Tag: notebooks

Only 3 sleeps to go…

Join us for an incredible journey to Malawi! Packing for this adventure has been a challenge in itself, but we’re almost ready to make a difference. Thank you for your incredible support! #MalawiJourney #GivingBack #kindnessmatters

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Sarah’s blog 17/5/26

We can’t believe how quickly the last part of the countdown to our first visit to Malawi is going! Only 3 sleeps to go….

The bags have been packed, unpacked, repacked, things set aside to go on the next container as there’s not enough room…. This is certainly the most complicated packing for a trip I’ve ever done!

It’s going to be very surreal as we’ve been looking forward to this trip for so long… but it’s finally here.

Like the famous film title ‘planes, trains & automobiles’, our trip is going to be ‘automobile, train, plane, plane, automobile, plane, plane, train, automobile.’

That is a lot of travelling! We will hopefully be able to post updates on Facebook, instagram and do some blogs too. Please do join us in following our journey as we meet the people whom we have been supporting and working in partnership with for the past few years.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us with words of encouragement and kindness. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our fundraising. Our aim is to be able to provide more food to malnourished children while we are in Malawi, buy at least 1.000 bars of soap and buy notebooks for students. The more donations we receive, the more we can do to help.

When people cannot even afford to feed their families every day, they certainly don’t have money for soap and notebooks. Will you help us please? Together we can make a difference!

You can contribute through our GoFundMe page https://gofund.me/70a4091dc or through our website, or you can email contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com for bank details.

Lots of photos and videos will be taken and posted and hopefully some good insights into what is working well and what we can do to improve other projects.

Many thanks again for your support for the hundreds of children who live in extreme poverty, Sarah x

Stolen Maize

Growing maize is a lot of hard, back breaking work. How would you feel if your crop was stolen?

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Sarah’s blog 25/4/26

Life seems to be getting harder for the most vulnerable people. Levison messaged me this morning to tell me about stolen maize from one of the fields.

Levison himself plants maize, along with students at Bright Futures Secondary School who are all living in extreme poverty. Also, the four agribusiness groups that were supported to grow their own crops have been growing maize and other crops. It is a hard existence growing crops and doing everything by hard… but people want to feed themselves and their families.

I don’t think we can imagine how heart breaking it must be to find out that your crop of maize has been stolen. It’s backbreaking work and a hand to mouth existence. This stolen maize would have helped to feed hungry children who are malnourished and suffering. The stolen maize is a big loss.

Thinking about it from the point of view of the people who stole the maize. Were they just opportunistic? Lazy? Selfish? Or were they struggling to feed their families? No one should be stealing from anyone else, however this is the reality of life in rural Northern Malawi currently. What would we do if we had nothing to feed our children? Would we cross that line?

It’s only three and a half weeks until Liz and myself head off to Malawi for two weeks. It’s going to be a wonderful experience to be able to meet and spend time with everyone. Also, to be able to see the projects, see what is working well and assess the reasons other projects aren’t working as well as we might have expected. We will be taking lots of photos and videos to share with you.

However, I think we are going to struggle seeing the level of poverty for the first time. It is going to be hard to see little ones who clearly do not have enough food in their tummies.

That is why we are asking for your help please. If people are struggling to feed themselves and their families, they do not have enough money to buy soap. We want to be able to purchase soap in Malawi, enough for all the children and young people and all the new mums at the local health centre. The more money we raise, the more soap we can buy.

We are also going to be giving notebooks to the oldest children at the two nearest primary schools to Bright Futures Campus. Writing materials are another thing we take for granted.

It would be great if you could help us please to buy food for the children to have an extra meal whilst we are there. Your support will make a difference to hundreds of children who are living in extreme poverty beyond our comprehension.

Thank you so much to everyone who has already made a donation. If you haven’t, please will you make a small contribution? Will you also share our fundraiser with your friends? The link to our fundraiser is here https://gofund.me/536aba9a5 or you can make a donation via the website. Alternatively, you could email us for the charity bank details contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com .

