Tag: help

Lots of boxes to send- please help

Sarah’s blog 29/08/24

Today has been all about boxes. Thank you to Stuart for driving another carload of boxes to The Bananabox Trust warehouse in Dundee. Once their warehouse is full, they order the next container. We are always grateful to all their volunteers who process the boxes and pack the container. Once Stuart returned from Dundee, he and I spent time packing more boxes this afternoon. Jackie, our numbers guru, and I have just been discussing how much money we have available to send boxes on the next container. Unfortunately, there is never enough in the kitty, so we have to appeal for your help (bank details are at the end of my blog).

Some of our boxes at The Bananabox Trust Warehouse in Dundee

Sending boxes of aid to Malawi is always a bit challenging. Is it economical to send boxes via a container ship then truck to the orphans and other vulnerable children? Should they be buying goods in Malawi instead? There are lots of issues but I’ll try and explain our reasoning for doing what we do.

There are over 500 orphans and other vulnerable children who are living in extreme poverty. Lots of families have been affected by AIDS/HIV so many orphans are living with extended family and are trying to earn a pittance to feed themselves. Therefore, they do not have any spare money to buy clothes. Before we started sending clothes, children were wearing rags. Desperate mothers, who come with their children to ask for help, are able to receive clothes thanks to our supporters.

hundreds of vulnerable children receive preloved school uniform and their self confidence has improved now they have nice clothes to wear.
  1. We appeal for preloved school uniform as it is hardwearing and is usually outgrown while it is still in good condition. It is a way for more people to learn about us and what we do. It is a way to recycle preloved clothes. We also send shoes, baby clothes and blankets which new mothers are so grateful for.
  2. If we didn’t send clothes for the children but sent some money instead, Levison would not be able to buy enough suitable clothing at local markets for the children. Because of the very rural location, this makes accessing shops difficult too. Also purchasing clothes for all those children would cost far too much.
  3. It can get cold at night and as children don’t have enough warm blankets, they need jumpers and hats to keep them warm as they sleep on the floor cuddled with their siblings.
  4. Eventually, because we have sent sewing machines, there won’t be as much need to send as many clothes as they will have the skills to make clothes.
  5. A large percentage of the boxes going on the next container are boxes of children’s books for the School Literacy Project. Primary Schools in rural northern Malawi have minimal resources. We are hoping to raise attainment levels and help children to become confident readers. The books are preloved, from individuals and from local schools and nurseries, so they haven’t cost us anything. We only have to buy the strong boxes to pack them in and pay for transportation. There would be no way of providing books for our project like this if we were to purchase them in Malawi. There aren’t second hand books readily available because owning a book is a precious thing and people, if they are lucky enough to have a book, keep their books. Education is the way out of poverty for thousands of children who will benefit from the School Literacy Project. For £17.50 per box of books – that is a low cost project with the potential to make huge changes.
The first 17 boxes of books gifted to Chambo Primary School. Preschool children in the library had trouble knowing how to turn the pages of these books as they hadn’t had the opportunity to read books before. Some resources I made from bottle tops to support literacy.

Once the community is more self-sufficient and more people have paid employment then they will be able to provide for their own children, both food and clothes. Even daily food is out of reach of some of the people we are helping to support. When the children have better exam results because they’ve had more opportunity to read many more books, they will be able to go on to secondary education (if we can match them with sponsors as secondary education is not free in Malawi).

We will not always send as many boxes as we do currently. The end goal is and has always been helping the community towards self-sufficiency. Hopefully, you will see from this explanation the thought process involved in sending boxes and the huge amount of children who benefit thanks to our supporters. However, we do need financial support to continue helping so many children through all the different projects. It costs £17.50 per box on the container then there are the transport costs in Malawi to collect the boxes from the container. This is such a long journey that it always involves an overnight trip.

