BFSS S2 essays & photos June 24 – could you sponsor a student to have the opportunity of a secondary education please?
Sarah’s blog 19/6/24
Here are essays and photos from the S2 class at Bright Futures Secondary School. They are feeling very relieved to have just finished their national exams. The students will, hopefully, gain their Junior Certificate of Education, and then proceed to S3 in September. As you will see, many of them are older than usual…the older they are the more poverty they live in. They have missed years of school to work for a pittance and are now valuing being given the opportunity to catch up on their education.
Class sizes at Bright Futures Secondary School will always be smaller than average class sizes in Malawi but, as you can see, there is plenty of space at Bright Futures Secondary School for more students. The biggest cost we face is feeding the students a nutritious, substantial school lunch every day. For most students, this is their only meal each day….so free school lunches are vital for their health & wellbeing, concentration and motivation.
If you’d like to help us get more vulnerable students into secondary education next year at Bright Futures Secondary School, then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Secondary education is not free in Malawi and none of these students would be at school without support.
Great donations from Jordanhill Out of School Service, Balfron Primary School and Kelvinside Academy. Thank you for all the support!
Sarah’s blog 10/06/24
Just a short blog today…Stuart and I were packing boxes this morning ready for them to go to Dundee to await the next container. It won’t go for another few months but the previous container that is on its way will arrive in Malawi very soon.
This morning we were packing up boxes of books for the School Literacy Project. The primary schools in the rural far north of Malawi have hardly any resources. Starting with Chambo Primary school, which has over 500 students in 8 classrooms (only 3 have desks and benches) we are donating boxes of preloved books to help students become confident readers and raise literacy levels.
This evening, we received more books, delivered by Angus Black, Balfron Primary School’s head teacher – I will take photos of these tomorrow – thank you so much.
Also this evening, we had some lovely books donated by Jordanhill Out of School Service. It was very kind of them to come all the way to bring them to my house and great to meet them. Thank you very much for this generous donation! They took away leaflets for the families that use their service and stickers for the children. We are very grateful when people go out of their way to support us and our projects.
Also in this morning’s boxes we packed some great donations of sports kit from Kelvinside Academy. These will be donated to one of the primary schools we support and they will be delighted to receive proper sports kits. Until recently, none of the primary schools had a matching kit. There were holes in all the sports kits too, so when we helped support the rugby tournament last year, the teams from the primary schools were so pleased to receive lovely new matching kits. We are grateful for all donations of sports kit and now this donation from Kelvinside Academy will be on its way to new students. Thank you.
Each box costs £17.50 to send on the container, so if anyone can help us pay for boxes we would be very grateful contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . Many thanks to all our donors and supporters, Sarah x
Josie from Jordanhill Out of School Service delivering a great donation of books to SarahThank you to Kelvinside Academy for this generous donation of preloved clothes
An update on the students who need sponsors to be able to take up their places at Bright Futures Secondary School.
Sarah’s blog 6/6/24
Recently, I shared a post about 18 young people, who were about to leave Chambo Primary School and expected to pass their primary school leavers exams, needing to be matched with sponsors to help support their secondary school education which has to be paid for in Malawi. None of these young people can afford to pay so unless they have help they won’t be able to continue with their education.
I’m delighted to share that 4 of those young people have now been matched with sponsors and will be able to take up their places at Bright Futures Secondary School in September. Agness, Silvia, John and Myless all have sponsors and we are very grateful to them for offering to support these young people. Agness was matched today with her sponsor which is why I’m using her picture in this post.
It only costs £25 per month per student, less than £1 per day, and you can sponsor as an individual, split the cost with friends, sponsor as a business or a club… anyone can make a difference to these young people, giving them choices and chances they wouldn’t normally have had…giving them a brighter future.
I have the huge responsibility of trying to match the other 12 young people with sponsors before the end of August, which is only a couple of months away, so that they too can attend Bright Futures Secondary School and receive free education, school uniform, stationery and a free nutritious lunch each day – for most this is the only meal that most of them have each day so your support is vital for their wellbeing.
Here is the link to the previous post with all the young people who need your help. Please do contact me if you want be a helping hand for one of these vulnerable young people contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . Thank you to each and every one of our sponsors… your generosity really does help. Please do get in touch if you’d like more info or to tell me you’d love to help. Thanks, Sarah x
Changing Lives Malawi is 5 years old! Thanks for your support and here’s to the next 5 years!
Sarah’s blog 29/5/24
Happy 5th birthday to us! Changing Lives Malawi is 5 years old today. We are very grateful for all the support we have had along the way and thankful for everyone who has sponsored a vulnerable child or young person.