We appreciate the support we’ve had and continue to receive, it is always about teamwork and we couldn’t do what we do without your help. I’ve attached a report from an online news agency from this week, a video that Levison took of the field that the maize was stolen from and our fundraiser. Thank you again, Sarah x

International Day of Education

It is International Day of Education. Every young person deserves an education and to be the best they can be. Today’s blog shares photos from our projects.

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Sarah’s blog 24/1/26

Today is International Day of Education. I’m sharing some photos that reflect some of the projects and young people we are helping to support. There is still much to do. But, thanks to the help of our supporters, young people in rural Northern Malawi have a brighter and better future. It is always about teamwork and we’d love you to join our team of supporters. You can help enable even more young people to reach their potential on International Day of Education.

These are just a few of the ways we are involved in supporting the education of the most vulnerable children and young people. If you would like to help then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com or you can donate via our website. On International Day of Education will you help a child succeed? Together, we can give young people more opportunities and support education. These children are amazing and want to succeed. They want to learn and are hard workers. They just need a helping hand.

Also, I am visiting Malawi for the first time this summer and am getting very excited about my trip. Here is a fundraiser and I’d be grateful if anyone would like to make a small donation. It is to help some of the projects which I will be helping during my visit. https://gofund.me/db5496892 As always, a big THANK YOU for all the support and help we receive, Sarah x

Literacy at Chambo Primary School and Kalanga Primary School is improving thanks to the preloved books we have sent as part of the School Literacy Project. Students are becoming more confident readers now they have a range of books to read and exam pass rates are rising.
Young people have been involved in planting fruit tree saplings and pine trees, supporting their education, giving them skills for life and planting future food.
Students at Chambo Primary School were delighted to receive notebooks and pens
We have matched some of the most vulnerable children with sponsors and they receive a food parcel each month. Children cannot learn if they are suffering from malnutrition. Unfortunately, the food crisis in Malawi is getting worse.
Thanks to everyone who has supported the building of Bright Futures Secondary School. There are now 5 classrooms and a dedicated classroom for Bright Futures Nursery.
The newest classroom block has a classroom dedicated to sewing and textiles and another classroom for Bright Futures Nursery
Children walk for miles as they are so hungry and know that they will receive a proper meal once a week at the feeding programme. We need your support to continue feeding them with rising food costs and scarcity of food.
There was great excitement when the first boxes of preloved books arrived
Students at Bright Futures Secondary School have designed and built their first beehive and are now waiting for the bees to move in
Students are learning skills for life at Bright Futures Secondary School. They are also supporting the Period Poverty Project by making reusable sanitary towels for all who need them to ensure girls do not miss school for one week each month.
Some of the science equipment bought with a grant received from The Clive Richards Foundation for Bright Futures Secondary School
Periodically, children are given clothes that we have sent. These children in red tops attend Bright Futures Nursery.
Students at Bright Futures Secondary School receive free education and free school lunch thanks to their sponsors. They also receive free school uniform, stationery, water bottle, school bag and shoes all free of charge. The more vulnerable teenagers we can match with sponsors, the more teenagers can be helped through education.
Happy students with their gifts. They have also received toothbrush, toothpaste and soap.
We helped with the introduction of rugby to the north of Malawi. Young people are enjoying learning and playing a new sport.
Thanks to the many clubs who have donated preloved sports kit, making a difference to the confidence and self-esteem of hundreds of young people who are now proud to be part of a team.
Students at Bright Futures Secondary School are working hard to pass their exams
Four of the students at Bright Futures Secondary School with some of the new tools they received
Two new classrooms
Celebrating Success at Bright Futures Secondary School
Bright Futures School’s Innovative Beekeeping Initiative

Fun day at Bright Futures Secondary School

Have a look at these great photos and videos from Friday’s fun day at Bright Futures Secondary School. The students had chance to relax and have some fun after working hard.

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Sarah’s blog 23/04/25

Teacher’s have given up some of their Easter holidays so that the students at Bright Futures Secondary School and p8 class at Chambo Primary School could have some extra tuition to prepare for upcoming exams. We are grateful to the teachers for supporting the students like this.

On Friday, they had a fun day so that everyone had a different day away from their normal classes. In the morning, the activities on offer were; drawing, sewing and knitting. After lunch there were netball, football and rugby matches.

