Sam the driver is asking for help to fix the truck
The truck driver, Sam, is asking for your help to get the truck back on the road. Sam works really hard and goes above and beyond to support Levison and the rest of the team. He is wearing a football top donated by our local football team – Strathendrick Football Club.
Here is a link to all our small fundraising projects on DonorSee . We need at least four donations before the end of September so that our projects are still visible to potential donors in October. So any donations, big or small, will really help us. Thank you so much for your continued support, Sarah x
Have a look at these beautiful paintings from local artist, Christine Cresswell. Every penny goes to the projects we support in Malawi.
Sarah’s blog 28/9/24
Some of you may know that my mum, Christine Cresswell, is an artist. She has gifted her beautiful paintings to us to raise funds for our projects in Malawi. Mum is also one of our trustees. We’ve had a lot of her paintings made into packs of cards which make great gifts or are very useful to have at home to use.
Here are a few of the gorgeous paintings for sale. Next week, I am aiming to take photos of all the available paintings to group them together in one post and also do the same with the cards.
Oakwood Garden Centre, Killearn, have kindly agreed to stock the cards and they are also available directly from us at £6 per pack of 8 (or 2 packs for £10) plus p&p. Torrance Church of Scotland also have a selection of cards as they have been very popular.
Please do send me an email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com if you would like to buy one of these paintings. As they have all been donated, every penny will go to our projects so they are unique and beautiful gifts that really are Changing Lives (in) Malawi. Thanks, Sarah x (p&p extra)
Croft on the Shore £95Sheep by the Shore £95Puffin Pals £95Mountain Bothy £95Robin on Post. Small unframed £50Summer Meadow £95Mountain Burn £95Dinner Time £95Kingfisher, small unframed £50Gulls at Sunset, box canvas 20″ x 8″ £85Mountain Reflections, box canvas 20″ x 8″ £85
Exciting news for Emily, Catherine and Naomi who have passed their exams. Well done girls. We are so proud of you.
Sarah’s blog 19/9/24
Some very good news today…. Catherine, Emily and Naomi have passed their MSCE school leavers exams. We are absolutely delighted for them. This is the difference that having a sponsor can make to a young person.
Before Bright Futures Secondary School was built, there weren’t enough places at local secondary schools. Students were picked to go to a secondary school depending on their grades. So if students only just passed their primary school leavers exams, they often don’t get picked for a place at a government secondary school. This was one of the reasons for building Bright Futures Secondary School. Also, of course, none of the children we help to support could afford the school fees anyway.
Catherine and Emily got such good grades in their Primary School Leavers Exams that they were picked for a school called Wenya Secondary School. This is further away and a more expensive school than Chisenga Secondary where sponsored students who were selected for secondary school usually went.
Catherine and Emily have been sponsored all the way through their four years of secondary school. We topped up the money that their sponsors paid monthly as their fees were more expensive. We felt it was important that they went to Wenya Secondary as they had excellent grades and it would be good for them to have that experience. They have worked hard and we are so proud of them!
We were concerned about Naomi. She had to leave school to look after her sick auntie but asked if she could be sponsored at a secondary school near her aunt’s house as a day pupil. So although she has had the opportunity of a secondary education, she hasn’t had it easy with having a caring role as well as studying. So we are absolutely delighted for her that she has passed her s4 exams. That is a real achievement as she has obviously worked very hard. We are really proud of what she has achieved.
The three girls will hopefully come to see Levison soon so he can congratulate them and pass on our congratulations too. Also, Levison wants them to speak to the students at BFSS to encourage them. Catherine’s grades mean that she could go to university and Emily to college. Hopefully, Naomi will be able to secure a job or go to college part time. They will all have to find jobs and save up until they can afford to continue their studies but they are determined young ladies who have been given choices and chances that they wouldn’t usually have had.
Before they and others started secondary school, Levison had a huge shopping list and I suggested that he take Catherine and Emily with him to town and they could help him with the shopping. He hired a car and they had a great day. That was the first time either of the girls had been to town, or eaten in a cafe. So it was a very good experience for them prior to going away to boarding school at Wenya.