So if you are able to help support the sending of preloved shoes and school uniform or to support our School Literacy project we would be very grateful. Financial donations can be made via the website or here are our bank details: Changing Lives Malawi, Bank of Scotland, Sort Code 80-22-60, Account Number 21081462. We always say it’s about teamwork and we couldn’t do what we do without your help and support. If you’d like to get in touch then please email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . Thank you, Sarah x

I always remember this photo of Lucia and Rodrick…him wth no top and just one shoe. Lucia with no shoes, their tummies distended due to malnutrition. There are six children in their family. Thankfully, they were given clothes and we were able to get sponsors for three of them, meaning more food goes into their home each month to supplement the food they already have. Please let me know if you would like to sponsor a young person.

Lots to do before the new term

Sarah’s blog 21/8/24

There are so many things that are happening and I am just hoping they all come together in time for the new term starting.

Everyone in Malawi is working hard on building staff accommodation and checking supplies for the new term as well as setting up income generating projects as well as planting vegetables to eat. Applications for the new teaching positions have been received and are being reviewed. This is in addition to the pastoral work that Levison does for the most vulnerable children and continuing to source supplies for the weekly feeding programme.

Here, Jackie is doing an amazing job with crunching numbers and making the donations we have received go far. There is never enough money for all the wish lists and requests that are needed to support 500+ of the most vulnerable children and young people but we are trying our best. Currently, Jackie is ensuring there is money to buy more text books as well as all the various supplies needed for the accommodation block build, wages and other monthly costs. We really are grateful for all she does.

What am I doing? Sometimes that is difficult to answer lol. Some days, caring responsibilities take over and I don’t have as much time to give as I’d like to our charity, but I can only do my best with the time I have. Other days, I am working hard from morning until evening ticking off jobs on my list as I go. I am trying to make our charity known to more people with the hope that more donations will come in over time. I’m trying to find more sponsors so young people can go to secondary school and have a brighter future. i work closely with Levison and we are a good team. I’m writing blogs, and updating social media as well as liaising with potential donors…. and (when there is time) writing new grant applications. Oh and packing boxes with my husband Stuart who does an amazing job of organising all of the boxes to be packed properly, labelled and taped up ready for the next part of the journey to Malawi.

One of the goals that we are working towards is to help the community we are supporting to be self-sufficient. We have some small projects on the site DonorSee. Here is the income generating pig project link which just needs a few more people to donate and then it will be totally funded. https://donorsee.com/project/23894?share=1

https://donorsee.com/project/23995?share=1 is the link to help us provide more textbooks for the students at Bright Futures Secondary School.

https://donorsee.com/project/24114?share=1 is the link to help provide seeds for the students at BFSS to grow their own food.

Below is a previous post with details of the students who are looking for a sponsor to help them take up their place at Bright Futures Secondary School. All of these students passed their primary school leavers exams, which is excellent, but they need your help to support them at secondary school contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you so much to everyone who helps and supports us to make lives brighter for the young people, Sarah x

5 weeks to find sponsors for 11 vulnerable students

Bright Futures Secondary School Expansion

With many thanks to The Clive Richards Foundation for their grant of £9,000 towards the expansion project of Bright Futures Secondary School.

Sarah’s blog 16/08/24

Today we are absolutely delighted that £9,000 has been transferred to the charity bank account by The Clive Richards Foundation. This is the second grant we have received from them, having had a successful grant application last year for £11,000 which paid for the teachers’ accommodation block for four teachers. Each teacher has their own sitting room and bedroom. Thank you so much for your support again this year.

We are so grateful to The Clive Richards Foundation for this second grant. They understood the issues we have of being able to attract teachers to Bright Futures Secondary School because of the very rural location. The extreme poverty means that there is nowhere suitable for teachers to rent nearby.

A brief recap for those who may not know. Bright Futures Secondary School was built because none of the orphans and other young people could afford school fees. Secondary school in Malawi is not free so all of the young people were having to leave school at the end of primary school whether they had passed their primary school leavers exams or not. Some young people whom we matched with sponsors were able to attend the nearest government school if they were chosen to have a place…but there were not enough places for everyone.

Thanks to lots of support, the first two classrooms at Bright Futures Secondary School were built and the school opened on 7th November 2022. Classrooms 3 and 4 where built and ready for term starting in September 2023. As there were only 3 year groups last year, classroom 4 was able to be used as a staffroom and for some other non academic skills classes.

