Tag: malawi

Merry Christmas from Malawi – photos from 24/12 & 25/12

Lots of photos of hundreds of vulnerable children receiving clothes & food this Christmas.

Sarah’s blog 26/12/23

On Christmas Eve, 500 orphans and other vulnerable children of all ages came to the Foundation as they knew that they would be receiving gifts of new clothes. Many thanks to the team of volunteers for ensuring that this was able to happen. Such a lot of work, sorting clothes in advance and trying to secure enough food. Then on the days; distributing clothing, cooking ensuring that everyone was fed.

We were delighted to be able to send some great donations for these children, however it does cost £17.50 per box on the container so we really do need help with covering these costs please. When looking at the photos, have a look at some of the children’s feet. Many have broken shoes or their shoes are far too small for them. We would love donations of trainers, school shoes, flipflops and sliders please – sizes for young children to adults. Again, we need to ask for £1 per pair of shoes to cover the cost of sending them on the container. Can you help?

On Christmas Day, all the children returned to receive food for Christmas Lunch. This had been paid for by a very kind couple who are supporters of our charity. As you can see the children were very happy to receive food and enjoyed wearing the Christmas hats. It was decided that the children would actually have their party on Christmas Day as Levison has said that more and more families are struggling with food insecurity and are unable to feed their children properly. They wanted it to be a happy Christmas Day for the children. After everyone was fed, they were able to play a few games but on both days the children had to be sent home early because of heavy rain.

There are several shallow rivers that many of the children cross to reach the Foundation. There are no bridges. Every time it looks like rain is starting children have to leave either school or activities as the rivers will swell with the amount of rain and no one wants to risk children being swept away with the force of the water. Building bridges is something else on our list of things that will help this community.

We are getting more and more concerned about how food prices continuing to rise and the currency being devalued are affecting people living in extreme poverty. As well as food being scarce, people just don’t have any means to feed their families and it is only going to get worse. If you can spare £5 or £10 per month to help us continue to feed 500 children once a week then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com, or could you make a one off donation? It’s got to be a team effort, and we cannot do everything on our own. Or you could donate via our fundraiser https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a  Thank you for reading and continuing to support us and believe in us. Merry Christmas from here and Malawi, Sarah x

Advent Calendar – highlighting projects & children – 23 & 24

Our last two advent photos; 23 – clean water, 24 – decent work & economic growth. http://www.changinglivesmalawi.com

Sarah’s blog

Chambo Primary: Clean Water/Latrines/Desks & BFSS gifts of clothes for students

Thanks to all who helped change lives for the students at Chambo Primary and Bright Futures Secondary School…some amazing photos!

Sarah’s blog 23/12/23

Levison has had such a busy week this last week as both primary schools and secondary schools have been doing exams recently so visits to the schools had to wait until the students had finished their exams.

I am going to do a proper post on these visits after Christmas as I don’t have enough time today to write them up in detail.

Firstly Chambo Primary School. It’s a government run primary school with approximately 500 students over 8 classes. There are hardly any resources. Only classroom 8 had desks – the rest of the students sit on the floor. No big charities are feeding children in schools in this area. Many children are malnourished. There was no clean water and no latrines. This is the primary school where many of the orphans and vulnerable children that the Foundation supports attend. We had already donated boxes of books through our School Literacy Project, given clothes to students but we knew they needed more.

We were thankful to get a grant for £1,000 from The Eleanor Rathbone Trust to build a girls’ latrine, ensuring that girls have dignity, privacy and safety.

Thinking outside the box with the £6,000 grant we gratefully received from The Kitchen Table Charity Trust, we facilitated clean water being piped from Chambo Health Centre water supply after Changing Lives Malawi paying for a survey to ensure that this was possible. They are now taps outside Chambo Primary School with clean water for drinking and handwashing. Buckets and cups were also bought with the grant money and we provided soap for students and teachers.

Some of the grant money from The Kitchen Table Charity Trust was used for making desks for two of the classrooms, so there are now three classrooms with desks to sit at. A few of the young people that the Foundation supports helped the carpenters with making these desks and therefore were able to earn some money and learn some basic skills. The carpenters still have four bookshelves to make when they are finished working on a project at The Foundation. We provided exercise books and pencils for the students, and for the teachers we provided exercise books, clipboards, pens and boxes of chalk. Everyone was delighted and very thankful. Lots more information and photos will follow next week.

