Tag: jack mphande

Maggie’s visit to Lilongwe

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Sarah’s blog 4/4/25

Last month, there was a conference in Lilongwe organised by Malawi Rugby Union and Child Fund Rugby called ‘Grassroots to Global’. It was for girls and women to try to increase the numbers of girls and women taking part in rugby and coaching rugby.

Jack Mphande is the senior rugby development officer who has introduced rugby to the far north of Malawi. We have helped facilitate his visits several times and now have a great relationship with Jack. Hundreds of young people in the far north of Malawi are now playing rugby thanks to him.

Jack got in touch to say that there was funding for one girl from each district in Malawi to go to Lilongwe for that meeting. Maggie Kabaghe, a 16 year old student in S2 at Bright Futures Secondary School was chosen because of her skill and enjoyment of playing rugby and because of her positive attitude.

However, we knew that it wouldn’t be the right thing to do to expect Maggie, who has never had the opportunity to go anywhere, to travel on her own to the capital city, Lilongwe, all by herself and on more than one bus.

One of her teachers, Rose Thawi, agreed to accompany Maggie. It cost quite a lot of money to cover the costs for Rose for the weekend with travel, food and accommodation. We were so glad that Rose was happy to go with Maggie as what a wonderful opportunity for an orphan, living in extreme poverty in rural northern Malawi. Maggie was given a bag, trainers and new clothes, soap and a towel etc for her trip.

There was space for Rose to join the conference too and they both enjoyed their weekend a great deal. There were lots of discussions about barriers to sport for girls and women and they learned a great deal and enjoyed meeting new people.

They left early on Friday morning and didn’t get back until late on Monday evening. They were very tired but happy. Maggie was treated like a celebrity by her classmates on her return.

Once Maggie’s exams are over, she and her teacher, Rose, will put together some ideas on how they can get more girls involved in rugby in their local area.

Thank you so much to Jack Mphande for his hard work and support and for giving Maggie this wonderful opportunity. Thank you to the other organisers in Malawi Rugby Union and for Child Fund Rugby for the funding.

I hope you enjoy the photos from Maggie and Rose’s weekend. Thank you to everyone who sponsors the young people we help to support. With your help they have a brighter future with opportunities, choices and chances that they wouldn’t otherwise have had. Please do email me if you would like to support a young person it only costs £25 p/m. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thanks, Sarah x

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Rugby Day 3 – The Tournament

An amazing third day of rugby! Tournaments all day. Lots and lots of happy children!

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Sarah’s blog 15/10/24

What an amazing day! It was a school holiday today in Malawi for Mothers’ Day. Many of these children are orphans living with extended family so have mother figures looking after them. All have all come together for a great day of rugby, fun and friendship. As many of these children are malnourished, certainly all are hungry, and no big charities are feeding children in primary schools that far north, we always ensure that children have a nutritious meal when they come together for a day of sport.

Today’s post is going to show photos of the teams that took part and, in a separate post, I will be able to show action photos and videos…there are just too many to share all at once and it has been a very long day for Jack and Levison who were organising the event.

Jack Mphande is the Malawi Rugby Development Officer whose enthusiasm shines through. Thank you Jack for sharing your time and talents with the orphans and other vulnerable children. You have shared your passion for the game with them and, once again, given them such a positive experience. Until recently, these children never had anyone come to spend time with them. You have given them confidence, skills, friendship and raised their self-esteem. These are priceless and they will remember days like today for the rest of their lives.

Jack writes on the Malawi Rugby Union Facebook page (MARU) “Rugby is in safe hands here in Chisenga, Chitipa. I have witnessed raw talent of rugby which, if nurtured well, Malawi Rugby will never be the same.” Jack always writes at the end of his posts “Rugby Rise Malawi”. Rugby is indeed on the rise in Malawi and we are grateful for his visit.

We are also grateful to Arnold Clark cars for their financial donation towards this event and Jack’s travel expenses. Arnold Clark is a new Scotland Rugby Team sponsor.