Next month (Sept 24) will see 4 year groups at Bright Futures Secondary School. This obviously means all classrooms will be in use and more teachers will be employed…hence the need for the expansion. So, after having lots of quotes and writing lots of grant applications and fundraising…we have embarked on a £33,000 expansion for Bright Futures Secondary School.

Work has started on another motel style accommodation block – this time for 6 teachers. There will also be further latrines/washing facilities and solar power for the accommodation block and the school. Obviously this is a huge amount of money and we are so grateful for everyone’s support. It means so much that people believe us and the community we are helping to support.

The students know that education is the way out of the extreme poverty they are living in and this is an investment in their future. They will have a brighter future with choices and chances that they would not previously have had. A huge part of the school day for these young people is a free school lunch. Their families cannot afford to feed them properly. The substantial, nutritious lunch they have at school each day means at least they have eaten. They are able to concentrate because of the food they receive at school. Their families can concentrate on trying to feed the other members of the family and have one less mouth to feed.

Did you also know that, by keeping these young people in education, we are helping to prevent child marriages? When families cannot afford to feed their children, often they will agree to the eldest daughter being married far too young. Levison and team have supported lots of girls by matching them with a sponsor and easing the financial burden on the family slightly. Some of these girls have been as young as 11. Many children and young people regard Bright Futures Campus as their safe space and girls have run there in tears to tell Levison about proposed child marriages. Another benefit is preventing teen pregnancies as young people are focused and working hard to better themselves.

National exams are at the end of S2 and S4. Even if students do not manage to pass their s4 exams, they are far more literate and numerate than they were before attending secondary school…which will benefit them in whatever job they get after leaving school. They also learn practical skills like agriculture so will know how to grow their own food.

These young people need to be nurtured because of the trauma they have faced in their young lives. They are all living in extreme poverty, most have suffered from malnutrition, all are hungry. Most have lost family members and are living with extended family. Some families have been affected by HIV and Aids. So an holistic approach is taken at Bright Futures Secondary School. These young people need adults to believe in them. To help their confidence and self-esteem. To be positive role models. To know that they are as important as other young people. This is why Bright Futures Secondary School has been built and is now expanding…to give current students, and the hundreds that will benefit in future, a brighter future.

My previous blog looking for sponsors to support vulnerable students to take up their place at Bright Futures Secondary School is here: 5 weeks to find sponsors for 11 vulnerable students – Changing Lives Malawi

This is the link to help to provide seeds for the students to grow their own food: https://donorsee.com/project/24114?share=1

If you’d like to help by holding a fundraiser or would like us to attend an event or you’d like to make a financial donation please get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you again, Sarah x

The ground has been cleared of rocks, boulders and vegetation
Thousands of bricks are being made by hand
Bricks are covered to stop them drying out too quickly in the sun and cracking. Then they are stacked to make a kiln and covered in mud. Fires are lit in the gaps underneath.
The difficult work of digging the foundations
Some bricks were bought to use for the foundations, then the others will be used when they have cooled down enough next week
The men are working hard to get the accommodation block built during the school holidays
The builders are hard at work
Progress every day
Such hard work digging the foundations
https://videopress.com/v/mLl916y8?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true
Some bricks were bought to start off the building
The truck has been invaluable to fetch supplies although there is a fuel shortage and they had to wait in a long queue for fuel to arrive and to get a tank of fuel (no extra cans were allowed which is a real nuisance as they are in such a rural location)
such hard work
water is needed to be brought from the river as the borehole only has enough water for domestic use during the dry season
the builders are making great progress
https://videopress.com/v/MlWtVoDP?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true
collecting planks of wood which will be used for the roof

5 weeks to find sponsors for 11 vulnerable students

These young people need a sponsor to help them access secondary education which isn’t free in Malawi. Will you help please?

Sarah’s blog 10/8/24

Thank you so much to the generous people who have come forward and offered to sponsor a young person to go to Bright Futures Secondary School. We are so grateful for everyone who sponsors one of the young people we help to support.