The fabulous news about each of these young people is testimony to their hard work and determination but also with thanks to their sponsors for supporting them financially. Of course, Levison and team are to be congratulated too. Without them there would be no brighter futures for young people in that community. These three girls are role models for the students still at school. To be able to see what they have achieved will be a real motivator for others living in extreme poverty and dreaming of a brighter future at Bright Futures Secondary School.
If you would like to sponsor a young person and give the gift of education, it is only £25 per month. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
We are still trying to raise money for the repair of the truck which is vital for transporting food and other supplies for the hundreds of young people who we help to support. Here is the link to donate https://donorsee.com/project/24823?share=1
Also our fundraiser to send boxes of books to Malawi for our School Literacy Project is here https://gofund.me/3aa7d1cd and we would be very grateful if you were able to spare a few £££ to support one of our projects.
We will bring more photos of the three girls when they next visit Bright Futures Campus. Many thanks for reading and supporting us to continue Changing Lives (in) Malawi, Sarah x
Catherine & Emily’s first trip to town. They went with Levison to collect school supplies for themselves and other students.
Great progress is being made in supporting hundreds of orphans and other very vulnerable children. However, when there is an issue like the truck breaking down and no spare money to fix it, it sets everything back and impacts on all the other projects. No supplies can be bought without the truck. Can you make a small donation?
These photos and video are some of the ways the truck is used. It is needed every day as the community we help to support is in a very rural location, in the far north of Malawi. The truck has broken down and needs a new alternator and two new batteries (hopefully that is all it needs). It broke down whilst on the way back from town with building supplies so they had to pay for someone else to come with their truck and take everything back. They also had to pay to have the truck towed and for a mechanic to come and diagnose the problem. It is a very stressful situation when they are so dependant on the truck for transport and there is no money to fix it. Please help.
As well as raising funds for the above, money is needed for the two batteries which can be bought at Chitipa town over 40km away. The alternator will have to be ordered from Mzuzu and sent via courier and collected in Chitipa. Nothing is easy. Then the mechanic will have to return and hopefully the truck will be fixed. All of this costs money and they need the truck fixed as soon as possible.
A man with ox and cart is being paid to transport water from the river to where the teachers’ accommodation is being built. The truck was being used to transport bricks and other supplies as well as water in addition to the journeys to town for building supplies and of course food supplies for the orphans.
Several times a year the truck is used to collect the boxes we send from Ekwendeni, near Mzuzu. This is an overnight trip due to distance and having to drive slowly on the poor roads.
Will you help please? You can donate via the button on the website, or via the DonorSee link above. Or you could email for our bank details. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you for your continued support, Sarah x
Such excitement when the truck returns with the boxes that we have sentbringing bricks to where they are needed for building the staff accommodation blockAt Ekwendeni collecting the boxes that we have sent via the Banana Box Trust ContainerNothing about day to day life is easy. During the rainy season the tracks turn to mud and the truck was stuck in the mud on this hilly road. People come together to help.
Good news for the chicken project with lots of new chicks being hatched…. but the bad news is that the truck has broken down.
Sarah’s blog 13/9/24
Please will you help Levison? Life is hard and unfair for those living in extreme poverty in Malawi. Sometimes it seems like progress is being made only for something else to happen.
First – some good news.
There have been lots of eggs being laid and put in the incubator. There are over 50 healthy chicks now and more eggs are in the incubator keeping nice and warm. This is really good news for this project. Now that the incubator, which was bought with a generous donation from Lochlie Construction, has it’s own solar power supply, there is enough energy to keep it going 24/7 so the eggs stay at a constant temperature. We look forward to seeing more progress and will bring more news.
Thank you to everyone who has helped support this project
Now for the bad news.
The truck – which is absolutely vital and used every day has broken down. It was being used to transport supplies for the teachers’ accommodation project. Also, as water levels are low because it’s the dry season, water for making bricks and cement etc has to be brought by truck from the river to the site. In the borehole, there is only enough clean water for drinking so this water is very precious.
