Tag: chairs

The Homecoming

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Sarah’s blog 21/7/24

Container #13 arrived in Ekwendeni, near Mzuzu, and was due to be opened at 10am on Friday morning. Levison and two of his team had left Chitipa on Thursday afternoon as soon as they heard that the container had been released by customs and was travelling north from Lilongwe to Ekwendeni. As Levison is in the far north, this journey takes a long time. They had a few hours sleep at Karonga then onto Ekwendeni. There was a blocked road due to a lorry breakdown but they managed to get there on time.

Things then didn’t go to plan. The customs officers needed to do some extra checks so the container had to go to their warehouse in Mzuzu to be unpacked there. Hundreds of people gather when a container arrives. Everyone waited all day Friday and the boxes etc hadn’t been released. I had to send more money so that Levison and his staff could buy more food and find somewhere to stay overnight. Everyone was getting very frustrated but were told to return at 9am on Saturday. The boxes were eventually released after 11am on Saturday which was just as well because the customs officers don’t work on a Saturday afternoon!

The Homecoming – Levison’s truck returned to Bright Futures Campus at lunchtime today…three days after setting off…and what a hero’s welcome they received! Levison had to move children out of the way so that the truck could get through…they were so delighted to see the truck come loaded with boxes.

The other truck and driver they had to hire, didn’t want to come along all the small dirt roads so will wait for them in town. Levison and staff will go back to collect all the tables and chairs that were sent for the classrooms at Bright Futures Secondary School.

Levison asked me to thank everyone involved – all the donors, all the volunteers – everyone. We would like to echo those thanks too. It is always a team effort and needs all of us to each play our small part in making things happen.

To the team at Bananbox Trust in Dundee – thank you for ensuring the boxes are correctly labelled and packed onto each container. And to the BBT team in Malawi, thank you for ensuring the correct boxes are given to the correct recipients! Sorry that you had more work to do this time but we appreciate everything that you do. I’ve added the link to their face book post for you to see some of their photos. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/4daSw9JPGi9mx6Gm

Hope everyone enjoys looking at the photos and videos, most of which were taken just a couple of hours ago. A hero’s welcome indeed…and very much deserved! Thank you, Sarah x DonorSee (a link to our fundraising page with small projects)

https://videopress.com/v/inBp0mBT?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

Bright Futures Secondary School – desks, chairs, uniform & exams

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Sarah’s blog 14/12/22

These are the photos we are very excited to show you. Now that the boxes, tables & chairs have arrived safely from the container, we have lots of photos that have been taken this morning.

Students at Bright Futures Secondary School are starting class exams today and these will continue over the next few days. Malawi is 2 hours ahead of us and the young people were delighted to be met with gifts of new uniform before school started for the day. The classrooms are looking brilliant with the addition of the new desks in one classroom, tables in the other classroom (that will be replaced by individual desks) and new chairs in both classrooms.

These young people do have Brighter Futures at Bright Futures Secondary School. This school was only a dream this time last year and look what has been achieved with your help. Thank you so much to all involved in helping this to happen for these children. We need to keep looking ahead and are still fundraising for classrooms 3 & 4 so if you can help us, it would be very much appreciated. https://gofund.me/ece5753a or email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com I keep saying that it is always about teamwork and these vulnerable children need us as the team around them to ensure their futures are brighter and that we continue to be able to change their lives.

To all the students – we are very proud of you. Good luck in your exams and try your best. You can achieve and you will achieve, and you will have chances and choices open to you.

Thank you for reading and supporting us to help the vulnerable children. Hope you enjoy the photos, Sarah x

Bright Futures Secondary School – Desks

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Sarah’s blog 3/12/22

It’s been another busy day for Levison. In preparation for the long journey to collect the boxes from the next container, which will hopefully be arriving very soon, Levison took the truck to get two new batteries today.

He also called in at the carpenter who is making some desks for one of the classrooms. We were delighted to have received a donation towards these desks and, as always, we are very grateful for the support. The carpenter agreed to make the desks for £20 each and they will be ready for collection on Tuesday. If anyone would like to purchase a desk for the other classroom, then please do let me know. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com 130 chairs are in the container that is arriving very soon, so the school is really taking shape and pupils will have more uniform and school bags.

There is still a lot to buy and also continuous costs for Bright Futures Secondary School, so here is the link for our fundraiser https://gofund.me/44a92444 if you would like to make a donation. We are hoping that the builder will be back at The Foundation this week to start measuring out the area for the next classroom block.

Here is the link to the post about our fundraising gifts and cards. We still have some of our lovely calendars for sale and they would make a great gift at only £10 plus £2 p&p with all money going to the school project. Christmas Cards & Gifts – Changing Lives Malawi I hope everyone is having a good weekend and thank you again for supporting us to help the vulnerable children in Malawi. Thanks, Sarah x

Emma’s Rainbow Library now has tables & chairs and even more books!

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Sarah’s blog 09/02/22

There were so many great photos taken yesterday that I thought it was best to split them in half. Yesterday’s photos were of the nursery children in their new clothes and flipflops playing with the train set that had been gifted to the nursery.

Today’s photos are of the library…named after Emma Buchanan who wanted to go to Malawi and who loved her dad reading to her whilst she was poorly. Emma is no longer here but will never be forgotten and her name lives on in Emma’s Rainbow Library. We had a donation a while ago for shelves to be built and books have been donated for the library. On the last container we managed to send some stacking chairs. This time more chairs were sent and 8 tables.

How many things do we use tables for? Preparing food, eating, writing, cutting fabric and resting the sewing machine on….the list is endless. These are the first proper tables and Levison is absolutely delighted that they have tables and chairs now. The library is looking great and, once again, we thank everyone involved in making improvements for the vulnerable children who are supported by The William Stewart Foundation. Thank you to the Bananabox Trust for facilitating the safe delivery of all the boxes, tables and chairs.

The nursery children sat at the tables in the library yesterday…probably the first time they had sat at a table. They each had a book to look at the pictures and turn the pages then their new clothes were given out whilst they were all sitting down. We hope you like looking at the photos of the children and all that is happening at The Foundation to continue Changing |Lives Malawi. Thanks for reading, Sarah x contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

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