Secondary school is not free in Malawi. So, unless these young people receive help, their education stops at the end of primary school whether they pass their primary school leavers exams or not. This doesn’t seem fair. They are all living in extreme poverty. Many are orphans living with extended family. None can pay school fees. All of them know that education is their way out of poverty and to a brighter future with choices and chances.

The new school term in Malawi starts on 16th September. Will you help us please? We need to find sponsors for all of these young people. You can sponsor as an individual, a family or two friends can share the cost. It’s only £25 per month to change a young person’s life. Or if 5 friends shared sponsorship of a young person then that’s only £5 each per month. Please could you ask your friends?

Apart from paying the teachers’ salaries, the biggest cost is food. At Bright Futures Secondary School each student gets a substantial, nutritious meal each lunchtime. For most this is their only meal of the day, so it is vital. Families, knowing that the students are fed at school, don’t have to worry about feeding them at home. This is how poor families are. They just do not have enough to go round.

I’ve enclosed the link to my original blog about looking for sponsors but the photos in this blog are the young people who still need your help. Please contact me to ensure we can help. It takes teamwork. Thank you so much, Sarah x contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

12 weeks to find sponsors for 14 vulnerable students

12 weeks to find sponsors for 14 vulnerable students

I have been asked to find sponsors for these vulnerable students so they can attend secondary school. I cannot do this without your help. Please read today’s blog and help if you can.

Sarah’s blog 14/06/24

It’s bad enough for our children waiting for exam results but, in Malawi, did you know that only primary education is free? So depending on their national primary school exam results their education might stop at the end of primary school. Also, if their families cannot pay, their education stops at the end of primary school. Imagine if our children only had primary school education? Think of everything they would miss out on.

There are 8 years of primary school and children start school at age 6. Class sizes are 50+ children. For example, Chambo Primary School, in the rural far north of Malawi has 500+ students over 8 classrooms. Only one classroom had desks and benches, until we successfully applied for a grant to install clean drinking water and desks and benches for two further classrooms. This grant was thanks to the Kitchen Table Charities Trust. Another grant from the Eleanor Rathbone Trust, meant that a girls toilet block was built. Meaning that girls no longer had to squat in the bushes which left them at risk of attack and with no dignity or privacy.

Five classrooms are remaining with children sitting on the concrete floor. There were hardly any resources until we started our School Literacy Project, gifting boxes of preloved books to help students become more confident readers. We gave students at Chambo Primary school notebooks and pencils in January…nowhere near enough for what they need…but better than nothing. Thanks to our fundraising on the site DonorSee these vulnerable children are about to receive more notebooks and pencils (one now and one in September).

Imagine not being able to afford a notebook and pencil. Imagine not being able to afford soap. Imagine not eating properly each day. No big charities are working in the far north yet. We can only afford to feed 500 children once a week whilst we try to set up sustainable projects to help them be self-sufficient.

Many of these students in primary school are older than they would normally be. If they are one of the eldest children in a family, they might have dropped out of school for a while to work for a pittance to help bring money into their family to provide food whilst the younger children in the family attended school. Or maybe all the children in the family had to work. Or they might have had to look after an elderly relative. So there can be many different ages in one class of students.

I need your help. I have been asked to find sponsors for 18 students who have just done their primary school leavers exams. They are bright students and are all expected to pass. None can go to secondary school without financial support. I have managed to find sponsors for 4 of them – many thanks to those sponsors for coming forward. However, I still need to match 14 students with sponsors and I’ve only got 12 weeks to do it before the new term starts in mid September. THESE STUDENTS ARE HOPING THEY WILL BE ABLE TO GO TO BRIGHT FUTURES SECONDARY SCHOOL BUT THEY NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE. They wait in hope of a brighter future. They know that education is their way out of poverty. This will be the most important gift these young people have – the gift of education. Will you reach out and help one of them? Please?