We have two tickets for the Scotland v Fiji game on 2nd November courtesy of Arnold Clark. For a donation of £5 you could be in with a chance of being at this game! details are in the attached post from day 1 of the rugby.

We are trying to raise funds to have a similar football tournament. Here is the link to donate https://donorsee.com/project/24384?share=1

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated sports kit that we have been able to gift to each school that has taken part. They have matching sports kit that they are proud of and can dream big about being stars of the future, like children everywhere do. Thanks, Sarah x

Rugby Day 1 – theory & practical for teachers
Rugby – Day 2 – primary school visits

Facebook live link today; https://fb.watch/vepj9DV-nA

Everyone who took part in today’s tournament
Bright Futures Secondary School – girls (wearing Merchiston Castle School & Bromley & Beckenham Hockey)
Bright Futures Secondary School – boys (wearing Seafar fc, Cumbernauld & Poole FC)
Kalanga Primary School – boys
Kalanga Primary School – girls
Chisenga Primary School – boys (wearing Chelsa fc)
Chisenga Primary School – girls (wearing Liverpool fc)
Chambo Primary School – boys (wearing Hardinxveld, Holland)
Chambo Primary Schools – girls (wearing Seafar Villa, Cumbernauld)
Kayilizi Primary School – boys (wearing South Africa)
Kayalizi Primary School – girls (wearing Seafar Villa, Cumbernauld)

Rugby – Day 2 – primary school visits

Day 2 of the Chisenga Zone Schools Rugby Initiative. Jack Mphande has been busy visiting local primary schools. Thanks to Arnold Clark cars for supporting the event.

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Sarah’s blog 14/10/24

Jack Mphande, Malawi Rugby Development Officer has had an extremely busy second day of the Chisenga Zone Schools Rugby Initiative. He has visited 4 different rural primary schools, delivering rugby training sessions and supporting the teachers from each of those primary schools with their new coaching skills from yesterday’s session. Thank you Jack for encouraging and inspiring everyone.

Tomorrow is a school holiday in Malawi – it’s Mothers’ Day. Teams from each school will come with their teachers to take part in a day of rugby matches and tournaments. Children will receive a nutritious meal and a drink which will be a great treat for each of them. No big charities are feeding children in schools in the far north of Malawi. So many are malnourished, all are hungry. We cannot expect them to take part in a day of sport without feeding them so we are very grateful to Arnold Clark cars for supporting us financially with this rugby event.

Here is the link to yesterday’s rugby session for teachers.

Rugby Day 1 – theory & practical for teachers

And here is the link to our fundraiser to try to raise money for a football tournament to happen (similar set up to the rugby) https://donorsee.com/project/24384?share=1 and we would be really grateful if you could help make this happen. The young people would be even more delighted! Thank you for reading and supporting, Sarah x

Some photos and videos from today…

Chambo Primary School

https://videopress.com/v/mynq0sMN?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true


Kaylizi Primary School

Kalanga Primary School

Chisenga Primary School

https://videopress.com/v/dfKuEzdv?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

Scotland Rugby Kit

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Sarah’s blog 05/02/24

Good morning! A timely post during the Six Nations Rugby Tournament. Did everyone enjoy the first weekend of games?

There were some willing young people, happy to model these new kits….. a very generous donation from Scottish Rugby Union. Thank you so much for this fantastic opportunity for the children and young people we help to support to have new, matching, colourful kit from the SRU.

As you may remember, we facilitated a two week Rugby Festival in October. Touch rugby has only recently been introduced in the north of Malawi and this is the second time that Jack Mphande, MRU Development Officer, has travelled north to spend time with young people and their teachers/coaches to introduce rugby within schools as a new sport.

Thanks to our supporters, we were able to pay for Jack’s travel, accommodation, expenses as well as food & drink for all the participants in the training sessions and tournaments. Sports kit & rugby balls that had been donated to us were gifted to each of the teams involved in the Rugby Festival.

Grassroots rugby is well and truly established now, thanks to Jack Mphande’s time, skills and dedication. Thanks also goes to all the people who donated to help make that experience happen for the hundreds of vulnerable children who took part. https://gofund.me/22e38b07

We would like to be able to host another Rugby Festival this year. We have two signed Scotland Rugby Shirts which SRU kindly donated. The link is here to donate…it’s £5 per turn. https://gofund.me/22e38b07 All money we receive will go towards next year’s Rugby Festival. For children who are living in extreme poverty, this will be something to really look forward to again. They aren’t used to people coming to spend time with them.

Once the weather improves (it’s the rainy season) I am sure there will be lots of action shots of the young people enjoying playing rugby. Thank you again, Sarah x (I’ve attached two of my blogs from the rugby festival…there are lots of photos in each. But there are more blogs from Jack’s visits on my blog page on our website).

https://changinglivesmalawi.com/2023/10/02/rugby-coaching-2023/

https://changinglivesmalawi.com/2023/10/07/rugby-tourament/

The Final Rugby Tournament

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Sarah’s blog 13/10/23

As I type this, Jack Mphande, Malawi Rugby Union’s Rugby Development Officer, is on his way back to Lilongwe which is over 15 hours on a bus. When he arrives home he is straight into finishing an assignment that he put aside whilst he travelled north for the two-week Rugby Festival.

Jack had been making plans for this visit for a while, after the success of his first visit two years ago when he introduced touch rugby to children in the north for the very first time. We were delighted that Jack was keen to visit the far north again to spread the joy of the sport of rugby with his enthusiasm and coaching skills.

Meanwhile, here in Scotland, we had been raising funds to ensure that there was enough money for this rugby festival to run smoothly. We are so grateful to every single supporter who has donated to our fundraiser to make the last two weeks of rugby a huge success. Thank you for your generosity. Thank you also to individuals and clubs and schools who donated sports kit and rugby balls that have been shared with the various schools taking part.

Levison welcomed Jack to stay at The Foundation again for his second visit. Together, they ensured the planned programme went smoothly and Levison liaised with the education and sports officers. Levison also arranged for food, and water to be bought for everyone and arranged lunches, and someone to cook, for the adults and children. They organised which schools would be taking part and which days schools would be visited. Schools were split into two clusters. In order to make this programme sustainable, Jack was able to spend time coaching two teachers from each school as well as some community coaches. He visited each school individually and, at the end of each of the two weeks everyone came together for a tournament.

As yet, there are no big charities feeding children in schools in this area. Most children are living in extreme poverty. It was important to us that all children had a snack and a bottle of water when playing. On tournament days, we ensured there was enough money for everyone to have a proper lunch, snack and bottle of water. Students were given pens and pencils as a gift for taking part. Each school was given sports kit and rugby balls that had been donated by clubs and individuals.

Sustainable development goals were kept in mind when organising this rugby festival; SDG2 – zero hunger, SDG3 – good health & wellbeing, SDG4 – quality education, SDG5 – gender equality, SDG6 – clean water, SDG10 – reduced inequalities, SDG11 – sustainable communities, SDG17 – partnership for the goals.

Each team played two matches and the emphasis was on taking part rather than being too much of a competition. However, the winning boys team was Model Primary School and the winning girls team was Katutula Primary School. Well done everyone!

These children have had an opportunity that they wouldn’t usually have had; someone investing time teaching them new skills, time to play, time to have fun, time to forget about the difficulties in their day to day lives. Time to be part of a team, time to play a new sport, time to feel valued and important, time for self-esteem and confidence to grow. Time for nutritious food and clean water and time for gifts of pens & pencils to help with their education.

Thank you to everyone who has made these two weeks possible. It was a lot of organising, but it was worth it for the enjoyment on the faces of these children. Without the financial donations of our supporters, this rugby festival would have only been a dream. With your help it has been a wonderful experience for so many vulnerable children. Enjoy the photos, Sarah x

Rugby (part 2)

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Sarah’s blog 10/10/23

After a hugely successful first week of rugby with the rural schools, culminating in a tournament on Friday, Jack Mphande, rugby development officer, is working with the primary schools in and around town.

Yesterday, two teachers from each school as well as local sports coaches spent the day learning the rules of touch rugby from Jack. They were classroom based in the morning and having fun playing some touch rugby in the afternoon.

Today, Jack visited his first two schools;

The students really enjoyed themselves and were keen to learn a new sport. The newly trained teachers were able to help run these sessions as they will be the ones continuing this rugby initiative once Jack returns to Lilongwe.

Jack will visit more schools this week and there will be a tournament for these schools on Friday.

There are lots of people to thank for the success of this rugby development programme. Firstly, to Jack for his commitment, hard work, organisational skills and enthusiasm with which he delivers these sessions and makes them fun for the participants. We are so glad that you made time in your busy schedule to visit again.

Levison, you work so hard mostly in the background, ensuring that you help and support as many vulnerable people as you can. You worked really hard with Jack ahead of time with planning for this event. You hosted visitors last week and you were delighted at how many young people took part… all in addition to your regular ‘to do’ list. Thank you.

To clubs and individuals who donated sports kit – thank you. Having matching kit helps these vulnerable young people’s self-esteem and saves pre-loved kit going to landfill – reuse, recycle, repurpose.

And to our wonderful supporters who have donated an amazing amount of money to ensure that these vulnerable children can learn a new sport and have opportunities they wouldn’t usually have had – thank you. You are all amazing! It was quite a big undertaking for a small charity like ours to facilitate a big event like this two week rugby tuition and tournament – but with your help and support we did it.

Jack’s transport, expenses, accommodation and food have been paid for from your donations. Teachers and sports coaches being trained have had a cooked lunch. Children in schools who were taking part in training have all had a snack and a bottle of water. Everyone on tournament days have had/will have a proper lunch, snack and bottled water. All the students taking part have been gifted pens and pencils too. This is just the start of rugby in schools in the far north of Malawi. The enthusiasm is brilliant. These teachers will continue to coach touch rugby at their schools.

Students will remember taking part in this event for the rest of their lives. They aren’t used to having opportunities like this. Thank you for making a difference. Enjoy the photos from yesterday and today. Katitula Primary School is wearing blue and CCAP Primary School’s uniform is purple. Thanks, Sarah x

New rugby kit for students at Bright Futures Secondary School

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Sarah’s blog 04/10/23

We are very grateful for the donations of preloved sports kit we have received from clubs and individuals. As I posted yesterday, one primary school have football shirts that are years old and are ripped and falling apart. Thankfully, because of these generous donations, all schools taking part in the rugby development tournament will receive rugby balls and sports kit to take back to their schools.

New (or new to them) sports kit will make such a difference to these vulnerable young people who are living in extreme poverty. They can be proud of their team all looking smart and they know that people whom they’ve never met care about them. These young people are used to making do with what they have, even if it is ripped and falling apart, they aren’t used to being gifted new sports kit. They will be delighted, on tournament day, to receive new sports kit thanks to the donations of kit we have received.

One organisation who have been very generous with the amount of rugby kit and rugby balls they have donated to us is Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. They have given us a huge amount of sports clothes as well as rugby boots and rugby balls. We are very grateful for all this support which, as you can see from the photos, is making a huge impact on the vulnerable young people we help to support.

We have facilitated a second visit from Jack Mphande, Sports Development Officer for Malawi Rugby Union, to introduce rugby in the far north of Malawi where we work. Jack is based in Lilongwe and travelled 15 hours by bus to work with the orphans and other vulnerable children during these two weeks.

A bit of information for those who are new to my blogs;

  1. No big organisations are feeding children in primary schools this far north.
  2. Most of children in primary schools aren’t eating a proper meal every day.
  3. Secondary education needs to be paid for in Malawi. So, unless families can afford to pay for secondary education, many children’s education does not advance past primary school level.
  4. Many primary schools do not even have clean water and toilets. Nor do they have enough educational resources. We have been donating boxes of preloved reading books to primary schools to help raise literacy levels.
  5. The students (in today’s photos) attend Bright Futures Secondary School, the second phase of which has just been completed. None of them could afford secondary education as many are orphans living with extended family. Most don’t eat every day so all students at Bright Futures Secondary School receive a free cooked lunch each day as well as their free secondary education.
  6. Many of the students at Bright Futures Secondary School are older than they should be. They’ve had to miss big chunks of primary school to work for a pittance to try to buy food for themselves and their families. The older a student is when they start secondary school, the poorer the family as they’ve missed more school. Often older siblings miss out on education so younger siblings can go to school while the older siblings work long hours. Many of the children and young people we help to support are suffering from different levels of malnutrition.
  7. Whilst we are very grateful for donations of goods, we also need funds to cover the cost of sending these items. It costs us £17.50 per box or sports bag on the container and then there are also costs in Malawi when Levison and team travel to collect all the donations.

Thank you to all who contribute, to all who share our posts, to all those who have donated to this rugby event to ensure that these young people got to experience a new sport and learn new skills whilst having fun with their friends. They are able to forget about their traumatic lives whilst playing team sports. They will remember Jack’s visit as a highlight of their time at school.

So, as we grow and are able to help more of the most vulnerable people living in dire poverty, please consider fundraising for us to help us continue to change lives in rural northern Malawi. Can you donate money along with your gifts of goods? Can you have a bake sale for us? Or do a sponsored event? Our charity is run by volunteers, so all money goes to the projects we support in Malawi. Eventually, the aim is that the community will be self-sufficient but things have been so bad that they need a helping hand until they are at that point.

  1. We are also looking for people to commit to £5 or £10 per month to help pay for school lunches at Bright Futures Secondary School.
  2. Can you pay for a box of preloved books to get to a primary school as part of our School Literacy Project? £17.50 will help children become more confident readers.
  3. Can you give a vulnerable young person the gift of education at Bright Futures Secondary School? The more sponsors we have then the more students we can support. If you have £25 per month to spare (or split the cost with a friend) you will be able to sponsor a young person to attend secondary school. Education is their way out of poverty and young people want to work hard and have new opportunities for a brighter future.
  4. Any fundraising you can do for us or monetary donations would be very much appreciated. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com our charity bank details are; Bank of Scotland, Changing Lives Malawi, a/c 21081462, s/c 80-22-60.

Enjoy looking at these photos of the young people at Bright Futures Secondary School as they learn to play rugby. Thank you everyone who supports us, Sarah x

Rugby Coaching 2023

Chisenga PS & Malawa PS rugby coaching

Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh – Rugby Kit Donation

Merchiston Castle School – another rugby donation

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Chisenga PS & Malawa PS rugby coaching

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Sarah’s blog 3/10/23

This morning, Jack Mphande, the Rugby Development Officer, visited firstly Chisenga Primary School then Malawa Primary School. Teachers from those schools had attended Jack’s coaching session yesterday.

Jack was able to work with the teachers today, and students from both these schools.

When Jack sent me these photos I asked him what the students thought of their first introduction to rugby.

He said ‘They are very happy to know the game. They say it’s simple to play and since a lot of students scramble for selection in football, rugby is an option now.’

Jack took a photo of a sports tops that one of the teachers showed him – so old it’s ripped and threadbare. None of the young people know yet, but they will all be getting new sports kit on the day they play their tournaments.

After school today, Jack was able to coach some of the students from Bright Futures Secondary School. I will post photos of the Bright Futures teenagers in tomorrow’s post.

Thank you for reading, Sarah x

Rugby Coaching 2023

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Sarah’s blog 02/10/23

Firstly, I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to help make it possible for Jack Mphande, Rugby Development Officer from Malawi Rugby, to visit the far north of Malawi to spend time with teachers and young people sharing his love of rugby.

Secondly, a HUGE thank you to Jack for making the 15 hour journey north from Lilongwe. We know that you are a busy man and very in demand, so we are very happy and thankful that you have agreed to visit for a second time. Jack said how much the Foundation had changed and grown since his last visit! There was no Bright Futures Secondary School then!

