On International Day of Charity will you join our supporters by donating to one of our projects. You will be helping some of the most vulnerable children in Malawi.
Sarah’s blog 5/9/24
“Show kindness and compassion to others” is the slogan of the International Day of Charity set up by The United Nations.
As you might know, because we are supporting a whole community living in extreme poverty. Support in the rural far north of Malawi is minimal so we are trying to work with the team there taking an holistic approach. Which is why you will see me doing so many appeals for different projects. However, they all lead to the end goal of self-sufficiency and sustainability.
Currently, there is new accommodation being built for teachers as there is nowhere locally for them to rent. It’s really difficult to get teachers to come to such a rural location and of course they need to be paid!
We still have nine young people who have passed their primary school leavers exams who are desperately looking for sponsors so they can attend Bright Futures Secondary School. Secondary Education needs to be paid for in Malawi. None of the young people we support can afford to pay. Being sponsored ensures the student gets free secondary education, free stationery and uniform and a free school lunch. This is, for most, their only meal of the day and means at home there is one less mouth to have to feed.
Ensuring young people get to secondary school also means that there are far less teenage pregnancies than there would normally be and also less risk of girls being married off far too young. Even if students do not pass their final exams (of course we hope that they do), being in school has avoided these risks and students will be far more literate and numerate and have more life skills than if they hadn’t attended secondary school.
So please would you sponsor one of these 9 young people to go to Bright Futures Secondary School? It’s only £25 per month to sponsor a student. You could sponsor as an individual, or split the cost with a friend…or even 5 friends each paying just £5 per month. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com if you’d like to give a vulnerable young person a brighter future.
Or could you help with core costs of running the school each month? Or make a one off or monthly payment towards the expense of food for school lunches? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Here are some of our projects that we are hoping to get funded on DonorSee
With your help, we are Changing Lives (in) Malawi. But it’s always about teamwork and we need to on our team to support hundreds of the most vulnerable children in Malawi, many of whom are orphans. On International Day of Charity, will you help a child? Thank you for reading and supporting our work, Sarah x
Lots of the children arriving at Bright Futures Campus to be fed – it’s their one proper meal of the week. It’s not enough but all we can afford while we help set up sustainable projects.
Clothes and soft toys for the children at Bright Futures Nursery
Vulnerable students were delighted to receive new school uniform when Bright Futures Secondary School opened in Nov 22.
We need help to send over 60 boxes of preloved books to children living in extreme poverty in rural northern Malawi. Give the gift of education.
Sarah’s blog 1/9/24
Hi everyone. I thought I’d write a little bit of a personal post today. Many of you might know that Literacy in Early Years is one of my special interests, as well as communication and attachment in babies and young children. Some of the babies and children I have had in my care have had additional needs.
One baby, sitting in her highchair could communicate to me that she wanted a drink of milk as we had taught her sign language. It was thought her speech might be delayed so we wanted her to be able to express her needs. Another child who struggled to communicate, loved to laugh and laugh at the fun and rhymes in The Hairy Maclary stories by Lynley Dodd. Language and literacy can be such a wonderful shared experience and I treasure all those memories. I miss all that time spent with young children looking at wonderful story books together. Reading the same stories over and over again, anticipating the funny bits, the rhyming words, making up our own rhymes and loving the pictures whilst spending time forming positive attachments was a privilege.
As an Early Years Educator, I loved the children at nursery bringing a book to me and following the words with their fingers as we re-read a favourite story. Or a group of them shouting out the next line in the story when I paused while we all shared a book at the end of the session.
Can you imagine your child/ren starting school having never held a book. Or never looked at the pictures as they sat on an adult’s knee and pointed to their favourite characters. Can you imagine never having the opportunity to read books like The Hungry Caterpillar, Hairy Maclary, or any of the Julia Donaldson Books… hundreds of times over? All of this preliteracy matters.
This is why we are ensuring that all children at Bright Futures Nursery are read to. And we also gift them at least two books each to have at home. The headteacher at Chambo primary has already commented that children who have attended Bright Futures Nursery are ahead of the other children in their class at school.
We are gifting boxes of books to primary schools where resources are limited. This will help children become more confident readers, to open up a whole new world of stories and a love of books. Children leaving primary school have exams to sit. We are hoping that exam rates will show that these children, who live in extreme poverty, are achieving and that boxes of preloved books are making a difference. How can a child learn to read if they have no books to practice with?
We send baby clothes and baby blankets that people have kindly knitted. These are given to new mums who have just given birth. We are going to collect board books and gift a board book for mum and baby to look at to start their literacy journey together.
We have been very fortunate to have been given so many books to send which will make a huge difference. We have over 60 boxes of books for The School Literacy Project. This is amazing… we have had donations to send 10 boxes but we need your help to send the rest please.
We’ve had books from Balfron Primary, Strathblane Primary, Drymen Primary, local nurseries and Drymen library (which closed recently).
I’m asking for help from my friends and contacts and anyone reading this. As a parent, as a carer, as an educator, I’m asking you to help me please. If your children have attended any of these schools or you’ve enjoyed reading with your children or grandchildren… or if you can see the importance of this project….please help me to raise funds to give other children the same opportunities our children have enjoyed. Please make a small donation if you can. This is a relatively low cost project that will help change the lives of hundreds of children living in extreme poverty. Thank you, Sarah x
The boy holding the book is Timothy whom we sponsor. He lives with his grandmother and is now about to start s2 at Bright Futures Secondary School. Please let me know if you would like to sponsor a young person contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Great donations of preloved football kit from Feniton Women’s FC and Crediton Youth FC via ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’ charity – thank you!
31/08/24
Once again, we are delighted that ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’ charity has donated preloved football kits to the young people we help to support in rural northern Malawi. We are very grateful to Julian who spends a lot of his free time visiting football clubs to collect preloved kits that are no longer needed.
So today, as well as thanking Julian, we say a big THANK YOU to Feniton Women’s Football Club and also Crediton Youth Football Club for collecting their preloved kits and giving them to Julian to send to vulnerable children and young people in Malawi.
The young people love team sports, especially football and netball. They can enjoy being with their friends and forget about all the problems in their lives. Now they have smart, matching kit with no rips and tears. They can feel proud to belong to a team, their self confidence and self-esteem is better. They can dream about being famous footballers….and they know that people, whom they have never met, care enough about them to make their lives a little bit better.
We are going to organise football training and tournament for the nearby schools in the rural Chitipa area once we have enough funds in place. As no big charities are feeding children in primary schools that far north, we must provide each child taking part with food and drinks which obviously adds to the cost of any event. If anyone would like to contribute then you can either donate via our bank account with the reference ‘football’ Bank of Scotland, Changing Lives Malawi, Account Number 21081462, sort code 80-22-60 or donate via our fundraiser https://donorsee.com/project/24384?share=1 .
Thank you again to everyone who has donated preloved kit and to Julian at ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’ charity…. on behalf of all of the young people…Thank you for making a difference, Sarah x
With many thanks to The Clive Richards Foundation for their grant of £9,000 towards the expansion project of Bright Futures Secondary School.
Sarah’s blog 16/08/24
Today we are absolutely delighted that £9,000 has been transferred to the charity bank account by The Clive Richards Foundation. This is the second grant we have received from them, having had a successful grant application last year for £11,000 which paid for the teachers’ accommodation block for four teachers. Each teacher has their own sitting room and bedroom. Thank you so much for your support again this year.
We are so grateful to The Clive Richards Foundation for this second grant. They understood the issues we have of being able to attract teachers to Bright Futures Secondary School because of the very rural location. The extreme poverty means that there is nowhere suitable for teachers to rent nearby.
A brief recap for those who may not know. Bright Futures Secondary School was built because none of the orphans and other young people could afford school fees. Secondary school in Malawi is not free so all of the young people were having to leave school at the end of primary school whether they had passed their primary school leavers exams or not. Some young people whom we matched with sponsors were able to attend the nearest government school if they were chosen to have a place…but there were not enough places for everyone.
Thanks to lots of support, the first two classrooms at Bright Futures Secondary School were built and the school opened on 7th November 2022. Classrooms 3 and 4 where built and ready for term starting in September 2023. As there were only 3 year groups last year, classroom 4 was able to be used as a staffroom and for some other non academic skills classes.
Next month (Sept 24) will see 4 year groups at Bright Futures Secondary School. This obviously means all classrooms will be in use and more teachers will be employed…hence the need for the expansion. So, after having lots of quotes and writing lots of grant applications and fundraising…we have embarked on a £33,000 expansion for Bright Futures Secondary School.
Work has started on another motel style accommodation block – this time for 6 teachers. There will also be further latrines/washing facilities and solar power for the accommodation block and the school. Obviously this is a huge amount of money and we are so grateful for everyone’s support. It means so much that people believe us and the community we are helping to support.
The students know that education is the way out of the extreme poverty they are living in and this is an investment in their future. They will have a brighter future with choices and chances that they would not previously have had. A huge part of the school day for these young people is a free school lunch. Their families cannot afford to feed them properly. The substantial, nutritious lunch they have at school each day means at least they have eaten. They are able to concentrate because of the food they receive at school. Their families can concentrate on trying to feed the other members of the family and have one less mouth to feed.
Did you also know that, by keeping these young people in education, we are helping to prevent child marriages? When families cannot afford to feed their children, often they will agree to the eldest daughter being married far too young. Levison and team have supported lots of girls by matching them with a sponsor and easing the financial burden on the family slightly. Some of these girls have been as young as 11. Many children and young people regard Bright Futures Campus as their safe space and girls have run there in tears to tell Levison about proposed child marriages. Another benefit is preventing teen pregnancies as young people are focused and working hard to better themselves.
National exams are at the end of S2 and S4. Even if students do not manage to pass their s4 exams, they are far more literate and numerate than they were before attending secondary school…which will benefit them in whatever job they get after leaving school. They also learn practical skills like agriculture so will know how to grow their own food.
These young people need to be nurtured because of the trauma they have faced in their young lives. They are all living in extreme poverty, most have suffered from malnutrition, all are hungry. Most have lost family members and are living with extended family. Some families have been affected by HIV and Aids. So an holistic approach is taken at Bright Futures Secondary School. These young people need adults to believe in them. To help their confidence and self-esteem. To be positive role models. To know that they are as important as other young people. This is why Bright Futures Secondary School has been built and is now expanding…to give current students, and the hundreds that will benefit in future, a brighter future.
If you’d like to help by holding a fundraiser or would like us to attend an event or you’d like to make a financial donation please get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you again, Sarah x
The ground has been cleared of rocks, boulders and vegetationThousands of bricks are being made by handBricks are covered to stop them drying out too quickly in the sun and cracking. Then they are stacked to make a kiln and covered in mud. Fires are lit in the gaps underneath.The difficult work of digging the foundationsSome bricks were bought to use for the foundations, then the others will be used when they have cooled down enough next weekThe men are working hard to get the accommodation block built during the school holidaysThe builders are hard at workProgress every day
The truck has been invaluable to fetch supplies although there is a fuel shortage and they had to wait in a long queue for fuel to arrive and to get a tank of fuel (no extra cans were allowed which is a real nuisance as they are in such a rural location)
such hard work
water is needed to be brought from the river as the borehole only has enough water for domestic use during the dry season
Levison and his team have been busy opening the boxes that arrived recently. As Sunday is the day to run the feeding programme, word had got round that there might be some gifts given out yesterday. However, far more children turned up than was expected… there were well over 500…many arrived early…so it was just going to be too much to give clothes out in a sensible way, ensuring everyone got something that fitted them. Everyone will get something, but it will have to be done over different days.
These children are all living in extreme poverty. Many are orphans who live with extended family. Families struggle to feed children every day… so the feeding programme is vital. Once a week isn’t nearly enough but it’s all we can afford at the moment. As families struggle to eat, they certainly don’t have money to buy clothes.
We didn’t send as many boxes as usual on that container as we had sent lots of tables and chairs for the classrooms. On the next container there will be more boxes and, as well as preloved clothes for the children, there will be lots of boxes of books for the school literacy project.
There were over 70 nursery age children today (most of whom go to Bright Futures Nursery). It was decided that they would be the easiest age group to give gifts to first. They all received new clothes and a soft toy each and Levison took these lovely photos of some of the children who are aged between 4 and 6.