Being a sponsor is less than £1 per day. How many people buy a chocolate bar or a packet of crisps that we don’t really need? Could you spare less than £1 per day? It’s only £25 per month to make a difference to one of these young people. You can sponsor as an individual, two friends could share the cost (making it less than 50p per day) or your club, school or church could sponsor a young person’s education. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com When you meet a friend for a coffee or have a few glasses of wine with your friends, would you ask them please if they can join you in sponsoring a young person’s education? If we have lots of little groups of friends or colleagues sponsoring one young person, just think what a difference we could make. It’s always about teamwork. You have the ability to change a life.

Being sponsored means these students will receive free education at Bright Futures Secondary School where class sizes are kept smaller than average. They will receive school uniform and stationery and other gifts. Each student will receive a free nutritious lunch each day. For most, this is their only meal of the day so it is vital for their health and concentration.

Will you help one of these vulnerable young people please? Many are orphans, living with extended family or some are from single parent families. All are living in dire poverty. Your help and support to gift these young people a secondary education and a brighter future will be so welcome. Will you help us help them today? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Together we can keep Changing Lives (in) Malawi. Thanks, Sarah x

Arnold Clark, Scottish Rugby & Changing Lives Malawi

We are so excited about this new partnership with Arnold Clark, Scottish Rugby and http://www.changinglivesmalawi.com

Sarah’s blog 2/8/24

Yesterday we were contacted by Arnold Clark to ask if we would like to help with a promotion they would be doing today. They are the new sponsors for the front of the Scotland Rugby Team shirts. Today, they announced that 500 people could swap their last season’s shirt for a brand new shirt at one of the two Macron shops. We were asked if we would like all the preloved shirts to send to the young people we help to support in Malawi.

As well as gifting 500 shirts for us to reuse, Arnold Clark have agreed to pay for the container costs for these shirts which is a huge help. And, what we are really excited about, is that they have promised to donate £500 to ensure we can run another rugby tournament for the orphans and other vulnerable children.

We are absolutely delighted that these shirts will be going to young people in need and that we will have money to ensure that Jack Mphande, Malawi Rugby’s Development Officer can come and visit for a third time. Thanks to our supporters, we were able to pay Jack’s expenses for his previous trips to introduce touch rugby to those in the far north of Malawi.

When the young people meet for training and the tournament, we will have money to be able to feed them all and provide drinks. No big charities are working that far north to feed children in primary schools, so all of these children are hungry (most are malnourished) and need to eat so they will have enough energy to enjoy their games of rugby.

Until recently, these orphans were not used to people visiting and wanting to spend time with them. It really helps their confidence and self-esteem. They learn new skills and have fun with their friends and are able to forget about the dire poverty they live in and the trauma they have been through.

Thank you Arnold Clark for partnering with us to ensure the continuation of grass roots rugby in northern Malawi. Thank you everyone who donates their tops that will ensure the young people have matching tops instead of their old and ripped ones. They will all be delighted. Thank you to the rugby development officer, Jack Mphande, for agreeing to visit again. There will be so much excitement when the young people know you are coming!

There will be lots of photos and videos so please do follow us on social media if you haven’t already done so. Here is the link to the new rugby shirts that came out today https://www.facebook.com/share/v/vm3miom5zWkb5oZh/

and here is a link to another of my blogs with some of the projects we are helping to support. https://changinglivesmalawi.com/2024/08/01/help-us-feed-the-orphans-please/

We always say it takes teamwork and we are very grateful to be given this opportunity to reach more people through partnership working. To the team at Arnold Clark – thank you. To Scottish Rugby – thank you. To everyone else who supports us – thank you also. We couldn’t do what we do without you all, Sarah. (Below is a photo of the new Scotland Rugby shirt and there are a few photos from Jack’s previous visits to teach touch rugby to the orphans)

Help us feed the orphans please?

All the children are hungry. It’s now school holidays. Please help us continue to feed them and plan for future sustainable feeding projects

Sarah’s blog 1/8/24

The schools in Malawi are now on summer holidays and won’t return until mid September. The sponsored students at Bright Futures Secondary School will receive a monthly food parcel, like the other sponsored children, as they won’t have their usual school lunches.