There is a local man with ox and cart and Levison has managed to hire him to help with moving water from the river to where the builders are working.
However, the truck is also vital for fetching maize and other supplies to feed hundreds of children every week as well as many other uses. Of course, every few months there are long overnight journeys to collect all the boxes we send from the container. Ekwendeni, which is the end destination for the container, is near Mzuzu. While this is in the north of Malawi, it is still a very long way south of where the community we help to support are. Bright Futures Campus is approximately 45km from Chitipa town and many of the roads are just dirt tracks. Especially when it is the rainy season, the rural roads are hazardous and often even the truck cannot climb muddy hilly tracks!
Levison and his team need our help and support to get the truck back on the road. It needs a new altenator and two new batteries. The batteries can be bought in Chitipa town but the alternator will need to be sent from Mzuzu. Nothing is straightforward! When the truck broke down, it was carrying supplies that had been bought for Bright Futures Secondary School (which opens again on Monday) as well as equipment for the building project. Eventually, they managed to get someone to come with a truck to transport everything safely back to campus. However, this cost money. So did towing the truck back. The mechanic came yesterday to look at the problem and he was paid for his time. However, nothing else could be done because of no money and no new parts for the truck.
Will you help us get the truck back on the road please? It is essential to the smooth running of all the projects and ensuring that hundreds of orphans are fed. We need approximately £650. Thank you, Sarah x You can donate via our page on DonorSee https://donorsee.com/project/24823?share=1 contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com or sending us an email for bank details. Or you can also make a donation via the button on the home page on our website. Any donation will be very much appreciated. Thank you once again for your support, Sarah x
On this map, Bright Futures Campus is in the far north near Chisenga.
All the children are excited to see the truck coming back from collecting the boxes we sent.just one of the many journeys that the truck has made to collect supplies
So much organising to do this week ahead of schools reopening in Malawi on Monday 16th. Preloved kit from Riverside Football Club in Stirling will be gifted to Chambo Primary School next week.
Sarah’s blog 9/9/24
It’s been a busy few weeks and this week is even busier as we prepare for the start of the new term in Malawi as all schools return on Monday 16th September.
For Chambo Primary School, where many of the orphans attend school, we are gifting them with sports kit that belonged to Riverside Football Club in Stirling. They will also receive a new football. The school will be given some bars of soap to help with handwashing. There are also books for Chambo as part of our School Literacy Project. We look forward to seeing these photos.
For Bright Futures Secondary School, there are boxes of preloved school uniform to sort through…hopefully there will be enough shirts and skirts but I’m not sure there are enough trousers and there certainly aren’t enough shoes for all the students. If students don’t receive uniform this time, they will be first on the list next time. We really do need more donations of white shirts/blouses/polo shirts for teenagers as well as black/navy/grey school trouses and skirts in teenage and small adult sizes. Flat shoes/trainers for males/females in adult sizes would be really good to have (if you are local to us) as well as any thin rain jackets please. It does cost £17.50 per box on the container so a contribution towards transport would be very helpful please.
Exercise books are being bought and supplies for teachers like registers, preparation books, chalk and pens. We’ve sent water bottles for the S1 students that I filled with pens, pencils, toothbrushes, toothpaste & soap…so each student will have the supplies they need as well as exercise books. There are enough school bags for each s1 student to receive one each and also underwear for all students. As you can imagine, this all takes time to sort out for the students but all costs money which is why your help and support is most appreciated. We always say it takes teamwork to support these children and young people.
