Tag: fire

Keeping the fires burning

The kiln is kept alight all night.

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Sarah’s blog 16/8/23

There is a huge amount of work happening currently. The foundations are being laid for the next classroom block…. no machinery….just hard work. Bricks have been made by hand and, after drying, have been stacked into kilns ready to burn. All the wood was gathered – ox and cart had to be hired as the area was inaccessible to the truck.

Last night, a group of men stayed up all night, each being responsible for keeping one of the many fires going under the brick structure which was then covered in mud. The fires are now out and the bricks will take up to two weeks to finish baking and cooling down. Thank you to everyone who has donated towards Bright Futures Secondary School phase 2 project. We appreciate all your help. We had grants towards phase 2 from The Rhododendron Trust, The Archer Trust and The Inverclyde Trust for which we are very grateful.

However, we haven’t reached our target yet and would love it, if you are able, to make a donation to our fundraiser https://gofund.me/ece5753a We still need a roof, windows, a door and text books.

In addition to this, work has started on digging the trench to take water from Chambo Health Centre to Chambo Primary School meaning the children will have clean drinking water for the first time. The funding for this project is thanks to The Kitchen Tables Charity Trust who gave us a grant to help the primary school. There is also money to make some desks and benches too.

Yesterday, I received word that The Eleanor Rathbone Trust had kindly given us £1,000 towards building latrines at Chambo Primary School. We are grateful for all the people who are trusting us with their money to improve the lives of hundreds of the most vulnerable children in rural northern Malawi.

Enjoy the photos and video of the progress from the team in Malawi, Sarah x Lots of hard work!

Bright Futures SS – Phase 2 -Foundations

So much hard work as it’s all done without machinery
The bricks are made and left to dry, then stacked with gaps at intervals. The structure is covered in mud and fires lit making a kiln to bake the bricks. It will take up to two weeks for the bricks to cool down enough to use.
Each fire has a man responsible for ensuring it burns all night

Three Young Men, a Sponsor & a Plan

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Sarah’s blog 22/02/22

When you are so poor you can’t even finish primary school as you have to try to earn some money to feed yourself as your family cannot afford to feed you….that is a level of poverty that is, for most of us, hard to comprehend.

When you don’t have enough money for food to eat every day, that is something that most of us cannot understand. This is the story of three young men who have faced hardship like that. They are living in extreme poverty but, thanks to their own initiative, and now thanks to their sponsor, there is a plan in place to improve their lives and make something of themselves.

Manase is in his early 20s. He and his brother had been pictured previously working hard labouring for the builders who were building the shower block. He has been helping out at The Foundation. Chancy (early 20s) also helps out and Levison is able to give them small amounts of money for their work.

Yesterday, Levison went to see some of the eco stoves that Manase and Chancy had made, free of charge, for people in the village. Because of their initiative, their hard work and thoughtfulness is being rewarded.

Lameck, a teenager, has been on my mind since Levison took a photo of him reading books at the Foundation Library a few months ago. He didn’t even finish primary school due to poverty and has been doing piece work to earn a pittance since, but there he was reading in the library and trying to learn. I’ve been wondering how we can support him since then and now an opportunity has arisen.

We have matched them with a sponsor who will provide some money for The Foundation to pay these three young men each month whilst they make eco stoves for those in the community who don’t yet have one.

Eco stoves are….as the name suggests….eco friendly. They are an enclosed method of cooking so are far safer for people than cooking on an open fire, especially when young children are around. They use less wood which is obviously better for the environment and they retain heat so they can give off heat when it’s colder weather. Because they use far less wood, people don’t have to spend so long searching and collecting wood, leaving them more time for work or other household chores. Along with planting lots of tree saplings, the team at The Foundation are doing their bit for a sustainable future for people and the planet.

Manase, Chancy and Lameck will work on these and also brick making. Hopefully, they will be able to make enough bricks for future buildings and, possibly, if they want to, they may be able to go to college or have a tutor come to the Foundation to teach them bricklaying and building.

Hope you enjoy looking at the photos. If you’d like to donate to one of our project or support a young person then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thanks for reading, Sarah x

As it’s enclosed it is a far safer way of cooking and uses less wood than cooking on an open fire
Chancy with one of the eco stoves that he and Manase made
Manase with an eco stove that he built with Chancy
Lameck enjoys using the library to improve his reading and knowledge. He has just been doing piecework for a pittance. He will now be working with Chancy and Manase to build eco stoves.
Gogo is the respectful name for an older person, like grandmother or grandfather
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