The Feeding Programme will be needed more than ever as Bright Futures Nursery is closed for the school holidays. These preschool children usually receive porridge at each session so, unfortunately, they won’t have that. https://donorsee.com/project/23502?share=1 to donate to feeding the nursery kids.

The feeding programme runs once a week and up to 500 children and young people are fed a substantial and nutritious meal. Children walk up to 20km for this one proper meal of the week. They are so hungry. Please donate here https://donorsee.com/project/23035?share=1

Fruit tree saplings have been planted. These will be a sustainable future source of food and income as excess fruit can be sold at the local markets. We are fundraising to buy more fruit tree saplings to add to the orchard. Here is the link https://donorsee.com/project/23627?share=1

Chickens have been bought to lay eggs and more fertilised eggs will be bought soon to put in the solar powered incubator. This will be another food source and sustainable income source. Thanks to the donors who funded this project.

We are raising money to buy piglets and make a pig pen. Future piglets that will be born will be sold at local markets and will provide a sustainable income. Here is the link to donate to this project https://donorsee.com/project/23894?share=1

The students at Bright Futures Secondary School are appealing for money to buy seeds and sweet potato vines https://donorsee.com/project/24114?share=1

These, and other projects, are all plans to help the community be self-sufficient and sustainable and also be good for the environment. However, the malnourished children need food now. Will you help us please to ensure that we can continue to feed them? https://donorsee.com/project/23502?share=1 to donate to feeding the nursery kids.

Thank you in advance for supporting and helping the orphans, Sarah x

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

And then there were ten…

10 vulnerable students are needing sponsors to help with their secondary education. Will you help? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Sarah’s blog 6/7/24

10 students needing sponsors with 9 weeks until the new term!

I’d like to start by saying THANK YOU to the lovely people who answered the call for help for new sponsors. I was set the challenge of finding sponsors for 18 young people who have just left primary school. Now there are 10 to find sponsors for and we are very grateful that eight have now been matched with sponsors to support their education.

In Malawi, secondary education needs to be paid for. None of the young people we help to support would be able to have a secondary education if they don’t have a sponsor to help with the cost of their place at secondary school. Bright Futures Secondary School was built for these students who had no hope of a brighter future….but, with your help, they now can see a way out of the extreme poverty they are living in.

One of the biggest daily costs at Bright Futures Secondary School is food. These young people do not eat a proper meal at home each day. They receive a nutritious, filling lunch each day they are at school. This is their only meal of the day and saves their families having to feed them. So it is vital that they are all fed at school. Apart from their free lunches, they receive free education, free uniform and shoes, stationery and water bottles.

It costs £25 per month to sponsor a young person. You can be a sponsor as an individual or a family or you could share the cost of being a sponsor with your friends or club. Anyone can help and it’s less than £1 per day. That might not seem a lot to us, but it is probably one of the most important things you can do for one of these young people….the gift of education. Please do get in touch if you think you can help or you’d like more information. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you for reading and supporting us to help these vulnerable young people, Sarah x

Sponsors needed for p8 students
This was my original post asking for help to support the education of these vulnerable young people

https://donorsee.com/project/24114?share=1 Here is a link to donate to provide vegetable seeds and sweet potato vines to support the agricultural classes at Bright Futures Secondary School. Brian, an S2 student, is saying how much he enjoys agricultural classes and asks for continued support. Growing their own vegetables to supplement their school lunches is something for them to be proud of!

Missing Crops

Crops for use in the feeding programme have been stolen.

Sarah’s blog 4/7/24

Just a short blog today. The mood is low and people are worried.

Life is tough in Malawi when you are living in poverty. I don’t think we will ever realise how difficult it is and totally soul destroying at times. Maize and groundnuts crops had been planted and were being tended. Unfortunately, when the crops were checked today… a large amount of the crops have been stolen.

I can’t imagine depending on food that you have spent hours trying to grow…suddenly it’s not there any more. Someone else took your food. Someone took the food meant for malnourished orphans.