We still have 9 students who want to take up their place in s1 who do not have a sponsor yet. All of these students are vulnerable and live in extreme poverty. As well as school supplies and free education (which needs to be paid for in Malawi) we insist that students have a nutritious, substantial school lunch. This, for most, is their only meal of the day. It also means that their family have one less mouth to feed. All these lunches cost money and sponsorship helps us pay these costs. It’s only £25 per month to sponsor a student. You can sponsor as an individual, as a business, or share the cost with your friends. Will you give the gift of education today? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Here is the link to my previous post about the students needing to find a sponsor:
Students at Bright Futures Secondary School are wanting to grow their own food to help supplement their school lunches. As agriculture classes are a core subject, practical lessons will also give these vulnerable students skills for life. Will you help them to buy seeds to plant crops? https://donorsee.com/project/24114?share=1
Preloved football kit from Riverside Football Club in Stirling will be gifted to Chambo Primary School next week
The builders have been working hard while it’s been the school holidays, and the second teachers’ accommodation block is making great progress. Block One (funded by a grant from The Clive Richards Foundation) has four individual teachers’ bedrooms and sitting rooms.
This second accommodation block has six individual teachers’ bedrooms and sitting rooms and is almost finished. There will also be new latrines, an area for washing clothes, showers as water will be piped to that area of the campus. All of this possible thanks to Vets with Horsepower, The Clive Richards Foundation, The Inverclyde Trust and The Souter Charitable Trust. We are very grateful for their support.
I thought I’d show you a few photos of how the building is progressing. This morning there was no roof…then a few hours later…the roof was in place. As you can see there’s still a bit to do…but it won’t be too long before another building will be finished as Bright Futures Campus continues to grow.
School starts back in just over a week (Monday 16th Sept) and we are still looking to match 9 vulnerable students going into s1 at Bright Futures Secondary School with sponsors. Could you make a difference to a young person’s education? It’s only £25 per month. Or why not sponsor a student with four of your friends…for £5 each per month? It might be the most important thing anyone ever does for them… education is their way out of the extreme poverty that they are living in. Email me at contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com if you want to join us by helping change a young person’s life today. You can read more about the students in my previous blog below.
We are also raising money for buying seeds and sweet potato vines so that the students at Bright Futures Secondary School can grow their own food https://donorsee.com/project/24114?share=1
Our School Literacy Project fundraiser is here https://donorsee.com/project/24114?share=1 None of the wonderful changes that are happening would be possible without the help of our generous supporters. Together we can continue Changing Lives (in) Malawi. Thank you, Sarah x
On International Day of Charity will you join our supporters by donating to one of our projects. You will be helping some of the most vulnerable children in Malawi.
Sarah’s blog 5/9/24
“Show kindness and compassion to others” is the slogan of the International Day of Charity set up by The United Nations.
As you might know, because we are supporting a whole community living in extreme poverty. Support in the rural far north of Malawi is minimal so we are trying to work with the team there taking an holistic approach. Which is why you will see me doing so many appeals for different projects. However, they all lead to the end goal of self-sufficiency and sustainability.
Currently, there is new accommodation being built for teachers as there is nowhere locally for them to rent. It’s really difficult to get teachers to come to such a rural location and of course they need to be paid!
We still have nine young people who have passed their primary school leavers exams who are desperately looking for sponsors so they can attend Bright Futures Secondary School. Secondary Education needs to be paid for in Malawi. None of the young people we support can afford to pay. Being sponsored ensures the student gets free secondary education, free stationery and uniform and a free school lunch. This is, for most, their only meal of the day and means at home there is one less mouth to have to feed.
Ensuring young people get to secondary school also means that there are far less teenage pregnancies than there would normally be and also less risk of girls being married off far too young. Even if students do not pass their final exams (of course we hope that they do), being in school has avoided these risks and students will be far more literate and numerate and have more life skills than if they hadn’t attended secondary school.
So please would you sponsor one of these 9 young people to go to Bright Futures Secondary School? It’s only £25 per month to sponsor a student. You could sponsor as an individual, or split the cost with a friend…or even 5 friends each paying just £5 per month. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com if you’d like to give a vulnerable young person a brighter future.
