What a great day we’ve had at Bearsden & Milngavie Highland Games. Thank you so much to Allander Rotary Club for inviting us and supporting us.
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Sarah’s blog 8/6/24
What a great day we’ve had at Bearsden & Milngavie Highland Games. Many thanks to Allander Rotary for inviting us and for supporting Changing Lives Malawi. There were a few heavy showers but most of the day was bright sunshine and there were plenty of people about.
Allander Rotary had an old fashioned game – rolling 10p to try and get it onto a square – with all the proceeds for our charity. The children were really enjoying that and queuing up for a go. We had packs of cards for sale that lots of people were admiring and buying and we handed out lots of leaflets and stickers.
Here are some of the photos from today and, no doubt, there will be a few more to add.
We are so grateful to Allander Rotary members for inviting us along and supporting us. It was a great opportunity to meet more people. Thank you also to Jackie for all her hard work and for her endless enthusiasm. Hope you enjoy the photos, Sarah x
Teamwork! Sarah & JackieSetting up for the Bearsden & Milngavie Highland GamesAllander Rotary organised this fun fair game which was very popularIan, Stuart and Jackie with the games mascot!Ian and Jackie with Provost Gillian Renwick
There are so many people to thank during volunteers week – we are grateful to you all.
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Sarah’s blog 7/6/24
I wanted to use this opportunity to thank everyone who helps us. Changing Lives Malawi has no employees, we are all volunteers so you can be sure all money we receive goes to the projects we support in rural northern Malawi.
We have a team of trustees who, as well as making decisions together, collect donated items, pack boxes, drive boxes to Dundee to await the next container, raise funds, etc etc and are generally a great support network. Oh and one helps me with IT issues as my forte is certainly not technology! however I am learning! One of our trustees, Christine Cresswell (my mum), is a talented artist and sells her paintings with all proceeds for our charity. We have had some of her paintings made into cards and selling paintings and packs of cards has raised a great amount of money. christine cresswell artist
A special mention goes to our accountant who volunteers a huge amount of time to keep everything shipshape and makes sure every single penny we receive counts towards the projects we are supporting and keeps us right with budgeting and planning.
We’ve got people who have raised funds for us in various ways – including sponsored walks, fire walks, band & quiz nights – we value every single one of you. Of course, fundraising is ongoing so we are always looking for volunteers to help us raise vital funds. Could you hold an afternoon tea for your friends and family? Could you do a sponsored event? What about an evening event? Or could a school or club raise some much needed funds?
There are too many people to mention who help us – thank you so much – it’s always about teamwork and we couldn’t do what we do without you. However, there are three groups of people that I want to thank publicly as they really do go above and beyond.
Allander Rotary Club have been supporting us for the last year with fundraising and we will be with them all day tomorrow at Bearsden and Milngavie Highland Games. If you are local then please do pop along to West of Scotland Rugby Club where the Highland Games take place – Saturday 8th June. Thank you to the members of Allander Rotary Club who are all volunteers for the time and effort you put in to support Changing Lives Malawi. allander rotary club
Vets with Horsepower are currently on their annual motorbike tour, volunteering and giving lectures to other vets and sharing their expertise on Equine Medicine. They raise money for different charities each year and we are very thankful to be one of their beneficiary charities this year. It has also been very helpful that they have shared our posts as more people now know about the community we are helping to support in rural northern Malawi. vets with horsepower
Bananabox Trust in Dundee organise the containers that take boxes of aid to Malawi. The people who process the boxes and pack the containers are all volunteers and we are very grateful for their help and support. the bananabox trust
If you would like to get involved and be a volunteer for Changing Lives Malawi then please do get in touch – we always welcome new people to our team! Thanks everyone, Sarah x contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Some of the packs of 8 blank fundraising cards made from original paintings by one of our trustees, Christine Cresswell. We will have these for sale at Bearsden & Milngavie Highland Games on Saturday 8th June £5 per pack of 8. They can also be ordered from me at £5 plus p&p.
An update on the students who need sponsors to be able to take up their places at Bright Futures Secondary School.
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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
The Malawi National Junior Certificate of Education exams start tomorrow. These are formal exams taken at the end of S2. Here are some of the S2 students at Bright Futures Secondary School. They’ve been to register and get their IDs today and Levison has given out more school uniform as they have 6 full days of exams to do and each student only had one white shirt.
