Tag: happy

It’s all about the kids! Photos & videos of a typical feeding & fun day!

Apologies for the amount of photos and videos from Sunday. Well worth looking at as they will make you smile 🙂

Sarah’s blog 11/7/24

Here are some amazing photos and videos from Sunday 7th July. Approximately 500 children and young people turn up when they know it’s a day when the feeding programme is on. Some walk for 15km or 20km for their one proper meal of the week. We really need your help please to ensure that there is always enough money to buy the food that is needed to feed this many hungry children.

As well as photos and videos of feeding the children, you will see some of what the children get up to on a typical day at Bright Futures Campus. It is their safe place to be with their friends and to be children. They can forget about their hardships for a few hours.

There are always chores like washing dishes, sweeping up and watering the plants. The saplings in these photos and videos were planted last year so they are growing really well. The library is always open for reading, sometimes there will be a video to watch. You can see children playing a traditional game as well as playing with the wooden trainset that used to belong to my youngest son. And there is always a ball to play with! I loved that some children were playing at being teachers too.

Levison gave his phone to a group of children and they did a great job of taking some selfies….some brilliant smiles once they’d figured out what they were doing….it’s so lovely to see them enjoying themselves. In the photos and videos, I spotted maroon sweatshirts from Strathblane Primary School and jade green from Balfron Primary School as well as a navy jumper from Riverside Primary in Stirling. Did you notice any other school jumpers?

It’s a bit of a photo dump/video dump so apologies for there being quite a lot…but they are worth it and hope you are smiling by the end. If you can spare any money for a donation to feed the children, it would be very much appreciated https://donorsee.com/project/23035?share=1 Thank you, Sarah x

New School Bags at Bright Futures Secondary School

Sarah’s blog 16/12/22

I always loved going to the shop to choose a new pencil case and pens & pencils for going back to school. I don’t ever remember getting as excited over a new school bag as these students!

I love seeing the joy in their faces. They have been given a gift that they’ve never had before. Things we take for granted are so precious to them. These photos that Levison sent from this afternoon are amazing and I hope they make you smile like they have made me smile.

Seeing these vulnerable children happy and achieving and having choices they previously wouldn’t have had is what makes the hard work worthwhile.

We do need your help to continue supporting these students and the next group of students each year. With your help we can change lives. With your help we can make a difference. With your help they can have brighter futures. https://gofund.me/44a92444 if you are able to donate to our school fundraiser for the next two classrooms, or email me if you can help with a one off or a monthly donation to help provide free school meals contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com thanks for reading, Sarah x

Today we are talking pants!

Sarah’s blog 10/07/22

Thanks to a small Scottish charity, Smalls for All, we are talking pants today! This is the second time they have generously donated pants for all the children supported by The Foundation.

Levison gave me a list of how many boys and girls there were in each age group and I contacted Smalls for All. Stuart and I collected them from Livingston when they had made up the huge order.

Levison gives out clothes and gifts a bit at a time rather than all at once, so today was the day chosen to give out the pants which had been sorted into age groups. Each child was given 3 pairs of pants and you can see from their faces that they are delighted. I can’t really imagine us being quite so delighted with 3 pairs of pants…but then we take so much for granted and are really fortunate. These pants bring dignity and help self-esteem. The children know that people care about them enough to send all those pairs of pants. So a big THANK YOU to https://www.smallsforall.org and all the people who donate pants to them for making hundreds of children happy today. Thanks, Sarah x

It’s a great day for Brighton!

Sarah’s blog 7/6/22

I’m so pleased to be able to share the news that little Brighton Ng’ambi has a sponsor. I have been emailing with a lady today who has kindly offered to be the helping hand that Brighton needs. Thank you so much! We appreciate all our sponsors…it’s not easy for some to set aside £25 every month to commit to sponsoring a child. But it might be the most important thing anyone has ever done for them. We understand it is a big commitment which is why we say that two friends can sponsor a child together if they would like.

Brighton, an orphan, now has the helping hand he needs. He will receive clothes, a blanket, welfare checks and a monthly food parcel as well as being encouraged to access the weekly feeding programme. The gift of sponsoring a child is priceless. More food means better concentration and growth. A blanket means a better sleep. New clothes means more confidence and self-esteem. All of these together add up to better school attendance and learning and a happier healthier child.

As well as the Feeding Programme, children have access to the library with lots of lovely books to read and are being taught how to use computers (although there is no internet yet as that is an extra cost we cannot afford at the moment). They are encouraged to learn life skills like growing crops, cooking, sewing and knitting, basket making, mat weaving and brick making. They also learn to care for the chickens and goats. Children are cared about holistically and love to play team sports when they are at The Foundation; football, netball, rugby and also hockey.

So on behalf of Brighton, and all the other sponsored children, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You are making a difference. You are helping us continue Changing Lives Malawi. There are lots of other children waiting for a sponsor so please get in touch if you would like to be part of our team of sponsors contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com You can change a life today. We will update you about Brighton when we can. Thank you for reading and your support, Sarah x

Yay! Good news for Brighton. He has a sponsor! Thank you!