Or could you help with core costs of running the school each month? Or make a one off or monthly payment towards the expense of food for school lunches? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Here are some of our projects that we are hoping to get funded on DonorSee
With your help, we are Changing Lives (in) Malawi. But it’s always about teamwork and we need to on our team to support hundreds of the most vulnerable children in Malawi, many of whom are orphans. On International Day of Charity, will you help a child? Thank you for reading and supporting our work, Sarah x
Lots of the children arriving at Bright Futures Campus to be fed – it’s their one proper meal of the week. It’s not enough but all we can afford while we help set up sustainable projects.
Clothes and soft toys for the children at Bright Futures Nursery
Vulnerable students were delighted to receive new school uniform when Bright Futures Secondary School opened in Nov 22.
Some great photos of Agribusiness Group 1 and how hard they are working to get their first crop planted. Will you help us fund another group?
Sarah’s blog 4/9/24
We have partnered with DonorSee, who are in USA, to raise funds for some of our small projects. Thanks to several people who donated to help a group of women start their own Agribusiness enough funds were raised. The women were delighted and were gifted tools, watering cans, fertiliser and maize to plant.
They have had a bit of support to start them off, as they’ve never done this before, but they are so happy to have this opportunity to do this themselves. The aim is that they are going to grow maize as their first crop. Sell some of the harvest and buy more seeds to plant their next crop. Hopefully, this will really help them to provide for their families, give them confidence that they can work hard and achieve and that things are getting better for their community.
Here are some photos and videos from when they received their gifts and of the ground clearing and planting. What we would like to do now, is to keep raising these small amounts of money so other groups of people living in extreme poverty can also help themselves to have a better, brighter future.
Imagine a time where we no longer needed a feeding programme as more and more families were able to provide for their children. That is the end goal – for the community to be self-sufficient and sustainable. If you would like to help a second group (only £150) to start their own business then please either email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com or donate at https://donorsee.com/project/24574?share=1 .
We are so grateful for all the support we receive. We always say it’s about teamwork and we couldn’t do what we do without your help. Thanks again, Sarah x
Thanks to those who funded Agribusiness Group 1, we’d love to be able to fund another group and give more people the opportunity to earn their own money and be self-sufficient.
The Rotary Club of Allander, which is in Milngavie north of Glasgow, have been supporting us for over a year now in a variety of ways. They’ve introduced us to new people, supported us to raise awareness and some funds at Bearsden & Milngavie Highland Games and they’ve had a variety of fundraisers during the year and Changing Lives Malawi is one of their chosen beneficiaries.
At the end of last week, we received a generous donation of £1,410 from them. This is from all the fundraising they have been doing. We are really grateful to the Rotarians and to everyone who contributed. The money will be put towards income generating projects…we will do a separate post when planning is well underway for these.
Also, we are delighted that the Allander Rotarians have decided to support a young person’s education at Bright Futures Secondary School. Sabina, has passed her primary school leavers exams but, without help, wouldn’t be able to attend secondary school. In Malawi, it is only primary school that is free.
As well as not having to pay anything for her education at Bright Futures Secondary School, Sabina will have school uniform, stationery and free, nutritious school lunches. This is one of the big expenses – feeding all the students each day – but it is vital as, for most, it is their only meal of the day and it saves their families having to feed them. It is £25 per month to sponsor a young person so please do get in touch if you would like to help. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Thanks again to the Rotarians at The Rotary Club of Allander…we are very grateful to you and delighted to be working with you to make a difference, Sarah x
We need help to send over 60 boxes of preloved books to children living in extreme poverty in rural northern Malawi. Give the gift of education.
Sarah’s blog 1/9/24
Hi everyone. I thought I’d write a little bit of a personal post today. Many of you might know that Literacy in Early Years is one of my special interests, as well as communication and attachment in babies and young children. Some of the babies and children I have had in my care have had additional needs.
One baby, sitting in her highchair could communicate to me that she wanted a drink of milk as we had taught her sign language. It was thought her speech might be delayed so we wanted her to be able to express her needs. Another child who struggled to communicate, loved to laugh and laugh at the fun and rhymes in The Hairy Maclary stories by Lynley Dodd. Language and literacy can be such a wonderful shared experience and I treasure all those memories. I miss all that time spent with young children looking at wonderful story books together. Reading the same stories over and over again, anticipating the funny bits, the rhyming words, making up our own rhymes and loving the pictures whilst spending time forming positive attachments was a privilege.