They are thankful for their new water bottles and stationery they were given last week all of which will be very useful for them as they do their exams. I had bought a batch of water bottles, pens, pencils, erasers & sharpeners plus small bars of soap and toothbrushes and toothpaste. Each water bottle was filled with these gifts and Levison gave them out recently. As you can see, there were lots of happy students. Small gifts like these help to keep them motivated and let them know we are thinking about them. Good luck to the S2 students in their exams.
Almost every week I am writing grant applications in the hope of getting money that hundreds of other small charities are also applying for. Lots don’t reply. Some reply to say ‘sorry’ they have a large number of applicants etc etc. but this week has been an extremely good week as there have been three successful responses. Very many thanks to the following for supporting us to help support the orphans and vulnerable children in rural northern Malawi;
The Gilchrist Trust gave £1,000 towards text books for the new S4 class at Bright Futures Secondary School that will be needed in September.
CB & HH Taylor Trust donated £1,000 towards purchasing fruit tree saplings for a new School Orchard Project.
The Souter Charitable Trust sent a cheque today for £3,000 for a solar panel kit for one of the new buildings and also solar lamps for students.
We are so grateful to individuals who support us and also organisations like the above who support our work and the work happening in Malawi.
We have also joined DonorSee where we are trying to reach out to a new audience. So far we have had three small projects fully funded which we are delighted about. There are some more projects that we have uploaded so, if you’d like to donate a small amount please create an account and login to donate. If you could leave us a review that would really help others to see and trust us. Thank you. https://donorsee.com/project/23641?share=1 is the link for the Chicken Project and the link to view all of the small projects we have on DonorSee just now is DonorSee .
We are still looking for sponsors to support these students who have just finished p8 at Chambo Primary. Unless they have someone to help pay for their secondary education, they will need to look for jobs in the fields as that is their education over. Will you be a sponsor please? It’s only £25 per month contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . Here is the link to a recent post with photos of all the students who need your help for a brighter future. Please help if you can. We always say it’s teamwork and we couldn’t do what we do without you. Thank you so much, Sarah x
Four organisations, working together to support some of the most vulnerable people in northern Malawi to self-sufficiency and sustainability.
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Sarah’s blog 24/5/24
The Rotary Club of Allander (Milngavie) have been supporting Changing Lives Malawi in a variety of ways over the past year and we are very grateful for their support. We are attending Bearsden & Milngavie Highland Games with them on Saturday 8th June, so if you are attending the event, please come and say ‘hello’.
In March, I was invited as a guest of Stuart Sharkie, President of Allander Rotary, to attend a talk on Malawi at The Probus Club of Allander. We were both made extremely welcome by William Ho, President of The Probus Club and all the other members.
Changing Lives Malawi is a member of The Scotland Malawi Partnership which promotes positive relationships and connections in Scotland and Malawi where people in both countries can learn from each other and work collaboratively. Chad Morse, is Deputy Chief Executive of The Scotland Malawi Partnership and was giving the talk. This was the first time I had met Chad in person and his talk was fascinating as he and his family had lived in Malawi for many years.
As well as benefitting from hearing Chad’s talk about the work of the SMP and his time of living in Malawi, he had some wonderful photos of the beauty of Malawi. There was also an opportunity to chat with people and I met some lovely people.
William arranged for an article to appear in Bearsden & Milngavie’s Community Magazine and he has sent me a copy of it as it was delivered yesterday. I’m thankful for the opportunities and support that The Rotary Club of Allander, The Probus Club of Allander and The Scotland Malawi Partnership have given to Changing Lives Malawi and I hope that we can all continue supporting the hundreds of vulnerable children, and their community, through a variety of projects with the end goal being sustainability and self-sufficiency.
Stuart, William and Chad – thank you for your support of our work. I’m grateful for your help and kindness. I always say it’s about teamwork and, little by little, our team is expanding.
I’ve included the link to two recent blogs I have written to give examples of some of our projects, then the magazine article and photo. If anyone would like to get involved then please let me know contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x
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
As you know, every month, sponsored children and young people are given a food parcel to supplement the food in their homes. Sometimes there can be a bit of delay in getting the food to them, especially during the rainy season. Food is so scarce at the moment, has gone up in price and heavy rains cause issues and delays. When it is raining heavily, most of the children will stay at home, especially if they have rivers to cross and it is just too unsafe to do so.
Levison and team have to source enough maize and it then has to be collected and paid for. The maize needs to be milled, which is more expense. A maize mill in the village has been everyone’s wish for a very long time. This would provide jobs and save the long journey that so many of the children make to the nearest maize mill, putting themselves at risk of attack.
