Just before the school term finished for the Christmas holidays, students at Bright Futures Secondary School, having finished their exams, were asked to write an essay entitled ‘What I like about Bright Futures Secondary School’.
There were several reasons for doing this exercise; so we can find out more about the students and the school, to help students get more used to writing essays and, as there is a small cash prize for the best essay in each class, it is good motivation for all of the students.
We hope you are able to read the essays. The school does not yet have a printer or scanner so a photo had to be taken of each piece of writing and then sent to me.
In S1 Phaless has been chosen as the winner. The S2 prize goes to Alexander. In S3 Daniel’s essay won as it was a very powerful piece of writing. Very well done to all three!
Unfortunately, during the rainy season, not all students are able to attend school if the rivers become too deep and dangerous to cross. This is why some students were absent that day and haven’t written an essay. We are hoping this will become a monthly exercise as it will ultimately help them when writing exams.
Enjoy the photos and the essays and thank you to everyone who helps us make a difference to the lives of these young people. The three winners were overwhelmed and couldn’t believe they’d won. They’ve never won a prize like this. Daniel cried tears of joy. Hopefully they will begin to realise that they are important and deserve our help and that they do have brighter futures. Thank you, Sarah x
PS Alexander doesn’t have a sponsor yet, so if anyone would like to support this bright young man’s education then please do get in touch. It’s only £25 p/m to be a sponsor and you can split that cost with a friend! Thanks, Sarah x contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
It has been so busy with all the projects that are benefitting the many vulnerable children we help to support, that unfortunately we haven’t had as many photos of sponsored children and young people as we would have liked. Thank you to the sponsors for being patient with us and for understanding. Hopefully, we will have a better system in place this year and be bringing regular updates.
If you would like to sponsor a child or young person to make a difference in their lives then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com It’s only £25 per month to be a sponsor, or you could share the cost with a friend.
There are hundreds of vulnerable children and young people who would benefit from being matched with a sponsor. Especially those who are in their last couple of years at primary school and hoping to attend Bright Futures Secondary School. With a helping hand from a sponsor, their education is free of charge, they receive clothes and stationery and they have a nutritious school lunch each day. For most, this is their only meal each day. So your help would be much appreciated by us and gratefully received by the young people. Many thanks, Sarah x
I shared some photos before Christmas of the official handover of the improvements at Chambo Primary School thanks to a £6,000 grant we applied for and received from The Kitchen Table Charities Trust.
The story starts in springtime last year when we applied for a grant to KTCT on behalf of Chambo Primary School. What we were asking for wasn’t straightforward but, with a few emails back and forward and a bit of waiting, we were absolutely delighted to receive £6,000 on behalf of Chambo Primary School. This is the nearest primary school to the Foundation and where most of the orphans and other vulnerable young people we support attend. There are eight classes, each with at least 60 children.
No big charities are feeding children in schools in this area so all these children are really hungry. Many of them are suffering from malnutrition. We only have enough money to send to feed 500 children once a week and some of those children are walking up to 15km to 20km to receive this one decent meal of the week. It’s not good enough but it’s all we can afford. If anyone would like to help us provide food for the children then please do email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
As well as no food, the children had no clean water supply for drinking and washing their hands. Their drinking water came from the river which isn’t a clean supply. The children and their families still use the river as a water supply when they are at their homes. After liaising with and receiving permission from staff at Chambo Health Centre (which has it’s own clean water supply), we paid for a survey to check that it was possible to bring water via an underground pipe to the primary school and have taps installed outside the primary school.
We were delighted when we got the green light from the water department staff, health centre staff and, of course, The Kitchen Table Charities Trust. As you might imagine, all this took time to implement. Prices have been escalating in Malawi and this has also caused issues whilst we have been trying to stick to a budget. The headteacher at Chambo Primary, whilst being extremely thankful and pleased that the school would have clean water, rightly wanted the digging of the trench delayed by a few weeks until school holidays. No one would have wanted either children or staff tripping and falling into a hole in the playground! We also had to wait for this part of the project to finish to check costs before moving onto the next part of the project.
In addition to the clean water part of the grant, we asked for money for desks and benches. Only one classroom out of the eight classes already had desks and benches. We originally thought we would have enough money to get desks and benches made for three classrooms but unfortunately, due to price rises, we didn’t manage to do this. However, two classrooms now have new desks and benches and the students are enjoying not having to sit on the floor.
Whilst employing qualified plumbers and carpenters, part of what we wanted was the opportunity for some of the young people who are supported at the Foundation to be able to gain some experience by observing and helping with some of the more straightforward tasks. It’s been a real team effort.