As an Early Years Educator, I loved the children at nursery bringing a book to me and following the words with their fingers as we re-read a favourite story. Or a group of them shouting out the next line in the story when I paused while we all shared a book at the end of the session.
Can you imagine your child/ren starting school having never held a book. Or never looked at the pictures as they sat on an adult’s knee and pointed to their favourite characters. Can you imagine never having the opportunity to read books like The Hungry Caterpillar, Hairy Maclary, or any of the Julia Donaldson Books… hundreds of times over? All of this preliteracy matters.
This is why we are ensuring that all children at Bright Futures Nursery are read to. And we also gift them at least two books each to have at home. The headteacher at Chambo primary has already commented that children who have attended Bright Futures Nursery are ahead of the other children in their class at school.
We are gifting boxes of books to primary schools where resources are limited. This will help children become more confident readers, to open up a whole new world of stories and a love of books. Children leaving primary school have exams to sit. We are hoping that exam rates will show that these children, who live in extreme poverty, are achieving and that boxes of preloved books are making a difference. How can a child learn to read if they have no books to practice with?
We send baby clothes and baby blankets that people have kindly knitted. These are given to new mums who have just given birth. We are going to collect board books and gift a board book for mum and baby to look at to start their literacy journey together.
We have been very fortunate to have been given so many books to send which will make a huge difference. We have over 60 boxes of books for The School Literacy Project. This is amazing… we have had donations to send 10 boxes but we need your help to send the rest please.
We’ve had books from Balfron Primary, Strathblane Primary, Drymen Primary, local nurseries and Drymen library (which closed recently).
I’m asking for help from my friends and contacts and anyone reading this. As a parent, as a carer, as an educator, I’m asking you to help me please. If your children have attended any of these schools or you’ve enjoyed reading with your children or grandchildren… or if you can see the importance of this project….please help me to raise funds to give other children the same opportunities our children have enjoyed. Please make a small donation if you can. This is a relatively low cost project that will help change the lives of hundreds of children living in extreme poverty. Thank you, Sarah x
The boy holding the book is Timothy whom we sponsor. He lives with his grandmother and is now about to start s2 at Bright Futures Secondary School. Please let me know if you would like to sponsor a young person contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Great donations of preloved football kit from Feniton Women’s FC and Crediton Youth FC via ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’ charity – thank you!
31/08/24
Once again, we are delighted that ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’ charity has donated preloved football kits to the young people we help to support in rural northern Malawi. We are very grateful to Julian who spends a lot of his free time visiting football clubs to collect preloved kits that are no longer needed.
So today, as well as thanking Julian, we say a big THANK YOU to Feniton Women’s Football Club and also Crediton Youth Football Club for collecting their preloved kits and giving them to Julian to send to vulnerable children and young people in Malawi.
The young people love team sports, especially football and netball. They can enjoy being with their friends and forget about all the problems in their lives. Now they have smart, matching kit with no rips and tears. They can feel proud to belong to a team, their self confidence and self-esteem is better. They can dream about being famous footballers….and they know that people, whom they have never met, care enough about them to make their lives a little bit better.
We are going to organise football training and tournament for the nearby schools in the rural Chitipa area once we have enough funds in place. As no big charities are feeding children in primary schools that far north, we must provide each child taking part with food and drinks which obviously adds to the cost of any event. If anyone would like to contribute then you can either donate via our bank account with the reference ‘football’ Bank of Scotland, Changing Lives Malawi, Account Number 21081462, sort code 80-22-60 or donate via our fundraiser https://donorsee.com/project/24384?share=1 .
Thank you again to everyone who has donated preloved kit and to Julian at ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’ charity…. on behalf of all of the young people…Thank you for making a difference, Sarah x
