Help please for these children

Sarah’s blog 24/10/22

As I’d said in my post yesterday, I am looking for some help and support for a family whose dad had died suddenly on Saturday. There are three children and their mum, but they’ve lost their main breadwinner. They were living in poverty anyway, but now they are desperate.

It was the burial today and Levison attended with some others from The Foundation. He took cabbages, maize and some small fish for the family and they were very grateful.

There are three children, and I am just as concerned about the eldest boy who is 19 as I am about the younger two children. Vincent never got the chance to finish primary school as he was working to help bring in a pittance to help feed the family. So, he doesn’t even have primary school qualifications and hasn’t had much schooling. He doesn’t have a job and I am worried about his self-esteem, especially now he is the head of the household. Vincent needs a job to keep him busy and to give him self-confidence as well as bringing some money into the home. Hopefully, Levison will be able to talk more with Vincent next time he visits on his way to town.

The younger two are at primary school and really do need sponsors. Mitinala is 14 and must have missed some school too as she’s only in p7. If the family don’t find some help, then Mitinala is at real risk of being married off too soon as her mother won’t be able to feed her. Despite child marriages being illegal, unfortunately, they do still happen. For lots of the girls whom we have already managed to match with sponsors, child marriage was a real risk. By giving them a monthly food parcel at home and keeping them in school, these girls are now safe.

Canani is 9 and in p4. He needs a sponsor to ensue some food goes into their home each month and therefore he will be more likely to stay in school and not have to work. These children need food in their tummies every day so they can concentrate at school. Please will you help them?

I’m looking to get a little team round this family, whether it’s someone sponsoring one of the children or several people giving £5 or £10 a month to give this family a monthly food parcel. What can you do to help today? To sponsor a child, it is £25 per month. They get a monthly food parcel, clothes, soap and stationery, a blanket and welfare visits. You can sponsor as an individual, a family or as two friends splitting the cost. I really hope that these children touch your heart, and you are able to help them even if it’s just a few ££ per month. Please email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com if you can help us change these children’s lives. Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x

Donations…..

Sarah’s blog 21/1/22

We have lovely supporters donating in lots of different ways. Some give money to help feed the children, others sponsor young people so they can attend secondary school. I have a donation box in my front garden that people will leave things in if I’m out, and people will knock on the door with bags of preloved clothes and shoes or books. Occasionally, someone will proudly bring a bag of bargains that they’ve managed to pick up in a sale. Some supporters collect pencils, pens and soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste whilst doing their shopping. We are grateful for monetary donations to help cover transport costs as we are charged £15 per box on the container. These are all ways you can help us help the hundreds of children we help to support in Malawi. A few of our kind supporters knit lovely blankets or hats to keep babies and children warm and others help take the boxes of donations to Dundee to await the container to Malawi.

Whatever you choose to do to help and support us, ‘Thank you’. We are grateful you are part of our team. There is still so much to do…so if you want to get involved we would be very glad to have you on our team….Changing Lives Malawi. Thanks for reading, Sarah x contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

A big donation of preloved sports clothes was recently collected
We love it when people add things to their shopping for us….the children always love receiving a new pencil or some soap….and with up to 800 children to support….that is a lot of pencils needed!
Someone very kindly left these preloved teenage boys school shoes and two maths sets in the donation box in our front garden
One of our supporters has been busy knitting again….beautiful blankets

‘The best way to multiply your happiness is to share it with others’

Sarah’s blog 12/10/21

The children at The William Stewart Foundation Nursery were all gifted new uniform and a blanket each from the boxes that arrived a few days ago.
Christina smiles as she wears her new dress and cuddles her blanket, she needs a sponsor

Philemon in his new tshirt and squeezing his blanket tightly that he has just been given. He also needs a sponsor to improve his life.

There are 50 children at The Foundation Nursery, aged between 4 and 6. They meet three times a week and are always fed during each session. The nursery running costs are paid for by a monthly donation, without which the nursery couldn’t run. The children were each given uniform last year and donations of more uniform have just arrived. There were a few dresses but many more tshirts. So, thanks to donations, children were each given either a dress and a tshirt or two tshirts and each had a fleecy blanket gifted to them. As you can see, the children love receiving gifts.

In future, if we can get enough donations, we would like to present each child with a bag when they start a the nursery. This bag would contain a blanket, 3 pairs of pants, soap, t-shirt & shorts or a dress, plus two t-shirts and a sweatshirt as nursery uniform. Also it would be a great opportunity to include a toothbrush and toothpaste and a picture book. Imagine the difference this would make to each child at nursery. They’d have something to wear at nursery and something to wear at home. They would have clean underwear and a blanket to keep them warm at night. And to learn from a young age about the importance of cleaning their teeth. This is one of my goals to make this happen for each child starting nursery, so that everything would be made up in the bags already and gifted to the child on their first day. We take an holistic approach, with each child at the centre of all we do, to support the children at The William Stewart Foundation in Northern Malawi. If you would like to help with this project then please get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . Look at the boy in the green top in the following photos of the nursery children having received new clothes on Sunday. He is examining his friend’s new clothes as well as his own. I love these photos and knowing that, as a team, we are helping to make their lives just a little bit better. Thanks for reading. Sarah x

And just look at the tie that the boy in the checked shirt has received…very smart!
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