Thank you for the donations from the Balfron 10k last year. Some great photos from Malawi. We will be collecting preloved shoes at this year’s event too.
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Sarah’s blog 3/3/26
We were at the popular Balfron 10k race last year collecting preloved training shoes to send to the vulnerable people we support in rural northern Malawi. We were given almost 100 pairs of training shoes (children’s and adults) to send. Over the last few days, Levison and team have been giving out gifts from the Balfron 10k event.
There were t-shirts left over from previous races and the organisers kindly gave these to us. As you know, it takes a long time for things to arrive at their destination. However, last week, trainers and other shoes were given out to students at Bright Futures Secondary School and also to staff and volunteers. Everyone was very thankful for these gifts.
Yesterday, staff and volunteers were gifted the Balfron 10k t-shirts. On behalf of everyone who received these gifts, thank you so much. They are delighted to have been thought about. A small gift like a t-shirt means a great deal to the people who are living in extreme poverty.
We are going to be at this year’s Balfron 10K race again on Sunday 3rd May…exactly two months from now. Changing Lives Malawi will again be collecting trainers and other shoes of all sizes (no heels please). We must ask that all footwear is in good CLEAN condition. Would you be still happy to wear them? Do they have holes in the soles? The people receiving your preloved shoes and trainers walk miles every day, so the footwear needs to be functional and clean.
Can you tell your friends and spread the word so that we collect more than 100 pairs this year? There are hundreds of children and adults that we help to support and they would all love a new (to them) pair of shoes. Also, we would be grateful for a donation of £1 per pair of shoes to help towards transport costs. We are based in Balfron so this is our ‘home event’. Lets make it another successful one this year. Thanks also to Shoe Share Malawi who also donated training shoes to us and put us in touch with the organisers of the Balfron 10k event. Thanks so much, Sarah x
Also, some other news to share, myself and another trustee, Liz, are visiting the projects we support in Malawi for the first time in May. We are very excited and you can read about our plans here https://gofund.me/866bf18f0 and if you’d like to get in touch, our email is contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Enjoy the photos. Thanks again, Sarah x
It’s great to hear from someone new asking if you would like sports kit. Paul, who is connected with Lichfield Spires Netball Club had contacted me a few months ago. He said they were getting new kit and would we want to send their preloved kit to Malawi. I said YES PLEASE!
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Sarah’s blog 20/9/25
It’s great to hear from someone new asking if you would like sports kit. Paul, who is connected with Lichfield Spires Netball Club had contacted me a few months ago. He said they were getting new kit and would we want to send their preloved kit to Malawi. I said YES PLEASE!
Netball is one of the national sports in Malawi and, so far, all we have managed to send is some netball bibs. We’ve sent plenty of football and rugby kit but have been very aware that the netball teams hadn’t had as much attention. Until now. Paul explained that their club has several teams, spanning different age groups so we would be receiving kit in children’s and in adult sizes.
What has been so helpful is that some members of the club donated money to help send the kit to Malawi. Often we have people who are keen to donate items to us but then we are left having to fundraise to cover the cost of sending boxes on the container. It costs £17.50 per box to cover the cost of the container which is organised by a charity in Dundee, The Bananabox Trust. We are very grateful for all the hard work from their volunteers with receiving and labelling boxes and packing the container which is used by lots of organisations sending aid to Malawi.
Today shows how much people care about making a difference to the vulnerable children we help to support. The town of Lichfield is approximately 300 miles from where we live. Paul very kindly offered to meet my husband, Stuart, halfway. So this morning, Paul and Stuart met up in a carpark in Penrith and Paul handed the boxes of netball kit to Stuart. That is such an act of kindness. Both men will have had other things they could have prioritised today but they ensured that these kits were handed over to be reused. Thank you both.
This netball kit is going to be an amazing gift to the young people in rural northern Malawi. Until a few years ago, when we (and others who support us) started sending sports kit to Malawi, there was no matching sports kit. The children and young people love team sports. They love being able to forget about the traumas they have in their lives. They love the sense of belonging. They love being with their friends. And they love having smart, matching sports kit which they wear with a sense of pride.
Having matching kit is a real boost to their self-esteem. People in a different country have cared enough about them to want to make their lives a little bit better. Kindness matters. These children and young people, all of whom live in extreme poverty, most of whom are orphans living with extended family, are no longer ignored and side-lined. They know that they matter and they want a brighter future for themselves through education and learning new skills.
So this is a big thank you to Paul for organising all the netball kit collection and for bringing it halfway today to hand it over to Stuart. We are very grateful. Also to everyone who donated kit and those who have helped towards shipping costs, thanks so much. Stuart, what would we do without you? You do so much for the charity and ensuring everything gets boxed up properly for the long journey to Malawi. Thank you, Stuart.
Please sign up to receive my blogs so you’ll see when the netball kit arrives, and follow us on social media for lots of photos. Please do tell your friends too.
I’m adding the QR code to this post in case anyone does want to make a small donation. I need to buy some netballs to send with the kit. If you’ve liked reading this post and want to help then a donation of £5 would be really helpful. Or you can donate via the page on our website too.
Hope you enjoy these photos and hopefully, in a few months time, there will be happy photos from netball teams wearing their Lichfield Spires Netball Kit with pride. Thanks again everyone, Sarah x
ps I’ve attached the link to International Literacy Day if you’ve not managed to read about our School Literacy Project – we are very proud of the young people we are helping to support. Sarah x
Paul from Lichfield Spires Netball Club with one of their club topsPaul (left) and Stuart with one of the shirts from Lichfield Spires Netball Clubapprox 300 miles between Balfron and Lichfield…we were very grateful that Paul offered to meet Stuart at Penrith.Here is our QR code where you can make a donation to one of several projects.
It’s International Literacy Day today! We are celebrating all the amazing children and young people we are helping to support through literacy in rural northern Malawi.
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Sarah’s blog 8/9/25
“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.” Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General
“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” Albert Einstein
“Reading is the gateway for children that makes all other learning possible.” Barack Obama
On International Literacy Day, we want to share some of the ways we, with the help of our supporters, are making a difference to literacy levels in rural northern Malawi.
1.School Literacy Project. How can children learn to read properly if they don’t have books to practice? So far, we have gifted 20 boxes of books to Chambo Primary School and Kalanga Primary School, both of which are in Chitipa District in the far north of Malawi. Most schools do not have enough resources, children do not have the notebooks and pencils that they need. Occasionally, we can provide a notebook and pencil for the oldest children at these primary schools, thanks to money raised from our supporters. Despite having so much stacked against them, since preloved books have been donated to these schools, the p8 exam pass rate has gone up almost 20% to 78% which is amazing! We hope to keep going with this project as it is proving to be such a success. This is a low cost project with a huge impact. The preloved books are donated, but what we do have to pay for is £17.50 per box of books on the container ship to Malawi. We need your help to support this project so that we can include other schools in our School Literacy Project. You can make a donation via the website, or our QR code or email me for bank details contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
2. Emma’s Rainbow Library was built in memory of Emma Buchanan who lived in Balfron (where we are based). Emma loved being read to whilst she was ill and her family helped raise funds towards this library. There are story books for all ages, reference books, school books and a couple of computers in the library which is a fantastic resource for all the children and young people in the surrounding area. Children are learning to love books and spend quiet time reading for pleasure here. Yesterday, I attended an event by the first ever Balfron Book Festival. I had a stall where people could donate their preloved books and I was able to tell lots of people about the impact their donations are having on literacy levels.
3. Bright Futures Nursery Care Packages. The nursery was opened as pre-schoolers were hanging about with nowhere to go. They are fed at each session. Each child that starts nursery receives a bag containing; two red t-shirts, three pairs of underwear, soap, toothpaste & toothbrush, a blanket, a soft toy and two picture story books. We want every home to have at least two books that the family can share together. When the nursery children first saw the books that we were sending, they didn’t know what to do with them and didn’t know how to turn the pages on a book. Now they look forward to a story! The school teachers at Chambo Primary have said that there is a noticeable difference in the children’s literacy when they start school to those who have not attended nursery. We need your support for this important project to continue please. It costs £10 per child to receive a care package to support their wellbeing and their literacy. We would love your help.
4. Bright Futures Secondary School. There weren’t enough places for some of the young people we help to support in the nearest secondary schools and secondary schools aren’t free in Malawi. So, again thanks to our supporters, we raised funds to build a small secondary school. All the students are living in extreme poverty, most are orphans, and we match them sponsors to help support their education. Everything is free to these students; education, school uniform, stationery and they receive a free school lunch each day which, for many of them, is the only food they have to eat. The whole S2 class all passed their national Junior Certificate of Education exams which was a great achievement! The more sponsors we have, the more students can attend Bright Futures Secondary School. We ask for £25 per month per student. You can sponsor as an individual, friends, or family splitting the monthly cost. We even have a few businesses sponsoring young people. If you would like to help a young person have a brighter future please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
As you can see there is a great deal happening to support literacy in the community we are helping to support in rural northern Malawi. But there is still a lot more to do. We need financial support to keep the above projects going so that young people have choices, chances and opportunities that they wouldn’t previously have had. They are desperate for education and want to learn. Will you help please?
We are hoping to collect and send board books to distribute to the new mum’s at Chambo Health Centre as part of our Mother & Baby project so that babies can have access to books with their parents and looking at picture books will become an everyday activity before they even get to nursery and school.
Also there are plans for adult literacy classes which we hope will be able to start soon as a trial. There are so many adults who have missed out on education because they have had to work from an early age to help provide food for their family. Let’s see if we can continue, with your help, Changing Lives (in) Malawi. Thank you so much for your support, Sarah x
Our QR code where you can make a donation to support our School Literacy Project or one of the other projects. Thank you!The S2 students at Bright Futures Secondary School all received new uniform and stationery before sitting their national exams. We are so proud as all of them passed! If you would like to sponsor a young person’s education then please do get in touch. The more sponsors we have then the more students can go to school!Children in one of the classrooms at Kalanga Primary School looking at some of the books that they have been gifted as part of our School Literacy Projectsome of the nursery children, outside the library, showing off the bars of soap they have receivednursery children with their care packagesBoxes of books gifted to Chambo Primary Schoollearning about digital literacy in Emma’s Rainbow LibraryBible Knowledge is a core subject at schools in Malawi. We received a donation of preloved bibles from a church in Edinburgh and were able to send these to students at Bright Futures Secondary School. The majority of lessons are in English with Chichewa also being a core subject in schools.One of the children from Bright Futures Nursery with his care packagePlease support literacy in rural northern Malawi. Thank you!
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
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.
It’s getting very exciting now! Only two days to go until our four fearless firewalkers get to do their fundraising firewalk on Sunday evening.
If anyone wanted to attend in person, it’s at 7pm at the Guide Hall in Milngavie on Sunday Evening. But don’t worry if you can’t…there will be photos and videos that we will share!
T-shirts with the Changing Lives Malawi logo have arrived and we are looking forward to Sunday evening. Thanks to Allander Rotary Club for organising this event and being so supportive of our charity.
My sister, Joanne Byrne (Killearn Driving School) , and her friend, Alison Rennie, are fundraising for Bright Futures Secondary School to have a staffroom and new textbooks. Their fundraising link is https://gofund.me/c127c5e9
Mr Blair and Mr Braid, teachers from Balfron High School, are giving half of their money to Changing Lives Malawi towards the staffroom and new textbooks, and half of their money raised is going towards next year’s school trip to Zanzibar where 20 students will be doing voluntary work within local communities. To donate to them it’s https://gofund.me/9430b2af
Thank you to everyone who has donated so far….we really appreciate all the help we receive whilst we try to support vulnerable children and young people to be the best they can be and have opportunities they wouldn’t usually have had. Thank you, Sarah x
It’s been an extremely busy week here and in Malawi with lots of good news.
I had been contacted by my MSP, Evelyn Tweed, asking to meet with me. So we met at Doyles Cafe in Balfron last Tuesday. I was able to tell her all about the great things that are happening in Malawi and also ask her advice. She was very supportive of me and the charity and has suggested a few ways she can offer some help. https://twitter.com/EvelynTweedSNP/status/1693563601213378648?s=20
Jackie and I had a very busy Saturday at ‘The Balfron Bash’. We had a stall with info about the charity, lovely home baking for sale and a tombola. We made £263 on Saturday…so thank you to everyone who supported us and came to say ‘hello’. Big thanks to Ewan and Stuart for their help with the gazebo and to Jackie for organising the tombola.
David, one of our trustees, took the last lot of boxes to Dundee today. The Bananabox warehouse is full and they will order a container for the first weekend in September so, hopefully, those boxes might be there by Christmas (or early January).
Chambo Primary School had their clean water taps connected yesterday. We had received a grant from The Kitchen Table Charities Trust and part of the grant was to use the clean water supply at Chambo Health Centre and run a pipe to Chambo Primary School. They now have three taps and clean water to drink and wash their hands. We are so pleased to have been able to play a small part in helping to improve lives for so many children. Chambo Primary has clean water!
We are still fundraising for phase 2 of Bright Futures Secondary School to ensure there are enough classrooms for the next intake of students. We also need to raise funds for text books as, currently for s3, there is only one set of books for the teacher. Any help that you can give will be so appreciated https://gofund.me/ece5753a Thank you so much for all the support everyone, Sarah x
Me with my MSP, Evelyn Tweed at Doyle’s Cafe in BalfronThe builders are working hard to ensure the new intake of students have a classroom next monthSome of the students from Bright Futures Secondary School. They get a free lunch each day at school but, as it’s school holidays, they came to collect food parcels instead
Thanks to everyone who supported our very successful fundraiser for the next phase of Bright Futures Secondary School.
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Sarah’s blog 25/2/23
Thank you to everyone who came along last night….it looked like everyone was having a brilliant time! The quiz that Douglas did for us was great fun! He’d put in a lot of work to prepare it and present it – so thank you so much Douglas!
There were so many raffle prizes that had been donated – thanks so much to everyone. We are very grateful to the following businesses; West Group Technical Services Ltd who donated a firepit made by Foldaway Fires, a cycling jacket from Endura, a hamper from Endrick Trading Ltd, vouchers from Tir na nog Holistic Centre, Milk & Honey Artisan Ice Cream, The Woodhouse, The Kitchen Window, Briarlands Farm, Wellsfield Farm, Ticketyboo Hair Design Buchlyvie and Exceptionail Buchlyvie. We had some wonderful prizes!
There was also a bottle of single malt whisky donated by one of our trustees, David Bell, to use as a prize for throwing £1 coins at….the nearest coin wins the bottle. There were so many coins being thrown and someone’s coin touched the bottle whilst lots of people were still waiting for a turn. So David, very kindly offered to buy a second bottle of whisky so everyone else got a turn to throw their £1 coins… this and the amount of raffle tickets that were purchased made a lot of money for our charity.
Then there is a huge thank you to local band, Acoustic Station, who gave their time and talents free of charge. Stuart, the drummer, is one of our trustees (and my husband) so I am slightly biased but they were amazing and people were up dancing all night!
After a very late night, I counted all the money this morning and added what was already paid directly into the charity bank account. £1,503 is the grand total! An amazing start to our fundraising for phase 2 of Bright Futures Secondary School. Thank you for buying tickets, raffle tickets, donating raffle prizes and being so supportive of what we, as a small group of volunteers, are trying to do. 100% of the money will go towards building the next phase of Bright Futures Secondary School. Thank you so much to those who helped set up and tidy up and, as always, it’s been amazing teamwork.
