School

Team Mackay ;Ben, Adam, Jackie and Ewan, with their bikes, have been collecting kilometres to help us build a school — Jackie and her eldest son Ben

A previous presentation

Sarah’s blog 2/9/22

I wanted to share a presentation that I gave in a few churches three years ago before covid arrived.

Our charity is welcoming and inclusive of all faiths or none, differing abilities, colour and gender. We all have different skills and we are all about teamwork.

I have a faith and made up this presentation, for a specific audience, based on that. I have also given lots of talks and presentations for a variety of settings including schools, that there has been no mention of my faith.

I wanted to share this with you to show you how much has happened in the last few years. Also to say thank you for any help you may have given to us and we need people to keep on supporting us and being part of our team.

If you would like me to come and speak at your church or club or an event, or if you would like me to help put together some resources for you to talk at an event on our behalf then please do let me know. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com. Thanks for reading, Sarah x

sarahfaithpresentationsummer19.pptx

Traci has completed her challenge!

Sarah’s blog 1/9/22

I can’t believe it is the first of September already! That means Traci’s challenge has finished. She emailed her results last night so here are the results.

Traci had set herself a challenge to walk 500km during July and August. However, she realised that she could do some more and changed her target to walk 700km during July and August. She has been sending regular updates and some great photos and I am in awe of how determined she has been to reach her goal. In fact, she has exceeded her goal by 10km. You are amazing Traci! Very well done!

All Traci’s kilometres have been added to the total that Jackie is keeping for us. As of today, 3,625.615km have been completed in UK plus 320km that the kids in Malawi clocked up in their run gives a total of 3,945.615km. This means we have travelled 30% of our journey now! Well done everyone!

We need more people to ‘donate’ their kilometres from their walks, runs or cycles to add them to our total. Whether you are just taking the dog for a walk or doing the shopping…every little helps…so please do tell us and we will add your kilometres to our total. It’s all about teamwork and we need you on our team.

We are covering the equivalent kilometres of one of the routes that the boxes take that we send from Scotland to Malawi. The aim of this challenge is to raise money and awareness to build a desperately needed secondary school in rural northern Malawi. Please donate if you can to help us give the gift of education to some of the most vulnerable young people in northern Malawi.

Here is the link to donate https://gofund.me/44a92444 to show your support for Traci’s brilliant achievement and to give the gift of education. Thanks for reading, Sarah x

Traci says “Well, thank goodness I was well ahead of the game before succumbing to Covid – I have been totally floored by it for the last 6 days and barely managed a lap of the garden. But I’m pleased to say I have still exceeded by target of walking 700km by the end of August. If you are able, donations for the wonderful work of Changing Lives Malawi to build a school would be most gratefully appreciated via https://gofund.me/44a92444 “

Very well done Traci! Amazing achievement!

Bright Futures Secondary School – Let’s build this school

Sarah’s blog 30/08/22

It’s time for an exciting update on Bright Futures Secondary School. Lot’s of hard work has been going on here and, of course, in Malawi to try to make this a reality for some of the most vulnerable young people in rural northern Malawi who would otherwise miss out on secondary education.

It’s so difficult when trying to manage everything on a shoestring and costs are rising. However, where there is a will there is a way. This school is desperately needed and, therefore, it will happen.

Because of the rural location, accommodation is needed for teachers. The first block of teachers accommodation is almost complete and the work on the foundations for the first two classrooms of Bright Futures Secondary School is about to be begin. This is just the start….we have so much more to do. We need you on our team to help these vulnerable young people out of poverty and to a brighter future.

All the bricks that have been made have been dried and stacked into kilns and the first of the kilns was fired. It was covered in mud and a fire lit in each gap. One person was responsible for each fire, ensuring their fire burned brightly all through the night. The kiln will now be left for over a week to cool down again, the mud will be removed and the bricks will be ready to use.

We really do need your help to ensure that education is available to all these vulnerable young people. Education is their way out of poverty. To make a donation here is the link https://gofund.me/44a92444 Let’s give the gift of education…it might be one of the most important gifts you every give a vulnerable child. To get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thanks for reading, Sarah x

100 x £100

Sarah’s blog 24/08/22

Firstly I want to share with you something one of our sponsors has written;

“We sponsor a student through this charity. In a world where some are born into families with many opportunities and benefits and others are born where opportunities are scarce and life is more challenging, it is essential we notice, commit, care and seek to share what we have been given so others can dream and hope and have an opportunity to make a difference in the world. May all these students dream and hope and make the best of the life they have been given.”

We need your help to raise the rest of the money we need to open Bright Futures Secondary School in rural Northern Malawi. Without this school, the most vulnerable young people will miss out on education. Please help us.

We have our fundraiser https://gofund.me/44a92444 where you can donate but we are also asking 100 schools, nurseries, colleges, universities, businesses, churches, clubs, families or individuals to raise £100. Are you up for a challenge? Can you raise or donate £100? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Let’s give the gift of education and help these very vulnerable young people out of poverty and to a brighter future! Let’s build this school! Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x

Category: Children’s Charity Malawi

Bright Futures Secondary School – Let’s build this school

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: