£10 will buy 4 fruit tree saplings planting a sustainable future for people and planet. We have already sent money and saplings have been planted but we want to provide the hundreds of orphans and other vulnerable children at The Foundation with food for their future, providing employment and an income for The Foundation. We want children to have the nutrition they need and not to be hungry. The end goal is for self-sufficiency. Planting hundreds of tree saplings will help prevent soil erosion and help with climate change.
contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com and we can send an email to you to forward or send the e-gift straight to the recipient. Thank you for helping us continue Changing Lives Malawi, Sarah x
Each week approximately 500 orphans and other vulnerable children come to The Foundation for a substantial, nutritious meal. Some children walk up to 20km for their meal….there are no big agencies feeding children in the far north of Malawi….this is probably the only proper meal these malnourished children get each week. Some days, some children might go without any food.
It requires a big team around these children and we are very grateful for all who are part of that team. However, we need more people in our team to continue to be able to change these children’s lives using an holistic approach. They now have better clothes, they have clean water to drink and showers to wash themselves instead of drinking and washing in the river. They can concentrate better at school because of the food they are receiving. Their self-esteem is better as they feel better about themselves and how they look. The children are enjoying team sports and are learning life skills. They have books and now computers in the library. All of these things are thanks to the team we have supporting these children. Thank you.
To help support the children email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . Can you see the difference in the third and fourth photos compared to the first two? The children all have clothes donated by our generous supporters. They are clean, their clothes are clean. Their drinking water is clean. They have been fed. They have opportunities. They know people care. Please help us continue Changing Lives Malawi. Thanks for reading, Sarah x
There are almost 90 vulnerable children and young people who have already been matched with kind sponsors who are changing their lives. It’s only £25 per month to sponsor a child and give them the security of food and education. There are no wages or admin fees with our charity as we are run by volunteers. You can sponsor a child as an individual, a family, two friends sharing the cost, or a business or club. Each of these children is malnourished and has experienced loss and trauma. We need you. The children need you. We always say it’s teamwork and we need to be the team around these children to give them the opportunities they deserve. The food they need. The education they should have. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com to sponsor a child. Thanks for reading and for your support, Sarah x
These children are waiting to be matched with a sponsor…. which child can you help today?
A few days ago, I found out via a message from my son’s school, that 10th March is International School Meals Day. At his school, there is a different menu choice for today which is why we received the message. I understand, from the internet, that it is a way of promoting healthy eating and having conversations about food. This is a good idea.
However, because of my passion for helping those who are the most vulnerable, once we had established what my son wants for his lunch choice today, my next thought was how many children in the world don’t ever get a school dinner let alone a choice?
500+ orphans and other vulnerable children come to The Foundation Feeding Programme that runs once a week. They are fed a substantial and nutritious meal. Some walk up to 20km to receive their one proper meal of the week. All suffer from malnutrition. We can only afford to support The Feeding Programme to run once a week. There are no agencies in the far north of Malawi feeding children in schools. Already, teachers are able to see that these children’s concentration has improved thanks to one proper meal a week….imagine if we could afford to feed them more often. Some children can go for a day or a couple of days without eating. That is heart breaking.
The end goal is for The Foundation and the village to be self-sufficient, but until that time arrives, these most vulnerable, malnourished children need our help. Please can you support us to support them? Please? If you could commit to giving a regular small donation each month then please contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com for bank details. Or another way to donate to the feeding programme is to text FEEDING to 70490 .Together we can make malnutrition a thing of the past and you can help us to continue Changing Lives Malawi. Maybe one day International School Meals Day will be a day that all children can celebrate and be included in. Thanks for reading, Sarah x
The maize is growing well. Some was washed away and had to be replanted but hopefully there will be a decent crop. There is a very decent crop of weeds in the fields thanks to all the rain they’ve had….so today was another chance for people to lend a hand and pick out all the weeds from amongst the maize. Look at those beautiful hills….The Mafinga Hills. The other side of those hills is Zambia….but at a glance it could be Scotland!
weeding in the maize field with the Mafinga Hills in the background…beyond them is Lwangwa National Park in Zambia.