After the youngest children had their gifts, then the next age group received clothes too. If you’d like to make a donation to help the feeding programme or help with the cost of sending boxes then please do email me contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
We hope you enjoy these photos and videos and do let me know if you recognise any of the soft toys as having being donated by you! Thanks to everyone who supports us to help hundreds of children and young people, Sarah x
Bright Futures Campus – hundreds of children turned up early this morning hoping for gifts as well as being fed.Over 70 children age 4-6 received clothes and soft toys
You can hear the excitement and chatter as the children come together to be with their friends and know that they will have a good meal today. We wish we could feed them more often than once a week but we need more financial support for the feeding programme
The children and young people are thanking everyone for the donations and support
These young people need a sponsor to help them access secondary education which isn’t free in Malawi. Will you help please?
Sarah’s blog 10/8/24
Thank you so much to the generous people who have come forward and offered to sponsor a young person to go to Bright Futures Secondary School. We are so grateful for everyone who sponsors one of the young people we help to support.
Secondary school is not free in Malawi. So, unless these young people receive help, their education stops at the end of primary school whether they pass their primary school leavers exams or not. This doesn’t seem fair. They are all living in extreme poverty. Many are orphans living with extended family. None can pay school fees. All of them know that education is their way out of poverty and to a brighter future with choices and chances.
The new school term in Malawi starts on 16th September. Will you help us please? We need to find sponsors for all of these young people. You can sponsor as an individual, a family or two friends can share the cost. It’s only £25 per month to change a young person’s life. Or if 5 friends shared sponsorship of a young person then that’s only £5 each per month. Please could you ask your friends?
Apart from paying the teachers’ salaries, the biggest cost is food. At Bright Futures Secondary School each student gets a substantial, nutritious meal each lunchtime. For most this is their only meal of the day, so it is vital. Families, knowing that the students are fed at school, don’t have to worry about feeding them at home. This is how poor families are. They just do not have enough to go round.
I’ve enclosed the link to my original blog about looking for sponsors but the photos in this blog are the young people who still need your help. Please contact me to ensure we can help. It takes teamwork. Thank you so much, Sarah x contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
I have been asked to find sponsors for these vulnerable students so they can attend secondary school. I cannot do this without your help. Please read today’s blog and help if you can.
Sarah’s blog 14/06/24
It’s bad enough for our children waiting for exam results but, in Malawi, did you know that only primary education is free? So depending on their national primary school exam results their education might stop at the end of primary school. Also, if their families cannot pay, their education stops at the end of primary school. Imagine if our children only had primary school education? Think of everything they would miss out on.
There are 8 years of primary school and children start school at age 6. Class sizes are 50+ children. For example, Chambo Primary School, in the rural far north of Malawi has 500+ students over 8 classrooms. Only one classroom had desks and benches, until we successfully applied for a grant to install clean drinking water and desks and benches for two further classrooms. This grant was thanks to the Kitchen Table Charities Trust. Another grant from the Eleanor Rathbone Trust, meant that a girls toilet block was built. Meaning that girls no longer had to squat in the bushes which left them at risk of attack and with no dignity or privacy.
Five classrooms are remaining with children sitting on the concrete floor. There were hardly any resources until we started our School Literacy Project, gifting boxes of preloved books to help students become more confident readers. We gave students at Chambo Primary school notebooks and pencils in January…nowhere near enough for what they need…but better than nothing. Thanks to our fundraising on the site DonorSee these vulnerable children are about to receive more notebooks and pencils (one now and one in September).
Imagine not being able to afford a notebook and pencil. Imagine not being able to afford soap. Imagine not eating properly each day. No big charities are working in the far north yet. We can only afford to feed 500 children once a week whilst we try to set up sustainable projects to help them be self-sufficient.
Many of these students in primary school are older than they would normally be. If they are one of the eldest children in a family, they might have dropped out of school for a while to work for a pittance to help bring money into their family to provide food whilst the younger children in the family attended school. Or maybe all the children in the family had to work. Or they might have had to look after an elderly relative. So there can be many different ages in one class of students.
I need your help. I have been asked to find sponsors for 18 students who have just done their primary school leavers exams. They are bright students and are all expected to pass. None can go to secondary school without financial support. I have managed to find sponsors for 4 of them – many thanks to those sponsors for coming forward. However, I still need to match 14 students with sponsors and I’ve only got 12 weeks to do it before the new term starts in mid September. THESE STUDENTS ARE HOPING THEY WILL BE ABLE TO GO TO BRIGHT FUTURES SECONDARY SCHOOL BUT THEY NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE. They wait in hope of a brighter future. They know that education is their way out of poverty. This will be the most important gift these young people have – the gift of education. Will you reach out and help one of them? Please?
Being a sponsor is less than £1 per day. How many people buy a chocolate bar or a packet of crisps that we don’t really need? Could you spare less than £1 per day? It’s only £25 per month to make a difference to one of these young people. You can sponsor as an individual, two friends could share the cost (making it less than 50p per day) or your club, school or church could sponsor a young person’s education. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com When you meet a friend for a coffee or have a few glasses of wine with your friends, would you ask them please if they can join you in sponsoring a young person’s education? If we have lots of little groups of friends or colleagues sponsoring one young person, just think what a difference we could make. It’s always about teamwork. You have the ability to change a life.
Being sponsored means these students will receive free education at Bright Futures Secondary School where class sizes are kept smaller than average. They will receive school uniform and stationery and other gifts. Each student will receive a free nutritious lunch each day. For most, this is their only meal of the day so it is vital for their health and concentration.
Will you help one of these vulnerable young people please? Many are orphans, living with extended family or some are from single parent families. All are living in dire poverty. Your help and support to gift these young people a secondary education and a brighter future will be so welcome. Will you help us help them today? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Together we can keep Changing Lives (in) Malawi. Thanks, Sarah x
Yesterday we were contacted by Arnold Clark to ask if we would like to help with a promotion they would be doing today. They are the new sponsors for the front of the Scotland Rugby Team shirts. Today, they announced that 500 people could swap their last season’s shirt for a brand new shirt at one of the two Macron shops. We were asked if we would like all the preloved shirts to send to the young people we help to support in Malawi.
As well as gifting 500 shirts for us to reuse, Arnold Clark have agreed to pay for the container costs for these shirts which is a huge help. And, what we are really excited about, is that they have promised to donate £500 to ensure we can run another rugby tournament for the orphans and other vulnerable children.
We are absolutely delighted that these shirts will be going to young people in need and that we will have money to ensure that Jack Mphande, Malawi Rugby’s Development Officer can come and visit for a third time. Thanks to our supporters, we were able to pay Jack’s expenses for his previous trips to introduce touch rugby to those in the far north of Malawi.
When the young people meet for training and the tournament, we will have money to be able to feed them all and provide drinks. No big charities are working that far north to feed children in primary schools, so all of these children are hungry (most are malnourished) and need to eat so they will have enough energy to enjoy their games of rugby.
Until recently, these orphans were not used to people visiting and wanting to spend time with them. It really helps their confidence and self-esteem. They learn new skills and have fun with their friends and are able to forget about the dire poverty they live in and the trauma they have been through.
Thank you Arnold Clark for partnering with us to ensure the continuation of grass roots rugby in northern Malawi. Thank you everyone who donates their tops that will ensure the young people have matching tops instead of their old and ripped ones. They will all be delighted. Thank you to the rugby development officer, Jack Mphande, for agreeing to visit again. There will be so much excitement when the young people know you are coming!
There will be lots of photos and videos so please do follow us on social media if you haven’t already done so. Here is the link to the new rugby shirts that came out today https://www.facebook.com/share/v/vm3miom5zWkb5oZh/
We always say it takes teamwork and we are very grateful to be given this opportunity to reach more people through partnership working. To the team at Arnold Clark – thank you. To Scottish Rugby – thank you. To everyone else who supports us – thank you also. We couldn’t do what we do without you all, Sarah. (Below is a photo of the new Scotland Rugby shirt and there are a few photos from Jack’s previous visits to teach touch rugby to the orphans)
All the children are hungry. It’s now school holidays. Please help us continue to feed them and plan for future sustainable feeding projects
Sarah’s blog 1/8/24
The schools in Malawi are now on summer holidays and won’t return until mid September. The sponsored students at Bright Futures Secondary School will receive a monthly food parcel, like the other sponsored children, as they won’t have their usual school lunches.
The Feeding Programme will be needed more than ever as Bright Futures Nursery is closed for the school holidays. These preschool children usually receive porridge at each session so, unfortunately, they won’t have that. https://donorsee.com/project/23502?share=1 to donate to feeding the nursery kids.
The feeding programme runs once a week and up to 500 children and young people are fed a substantial and nutritious meal. Children walk up to 20km for this one proper meal of the week. They are so hungry. Please donate here https://donorsee.com/project/23035?share=1
Fruit tree saplings have been planted. These will be a sustainable future source of food and income as excess fruit can be sold at the local markets. We are fundraising to buy more fruit tree saplings to add to the orchard. Here is the link https://donorsee.com/project/23627?share=1
Chickens have been bought to lay eggs and more fertilised eggs will be bought soon to put in the solar powered incubator. This will be another food source and sustainable income source. Thanks to the donors who funded this project.
We are raising money to buy piglets and make a pig pen. Future piglets that will be born will be sold at local markets and will provide a sustainable income. Here is the link to donate to this project https://donorsee.com/project/23894?share=1
These, and other projects, are all plans to help the community be self-sufficient and sustainable and also be good for the environment. However, the malnourished children need food now. Will you help us please to ensure that we can continue to feed them? https://donorsee.com/project/23502?share=1 to donate to feeding the nursery kids.
Thank you in advance for supporting and helping the orphans, Sarah x
The children were delighted to be given these beautiful woolly hats at the weekend… there are lots more on going on the next container
Sarah’s blog 1/8/24
We have several people who knit for us from time to time…all very talented…I can’t knit and I think it’s wonderful how they dedicate their time and talents to help the orphans we support.
It can get cold at night in Malawi and none of these children have enough bedding so a woolly hat is very much appreciated and they are delighted to receive a gift.
My auntie, who lives in England, visited last month and brought lots and lots of hats that she and her friend have been busy knitting over the last few months. Another friend of hers buys pencils and other supplies so my auntie brought those with her too. There were nearly 200 hats! Amazing!
I waited to post about the hats until the container arrived with the hats that had already been sent…some were knitted by my auntie but others by talented locals from Balfron, Strathblane, Torrance and further afield. We are so grateful for each and every one of the hats, baby cardigans and blankets that are knitted with love and donated to us for the children and babies we help to support.
https://donorsee.com/project/23640?share=1 here is the link to one of our small fundraisers on DonorSee. We will be buying fabric so a group can learn to make clothes. We will also buy some wool so that the knitting group can continue learning to knit. If you could spare a small donation it would be most appreciated. Thank you so much to every knitter and for everyone who supports our projects. Enjoy the photos, Sarah x
we are very grateful for these lovely hats and for all the other beautiful knitting we receive
new hats for the children that will be packed up and sent in the next container
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)
School holidays always mean that I don’t have as much time to devote to Changing Lives Malawi but that doesn’t mean nothing happens. I’ve applied for two grants this week. There are so many people chasing the same money that it’s not often that we get lucky…but fingers crossed!
At the end of last week, I received a cheque for £4,500 from The Inverclyde Trust, for which we are very grateful. This is the third time they have supported our work and this donation will go towards the next phase of teachers’ accommodation and latrines as more teachers will be needed at Bright Futures Secondary School in September. Thank you so much for making a difference again.
I’ve received two parcels of preloved shoes in the post and also two bags of shoes have been dropped off at our house. These will be great for the teenagers at Bright Futures Secondary School. Thank you again!
All Saints Junior School in Maidenhead emailed me to ask if we are still collecting preloved school uniform. They are changing their uniform and have some new and preloved clothes to send us as well as some new backpacks. This is a great donation and so many of the orphans we support will benefit from some lovely new clothes. All Saints are about to break up for their summer holidays but, once they are back, we look forward to bringing updates of the donations and also some fundraising that the children will be helping with. We are so glad that you got in touch and look forward to partnering with you after the school holidays.
Hopefully, later in the week, there will be photos of the next lot of boxes arriving at their destination. We have heard that the container has reached the capital of Malawi, Lilongwe, and is waiting to be released by customs. Once that happens, the container will reach its final destination at Ekwendeni, near Mzuzu. It’s always very exciting waiting for boxes and other supplies to arrive. Sometimes boxes were packed so long ago that we’ve forgotten what was in some of them – although I do keep an overall note of what is in the boxes and who things are for. I’m looking forward to seeing the preschool children with some new resources and also students at Bright Futures Secondary School with some topic books they requested.
We are still trying to raise funds for lots of small projects so any donations will be very much appreciated. Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x https://donorsee.com/project/23995?share=1