At Bright Futures Secondary School yesterday, students were tasked with writing essays in the morning about what they like about Bright Futures Secondary School and their hopes for 2024. In the afternoon they were given toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap supplied by Changing Lives Malawi. They were also gifted polo shirts from Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. We are grateful for lots of preloved sports kit they have gifted to us.

Via, Tony Phillips at Replay Sport Scotland charity in Stirling, we were gifted t-shirts and jackets from Scottish Swimming and also grey trousers from The Queen’s baton relay. We are very pleased to have been able to pass on these clothes to vulnerable teenagers and you can see how happy they are to have these gifts of new clothes. Thank you Tony for gifting these to us.

So as you can see from these photos there are lots of happy children and, with the help of our supporters, we are Changing Lives (in) Malawi. Thank you so much everyone who helps us…. it’s teamwork! Thank you Levison for project managing all the work and taking all the photos. Happy Christmas everyone, Sarah x

Advent Calendar – highlighting projects & children – days 21 & 22

Clean water & quality education are being highlighted today. Please read today’s blog about some of our important projects that are having an impact.

Sarah’s blog 22/12/23

Clean water and quality education are the highlights on 21st & 22nd of December. Thankfully, all the children using the Foundation have access to clean drinking water, handwashing facilities, proper showers and latrines. We have just facilitated girls’ latrines and clean drinking water at Chambo Primary School. Much still needs to be done in the community though as, when all the hundreds of vulnerable children return to their homes, they are drinking river water and have no toileting facilities and no soap.

The School Literacy Project is making a big difference to the education of hundreds, if not thousands, of vulnerable children. Primary schools in rural northern Malawi have hardly any resources. Thanks to our supporters, we have been sending boxes of preloved books (and many new books too) and gifted them to primary schools local to the foundation that we support. Initially, 17 boxes of books were donated to Chambo Primary School and other primary schools have benefitted to. It costs £17.50 to send a box of books on the container and we would love it if you would help by paying for a box of books to be transported. It is a fairly low cost project having a big impact on literacy, ensuring children become more confident readers.

We have included the 75 nursery children too. We want all pre-school children to have at least two books of their own to keep in their homes. All of these children have missed out on the stages of pre-literacy, sitting on an adult’s knee as a baby looking at the pictures in a book and hearing a story. Then as a toddler, knowing that the story would continue if you turned the page and being able to point to things in the pictures. One of the next stages of pre-literacy is pretending to read the story whilst moving a finger along the words.

The orphans and other vulnerable children have missed out on all of these stages. We are excited to see if the exam results will rise over the next few years in primary schools that have received gifts of boxes of books. Will you please make a donate this Christmas to ensure we can reach more children with the gift of books and quality education? https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Hope you enjoy the photos and the advent calendar video that I’ve attached. Thanks everyone, Sarah x

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

Advent Calendar 2023 – video – highlighting projects & children

Sarah’s blog 20/12/23

I’m thankful that I had help from someone far more skilled than me to put the advent calendar pictures together and with background music. I hope you enjoy looking at some of the many projects that are happening within the community we are supporting. Please share this video with your friends and family so more people can find out about our work.

Thank you to everyone who helps and supports us and if you can donate a few £££ to support our projects we would be very grateful. Thanks, Sarah x https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com 

Advent Calendar – highlighting projects & children – day 20

Sarah’s blog 20/12/23

20th December – today we are highlighting Life on Land – Global Sustainable Development Goal 15. Students at Bright Futures Secondary School plant crops and the younger children who come to the Foundation learn life skills like planting fruit tree saplings, weeding crops and harvesting. Agricultural classes are a core part of the curriculum in Malawi.

Despite best efforts, crops do not last long when feeding 500 vulnerable children and orphans each week. More fruit tree saplings are being planted soon for future food and a sustainable income. However, your help is needed to ensure we can keep feeding the children. With food becoming scarce and prices continuing to rise as the rainy season begins if our supporters were able to commit to £5 per month it would be a big help. No big charities are feeding children in schools in this area and we need your help. https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a  contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com 

I have had some technical help to put together all the advent calendar pictures into a little video. I was going to leave it until 24th December to post it but, as we will have other photos from Malawi later in the week, I’m sharing it now. Hope you enjoy it. Thank you all for your continued support, Sarah x

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Advent Calendar – highlighting projects & children – day 19

Sarah’s blog 19/12/23

19th December and today we are again highlighting Quality Education. It’s the key to a better future for the hundreds of vulnerable children we help to support who are living in extreme poverty.