I think you will see in the photos and videos below that everyone enjoyed themselves.

We are still trying to raise funds to buy notebooks & pens for p8 students at Chambo Primary. If you would like to make a small donation then here is the link https://donorsee.com/project/25617?share=1 or you can email me for our bank details at contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you to all our sponsors and other supporters for giving these young people choices and chances for a brighter future. Sarah x

Happy Children at Chambo Primary

Thank you to everyone who donated to help provide stationery for approximately 150 vulnerable students at Chambo Primary School

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Sarah’s blog 24/6/24

We are trying out a fundraising site called DonorSee where we are putting small projects that we wouldn’t usually be able to fund without support. Today’s blog is about one of those projects.

Levison had done a video appeal for notebooks and pencils for the students at Chambo Primary School. These are some of the most vulnerable children in Malawi, many are orphans, and their families struggle to feed them. There are no feeding programmes in primary schools in the far north….we can only afford to feed 500 of them once a week. Some children walk 15km or 20km for that one proper meal of the week. So there is certainly no spare money for families to buy notebooks. Children just go without.

So we put Levison’s appeal on DonorSee and there were some lovely people who saw the video and donated money. We are very grateful. Once the money was sent, Levison organised notebooks and pencils to be bought. There are three classrooms out of eight which have desks. These students were each given a notebook and pencil. They still have another month before school stops for summer holidays. There are enough notebooks and pencils left for them to have the same again in September. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed.

The three classes were brought outside when Levison visited Chambo Primary this morning. I’m sure they wondered what was going on. You can see how happy they were to get these gifts. One student told Levison ‘I don’t know how life would have been without the support we are being given.’ Levison said, apart from the obvious benefits to their education with being given stationery, it is showing these orphans and other vulnerable children that people care about them.

Here is the link to our DonorSee page DonorSee – if you can give a little donation it would be very much appreciated – there are a few different projects for you to see. Many thanks again. With help, good things are happening, Sarah x

Happy students at Chambo Primary School with their gifts
The students are thanking the donors of their exercise books and pencils
Approximately 150 students from 3 classes received stationery today
Lots of happy students
Most of these children are suffering from malnutrition and are some of the most vulnerable in Malawi. No big charities feed children in primary schools this far north so all are hungry.

Child Sponsorship/P8 Chambo Primary

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Sarah’s blog 20/5/24

Morning everyone! I’d said that, as our 5th birthday is coming up at the end of May, I would be highlighting some of our projects. We have received lots of preloved books recently for our School Literacy Project which will have a big impact on literacy levels. We are collecting another big donation of books from Strathblane Primary School today and are very grateful for their support.

Most of the orphans and vulnerable children we support attend Chambo Primary School where there are over 500 children across 8 classrooms. The students in p8 are about to start their national exams on Wednesday. They cannot go to secondary school unless they pass all these exams. Even if they pass these national exams, unless they have the funds they cannot attend secondary school as only primary education in free in Malawi. None of the children we help to support can afford school fees. So should they only have access to primary education because they are living in extreme poverty?

https://donorsee.com/project/23503?share=1 This is a link to our fundraiser to supply the students with stationery at Chambo Primary School. Please click on the link to see the video. A generous donor has agreed to match what we raise up to the total of $200. Please support this project.

With a lot of help from our supporters, we built Bright Futures Secondary School for the most vulnerable students. We have generous supporters who have kindly agreed to support students through their 4 years at secondary school. It costs £25 per month and this helps pay towards their education, a cooked school lunch each day, school uniform and stationery. However, Bright Futures Secondary School has lots of space for more students.

So, highlighting our Child Sponsorship Project, we need to find more kind hearted sponsors to enable more of the young people who live in extreme poverty to go to Bright Futures Secondary School. Will you sponsor a young person? Or a group of friends could share the cost? It might be the most important thing anyone does for that vulnerable young person. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Please, please help us fill Bright Futures Secondary School with sponsored students giving them opportunities for a much brighter future. Silvia, Elizabeth and John are all expected to do well in their exams…please give them a chance. Through education, these children can be the brighter future for their community. Thank you, Sarah x

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