Thanks to one of our supporters who sent these gifts for students at Bright Futures Secondary School to make their lives a little bit better.
Sarah’s blog 5/2/26
Thankfully, the contents of boxes, soaked by heavy rain due to the tarpaulin being ripped, have now been dried out. That took three days to do and created so much work. You can read the story of what happened below if you didn’t see my last blog. Yesterday, the first gifts for students were distributed.
One of our supporters had kindly bought these gifts for students at Bright Futures Secondary School. The young people can arrive at school soaked through during the rainy season. Whilst these gifts for students aren’t going to solve all the issues the students face during the rains, this act of kindness will go a long way to helping the young people feel valued. Their journeys to and from school will be a little bit easier.
Some students homes have a leaking roof, some students cannot cross swollen rivers after the heavy rains. Some students, who have a thatched roof on their basic homes, have bugs and mosquitoes living in the twigs and branches.
Here are a few photos from yesterday when students were surprised and delighted to receive these ponchos. Kindness matters and small acts of kindness go a long way to helping people feel valued and making the world just a little bit better. Thank you to everyone who continues to support us to help these vulnerable young people. Sarah x
Today’s blog is about tree planting taking place at Bright Futures Secondary School as part of their agriculture course. This is an ongoing project so financial donations are always very welcome.
Sarah’s blog 4/2/26
Last week, students at Bright Futures Secondary School have again been busy tree planting. It would have been hard work digging holes for 120 saplings. On this occasion the tree planting was for pine and acacia.
They are keen to take responsibility for their environment. This will help prevent future soil erosion and replace trees that have been cut down. Of course students want to help with the climate crisis. The tree planting was part of their agricultural lessons which are a core subject in the Malawian curriculum.
Soon they will be planting other types of saplings and we will share photos when that happens. We are grateful to the agriculture teachers at Bright Futures Secondary School for all the extra work they do to support their students. Of course, we are proud of the students and pleased to see them contributing in such a positive way to their community.
Thank you also to everyone who has donated money over the past year to support their tree planting project. As it’s the rainy season now, the ground is easier to dig and plant. Also the saplings won’t dry out so have a better chance of survival. So this is always the best time for planting saplings even though we are fundraising for this project all year round.
If anyone would like to make a donation then please do get in touch. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com for bank details or you can donate via our website or our QR code. If you would like to donate in memory of a loved one then we are happy to make a sign to place in part of the orchard. Or for a special birthday or anniversary?
Or would your business like to contribute to this project and have some advertising in the orchard? We’d love to partner with any nurseries/garden centres/Christmas tree farms.
Thank you again everyone. Enjoy the photos, Sarah x
One of the teachers and a student planting a saplingstudents holding tree saplings prior to plantinga student planting a pine tree saplingyou can see the rain clouds in the distance
Stuart and I made a donation to buy fruit tree saplings a few years ago in memory of his lovely mum. If anyone else would like a name on a sign and make a donation to the orchard then please do get in touch.
We were looking at the layout of the buildings at the Foundation today and I thought it would be a good time to show you again where the community is that we support and how things have changed in a few short years.
Ibuluma Villages are near Chisenga on the banks of the Chambo River right at the top of the map of Malawi. It is a very rural area. When Levison collects boxes from the container he has to travel all the way to Ekwendeni by Mzuzu.
This was the Foundation a few short years agoThis was taken from Google today and the buildings labelled
As you can see there has been a huge amount of achievement and we thank everyone who has helped make these changes happen for this rural community living in extreme poverty. They now have hope for a brighter future.
As well as the four classrooms of Bright Futures Secondary School, there is staff accommodation (the first house is already shown on the map), the second accommodation block will be completed this week and is marked in blue at the bottom of the photo along with a new latrine for the teachers. There is a shower block at the top of the photo and a library and general purpose room in the middle. There are two chicken sheds, office blocks and a kitchen and marked are two more latrine blocks that are about to be started.
The existing latrine blocks, which were build early on, sit at the left of the photos. However, early this morning something happened.
The boys’ latrines that were built a few years agoThe boys’ latrine block this morning
As you can see, sadly, the boys’ latrine block no longer exists. Due to the very heavy rains and termite activity, the ground became unstable and subsided. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Some bricks, doors and roofing sheets have been saved for use in rebuilding and the hole was filled in as a priority to make it safe. All the more recent buildings have been treated to keep the termites away.
Sometimes it feels like two steps forward and one step back when things like this happen. The heavy rains also prevent children and young people attending school as it isn’t safe for them to cross the swollen rivers. Foot bridges are on our list of improvements which sometimes feels like it’s never ending. It will, unfortunately, be a while until we get to that stage.
Thankfully, the latrine diggers and builders are on site already and we had just enough money to be building a latrine block for teachers, a boys’ latrine and a girls’ latrine. Obviously now we will have to build an additional boys’ latrine so the younger boys and older boys have separate facilities.
Although today hasn’t been good because of the boys’ latrine block being destroyed, as the second photo reminds us that, thanks to the continued support we receive, teamwork and a lot of determination, this community is changing. We are grateful to everyone who helps us. Below is a short video of the torrential rain this morning which brings everything to a standstill. We are Changing Lives (in) Malawi. Thanks, Sarah x
Thanks to St Michael’s Church Slateford Road, Edinburgh for helping to support the students at Bright Futures Secondary School.
Sarah’s blog 3/2/23
Last year we had a very generous donation of lots of preloved bibles from St Michael’s Parish Church, Slateford Road in Edinburgh.
Bible Knowledge is one of the subjects on the school curriculum in Malawi. Yesterday, there was time to open some more boxes and the bibles were given to the students at Bright Futures Secondary School. These will be so helpful with their studies as previously all the teenagers were trying to share only a few bibles between them. Thank you so much to St Michael’s Parish Church for supporting the students’ education.
I asked Levison when I saw these photos that he sent me yesterday why some of the students were in casual clothes. He said they got absolutely soaked through on their way to school. It’s currently the rainy season and most of these students do not have a rain jackets. You can see in the photos that some of the students have flipflops/sliders or will have walked in bare feet to keep their school shoes clean. Do you have a good rain jacket that you no longer need or that your child has outgrown that we can send to these vulnerable students please? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Also, I mentioned to Levison that everyone looked very serious in the photos. He told me it was because these photos were taken just before lunchtime and these students hadn’t eaten since the day before so they were really hungry and tired. We must try to find more support with feeding these young people. Can you commit a small monthly amount to help provide breakfast to these orphans as well as them receiving a free school lunch? There isn’t much at home for them to eat and they cannot study properly if they are hungry and malnourished. Will you help by committing £5 or £10 per month to help provide food at Bright Futures Secondary School. Because costs have risen so much, we estimate that it will cost £25 per student per month to feed them breakfast as well as lunch, so whatever you can give towards this will make a difference. We can’t do it on our own. We always say it is about teamwork and you are a valuable part of our team. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com
Thanks for reading and supporting these vulnerable teenagers, Sarah x