The photo at the bottom right hand side shows a group of children with looking at a book from the first box of books we sent to them. They had never seen a ‘story book’ with pictures before. Even in their school there were hardly any text books, so these books have opened up a whole new world for them.

Seventeen boxes of books were donated to Chambo Primary School as part of the School Literacy Project and more will be donated later this week. Other primary schools have been receiving boxes of books too. We are hoping children become more confident readers and that literacy levels will rise.

As you can see, money was raised for a library – Emma’s Rainbow Library, in memory of Emma Buchanan – a lovely girl from my village who had cystic fibrosis. Her family helped raise money towards the library. When Emma was poorly, she loved her dad reading to her. Emma had wanted to go to Malawi with a trip from Balfron High School. Her memory lives on and is making a big difference. We have sent lots of books for the library, as well as them buying some locally. It costs £17.50 to send a box of books on the container, so if you would like to support literacy in rural northern Malawi, or any of our other projects, then please do get in touch. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a

As well as a well stocked library that the children have access to, they are learning about computers. These are opportunities that would never have happened for these children without the help of our supporters. The children in the photo are wearing preloved uniform from Strathblane Primary School and Riverside Primary School. We sent these preloved tables and chairs too.

Quality Education will change these children’s lives for the better giving them choices and chances that they previously would not have had. Thank you for caring and helping us to support them, Sarah x

Advent Calendar – Highlighting Projects & Children – Day 18

Sarah’s blog 18/12/23

It’s 18th December today and we are highlighting our work towards zero poverty. In the first photograph, Naomi and her baby sister, Modester, had just been orphaned and living with a grandparent. Naomi was delighted to be able to feed her baby sister at the feeding programme, despite being so young herself. They have continued to have support, receiving clothes and attending the Feeding Programme each week.

The second photo was taken just over a year ago. Modester has been attending the nursery and having food five days a week. The two sisters are growing up and doing well. This year, Naomi started at Bright Futures Secondary School and has a sponsor to support her high school education. Without help, her education would have already finished at the end of primary school. Now Naomi has a brighter future. Education is the way out of extreme poverty and young people are desperate to learn.

Can you sponsor a student like Naomi to ensure they have choices and chances for a brighter future? It’s only £25 per month to sponsor a young person. You can share that cost with a friend or a school, club or business could sponsor a young person’s education. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Or could you make a one off donation towards our feeding programme or school lunches at Bright Futures Secondary School? Or could you commit £5 or £10 per month towards school lunches? Food prices are rising all the time and food is scarce now the rainy season has started https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a 

Hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children need our help. Will you help us help them? Thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x

Advent Calendar – highlighting projects & children – day 17

Sarah’s blog 17/12/23

17th December – The hundreds of vulnerable children who are supported by the Foundation are living in extreme poverty. Many are orphans living with extended family. None have spare money to buy clothes.

As a way of highlighting this community that we are helping to support, we started collecting preloved school uniform to send to the children. School uniform is hardwearing and there is always lots of preloved uniform as children grow so quickly.

The children and young people have loved receiving new clothes and there is always great excitement when they know that new boxes have arrived. There will be another gift day next weekend and lots of sorting into different sizes has been happening this week.

Today’s photo is just some of the schools that we have had uniform from….there have been many more. We are grateful for all the help and support with giving hundreds of children decent clothes to wear. Please note that each box costs us £17.50 to send on the container plus other costs in Malawi to collect the boxes so we really do need financial support to keep repurposing these much needed clothes to the children.

The hope is that, as with other projects, the community can become self-sufficient and the need to send clothes will reduce. However, although a group of girls have started learning to make clothes, they are a long way from being self-sufficient. When there is more money in the community then they might have money for clothes.

If you’d like to donate to this or one of our other projects, then the link is here https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a Thank you to everyone who helps us and supports our projects…we couldn’t do what we do without you. Thanks for reading, Sarah x

Advent Calendar – highlighting projects & children – day 16

Sarah’s blog 16/12/23

Every day people like Mrs Ng’ambi and her children come to the foundation asking for help. They have no money, no food and, much of the time, are dressed in rags. It is heart breaking to see the amount of poverty that many in the community are living in. Children with their extended tummies are showing visible signs of malnutrition and are so hungry. Unfortunately, there is not enough money to help all of these vulnerable people.