We had previously gifted seventeen boxes of books to Chambo Primary School as part of our School Literacy Project. We hope to help children become more confident readers by having access to a wide range of reading material. What I hadn’t understood until recently is that all these boxes of books were being stacked and kept in the headteacher’s office. This was the only place in the school with a door that locked so poor Mr Nyondo was surrounded by boxes of books! So, with the grant money, locks were bought for the four classrooms that have doors and book shelves are being made so the books can be distributed between those four classrooms and they will be kept safely as these classrooms now have locking doors. We hope, in future, that we might have money to put doors on the remaining four classrooms.
I could keep writing about this project as I’m so pleased at how it has all worked out. I’m so thankful that The Kitchen Table Charities Trust liked our proposal and trusted us to carry out these improvements with their grant money. None of it was to benefit our charity or the Foundation we support directly, however this was a project that we could see would have huge benefits for vulnerable children we support and the community in general. It makes the hard work worthwhile when you see photos of smiling children enjoying sitting at desks, drinking clean water and reading books. We also provided buckets and cups with the grant money and our charity donated exercise books, pencils and bars of soap.
Thank you so much to everyone involved in helping us continue Changing Lives (in) Malawi. I also want to thank Levison Mlambya, the Foundation Director, whom we work with very closely on a daily basis. Levison works tirelessly for his community and always puts others above himself. As well as project managing these improvements for Chambo Primary, he has also been project managing the building of classrooms 3 & 4 of Bright Futures Secondary School and a teachers accommodation block. The carpenters were going back and forward between projects when they were needed so there was a lot to organise! 2023 was a very busy year! I hope you enjoy the photos and videos, Sarah x
Thanks to the carpenters for allowing some of the young people to assist themThe new desks being delivered to Chambo Primary School. L-R Mr Msukwa, Primary School Education Adviser, Mr Levison Mlambya, Director of The William Stewart Foundation and Mr Nyondo, Headteacher of Chambo Primary SchoolEveryone helps to bring the new desks inside
Students at Chambo Primary thanking Changing Lives Malawi for their notebooks and pencilsChildren were always keen to observe what was happening
Drinking the clean water
As you can see, the headteacher’s office was used as a storage room too as there were no doors that locked on any of the classrooms. Now four out of the eight classrooms have book shelves and locks on their doors. Mr Nyondo will get his office back!
Teachers at Chambo Primary having received stationery and chalk from Changing Lives Malawi. Mr Nyondo, headteacher, is thanking The Kitchen Table Charities Trust, The William Stewart Foundation and Changing Lives Malawi for enabling the changes at the school.Mr Msukwa, Primary Education Adviser drinking water from one of the new taps.The students at Chambo Primary are delighted to have clean water. It’s been a day to celebrate.Everyone wants a turn to fill their cups with clean drinking water.Washing hands with clean water and with soap that we donated.The Primary School Education Adviser, Mr Msukwa, with Levison Mlambya, Director of The William Stewart Foundation. Changing Lives Malawi donated soap to Chambo Primary School.
Washing hands is so important in helping keep the children healthy.The first 17 boxes of books that were gifted to Chambo Primary as part of our School Literacy Project. They have received a few more boxes since then and we have since started donating books to other primary schools.
Food insecurity is getting worse. Families cannot afford to feed their children. Education is their way out of extreme poverty. Can you sponsor a child or support the feeding programme please? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Sarah’s blog 2/1/24
There is a vast difference in ages of the children and young people who are fortunate to have sponsors to support them. However, two factors that are the same with all of them is that none have enough to eat and all are living in extreme poverty. Levison is working his way through the list and taking photos of them all for their sponsors.
Some of the youngest children are benefitting from receiving a monthly food parcel at their home to supplement what their parents/carers have. They are also benefitting from receiving clothes, shoes, soap and toothbrush & toothpaste.
Teenagers are receiving free education at Bright Futures Secondary School, free school lunches and free clothes. Secondary education needs to be paid for in Malawi so none of these young people would have the opportunity of secondary education without receiving financial support.
There are some young people who are supported who are not at secondary school but are learning skills and are receiving financial support, clothes etc.
All are able to access the weekly feeding programme. Five hundred children and young people come to the Foundation once a week to receive a substantial, nutritious meal….some walking for 15km to 20km to get there. No big charities are feeding children in schools in this area so your help is vital to these children and young people.