Anyway, here are the photos Levison has sent. Thank you to those of you who sponsor a young person….you are making a big difference to their lives. It’s only £25 per month to sponsor a child. You could sponsor as an individual or could a group of 5 friends each pay £5 per month to sponsor a young person? Or could a class, group or congregation sponsor a young person? It might be the most important thing anyone does for that child. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you for supporting the children, Sarah x
Can you help us save some vulnerable teenage girls from becoming child brides? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
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Sarah’s blog 10/05/24
The young people we help to support are so vulnerable and life is extremely hard for them. Levison and team are doing an amazing job, working tirelessly to try to give hundreds of children and young people a brighter future.
Maria was at risk of being married off at age 11 because her grandparents couldn’t afford to feed her. Imagine being so desperate that you’d allow an 11 year old to get married to a man. It’s just beyond comprehension. Young girls are far more likely to die during childbirth or have lifechanging injuries.
We have been thankful that sponsors have come forward to support the most vulnerable girls and that they now have a monthly food parcel going into their home to supplement the meagre supplies they already have.
However, Levison has had an extremely trying time over the past few days. One of the sponsored young people isn’t well. Levison found out that the parents were going to take him to a witchdoctor. He spoke with the parents and said that they should take him to the health centre. Levison also spoke with the village chief and he agreed that any sick children should, in the first instance, be taken to the health centre. This will be communicated to the community.
Levison also found out, when he was doing welfare checks at sponsored children’s homes, that two of the young teenage sponsored girls were being married off to men. Arrangements were already underway. Levison went to see the village chief and councillors about this illegal practice. One of the men involved has fled to Zambia. The village heads are going to remind the community about this not being allowed and that parents/carers will be taken to court. For now, these girls are safe. But the situation with families struggling is always in the background. Attitudes to child marriage need to change.
However, there are many girls, like Maria, who have been saved by having a sponsor to support them and through the selfless work and caring attitude of Levison and team. Also, through sponsorship and education, girls who are in school are less likely to become pregnant. Many girls have been saved from becoming teenage mothers by being in full-time education.
We need more sponsors to protect more girls. If you would like to help a vulnerable girl have a secondary education and a brighter future then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Please help us prevent more child marriages by sponsoring a girl who needs our help. It’s only £25 per month which is less than £1 per day. You can share that cost with a friend to ensure that as many girls as possible are saved from being child brides. Please help them have a place at Bright Futures Secondary School and choices and chances that they don’t currently have. It might be the most important thing you ever do for them. Thank you, Sarah x
As part of our 5th birthday celebrations, we are launching an appeal for preloved books, school uniform and footwear and also asking people to sponsor the cost of sending a box on the container.
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Sarah’s blog 01/05/24
At the end of this month our charity, Changing Lives Malawi, will be 5 years old! To mark this amazing milestone, we will be sharing stories throughout the month, looking back at how things were and what has been achieved. To start the month I’m sharing our birthday appeals.
We have been fortunate that so many people have donated their preloved books to our School Literacy Appeal; individuals, adults, children, local nurseries, schools, church congregations and you all have been making a big difference to literacy levels in the far north of Malawi.
We have been able to stock the shelves in Emma’s Rainbow Library, as well as donating boxes of books to local primary schools. These schools have hardly any resources and our aim is to support children and young people to become more confident readers. How can they practice reading without any books?
The pre-school children in the nursery have missed out on years of pre-reading skills; they haven’t had the picture books to turn pages, to sit on an adult’s knee as a baby and have a favourite story read to them. This was evident when the pre-school children first encountered books that we had sent. They had no idea how to turn pages or what to do with the books. Now, thanks to the support we receive, we are ensuring each child at Bright Futures Nursery has at least two books to take home with them to keep. We want every home to have some books and families to start looking at these books together.
We are appealing for people to get involved and donate preloved books as part of our 5th birthday celebration. We are also appealing for preloved school uniform, shoes, crocs, sliders, trainers (all sizes) but they must be in very good, clean condition. If you can make a small financial donation with your books, clothes or shoes then please do as that will really help us with the costs of transportation.
We are also appealing for people to sponsor a box of books, clothes or shoes. It costs us £17.50 per box on the Bananabox Trust container plus there are additional costs of collecting the boxes in Malawi. We will write your name, name of a loved one, your business or even a funny message on a big label on your box. It would make such a difference if there were enough people covering the cost of boxes and would, therefore, make it such a team effort!
