We appealed for new sponsors for two of our secondary school girls. Their sponsor was unable to continue with their sponsorship. Tamiwe only has one year left to complete her secondary school education, and Catherine got top marks out of 80 children at primary school so she and one other girl, Emily, won places at Wenya school where they are doing very well. It was important that Tamiwe and Catherine were able to continue their education and not be told that, unfortunately, they were no longer sponsored. Thankfully, a new sponsor has come forward to ensure the two girls complete their schooling. We are very grateful to all our sponsors for the chances they are giving some of the most vulnerable young people in rural northern Malawi, supported by The William Stewart Foundation. If you can help an orphan have a better life please get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . Thanks, Sarah x
Chikambusko is an orphan. She was living with her grandad who went into hospital and subsequently passed away. Chikambusko was alone, suffering from malnutrition and malaria. Levison found her a sponsor and a home with another sponsored child, Timothy, and his grandmother who is now fostering Chikambusko. Although she has been through so much trauma and upset, as you can see from today’s photos, she is looking well, settled and happy. Who knows what would have happened to Chikambusko had The Foundation not helped her. As an holistic approach is taken (not just feeding them) caring about each of them, over time they start to blossom. Today’s photos have made my heart glad. Thanks to her sponsors for their support. If you would like to make a difference to a child like Chikambusko then please get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . It’s only £25 per month. There are so many people helping in small ways and part of the team and together we are Changing Lives Malawi. You can sign up to receive updates. Thanks for reading, Sarah x
The 3 C’s of life: Choices, Chances, Changes. You must make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change.
This is very true for most of us. However, if you are living in poverty, a lot of those choices might not be choices that are open to you. They are only choices for other people. Those choices don’t apply to people like you. You are too poor to get yourself out of the situation you are in. You are stuck without choices, chances and changes.
What if the choice is to go to primary school today hungry, or work all day for 10p to try to buy some food?
What if the choice is to buy some food or to buy a candle so you can have light to do your homework?
What if you want to go to get a job but you’ve no shoes and and only have rags to wear?
What if you’ve worked really hard at primary school, passed your leavers exams but you cannot go to secondary school because you can’t afford the school fees?
The hundreds of vulnerable children supported by The William Stewart Foundation don’t have the choices that we take for granted. Choices aren’t for the most vulnerable. Chances for a better future aren’t going to happen by themselves. Change cannot happen without help. Without our help. Without your help.
These children want to have choices, have chances and make changes. They need opportunities and they need us. Eventually, they will be self-sufficient, but they need our compassion and commitment in the short term. Can you help a vulnerable young person to go to secondary school for four years? It’s less than £1 a day to sponsor a young person and give them choices and chances to make positive changes. Can you help us change lives in Malawi? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com The young people below are all looking for a sponsor to have the chance of education. thanks for reading, Sarah x
Fundraising enabled a library to be built and named after Emma Buchanan, a lovely girl who sadly passed away. She loved reading and, if she had been in better health, would have loved to have visited Malawi.
Shelves have been built in the library and we’ve been sending books. There are more on the next container; educational books as well as fiction. Also some tables and chairs.
This morning Levison sent me photos of young people sitting reading in the library. I asked if he could ask a couple of the young people what they were reading and why they picked the books that they had. It was really enlightening to hear from them and find out a bit a more information.
Moses is in the white t-shirt and Lameck in the pink t-shirt. Moses has a sponsor and is on the apprenticeship scheme. Lameck doesn’t have a sponsor and does casual piece work to try to buy food.
Moses said he wanted to look at stories in books and, if possible, wants to write his own stories. Unfortunately, Moses had only completed his first year in secondary school and then dropped out due to lack of resources and money to pay his fees. He then was able to be sponsored to go on the apprenticeship scheme for two years. After hearing he would like to write stories, I contacted his sponsor today to ask if they would be willing to support Moses for three years if he was to go back to secondary school and finish his education as Levison said that is what Moses would love to do. His sponsor was delighted to be able to help with this. Moses will find out tomorrow that he is able to return to secondary school in January and I’m sure he will work hard.
Lameck told Levison that he was interested in learning more about culture so that’s why he chose that book. Lameck has no sponsor. He didn’t even complete primary school and sit his leavers exams through no fault of his own. He only had rags to wear. He didn’t have notebooks and pencils that he needed to write his lessons. He had no choice but to drop out of primary school. So, despite wanting to learn, unless his luck changes, he is destined for a low paid job (if he can find a steady job) or doing piece work as and when work is available.
It would be amazing if someone could sponsor Lameck to go on the apprenticeship scheme for two years to be taught practical skills or if he could finish his last year in primary school, do his exams, and then go to secondary school for four years. It’s £25 per month to sponsor a child or young person. You can sponsor as an individual or a family or share the cost with a friend. Can you imagine if we hadn’t been able to go to school because we didn’t have a notebook and pencil? Sponsoring Lameck might be the most important thing anyone ever does for him. Can you give Lameck the gift of education. Please? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com thanks for reading, Sarah x
Lots of young people reading books in the library this morning. Lameck was reading about history and culture and Moses was reading different books with stories as he’d like to write stories too.Moses had completed one year of secondary school but dropped out due to poverty. His sponsor has been supporting him on the apprenticeship programme but is going to support him to go back to school. Life is looking good for Moses thanks to his sponsor.
Lameck didn’t even get to finish primary school due to extreme poverty and has been trying to do casual work ever since to buy food. Lameck deserves a chance to finish his last year of primary school and go on to secondary school. He clearly likes learning and reading and is trying to better himself. Please can you give Lameck the gift of education?
I’ve always said to my own children that there will always be people with more than them but there will also always be people with less than them.
If we all shared what we have then there would be enough for everyone in the world. A very simplistic view, I know, but there is no reason why we can’t share with others, wherever they are in the world, if we have the ability to do so.
There were five children that Levison sent photos of yesterday. Five children suffering from malnutrition and dressed in rags. Children who have missed school to find piecework for the equivalent of 10p per day. These children are desperate for sponsors to improve their lives so please, please do get in touch if you can help. Or could you and a friend split the cost of sponsoring a child? It’s £25 per child per month, so sharing with a friend or family member would only be £12.50. Each sponsored child now has their own page on our website so you can keep up to date with new photos and information there. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com .
Do you recognise these children from yesterday? Clothes make such a difference. Thank you if you donated clothes and/or helped to pay for transport costs. Yesterday was an important day for these children. Let’s see if we can find sponsors to turn their lives around and make their dreams come true. Sarah x
There will always be hungry children in this world. There shouldn’t be but unfortunately there are.
Levison wanted to feed the 200 or so orphans and vulnerable children in his village and surrounding area. However, there are no big charities feeding children in schools in the far North of Malawi. So more and more children come. Some walk 20km to reach the Centre. To reach their one proper meal of the week.
It only costs £15 to feed a malnourished child one proper meal every week for a year. Multiply that by 600 (which is the average number of children turning up each Saturday for food…….that’s £9,000!! We just don’t have £9,000 per year.
For sponsored child at primary school £5 per month goes towards the feeding programme. So, in theory, if we had 150 primary school age children sponsored, this would cover the cost of the feeding programme for all the children supported by the Foundation. Currently, we have approximately 30 children who are still at primary school who are fortunate enough to have sponsors. Please can you help us find more sponsors?
Whilst we recognise that lots of people have struggled during the last year with financial issues due to covid, there are those who haven’t had to buy lunch at work or pay for travel costs to and from work each day. Would you be able to spare 85p per day…..that’s all each child needs. Together we are #changinglives