A lovely happy birthday message from some of the students at Bright Futures Secondary School
Here are a few highlights;
500 children and young people are being fed a nutritious meal once a week at the Feeding Programme. This is the only proper meal of the week for some and children are walking 15km-20km to receive this food. Some young people carry their younger siblings with them. Once a week isn’t enough but all we can afford while we are helping with setting up other projects. No big charities are feeding children in primary schools in that area so most are malnourished and all are hungry.
All who need them have been given reusable sanitary towels so they don’t miss a week of school every month. Girls now have equality with regards to their education and school attendance. These sanitary towels have been made by a group of girls who have been using the hand turn Singer sewing machines we sent. They want to start making clothes to sell.
up to 75 pre-school children attend Bright Futures nursery and are being fed breakfast each day.
Vulnerable young people, whom we match with sponsors, are able to attend Bright Futures Secondary School free of charge. BFSS was built with the help of our supporters and opened in November 2022. More sponsors are needed for the students that want to take up their places in September 2024 contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com It’s less than £1 per day. Students receive a free education, uniform, stationery and a free nutritious lunch each day. For most, this is their only meal of the day.
There is clean drinking water, and a shower block for all the young people to use.
Our school literacy project is supplying primary schools with boxes of preloved books to help students become more confident readers and to raise literacy levels.
Fruit tree saplings have been planted for a sustainable future food source.
Crops have been planted to be used in the feeding programme and students are learning how to care for them and the chickens as part of their agricultural lessons.
Mother & baby project – we have some very talented people knitting beautiful blankets and clothes for the new babies on the maternity ward at Chambo Health Centre. The mums are extremely grateful for these beautiful things. If they go back a few weeks later, they are given other gifts for their babies and this is another chance for health professionals to see that mother and baby are well.
The above are just some of the ways that your support goes to help the most vulnerable people in Ibuluma. It’s always about teamwork and we very much appreciate everyone’s support.
There is still so much that needs to be done to help this community to get back on its feet. They want to be self-sufficient and just need a helping hand to get there. We will continue reaching out to try to connect with more people over the next five years so that there is a bigger team enabling more work to be done.
Thanks also to the core team of volunteers – you are an amazing support!
We have a few projects on DonorSee that we are raising money for and would appreciate your help. If you could ‘follow’ and give us a review on DonorSee that would be great, as it helps us get seen by more potential donors.
Vets with Horsepower have given us an amazing opportunity and we are very excited about this partnership.
Sarah’s blog 26/5/24
We are over the moon and so grateful to be one of the chosen charities for the Vets with Horsepower trip this year. https://www.vetswithhorsepower.com/
We will be posting more about this exciting opportunity over the next few days and weeks. Please have a look at the short animation that will introduce what Vets with Horsepower is all about.
Wishing the Vets on Horsepower a safe journey and a successful trip. We will be following your progress. Thank you again, Sarah x
This is what they have posted on their facebook page today: Many of us live in societies in which having the latest mobile phone is considered to be an important ambition… a recent appeal by Changing Lives Malawi was either heartwarming or heartbreaking- depending on your view point. Their appeal was simply for pencils and paper for their school. That was it. Pencils and paper. Because they didn’t have enough for the students, so the students could learn.
CHANGING LIVES MALAWI is a new charity for Vets with Horsepower and we are delighted to be involved.
Changing Lives Malawi was started in 2019 to support the people who live in Ibuluma which is a village in an impoverished rural area of Northern Malawi.
The aim of the charity is to help this community improve their lives by working towards self-sufficiency mainly through education.
Initially they started with a variety of projects:-
1 – A Feeding Programme for over 500 children (they could not learn if they have nothing to eat)
2 – A Literacy Programme (they could not learn if they have nothing to read)
3 – A Preloved Uniform Programme (they would not attend school in just rags)
4 – A Period Poverty Programme (providing reusable sanitary products so girls did not miss a week of schooling each month)
5 – A Sponsored Children Programme (ensuring monthly food parcels a given to the most desperate children so they can attend school and not have to work to get food for the family)
These projects have all made a difference to the community, but it became clear that a big issue was secondary education.
In Malawi, Primary School education is paid for by the Government. However Secondary School must be paid for. Their nearest secondary school is in Chisenga 20km away. Due to lack of quality roads/public transport pupils who are successful in getting a place (there are not enough places available) need to board adding extra costs that most families cannot afford.
In the summer of 2022, 8 of the sponsored children passed their leaving certificates for Primary School but were unsuccessful in obtaining a place at Chisenga Secondary School.