So much rain has encouraged the weeds to grow in between the maize plants
We saw this family last week. The roof had almost totally blown off their mud house in the wind and rain. They were able to temporarily ‘borrow’ another house….the roof isn’t much better on this one but at least they have shelter.
The family had been invited to The Foundation to receive some gifts. Today they came. Here are the photos. They cried tears of joy and couldn’t believe the lovely things they had been given. Thanks to Moses and Angela now having sponsors, Levison was able to give the family a bag of maize.
They are all malnourished and extremely sad and upset by what has happened to them. They are exhausted due to lack of food. Levison has assured them that The Foundation will look after them. We will bring you more photos of them which will, hopefully, show the improvements in their health and wellbeing.
If you would like to sponsor a child to help change their life then please email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thanks for reading, Sarah x
The family’s ‘new’ temporary homeThe roof of the family’s mud house has almost totally been destroyed by the wind & rain
It had rained heavily again in Northern Malawi this morning so not as many children turned up. Only 301 orphans & vulnerable children turned up instead of the usual 500. The others will have to wait until next weekend for their next substantial meal. If we had more funds to feed them twice or three times a week it wouldn’t be so bad that they hadn’t been able to come today.
So the 301 were fed and also watched some cartoons on the tv, played with the trainset and then helped with weeding the vegetables in the fields.
We have a new way to donate. Text FEEDING to 70490 to donate £5. Hopefully, people will make use of this and help us to provide more money for food.
Hope you enjoy today’s photos. Thanks for reading, Sarah x
Exam fees needed to be paid by today and Angela’s school fees too now that she has a sponsor.
Levison visited the school and was able to take some supplies to the young people that had arrived on the container recently. They’ve had underwear, toothbrushes & toothpaste and other toiletries, some clothes and calculators.
All the young people are doing well and were pleased to receive their gifts and they look very smart in their school uniforms.
Levison managed to take some individual photos too, which I will post tomorrow, before the torrential rain started again. I’ve made a note of who had photos taken and will ensure that anyone who didn’t will get their photo taken next time.
Many thanks again to all the sponsors for giving these young people opportunities that they wouldn’t otherwise have had.
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy the photos, Sarah x
We should be kind every day but are we sometimes too busy to actually stop and think about others?
As a charity, working closely with The William Stewart Foundation in rural Northern Malawi, every day we think about the vulnerable people there and how we can help improve their lives and help them towards self-sufficiency. Money (or lack of it) is usually the biggest issue with all the wonderful plans and wishlists.
Given my background, I am usually thinking about feeding children, accessing education, clothing them and generally nurturing them. The Foundation is doing a wonderful job of feeding 500 children every week (a substantial and nutritious meal) and having over 80 children and young people with sponsors giving them access to education and a monthly food parcel.
One of our other trustees has brilliant ideas….well most of them are brilliant ideas…he is used to being told that some of his ideas aren’t so good.
I think what I am trying to say is that there is a huge amount of enthusiasm and passion to see the vulnerable children and adults in Ibuluma succeed. For their lives to change for the better. For them to have more chances. For them to become self-sufficient. For malnutrition to be firmly in the past. For literacy and numeracy to improve, for people to have jobs and be very, very proud of what they have achieved through hard work and huge struggles.
As I said, lack of money is always the issue. Everything costs money. Apart from kindness. Kindness costs nothing. On our website there is a new document (you will see the link in red on the top right of every page) about our feeding programme. If you can afford to help us with the feeding programme committing £5 or £10 per month to provide more food for the children then please get in touch as that could be your Act of Kindness today. Or could you sponsor a child for £25 per month?
Or if you cannot afford to donate money, your Act of Kindness for these orphans and vulnerable children could be to like and share our posts to reach more people and hopefully future sponsors. Liking and sharing posts costs nothing but would be extremely kind. It also gives us a boost when we see people liking and sharing posts so what will your Act of Kindness be today? Please help us continue helping the orphans and other vulnerable young people by showing your kindness and support today? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com thanks for reading and for being kind, Sarah x
January is a hard month for many after the extra expenses of Christmas, however we’ve made it to the end of January now and, hopefully, most have now been paid.
Unfortunately, in Malawi, the price of maize is going up and the rains are heavy. 500 children are being fed once a week at The William Stewart Foundation. They receive a substantial, nutritious meal….their only one of the week. All are suffering from malnutrition. It costs approx £100 to feed 500 each time. We are looking for people to commit to £5 p/m so we can feed them at least twice a week, or implement a daily porridge programme on school days. There are no big agencies feeding children in that area in rural northern Malawi, so the responsibility is ours….some children are walking up to 20km for their food.
Please help us to help them? These children are just like our children with hopes and dreams of a better future….but they are hungry, really hungry. It affects their bodies and their brains. They deserve better. We CAN do something about malnutrition and make it a thing of the past. You CAN do your bit and be part of a growing team helping 500 children to have their basic needs met. Helping them have a better future. Helping them succeed. Helping change their lives. They will know that people care about them. They will have hope. £5 isn’t much each month. We would love you to be part of our feeding team. Will you take up the challenge and help? Please? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you for reading and please think about joining our feeding team, Sarah x
It’s very true….another quote that I like says ‘Helping one person might not change the world, but it could change the world for one person.’
There are approximately 500 children that are fed once a week. These children are some of the poorest on the planet and all suffer from malnutrition…some worse than others. We would love for these children to have more food. The end goal is that the villagers will be self-sufficient and there will no longer be a need for a feeding programme. Until that time we must help. We cannot do it alone.
We need to grow our team. If more and more people would please donate just £5 per month then we can help feed the children more than once a week. Ideally, I would love all the children to have a mug of porridge before school in the morning. It costs £100 to feed 500 each one nutritious meal. It’s not much per child but soon adds up when there are 500 children. Imagine if we could get 100 donating £5 per month….the children could be fed another 5 meals extra per month. What a difference that would make. But think about it….we are still only talking about 2 meals a week. Can you imagine only having one or two substantial, nutritious meals a week? Or if you couldn’t feed your children every day…. it’s heart breaking. They can’t help where they were born or the situation they were born into. But each of us can help one of them.
How can they concentrate with no food in their tummies? How can they concentrate when they are malnourished? These orphans and other vulnerable children are in survival mode…things like learning cannot happen properly until a child’s basic needs are met. It’s every child’s right to be safe, warm, have enough to eat and clean water to drink. I like the visual way the theorist Maslow shows children’s needs in his hierarchy of needs. Each layer cannot happen for a child if the previous one is not met.
So please join our team of people committing to help these children. £5 is all we ask as a monthly commitment (unless of course you would like to donate more). To most of us £5 is just a meal deal or a couple of drinks or some snacks. £5 to each of these children will help change their lives. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com It’s rainy season at the moment. People are struggling, the price of maize has gone up. Half of the Foundation’s crop of newly planted maize was washed away and they had to replant. Heart breaking. Levison told me today it’s a real struggle to feed everyone with prices rising. Thank you for reading and please consider joining our feeding team, Sarah x
Happy New Year!! I hope this year brings you all health & happiness.
Levison is busy getting young people ready for going to school this next week and I hope to bring some photos soon of them in their uniform before they set off on their big adventure, thanks to their generous sponsors who have paid for them to continue secondary education.
We still have a few young people waiting to be matched with sponsors so if you can help then please get in touch.
It’s my birthday on 4th January… when you have a birthday straight after Christmas you don’t really need any presents. I was very lucky with all the gifts I received for Christmas. So I wouldn’t usually tell people it’s my birthday but, i thought it might be a nice idea to buy something for the orphans in Malawi if you’d like to. There is an Amazon link at the top of the page or if you are at the supermarket and want to put some bars of soap or toothbrushes, toothpaste or pencils in your trolley, they would be very much appreciated. When there are approximately 800 vulnerable children and young people being supported there are never enough pencils or bars of soap!!
Many thanks and best wishes for 2022, thanks for reading, Sarah x