Sometimes they can be given some new clothes or a small amount of food. They are able to have a shower. Sometimes they are given a small amount of money for doing some piece work like helping to weed a field. Life is so difficult, beyond what we can imagine.

Eventually, the aim is that the Foundation is self-sufficient and has enough food to feed the children. There will be more people employed meaning that more money is going back into the community. Until then, they need our help. Can you make a one off donation to support feeding malnourished children please? Or could you commit £5 or £10 per month to ensure the most vulnerable are fed despite food scarcity and prices continuing to rise?

People like Mrs Ng’ambi and her children deserve some happiness and to be healthy and to know that people care about them. If you can help please donate to https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Together we can make a difference and continue Changing Lives Malawi. Thank you, Sarah x

Advent Calendar – highlighting projects & children – day 15

Sarah’s blog 15/12/23

On day 15 we are again highlighting the need for quality education. The children and young people we are helping to support have all had extremely difficult lives and are living in extreme poverty. Secondary education needs to be paid for in Malawi and none of the students at Bright Futures Secondary School would be able to afford to pay these fees.

We are extremely proud of Chancy Chisale who is the first sponsored young person to have passed their s4 national exams and is going on to further education. Chancy’s family had paid for some of his education but then ran out of money. Chancy was a very hard worker and a promising student so we managed to match him with a sponsor and we are glad to say that he was successful. We wish him every success for the future.

Bright Futures Secondary School has only been open for just over a year. We were absolutely delighted that the whole S2 class passed their national exams in the summer. This was an amazing achievement for them and we are very proud of them.

Class sizes will always be smaller than government run schools. However, currently, Bright Futures Secondary School is running at approximately 50% capacity. We cannot afford to support more students without sponsors to help support their education costs. The decision was made that all students at Bright Futures Secondary School will get a free school lunch each day. This, for many, is their only proper meal. For some, it is their only food each day. They cannot study and concentrate without being fed at school. But this costs money.

Can you sponsor a vulnerable young person to study at Bright Futures Secondary School please? It’s only £25 per month. You can be a sponsor as an individual, a family or two friends or even a business or a school. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Or can you make a one off donation towards school lunches? or commit to paying £5 or £10 per month to ensure the young people get the nutrition they need through a free school lunch each day? https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a Together we can keep Changing Lives Malawi. Thanks so much, Sarah x

Advent Calendar – highlighting projects & children – day 14

Sarah’s blog 14/12/23

14th December – reducing inequalities in so many ways. How often do we say or think ‘Life isn’t fair.’ I’m sure we’ve all done that at some point. Compared to Maria’s life, we are so very fortunate.

When Maria was age 11, we were asked to try to find her a sponsor. Her parents had died, so she was an orphan living with her grandparents. They are so poor that they couldn’t afford to feed Maria and they were contemplating marrying her off as a child bride at age 11. Despite this being against the law in Malawi, unfortunately it still happens. Child brides suffer from horrendous injuries by their husbands and then whilst giving birth, even resulting in death.

Thankfully, Maria and girls like her are supported by the foundation and are free from the worry that they will be married off too soon. Maria was matched with a sponsor and has a monthly food parcel at home to supplement her grandparents’ income. She is able to attend the weekly feeding programme where 500 children are fed a substantial and nutritious meal once a week.

Unfortunately, no big charities are feeding children in the rural far north so all children that we help to support are suffering from varying degrees of malnutrition. We only have enough money to feed these children once a week. Please can you help us to continue feeding these children? Food prices are rising and food is becoming more scarce. As a small charity run by volunteers, 100% of the donations we receive go to our projects. Please can you help us continue to feed 500 children?

Maria had missed lots of school to work and earn a pittance to help her grandparents and buy some food. Thanks to the help she is now receiving, she is back in school and doing well. Maria knows that people care about her and that she has a brighter future thanks to her sponsor.

If you would like to sponsor a young person like Maria, it’s only £25 per month. You can sponsor as an individual, a family or two friends sharing the cost. It’s less than £1 per day… it might be the most important thing you do for one of these young people. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Or can you donate to the feeding programme or one of our other projects please? the link is here https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a Thank you so much to everyone who supports us. It’s always about teamwork. We have achieved so much together but there is still so much to do. Thanks, Sarah x