Sponsor a child Malawi Archives

Football Tournament

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Sarah’s blog 22/9/22

This is only a short post…it’s been a hugely busy week in Malawi (and also here).

The young people are on holiday from school and Levison and team thought a football tournament between local teams would be a good idea. So that is what has been happening today and will conclude tomorrow.

Unfortunately, Levison has been busy with other things today so there is just one short video clip of a match, however I have been promised more photos tomorrow!

This is going to be an annual event and we decided that it would be nice to name it after someone who has been very good to The Foundation. Julian Chenery, whose charity is Wear a Sports Shirt Day, works tirelessly every weekend (and sometimes midweek too) going to football clubs, schools, other sports clubs etc to collect preloved sports kit that can be reused by those who need it. He supports lots of organisations. Julian has supplied the Foundation with football kit, hockey kit, tracksuits, Christmas jumpers and Santa hats over the few years we have known him.

So, this is another opportunity to say thank you to Julian for supporting us and The Foundation. More photos and videos from ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day Football Tournament’ will follow. Sarah x

How many kilometres now?

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Sarah’s blog 22/9/22

Lots of people have been busy in the background adding kilometres to the total for our challenge. We are fundraising to build a desperately needed secondary school in rural northern Malawi and decided we would follow one of the routes that the boxes of aid travel. The total route is over 13,000km and we need more people ‘donating’ their kilometres to help us get to our total.

Do your children walk to school? Could they take part and let us know their totals for the week? Do you walk them to and from school? That means you will do double what your children do. Are you walking the dog every day? Or supermarket shopping? We need your kilometres please whether the total is big or small. The more people who help then the quicker we will get to our total. The local newspaper said they will feature our fundraising story every time we get to a significant goal. So please join in and tell us how many kilometres you’ve walked in a day/week. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

A few of the children that the Foundation supports ran 3km yesterday adding to our total. They were delighted to be helping and they also received some new clothes and flipflops too. So, the new total is 4,940.423 km which is 37.59%. Very well done everyone who has helped us so far…and if you’ve not donated any kilometres yet….please can you help us?

We are building Bright Futures Secondary School as there are not enough places available in the secondary schools nearby. Also, young people have to board as it’s too far to walk every day. Secondary education has to be paid for, so it makes it prohibitive for the majority of young people who are supported by the Foundation unless they have sponsors.

The school is being built in phases as we are on a shoestring budget as usual! Two classrooms will be built to start with, and we will add to the school over the next few years. Please will you help? These young people need a way out of poverty… they are desperate for education as they know this is the way to a better future for them and their families.

To donate you can get in touch by email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com for our bank details or you can donate here https://gofund.me/44a92444 You can make a difference today. We need you to help us continue Changing Lives Malawi. Hope you enjoy the photos and videos of the children running yesterday. All of these children (apart from Catherine) would benefit from being matched with a sponsor, so please get in touch if you’d like to support one of them. Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x

These four girls ran 3km and also received some new clothes. Only Catherine (pink top) has a sponsor. If you’d like to be a sponsor email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Chimwemwe and Ivet received new clothes and ran 3km to add to our total. Both need sponsors.

Sisters – Naomi & Modester

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Sarah’s blog 21/9/22

When The Foundation was still quite new, Naomi brought her baby sister to the Foundation to ask for food. Naomi was delighted to be able to feed her hungry baby sister, Modester. They had been very recently orphaned and it was a huge responsibility for Naomi to look after and feed her baby sister.

I thought it was such a powerful photo that Levison took that day. Naomi was happy that she could feed Modester, having gone through the grief and trauma of being orphaned. They have both been living with their grandmother since then. I have used that photo lots of times since then as it tells the story of what these orphans and vulnerable children go through and the difference The Feeding Programme makes to hundreds of children, even though it is only once a week.

The Foundation is a refuge for children in need. They know they will have someone to talk to, someone to listen to them. Someone to play with. Somewhere to forget their problems for a little while. A safe place to just be children.