Could you be a sponsor and bring a smile to a vulnerable child’s face today? It’s only £25 per month to be a sponsor….or you could share that cost with a friend for only £12.50 p/m each. It’s not much to us but it is a huge gift for those we help to support. There are hundreds waiting to be matched with a sponsor to enable them to have a brighter future.
Or could you commit to just £5 or £10 per month to help ensure we can continue feeding the children? Food insecurity is becoming worse in Malawi, prices are rising and families cannot feed their children. Some girls are at risk of being married off because their families cannot feed them. Join our team of supporters and help us to help them. For bank details contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com or you can make a donation here https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a . Thank you for supporting us to help these most vulnerable children and young people, Sarah x
Look at the difference in these two little boys. Having sponsors to give them a helping hand has changed their lives. Could you make a child smile by being their sponsor?
Sarah’s blog 1/1/24
Firstly let me start by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. May we all be healthy and happy and have enough to share with those who are in need.
I want to start 2024 off by sharing photos of two little boys. You will see the difference in them.. The reason? They both have sponsors. This means that a monthly food parcel goes to their home to supplement whatever food the family have. They also receive clothes, shoes, soap, toothbrush & toothpaste.
Of course, they have access to the weekly feeding programme where 500 of the most vulnerable children are fed a substantial and nutritious meal. For many, this is their only proper meal of the week. Unfortunately, we do not have enough money to run the feeding programme more often and no big charities are feeding children in schools in that area, meaning most are suffering from malnutrition.
When we first met Brighton, he was in rags and starving. He had to be showered as he was dirty and his hair was covered in lice.
Elijah was also wearing rags and malnourished and his parents were very embarrassed that they couldn’t feed him or his siblings properly.
Thanks to two kind sponsors who came forward in answer to our appeal these two boys are doing so much better. Elijah and Brighton both have lovely smiles. They are attending school regularly and doing well.
This is the difference having a sponsor can make. Wouldn’t you like to give a vulnerable child a chance at a better and brighter future? Wouldn’t you like to make a child smile?
It’s only £25 per month to sponsor a child or young person. You can sponsor as an individual, a family or two friends can split the cost. It might be the most important decision you ever make for a child like Elijah or Brighton. Hundreds of children & young people need a helping hand. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Thank you to all our sponsors for the difference their help is making. Levison started taking photos of the sponsored children and young people yesterday, so hopefully we will have a new photo of all of them very soon. Many thanks, Sarah x
At last Elijah has something to smile about…and what a lovely smile!Brighton looks so much better & it’s lovely to see him smile.
Please read about our successes and challenges and look at all the great photos of the children we help to support.
Sarah’s blog 31/12/23
Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has supported us in 2023. As I always say, it’s teamwork. We couldn’t do what we do without our generous supporters. Much has happened in 2023 and we need you even more in 2024 and need to reach more supporters to ensure that the hundreds of vulnerable children we support continue to have brighter and better futures.
Here are just some of the success stories of 2023, thanks to teamwork;
75 preschool children continue to meet five times a week at nursery and are fed at each session. They each receive a bag containing; a blanket, two red t-shirts, three pairs of pants, toothbrush & toothpaste and soap. They are now also receiving two picture books as part of our School Literacy Programme. This will ensure that all homes have at least two books and that children have daily opportunities for reading and becoming confident readers.
Bright Futures Secondary School opened in November 2022 with two classrooms. Classrooms 3 and 4 were constructed and ready for term starting in September 2023 thanks to fundraising and donations. Education is free to students and they receive a free school meal each day, the only meal for many of these teenagers as they don’t have food at home.
A grant was received for a teachers’ accommodation block for four teachers has been built. Once plastering and painting have been done, will be ready in mid January.
Two plots of land, adjacent to the current land, have been purchased. One for the teachers’ accommodation and one for future building.
Over 100 more fruit tree saplings have been purchased are will be planted by young people during the next couple of weeks. Other projects promoting self-sufficiency and sustainability are being put in place too.
Solar panels were bought with grant to provide electricity to the library and the classrooms and teachers’ accommodation.
Clothes, shoes and books continue to be sent to provide for the hundreds of vulnerable children we help to support. This helps to reuse preloved items to gift to those who cannot afford clothes because of the dire poverty they live in.
Thanks to our supporters, we sent lots of sports kit, paid for and facilitated a two week rugby festival for the local schools led by the Malawi Rugby Union sports development coach, Jack Mphande.
Chambo Primary School had no clean water for drinking or washing hands. They had no toilets. Only one of their eight classrooms had desks and chairs. Thanks to two grants we applied for, they now have a girls’ latrine block, clean water for drinking and washing hands and desks and chairs for another two classrooms. We also donated exercise books and pencils and stationery for the teachers. To date, we have donated twenty boxes of books as part of our School Literacy Project. Bit by bit, life is improving for the most vulnerable children.
We continue to send money for The Feeding Programme. No charities are feeding children in schools in the rural far north of Malawi. Children are being taught to grow crops which are then used to feed them at the feeding programme.
As you can see, there has been a great deal happening and much success. We are so grateful that we have been supported to achieve the above for the children and their community.
However, the Feeding Programme has got to be our biggest ongoing challenge as, despite having asked for help from several big charities with feeding, none are helping us. Most children are suffering from malnutrition as they do not have enough to eat, the situation is getting worse. We can only afford to send money to feed 500 children once a week. Even this is getting harder as food prices continue to rise and food is scarcer. Children are walking up to 20km for this one nutritious meal of the week which includes vegetables grown by the children. We need your help to feed these children as families are really struggling. If you could commit £5 or £10 per month, it would make a huge difference to us and to them contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com or https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a
Lots of photos of hundreds of vulnerable children receiving clothes & food this Christmas.
Sarah’s blog 26/12/23
On Christmas Eve, 500 orphans and other vulnerable children of all ages came to the Foundation as they knew that they would be receiving gifts of new clothes. Many thanks to the team of volunteers for ensuring that this was able to happen. Such a lot of work, sorting clothes in advance and trying to secure enough food. Then on the days; distributing clothing, cooking ensuring that everyone was fed.
We were delighted to be able to send some great donations for these children, however it does cost £17.50 per box on the container so we really do need help with covering these costs please. When looking at the photos, have a look at some of the children’s feet. Many have broken shoes or their shoes are far too small for them. We would love donations of trainers, school shoes, flipflops and sliders please – sizes for young children to adults. Again, we need to ask for £1 per pair of shoes to cover the cost of sending them on the container. Can you help?
On Christmas Day, all the children returned to receive food for Christmas Lunch. This had been paid for by a very kind couple who are supporters of our charity. As you can see the children were very happy to receive food and enjoyed wearing the Christmas hats. It was decided that the children would actually have their party on Christmas Day as Levison has said that more and more families are struggling with food insecurity and are unable to feed their children properly. They wanted it to be a happy Christmas Day for the children. After everyone was fed, they were able to play a few games but on both days the children had to be sent home early because of heavy rain.
There are several shallow rivers that many of the children cross to reach the Foundation. There are no bridges. Every time it looks like rain is starting children have to leave either school or activities as the rivers will swell with the amount of rain and no one wants to risk children being swept away with the force of the water. Building bridges is something else on our list of things that will help this community.
We are getting more and more concerned about how food prices continuing to rise and the currency being devalued are affecting people living in extreme poverty. As well as food being scarce, people just don’t have any means to feed their families and it is only going to get worse. If you can spare £5 or £10 per month to help us continue to feed 500 children once a week then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com, or could you make a one off donation? It’s got to be a team effort, and we cannot do everything on our own. Or you could donate via our fundraiser https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a Thank you for reading and continuing to support us and believe in us. Merry Christmas from here and Malawi, Sarah x
Thanks to all who helped change lives for the students at Chambo Primary and Bright Futures Secondary School…some amazing photos!
Sarah’s blog 23/12/23
Levison has had such a busy week this last week as both primary schools and secondary schools have been doing exams recently so visits to the schools had to wait until the students had finished their exams.
I am going to do a proper post on these visits after Christmas as I don’t have enough time today to write them up in detail.
Firstly Chambo Primary School. It’s a government run primary school with approximately 500 students over 8 classes. There are hardly any resources. Only classroom 8 had desks – the rest of the students sit on the floor. No big charities are feeding children in schools in this area. Many children are malnourished. There was no clean water and no latrines. This is the primary school where many of the orphans and vulnerable children that the Foundation supports attend. We had already donated boxes of books through our School Literacy Project, given clothes to students but we knew they needed more.
We were thankful to get a grant for £1,000 from The Eleanor Rathbone Trust to build a girls’ latrine, ensuring that girls have dignity, privacy and safety.
Thinking outside the box with the £6,000 grant we gratefully received from The Kitchen Table Charity Trust, we facilitated clean water being piped from Chambo Health Centre water supply after Changing Lives Malawi paying for a survey to ensure that this was possible. They are now taps outside Chambo Primary School with clean water for drinking and handwashing. Buckets and cups were also bought with the grant money and we provided soap for students and teachers.