They decided that to ensure that these children did not miss out on their next stage of education, a Secondary School should be build at The Foundation. It was a huge undertaking for the charity, but they understood the difference it would make to the community. It would also compliment the nursery that had already been set up and be a bonus to the local Primary School in Chambo, 1km away.
After a massive fundraising campaign on 7th November 2022, The Bright Futures Secondary School opened its door to its first pupils. The school is funded through the sponsorship of students.
For the 22/23 Academic year the school had 2 Classrooms and an S1 and S2 pupils. During this year they raised more funds to build 2 more classrooms so for the 23/24 Academic year they could have S1, S2 and S3 pupils.
At the end of S2 the pupils sit their Junior Certificate of Education. If this certificate is obtained, they can progress to S3. ALL the pupils in S2 passed their exams and were able to move up in to S3. It was a huge achievement for such a new school and a credit to the determination of the pupils and teachers.
Being such a rural location accommodation for teachers is very difficult to find.
In the first year with 2 classes, the school needed to have 5 teachers. They built accommodation for them. In the second year with 3 classes the school needed to have 7 teachers. They have built additional accommodation for the teachers.
However in the third year when the school will have 4 classes, the school needs to have a minimum of 12 teachers. They therefore need to build another accommodation block to ensure we meet the requirements of the Education Board and are able to keep providing opportunities for the pupils and the wider community.
With a sizeable proportion of the funds raised and the support from Vets with Horsepower, they will ensure that the project is completed.
Students in their final year at Chambo Primary School started their national primary school leavers exams yesterday and we wish them the very best of luck.
We are hoping, with your help, that this isn’t the end of the road for their education. Imagine passing your exams but being so poor that you couldn’t go to secondary school.
None of these young people can afford to go to secondary school, which needs to be paid for in Malawi. These 18 students are all expected to pass their exams. We now need to match these vulnerable students with sponsors to help pay for their education at Bright Futures Secondary School. It’s only £25 per month per student. This pays for their education, uniform, stationery and a cooked school lunch each day – for many this is their only proper meal of the day.
Let’s help give these young people the brighter future they want and deserve. If you would like to make a difference to a young life please get in touch. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
NB – the older these students are, the poorer their family is. They have missed big chunks of school to try to earn a living to by food. They have missed out so much of their childhood. Let’s give them a Brighter Future!
Myless Ng’ambi had dropped out of school due to family circumstances but they managed to get her back to school which is why she is 17 already. She (like the others) is desperate for an education. I am delighted to have matched her with a sponsor, so providing she passes her exams, she will be attending Bright Futures Secondary School in September.
Seventeen more young people are still needing your help! You can sponsor as an individual, share the cost with a friend/s or family, or a business can sponsor a young person or a school, church or club could share the costs. It might be the most important thing you ever do for one of these young people. Thank you, Sarah x contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Morning everyone! I’d said that, as our 5th birthday is coming up at the end of May, I would be highlighting some of our projects. We have received lots of preloved books recently for our School Literacy Project which will have a big impact on literacy levels. We are collecting another big donation of books from Strathblane Primary School today and are very grateful for their support.
Most of the orphans and vulnerable children we support attend Chambo Primary School where there are over 500 children across 8 classrooms. The students in p8 are about to start their national exams on Wednesday. They cannot go to secondary school unless they pass all these exams. Even if they pass these national exams, unless they have the funds they cannot attend secondary school as only primary education in free in Malawi. None of the children we help to support can afford school fees. So should they only have access to primary education because they are living in extreme poverty?
https://donorsee.com/project/23503?share=1This is a link to our fundraiser to supply the students with stationery at Chambo Primary School. Please click on the link to see the video. A generous donor has agreed to match what we raise up to the total of $200. Please support this project.
With a lot of help from our supporters, we built Bright Futures Secondary School for the most vulnerable students. We have generous supporters who have kindly agreed to support students through their 4 years at secondary school. It costs £25 per month and this helps pay towards their education, a cooked school lunch each day, school uniform and stationery.However, Bright Futures Secondary School has lots of space for more students.
So, highlighting our Child Sponsorship Project, we need to find more kind hearted sponsors to enable more of the young people who live in extreme poverty to go to Bright Futures Secondary School. Will you sponsor a young person? Or a group of friends could share the cost? It might be the most important thing anyone does for that vulnerable young person. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Please, please help us fill Bright Futures Secondary School with sponsored students giving them opportunities for a much brighter future. Silvia, Elizabeth and John are all expected to do well in their exams…please give them a chance. Through education, these children can be the brighter future for their community. Thank you, Sarah x
Thank you to The Clive Richards Foundation for the grant for this teachers accommodation block. We are delighted with the results.