This is terrible news regarding feeding the children and the backbreaking work that has gone into clearing the land, planting and weeding the maize and groundnuts. And how desperate life must be if people are stealing other people’s crops meant to be helping feed hundreds of orphans.

If you can help us continue feeding 500+ vulnerable children once a week, 70+ nursery children 6 times a week and students at BFSS 5 times a week then please donate a little something to the link below. They need to be fed while we set up sustainable feeding projects for the future.

Please help. Together we can ensure that the Feeding Programme can continue. Thank you, Sarah x

https://donorsee.com/project/23035?share=1 to donate to the feeding programme.

https://donorsee.com/project/23502?share=1 to donate to feed the nursery children.

https://donorsee.com/project/23627?share=1 to buy fruit tree saplings.

Sustainable Projects

Sustainability and Self-sufficiency are the end goals. Please read today’s blog about how we are trying to help achieve this.

Sarah’s blog 3/7/24

Every day I want to wave a magic wand to do progress all our projects asap. Clearly that doesn’t work and my magic wand has been sent for repair!

One big issue that we have is that no big charities are feeding malnourished children in primary schools that far north. We cannot ignore this issue. We are feeding 500 of the most vulnerable children once a week. They have a substantial, nutritious meal. Some of them are walking 15km-20km for this food. It’s not good enough but all we can afford. We need your help and support with this please as costs keep rising.

We are trying to help set up sustainable projects for a better future for all of them. By planting fruit tree saplings, they will have future food and a sustainable income – being able to sell surplus fruit at the local markets. The same is happening with a chicken project and a pig project – providing future food and income. There are other small projects that will be set up providing jobs, income and food for families. The community needs and wants a hand up not a handout.

We have started using a fundraising site called DonorSee. We have a page on there with several projects posted. The idea is that the more people who donate to your projects, the more visible the projects are to other potential donors. We are conscious that we are asking a lot of our supporters, so this is one way of trying to find new supporters. The majority of the people on DonorSee are in USA.

What I would be really grateful if you could do please… is I need 15 people to each donate £5 (or $5) just a small amount. Login or make an account on DonorSee and just give a small amount and we will move further up the page that others will see our projects….we’ve already received over £1,000 and fully funded 4 projects. Please? It’s always about teamwork and we need you on our team.

https://donorsee.com/project/23894?share=1 is the link to the Pig Project.

https://donorsee.com/project/23627?share=1 is the link to donate to our Fruit Tree Sapling Project.

https://donorsee.com/project/23035?share=1 is the link to help feed the vulnerable children each week.

Thank you for all the support we receive, Sarah x

Brighton Ng’ambi, then and now

For less than £1 per day…you could change a child’s life. Brighton’s sponsor has…will you give a brighter future to a child or young person today?

Sarah’s blog 29/06/24

I just wanted to show you the difference that having a sponsor makes. Brighton Ng’ambi was traumatised and malnurished when I first wrote about him. He was covered in lice and one of the women volunteers gently helped him shower and get clean. He was then given clothes and fed. However, it was just too much for him to be with the other children so Levison sat quietly with him in the library while he ate his food.

I appealed for a sponsor and, thankfully, a kind lady came forward and has been sponsoring him for two years. He has had a monthly food parcel to take home to his extended family that he lives with. He also comes to the weekly feeding programme. Life is still hard for Brighton and he is still hungry but he has hope. His smile has returned and what a lovely smile it is. He has a brighter future thanks to his sponsor and the team in Malawi.

Please read his story that I wrote two years ago and look at the photos then and now. If you think you could help make a young person’s life better then please do get in touch. There are many more like Brighton who need our help. It’s only £25 p/m to sponsor a child or young person….that’s less than £1 per day. You can sponsor as an individual or why not share the cost with a friend? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Together we can change lives but we need you on our team! Please help a child like Brighton.

https://donorsee.com/project/23035?share=1 This is the link to our fundraiser to help feed 500 vulnerable children once a week at the feeding programme. Please make a small donation if you can and spread the word. Thank you for reading and supporting us to continue Changing Lives (in) Malawi, Sarah x

A little boy in need of your help – Brighton Ng’ambi