Tag: desks

Shoes, Desks & a Microscope

Sarah’s blog 24/10/23

It’s a bit of a photo dump today! There is so much going on that it’s not easy to get photos of everything that is happening. Yesterday, S3 students at Bright Futures Secondary School were able to choose new shoes from the boxes of preloved shoes that www.salsshoes.com kindly donated to us to send to the teenage students. So there were lots of happy young people yesterday receiving new shoes to protect their feet whilst walking to and from school. Thanks to Sal’s Shoes and to all the people who donated preloved shoes to them.

We’d had a donation of money to be used to make desks for classroom 3. The donor wishes to remain anonymous but we are very grateful and thankful for this donation and the difference it is making. Levison was able to take some photos yesterday and you can see that the young people have a great learning environment. Thank you. We have preloved chairs and tables that we had kindly been offered going on the next container for classroom 4. If anyone would like to help towards the cost of transporting these then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

When Levison was at Bright Futures Secondary School yesterday, the S1 class were having a science lesson. He managed to get some photos of them using the new microscope that we sent. It’s so good to see these vulnerable teenagers having the opportunities they deserve and a good quality education. We do need sponsors to support more students to have a place at Bright Futures Secondary School so if you are able to commit to changing the life of a young person through education then please do contact us. It only costs £25 per month and you could share that cost with a friend. Or could you commit £5/£10 per month to ensure students have a nutritious, cooked school lunch each day. For many this is their only meal of the day. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Thank you for your continued support. We are still collecting school uniform and shoes and also thin rain jackets if anyone would like to help. Also, any scientific calculators, maths sets or kindles that are still in good working order. If anyone has another microscope or STEM resources (science, technology, engineering, maths) that their children have grown out of eg snap circuits, meccano, magnets, etc please do get in touch to see if we are able to make use of them. Thanks and enjoy the photos, Sarah x

Great News for Chambo Primary School

We are delighted to have received a grant.

Sarah’s blog 22/4/23

Yesterday was a day for good news. To be honest, I haven’t stopped smiling every time I think about this.

Yesterday our small team of volunteers finished the challenge to travel the same number of kilometres as the boxes we send to Malawi on a container ship. If you’d like to donate to help us build phase 2 of Bright Futures Secondary School then the link is here https://gofund.me/ece5753a and here is the link to yesterday’s story From here to Malawi – The challenge is complete! – Changing Lives Malawi we would be so grateful for any donations.

As part of trying to raise funds for our charity, I am regularly applying for grants. I’m not just thinking about The Foundation but about the whole community so when I saw a grant that the criteria was for a primary school, I thought of Chambo. However, lots of other charities are applying for the same grants so it isn’t often that good news comes back from an application. Thankfully this time the answer was ‘YES’.

Chambo Primary School, which is nearest to The Foundation we help to support, has only one classroom with desks and chairs. The children sit on the floor in the other classrooms. There are not many resources. We have already provided 17 boxes of books to help the students become more confident readers.

Lots of these children are orphans and make up the 500 children and young people we help to feed every weekend. This is the only substantial meal many of them get each week as no big charities are feeding children in primary schools in this area. At Chambo Primary School there is no water supply. There are no toilets.

We have secured a grant of £6,000 from The Kitchen Table Charities Trust, a small charity set up by John Humphries, to help the students at Chambo Primary School. This grant will provide them with a clean water supply and also two more classrooms will have desks and stools. We are so delighted as having clean water to drink will help their concentration and they will also be able to wash their hands. Thank you so much to The Kitchen Table Charities Trust for enabling us to help the hundreds of vulnerable children at Chambo Primary School.

I will keep everyone updated as this project progresses and there will be lots of photos coming regularly from Malawi. The headteacher, staff and students at the school haven’t even been told about this yet….Levison is looking forward to sharing this wonderful news on Monday morning.