Today, teachers from Bright Futures Secondary School, and four local primary schools, and the District Education Sports Officer had theory lessons from 10am-2pm. After that, they were joined outside by students from Bright Futures Secondary School for practical learning. Tomorrow, Jack will start visiting local primary schools who sent teachers to the course, to work with the teachers and students there. Then on the last day there will be tournaments between the schools.

The commitment, concentration and the passion from the sports teachers was great. We did the Get Into Rugby session, basic requirements in Rugby Coaching and what to do to sustain the programme. Coaches had a learning experience with the kids and I gave them an assignment to demonstrate how they will be delivering the session starting tomorrow at their own school. They did well and the kids had fun too.

Jack Mphande, Rugby Development Officer

There will be many more photos and videos documenting Jack’s visit along with the learning journey and fun that everyone will have. I love the photos of the teachers who were also doing practical learning! Many thanks again to everyone who has helped to enable this visit to happen. Enjoy the photos and videos, Sarah x

https://videopress.com/v/DHMQ29ni?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

Rugby Donations & boxes

The children and young people are looking forward to another visit from the Rugby Development Officer.

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Sarah’s blog 13/05/23

Yesterday Stuart and I went to The Bananabox Trust Warehouse in Dundee with a car full of boxes and rugby balls. We are really grateful to all the volunteers at The Bananabox Trust who process everything and then order and pack the container once their warehouse is full. We are charged £17.50 per box to cover the cost of the container so if you would like to sponsor a box then please do get in touch…we can write your name on the box!

Thanks to Bruce Aitchison, housemaster at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh for supplying us with rugby balls, boots and kit.

Thanks also to Gordon and Michael for collecting kit from Grangemouth RFC, Hillfoots RFC, Stirling County RFC, Blaydon RFC (Newcastle) and Glasgow Warriors kit. Michael is also going to Edinburgh to the Scottish Rugby Union this week to collect lots of training kit. The SRU are also kindly giving us some new jerseys to auction. Well done and thank you!

In September we are facilitating Malawi Rugby’s development officer, Jack Mphande, to pay another visit for two weeks to coach and train teachers and students at several primary schools. Jack will also spend two days working with the older orphans we help to support. We do need help with financial support for this event and it would be a good opportunity to advertise your business. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Thanks to everyone who is helping us to support the projects in Malawi and make lives brighter for the hundreds of orphans who we help to support. Thank you, Sarah x

Bruce, housemaster at Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh with some of the donated kit and boots
Students at Bright Futures Secondary School with the Merchiston Castle School kit, balls and boots that were generously donated.

Rugby day 1 – “It amazed me because it was like they have been playing the game for sometime” – Jack Mphande

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Sarah’s blog 24/03/22

First of all I’d like to thank Jack for spending time at The Foundation. Also Andy from Community Sports Leaders Africa for organising and paying for Jack to travel north to Chitipa. Thank you to Strathendrick Rugby Club for donating rugby balls and to the people who donated money to make this possible…thank you so much.

Jack Mphande who is a Malawian rugby player and coach is at The Foundation to introduce and teach some of the young people to play rugby.

Jack and Levison have been sending me photos and I’m going to share some of the things Jack has said about the children.

“There were a good number of players….very intelligent”

“We managed to introduce the game and make some basic drills and played some games”

“It amazed me because it was like they have been playing the game for some time”

“Good handling and passing”

“They really enjoyed it and everyone is looking forward to the afternoon session”

During the morning session they were able to play on a local football pitch but that was being used in the afternoon so they were at The Foundation grounds after lunch. Eventually the clouds became darker and darker and then the rain started so everyone headed inside for a talk about rugby skills.

There are some great action shots in the photos, especially of a girl called Mphatso. Just look at the joy and concentration on her face. She’s having such a good time and it’s wonderful that the children, who until a few years ago have been used to being excluded and forgotten, are now having amazing opportunities to learn new skills. I’m so pleased it’s been a successful day and that it’s been such an enjoyable time for the children. Enjoy these photos …I’m sure they won’t be the last! Thanks for reading, Sarah x

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