Some of the grant money from The Kitchen Table Charity Trust was used for making desks for two of the classrooms, so there are now three classrooms with desks to sit at. A few of the young people that the Foundation supports helped the carpenters with making these desks and therefore were able to earn some money and learn some basic skills. The carpenters still have four bookshelves to make when they are finished working on a project at The Foundation. We provided exercise books and pencils for the students, and for the teachers we provided exercise books, clipboards, pens and boxes of chalk. Everyone was delighted and very thankful. Lots more information and photos will follow next week.
At Bright Futures Secondary School yesterday, students were tasked with writing essays in the morning about what they like about Bright Futures Secondary School and their hopes for 2024. In the afternoon they were given toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap supplied by Changing Lives Malawi. They were also gifted polo shirts from Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. We are grateful for lots of preloved sports kit they have gifted to us.
Via, Tony Phillips at Replay Sport Scotland charity in Stirling, we were gifted t-shirts and jackets from Scottish Swimming and also grey trousers from The Queen’s baton relay. We are very pleased to have been able to pass on these clothes to vulnerable teenagers and you can see how happy they are to have these gifts of new clothes. Thank you Tony for gifting these to us.
So as you can see from these photos there are lots of happy children and, with the help of our supporters, we are Changing Lives (in) Malawi. Thank you so much everyone who helps us…. it’s teamwork! Thank you Levison for project managing all the work and taking all the photos. Happy Christmas everyone, Sarah x
Clean water & quality education are being highlighted today. Please read today’s blog about some of our important projects that are having an impact.
Sarah’s blog 22/12/23
Clean water and quality education are the highlights on 21st & 22nd of December. Thankfully, all the children using the Foundation have access to clean drinking water, handwashing facilities, proper showers and latrines. We have just facilitated girls’ latrines and clean drinking water at Chambo Primary School. Much still needs to be done in the community though as, when all the hundreds of vulnerable children return to their homes, they are drinking river water and have no toileting facilities and no soap.
The School Literacy Project is making a big difference to the education of hundreds, if not thousands, of vulnerable children. Primary schools in rural northern Malawi have hardly any resources. Thanks to our supporters, we have been sending boxes of preloved books (and many new books too) and gifted them to primary schools local to the foundation that we support. Initially, 17 boxes of books were donated to Chambo Primary School and other primary schools have benefitted to. It costs £17.50 to send a box of books on the container and we would love it if you would help by paying for a box of books to be transported. It is a fairly low cost project having a big impact on literacy, ensuring children become more confident readers.
We have included the 75 nursery children too. We want all pre-school children to have at least two books of their own to keep in their homes. All of these children have missed out on the stages of pre-literacy, sitting on an adult’s knee as a baby looking at the pictures in a book and hearing a story. Then as a toddler, knowing that the story would continue if you turned the page and being able to point to things in the pictures. One of the next stages of pre-literacy is pretending to read the story whilst moving a finger along the words.
The orphans and other vulnerable children have missed out on all of these stages. We are excited to see if the exam results will rise over the next few years in primary schools that have received gifts of boxes of books. Will you please make a donate this Christmas to ensure we can reach more children with the gift of books and quality education? https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3acontact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Hope you enjoy the photos and the advent calendar video that I’ve attached. Thanks everyone, Sarah x
I’m thankful that I had help from someone far more skilled than me to put the advent calendar pictures together and with background music. I hope you enjoy looking at some of the many projects that are happening within the community we are supporting. Please share this video with your friends and family so more people can find out about our work.
20th December – today we are highlighting Life on Land – Global Sustainable Development Goal 15. Students at Bright Futures Secondary School plant crops and the younger children who come to the Foundation learn life skills like planting fruit tree saplings, weeding crops and harvesting. Agricultural classes are a core part of the curriculum in Malawi.
Despite best efforts, crops do not last long when feeding 500 vulnerable children and orphans each week. More fruit tree saplings are being planted soon for future food and a sustainable income. However, your help is needed to ensure we can keep feeding the children. With food becoming scarce and prices continuing to rise as the rainy season begins if our supporters were able to commit to £5 per month it would be a big help. No big charities are feeding children in schools in this area and we need your help. https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3acontact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
I have had some technical help to put together all the advent calendar pictures into a little video. I was going to leave it until 24th December to post it but, as we will have other photos from Malawi later in the week, I’m sharing it now. Hope you enjoy it. Thank you all for your continued support, Sarah x