Sarah’s blog 13/4/24
We were so grateful to receive a grant for £11,000 from The Clive Richards Foundation to build a staff accommodation block, staff latrines, boys latrines and girls latrines. We were just waiting for the signwriter to come so that the accommodation block was totally finished to show the photos. Four male teachers are living in this accommodation. The four self-contained apartments all have their own bedroom and sitting room.
It certainly hasn’t been straightforward as currency has been devalued, prices of goods keep rising and the rainy season started before the project had been completed. But despite the issues, they’ve worked hard and succeeded and now the teachers are pleased to have these lovely new rooms.
As the area is very rural and the community is living in extreme poverty, there is no suitable accommodation in the surrounding area that teachers could rent. The Clive Richards Foundation recognised that we needed quality accommodation to attract quality teachers for Bright Futures Secondary School.
Enjoy the photos and I have attached the links to previous blogs at the start of this accommodation project. To The Clive Richards Foundation for taking a chance on us and trusting us with a grant – THANK YOU. It makes a big difference when people understand our vision and come onboard with us to help us achieve for the young people we are supporting. We are so grateful for the help we receive from individuals and organisations. Many thanks again, Sarah x
Just a quick blog tonight as I have been busy doing a grant application. Our four firewalkers were absolutely fabulous and great sports. We are so grateful that they all stepped up to the challenge and stepped out of their comfort zone to raise much needed funds.
They’ve done brilliantly – thanks to everyone who has donated so far. However, if you’ve not donated yet, please could you? We would love both teams to get to £1,000 and they aren’t far off!
You can access photos, videos and links to their fundraisers by clicking on their stories.
Thanks again to Allander Rotary for organising this event and supporting our charity and to Milngavie Guides for hosting the event. Of course the biggest thank you goes to Joanne, Alison, Alistair and David for walking over hot coals for charity. Thanks, Sarah x
Have a look at these great photos and videos of two teachers at Balfron High School who completed a firewalk to raise much needed funds.
Sarah’s blog 28/3/24
Our four firewalkers were fantastic! Thank you so much if you have already donated…if you haven’t please can you fire in a few £££ as it all makes a big difference and will show how much we value our four amazing volunteers who really challenged themselves.
I shared Joanne and Alison’s firewalk photos and videos earlier in the week. Their fundraising link is https://gofund.me/c127c5e9 They are raising funds for textbooks and a staffroom at Bright Futures Secondary School in Malawi.
The teachers wanted to share their photos and videos with students at Balfron High School before putting them on social media. That happened yesterday and they made approximately £130 in donations yesterday lunchtime. Thanks to everyone who gave some money to watch the videos at school! Their fundraising link is https://gofund.me/9430b2af . The teachers are donating half of their funds to Changing Lives Malawi and half is going to next year’s volunteering school trip to Zanzibar. So here are some photos and videos of Alistair Blair & David Braid from Sunday’s firewalk.
Thank you again to Allander Rotary for organising the firewalk and to Milngavie Guides for hosting the event. It was a brilliant evening. To see Joanne and Alison’s photos and videos again here is their link Joanne & Alison’s Fantastic Firewalk
Thank you everyone and please do put a few £££ in the pot if you haven’t already done so, Sarah x
A great photo of David Braid (left) and Alistair Blair, teachers at Balfron High, big smiles after their firewalk challenge
What an amazing evening it was last night for our four firewalkers taking part in the charity firewalk event in Milngavie, organised by Allander Rotary Club.
We are going to share Joanne and Alison’s photos and videos first of all. David Braid and Alistair Blair, who are teachers at Balfron High School, want to do a presentation to students at school on Wednesday. We have said we will share their photos and videos after Wednesday. So here goes for Joanne & Alison – thankfully their feet have survived ok…Joanne got a blister and they both had very dirty feet that needed a good wash before bedtime!
Joanne Byrne is my younger (and much braver than me) sister. She owns Killearn Driving School. Joanne has had a rough few years as she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy, several other operations due to infections and is now waiting for reconstructive surgery. She is such an amazingly strong person and I am so proud that she challenged herself to do this firewalk. She was amazing! It’s not the first time she has raised money for Changing Lives Malawi so we are very grateful.
Alison Rennie is Joanne’s best friend and such a lovely person. She is a friend to everyone and always has a big smile. She has issues with her joints and can be very tired due to having lupus. Despite this, Alison was up for a challenge and did brilliantly last night. She had a minor mishap prior to the firewalk….she nearly got stuck in the toilet! She assured us she wasn’t trying to get out of the firewalk but was genuinely worried she would miss it! Thankfully, she made it out on time!