I was delighted when Levison sent me a photo of Naomi and Modester the other day. Naomi is now 14 and in p8 and Modester is 5 and attending the nursery. They are both doing well but it would really help them if they could have a sponsor. We’d love to see them continue to thrive and have an additional food parcel going into their home. If you could sponsor one of these sisters, then please do let me know. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com It is £25 per month to sponsor a child which you can share with a friend to half the cost. It might be the most important gift you give to one of these girls. Please help?

Thanks for reading and please do let me know if you can help. Sarah x

Naomi and Modester when Modester was a baby and they’d both just been orphaned. And now age 14 and 5 looking well.

New Clothes & Gifts

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Sarah’s blog 20/09/22

At the weekend, some of the donated clothes were gifted to the children. There is always great excitement on these days and lots of children turn up to receive some new clothes.

Two elderly ladies, Gogo Nandege and Namasachi, regularly come to The Foundation to tell the children traditional stories. Gogo is a respectful term for Grandparent and a married woman can add ‘Na’ as a prefix to her name. They are both very poor but very generous with their time. They were delighted to receive coats, shoes and walking sticks which will help them as they walk to spend time with the children.

All of the children who I have named are very vulnerable and looking for a sponsor. So, if you are able to help one of them, please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com It’s £25 per month to sponsor a child. They receive a monthly food parcel at home to supplement what their family has. They also are gifted clothes, a blanket, soap and school supplies. They get regular welfare checks and are given medicine if they need it. You can sponsor a child as an individual, a family, a business or two friends can share the cost. It might be the most important thing you ever do for one of these children. Please help if you can.

We’ve always said that girls and women don’t wear trousers for cultural reasons. They do in the cities and towns but in the rural areas it is more traditional. However, some of the teenage girls asked if they could try on trousers. Some of them were far too big for the girls but it’s an indication that some of the girls would like to start wearing trousers. From now on we will gratefully accept women’s trousers too.

I hope you enjoy the photos and please do get in touch if you can help by sponsoring a child, supporting the feeding programme with a monthly donation, or paying for a box to go on the container. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com or to donate to our school fundraiser the link is https://gofund.me/44a92444 Thank for reading and supporting, Sarah x

Lots of vulnerable children waiting patiently to receive some new clothes

some of the nursery children receive new clothes

Do you recognise any of these clothes? Thank you again to those who have donated preloved clothes, shoes and money to pay for transport.

A group of children receiving new clothes. All are very vulnerable.

More needy children having received some new clothes.

Teenage girls asking to try on trousers…we will include trousers for them next time as some of these are far too big!

Times are changing as culturally girls and women in rural locations have always been more traditional only wearing skirts or dresses. However, these teenage girls were keen to try on trousers!

These two elderly ladies are very poor but very generous with their time. They come to tell the children traditional stories.

Levison with the two elderly story tellers after they have been gifted coats, walking sticks and shoes. The walking sticks and shoes will make their journey to The Foundation to spend time with the children far easier.

Two little girls from the nursery who will benefit from having a sponsor

Could you sponsor one of these nursery children please?

Shalom would love to have a sponsor. Could you help her?

Fred is needing a helping hand. Please could you sponsor him?

Could you sponsor Rashid? He has missed a lot of school to try to earn some money.

Haircuts

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Sarah’s blog 16/09/22

Levison had asked if it were possible for us to send hair clippers. Usually, hair is cut very short with scissors. Levison thought it would provide a job for someone to be able to offer haircuts, with income being split between the barber and The Foundation.

The clippers had been unpacked and put on charge and the first two haircuts given. Maybe we have a future barber here? Robert Kawonga and Hope Ng’ambi didn’t believe that the clippers would do anything when Levison showed them. However, they were soon enjoying themselves and there will probably be a big queue for haircuts when they tell their friends!

The man that is helping the boys is Tiwonge who is training to be a teacher and helping out whilst on holiday.

Hope you enjoy the photos and videos, Sarah x

brilliant smiles from the boys and learning a new skill

9 year old Happy needs a sponsor

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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!

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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

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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

Mrs Domingo and Nakapenda – the nursery cooks

Fundraising Calendar 2023

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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!

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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

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!

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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!

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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

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