So thank you again to The Kitchen Table Charities Trust for trusting us and helping make a difference to very vulnerable children in rural northern Malawi. There is still much to be done but, bit by bit, we are Changing Lives Malawi. Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x

Students in p8 at Chambo Primary School. We paid their teachers to run a study school during the Easter holidays to prepare them for their national leavers exams. We also ensured they were fed each lunchtime.
Children at Chambo Primary looking at some of the books we sent to help them become confident readers.
The 17 boxes of books we gifted to Chambo Primary School. Many of these were preloved books donated by our supporters. We are now supplying other primary schools with boxes of books.
The Health Centre which is near to Chambo Primary School. They have a clean water supply and have kindly allowed this to be used to pipe water to Chambo Primary School.
A water tower at the Health Centre. We paid for a survey to be done to ensure that this project was feasible. Staff at the health centre are delighted that the clean water can be shared.
Students at Bright Futures Secondary School. These two classrooms were built as part of phase 1. We are now fundraising for phase 2.
Feeding the 500 orphans and other vulnerable children are fed a substantial meal once a week

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

Sarah’s blog 14/12/22

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

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

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

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

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

Christmas Fundraising & news update

Sarah’s blog 8/12/22

There is so much going on both in Malawi and here, so I thought I would do a quick update.

  1. Our charity accounts and trustees’ report have been completed and filed with OSCR. We now have three years of completed accounts and our charity is progressing well, thanks to all the support we have received. More grants can be applied for as many organisations require three years accounts from applicants.
  2. I am continuing to try to raise funds to support the projects; education and feeding the orphans continue to be our priorities; and we must reach more people to try to get more awareness and more support to ensure that children are fed and that phase 2 of Bright Futures Secondary School can be built next year. If you would like to contribute to the school project the link is here https://gofund.me/44a92444 or you can email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Why not make a monthly donation to support the feeding of 500+ orphans? Or if you are in a position to gift £500 or more then you can have your name, a name or your choice or your business name above a classroom door or one of the other new buildings.
  3. Fundraising calendars – I still have some available. These make great Christmas gifts. These are only £10 plus £2 p&p. As one of our trustees paid for these to be printed, all of the £10 will go towards Bright Futures Secondary School. We have alternative gift cards available, paintings and packs of cards by Christine Cresswell one of our trustees who has donated her time and talents to raise funds for our charity. Have a look and see what you can buy for Christmas without leaving the house! The link to all the fundraising items is in a previous blog post here Christmas Cards & Gifts – Changing Lives Malawi
  4. The container is due in Ekwendeni any day now. Levison is just waiting for confirmation then he will be travelling south to collect the boxes and chairs that we sent. Thank you to everyone who donated items to be sent. There will be great excitement when the chairs and the boxes arrive.
  5. Government schools will close for the Christmas holidays on 16th December. Because Bright Futures Secondary School was a bit late opening, due to having to raise funds as we go, the teachers have kindly suggested that the school remains open for an extra few days. So, the last day of term at Bright Futures Secondary School will be 21st December and a Christmas party, for all the 500+ orphans and other vulnerable children, will be held on 22nd December which they are all very much looking forward to. We thank the generous donors who gifted money to feed the children an extra time to enable there to be a party.
  6. Desks for the classrooms are being made thanks to donations we have received. If you would like to purchase a desk for use by a student, they are £20 each.
  7. As it has been so busy, unfortunately, we have not had as many updates about sponsored children as we would have liked. I have now linked with one of the teachers who will work with me to remedy this and sponsors will be able to hear from their sponsored children a lot more regularly.
  8. If you would like me to come and talk at your club, church or school (or for any event) I’d love to hear from you. I have a laptop, projector and screen and lots of photos to show!

Thank you for reading and supporting us, Sarah x

Our fundraising calendar will make a great Christmas gift – £10 each (all of the £10 goes towards the school project) plus £2 p&p
Some of the school desks – £20 each
The front of the alternative gift card
Inside the alternative gift card – just circle or tick the gift you are wishing to purchase. A football is £10, 4 fruit tree saplings £10, soap for 100 children £40 and transportation of a box of books is £20 contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Bright Futures Secondary School – Desks

Sarah’s blog 3/12/22

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

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

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

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

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