Thank you to everyone who has donated already. If you haven’t then we would be very grateful if you could give a few £££. Their link is https://gofund.me/c127c5e9 Enjoy the photos and videos!
All money will be going towards building a staffroom at Bright Futures Secondary School and buying textbooks. Currently, the teachers are using classroom 4 as their staffroom. However, in September, there will be another intake of students and all four classrooms will be in use for teaching. Also more teachers will need to be employed by September so a staffroom is a necessity for them. As there is no S4 yet, we have no textbooks for next year’s S4 students yet, so this is another essential resource we are fundraising for.
Many thanks to Allander Rotary for organising the event and to Milngavie Guides for hosting. Thank you again to all our supporters and to Joanne & Alison and David & Alistair for being such good sports and taking part to help give vulnerable students a brighter future in rural northern Malawi. Thanks, Sarah x
NB Apologies for the poor quality of some of the photos – smoke from the fire was to blame rather than my bad photography lol.
Alison, Alistair, David and Joanne…. our four fantastic firewalkers!
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘Invest In Women: Accelerate Progress’.
‘There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.’
Michelle Obama
Thanks to our wonderful supporters, Changing Lives Malawi is making a difference to hundreds of orphans and other young people each day.
Because we believe in equality and inclusion, girls and women have needed more help and support due to the dire poverty they live in. The women and girls are strong; grandmothers caring for grandchildren, widows bringing up six children alone, mother’s caring for disabled children whilst being judged by society as it must be their fault that their child is disabled. When things are so bad, these brave women, who have been strong for so long, need a helping hand to get back on their feet. We try to get their children matched with sponsors so that their is some food going into that home to supplement the meagre amount they have.
The end goal is that all families will have enough to eat, all children will be thriving and in education and the community will be self-sufficient through employment and sustainable projects.
One of the first things that happened is that we sent hand turn sewing machines and fabric to Malawi. A group of girls were shown how to make reusable sanitary towels for all who needed them. This is an ongoing project. Hundreds of girls have and will continue to attend school ALL MONTH the same as the boys. Previously they had to stay at home for one week each month so missed out on a quarter of their education. So equal access to education is improving for girls.
Another way that girls are being helped is that, although illegal, some girls are still at risk of being married off too young, whilst still children, as their families cannot afford to feed them. By matching them with a sponsor, they have food coming into their home and have welfare checks and, of course, access to quality education.
All the young people are desperate for education. They know that this is their way out of poverty. We are ensuring that girls, as well as boys, who wouldn’t normally be able to go to secondary school, receive a quality secondary school education and a cooked school lunch each day. This is free of charge as we match them with sponsors whose monthly contribution of £25 helps pay for their place at Bright Futures Secondary School.
In September, there will be the next intake of S1 students to Bright Futures Secondary School from pupils who are in p8 at Chambo Primary. Very few families can afford to pay for their child’s secondary education at one of the state secondary schools, which is why it was so important that Bright Futures Secondary School was built. However, each of these young people will need to be matched with a sponsor to enable them to attend Bright Futures Secondary School.
If you would like to help a young girl, in her last year of primary school, have the opportunity to be the best she can possibly be by sponsoring her through secondary education then please do get in touch. It’s only £25 per month and the cost can also be split between two friends or a group. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com On International Women’s Day 2024, this might be the most important thing you ever do for one of these girls.
We have good, strong role models in female teachers and staff and, of course, this offers employment and makes women independent in their own right. Also, there are wonderful women who volunteer their time to support the work in Malawi and of course here in Scotland and internationally. I personally want to thank them. I have strong women supporting me everyday and I am grateful and want them to know how much I appreciate them.
So on this International Women’s Day, will you invest in a young woman and accelerate progress? Will you stand up for girls’ education?
‘Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women.’
Maya Angelou
Thank you for your support and hope you enjoy the photos from Bright Futures Secondary School and nursery this morning. Happy International Women’s Day, Sarah x
Miss Chisenga is the humanities teacher at Bright Futures Secondary School.Miss Mkumbwa, Head Teacher and English Teacher.Group discussions outside. It’s good to see some sunshine after the heavy rains.Miss Chisenga, humanities teacher, Miss Mkumbwa, Head Teacher & English Teacher and Miss Siyame, nursery teacher. All are good role models for the vulnerable girls we help to support.Miss Siyame is the nursery teacher.The preschoolers (4-6) enjoy coming to nursery and are fed at each session.