For more information, or to get involved you can email me on contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Together, we CAN continue Changing Lives (in) Malawi. Thank you to everyone who supports us, Sarah x
It’s been a really busy week again, here and at Bright Futures Campus. I’m going to retell the story of Chikumbusko. This is for three reasons;
To highlight her story and reach out for help for her.
To help our supporters understand what life is like for the children and young people we support. There are many children who have suffered many traumatic events in their lives like Chikumbusko has which is why they all need our help.
To try to get some support for her foster family. They are living in extreme poverty but have welcomed Chikumbusko back with open arms. We must try to support them with some food and basic items to ensure they can look after her properly.
When we first met Chikumbusko, she was on her own, dirty, cold and hungry. Her grandad, whom she lived with, was very ill and had gone to hospital. Suddenly, she was all alone. Her grandad never came back from hospital as he passed away. Chikumbusko, was also suffering from malaria.
Thankfully, Levison found a family to take her in, took her to the health centre and got medicine for her, and we matched her with a sponsor after doing an appeal. Things started to improve for Chikumbusko as she was cared for by the grandmother of another sponsored young person.
However, a few months ago, Chikumbusko and a group of her friends (not sponsored young people) ran away. Their idea was they were going to town to find jobs. Unfortunately for them, like many children who run away, life didn’t work out as easily as they thought.
As soon as Levison found out she had run away, he was making phone calls to different people in town asking them to look out for her. He went looking for her and so much time was spent following potential trails. Sadly, for a long time, he was unsuccessful. There was a rumour that these girls had been trafficked to Tanzania. Thankfully, this wasn’t true. But they had been sleeping rough on the streets. The police arrested the whole group and put them in cells overnight to keep them safe one night. The girls were given a good talking to and told to go home but, sadly they didn’t.
Eventually, Levison did find Chikumbusko and helped her get to a distant relative’s house where she has spent the last few weeks coming to terms with some of the trauma that she has suffered. This was only ever going to be a temporary arrangement but we didn’t know if Chikumbusko would every return. On Friday, she came back to the family who had been looking after her. They were pleased to see her and have agreed she can stay with them. We probably won’t ever know what exactly has happened to her when she and her friends were away but we are glad she is back. No doubt, there have been more traumatic experiences to add to those she’s already suffered.
In the meantime, I had been keeping her sponsor informed when I could, however their personal situation has since changed and they had to make the decision to stop their sponsorship of her, they still sponsor another of our young people and we are greatful for their support. Whilst we could argue that Chikumbusko had chosen to run away and therefore gave up her sponsorship, we are hoping that she can be given a second chance as she is such a vulnerable young person, having suffered so much loss and grief as well as malnutrition and loneliness. There are times in her life where she must have been so frightened.
This shows how much each child who uses the feeding programme is cared about. Despite being so busy, Levison tries his best to ensure they are safe. However, we need so much more help and so many more sponsors for all the hundreds of very vulnerable children in the far north of Malawi.
Will you help us give Chikumbusko a second chance please? We need to match her with a sponsor to ensure that there is a food parcel going into that home each month to help supplement what that family already have, which isn’t much at all. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
It’s £25 to sponsor a young person. Whilst they are at primary school they receive a monthly food parcel. They also receive clothes and soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste etc when available. When they get to secondary school they get free education and a free nutritious school lunch each day instead of their food parcel at home. You can be a sponsor on your own or split the cost with a friend or a group of you could sponsor a child. Please will you help Chikumbusko. There are hundreds like her needing support but, today, let’s find a sponsor for her. Please contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Chikumbusko when we first met her. She was alone, suffering from malaria as well as malnutrition. She was living with her grandad but he went to hospital and she never saw him again. She had no one.After matching her with a sponsor, Levison found her a family to foster her.Chikumbusko looking well and happier in her new home.Chikumbusko is back with her foster family but needs our help
Congratulations to Fumbani for having the winning essay in March!
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Sarah’s blog 19/4/24
After a bit of a delay due to exams then school holidays (with the holiday study school), the winner of March’s essay competition for S3 at Bright Futures Secondary School has been announced. Fumbani Sichamba received his prize money this week – well done Fumbani!!
Now that S3 have been writing essays for the past few months and becoming more confident in their abilities, we are going to introduce these essay writing competitions for S1 and S2. Having a prize to work for each month will motivate students and writing essays will give them more practice at expressing their thoughts on paper.
We hope that you enjoy reading the students’ essays as much as week do. Thank you for helping us support these vulnerable students, Sarah x
