Sarah’s blog 02/05/24
Thank you to Strathblane Primary School for their brilliant donation today. As part of our 5th birthday celebrations we are having an appeal for preloved books that we can send to Malawi as part of our School Literacy Project. None of the schools in the far north of Malawi where we are working, have many resources, the children are hungry and most don’t even have notebooks and pencils.
The nearest primary school to Bright Futures Campus is Chambo Primary School. There are over 500 students there between 8 classrooms. The majority of the vulnerable young people who use the weekly feeding programme, attend Chambo Primary School. Until recently, only one classroom had desks and benches….in all other classes children sat on the floor.
Thanks to a grant from The Kitchen Table Charities Trust, we were able to facilitate desks and benches being made locally for two more classrooms. Thanks to that grant they also now have clean water at the school for drinking and washing their hands. A grant from The Eleanor Rathbone Trust ensured we were able to provide a girls latrine. Bit by bit school life is improving. However, there are no big charities working in that area so all children are hungry and many are suffering from malnutrition.
When we first started sending boxes of preloved books for The School Literacy Programme, Chambo Primary received seventeen boxes of books. There have since been some additional boxes given to a few other primary schools but, together with the Education Department who are delighted with the support, we have decided that during the next school year, starting in September 24, we will concentrate on Chambo Primary School and evaluate how our School Literacy Programme is making a difference before rolling it out to the other primary schools in the cluster.
This morning, my husband Stuart and I went to Strathblane Primary School (my old primary) to collect some boxes and bags of books that they no longer needed. There were lots of picture books for preschool and early readers as well as some atlases and factual book on transport, weather, space etc. There were a great selection of novels for older children too. I was delighted that there were two big boxes of group reading books that they gave us which progress through different levels. This will make a huge difference to the teachers at Chambo Primary – having resources to hear small groups of children read together – something that we take for granted for our children.
Stuart (the logistics man) and I boxed up all of these books today which had taken up the whole car and we now have eight boxes of books ready to send on the next container. Thank you so much to the staff at Strathblane Primary School for supporting literacy in rural northern Malawi. There will be lots of photos when the books arrive, although this won’t be for a few months yet.
What we now need is eight people to each sponsor a box of books to go on the container. It’s £17.50 per box. Could a few of you club together to pay for a box? Could you go without a few takeaway coffees to pay for a box of books instead? If you sponsor a box of books we will write your name, or a loved one or a business name or even a funny message on a label on your box. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
If there are any other nurseries or schools or any individuals wanting to donate preloved books then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com All books must be in good condition so that they can be well used by the vulnerable young people we help to support as we aim to help those children become more confident readers and raise literacy levels in primary schools. Thank you for helping us continue Changing Lives (in) Malawi, Sarah x
