Tag: the clive richards foundation

Update on Teachers’ Accommodation

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Sarah’s post 11/4/25

This post comes with a big THANK YOU to Vets With Horsepower, The Clive Richards Foundation and The Inverclyde Trust who all generously donated towards new buildings on Bright Futures Campus. I have also attached some photos of the completed teachers’ accommodation block, wash block and sinks. The majority of the work was completed in time to be used by teachers but, due to circumstances out with our control, finishing touches have only recently been completed and photos sent.

I have split this post into two sections; the first being the difficulties that have been faced by the team in Malawi. But, despite all these challenges, they continue to achieve and we are delighted with how the new accommodation block looks and the difference it will make to being able to employ even more teachers next year. 

Firstly, the challenges;

  1. Prices have continued to rise regularly, their currency has been devalued several times. (bags of cement bought yesterday for the next building are now the equivalent of £20 each).
  2. The truck broke down and was out of action for several months. An expensive part was sourced and purchased in Tanzania. There was no way of knowing if this would fix the issue but, thankfully it did! While the team didn’t have use of the truck they had to pay a local farmer with two oxen and a cart to transport bricks and water to the building site. As you might imagine, this was not easy or quick.
  3. There has been no fuel in petrol stations (especially rural ones) on and off for months now. They have had to source fuel on the black market when they can, at very inflated prices, and other times just wait until tankers do refill supplies.
  4. The government has started some building work relatively locally, so hiring workers has also proved problematic.
  5. The weather. The aim was to complete building work before the rainy season but it wasn’t possible to do this.

Despite these issues, the following has been achieved: 

  1. There are now six lovely new sitting room/bedrooms for teachers which has been such a great addition to know that there is accommodation to offer staff. Because it is such a rural location and the community is living in extreme poverty, teachers must have somewhere to live on campus. So there are now 10 bedroom/sitting rooms thanks to a previous grant we received from The Clive Richards Foundation for the first block of four. 
  2. There has been a second latrine block built beside the staff accommodation too.
  3. Clean water has been piped from the local health centre to that area of Bright Futures Campus. The teachers now have a water tap outside their accommodation.
  4. There has been a wash block built with showers and sinks and a drying area for clothes. There will be an additional wash block built in the next few months so male staff/female staff have their own space.
  5. Solar panel kits have been sent and are about to be installed on the teachers’ accommodation blocks, giving them plug sockets. Each room already has it’s own solar power x 3 lights giving one outside light and one light each in the bedroom and sitting room.

So despite a challenging year, we have a lovely new accommodation block thanks to the financial help we received. We are very grateful for everyone’s support in helping us to continue to work with some of the most vulnerable children and young people in rural northern Malawi and grow Bright Futures Secondary School.

The young people are benefitting by having free secondary education, free school lunches, playing team sports and learning skills for life (practical agricultural lessons growing their own food and looking after chickens, pigs and goats) and by being in school, lots of teenage pregnancies have been prevented. Also, there are no girls that have been married off too young because families cannot feed them. Because of their free, nutritious school lunch, there is one less mouth to feed at home.

Primary School Leavers exam pass rates are increasing year on year because of our School Literacy Project, collecting preloved books to send to schools where there are little or no resources.

Thank you again for taking a chance on our small charity. With a great team of supporters we can continue Changing Lives (in) Malawi and give children & young people a brighter future. Thanks again, Sarah x

If you would like to help provide notebooks and pens for students from Chambo Primary School during the Easter holiday study school, please donate here https://donorsee.com/project/25617?share=1 This study school is to help them prepare for their school leavers exams. If they don’t have paper and pens then they can’t take notes. Please help?

Staff Accommodation Update

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Sarah’s blog 4/10/24

I’ve got a brief update on the second staff accommodation block. There are six rooms in this block. It is built in the same style as the first block, but that block has four rooms. It is built in a motel style with a veranda along the front and each unit has its own front door. Inside each unit is a sitting room and a bedroom.

Water has been piped to this area of the campus, so there is a water tap that is in place and ready for filling buckets of water. The second staff latrine block is being built as well as two shower rooms and sinks for washing clothes. These sinks will be protected by a roof so that anyone washing clothes will not be standing out in the rain during the rainy season which is due to start in a few weeks.

This project has been possible thanks to; Vets with Horsepower, The Clive Richards Foundation, The Inverclyde Trust and The Souter Charitable Trust. We are very grateful for the funds we have received from each of the above organisations. It is extremely difficult to attract teachers to come to work in such a remote area. There is no suitable accommodation in the village for teachers to rent, so it is vital that staff have somewhere to live on Bright Futures Campus.

Once the project has been completed we will have more photos to show you.

We’d love some help with this project please to ensure it can happen before the rainy season. It will be a real treat for all the vulnerable children we help to support if we can organise a football tournament. Each child taking part will need food and drink so please do help if you can. Thanks, Sarah x

To help with the football tournament please click here https://donorsee.com/project/24384?share=1

The second accommodation block is almost ready.
You can see the new water tap where the blue buckets are in front of the building.
The two accommodation blocks with the water tap between the buildings. The gardens to the front of the buildings will be planted once the rainy season begins.

Bright Futures Secondary School Expansion

With many thanks to The Clive Richards Foundation for their grant of £9,000 towards the expansion project of Bright Futures Secondary School.

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Sarah’s blog 16/08/24

Today we are absolutely delighted that £9,000 has been transferred to the charity bank account by The Clive Richards Foundation. This is the second grant we have received from them, having had a successful grant application last year for £11,000 which paid for the teachers’ accommodation block for four teachers. Each teacher has their own sitting room and bedroom. Thank you so much for your support again this year.

We are so grateful to The Clive Richards Foundation for this second grant. They understood the issues we have of being able to attract teachers to Bright Futures Secondary School because of the very rural location. The extreme poverty means that there is nowhere suitable for teachers to rent nearby.

A brief recap for those who may not know. Bright Futures Secondary School was built because none of the orphans and other young people could afford school fees. Secondary school in Malawi is not free so all of the young people were having to leave school at the end of primary school whether they had passed their primary school leavers exams or not. Some young people whom we matched with sponsors were able to attend the nearest government school if they were chosen to have a place…but there were not enough places for everyone.

Thanks to lots of support, the first two classrooms at Bright Futures Secondary School were built and the school opened on 7th November 2022. Classrooms 3 and 4 where built and ready for term starting in September 2023. As there were only 3 year groups last year, classroom 4 was able to be used as a staffroom and for some other non academic skills classes.

Next month (Sept 24) will see 4 year groups at Bright Futures Secondary School. This obviously means all classrooms will be in use and more teachers will be employed…hence the need for the expansion. So, after having lots of quotes and writing lots of grant applications and fundraising…we have embarked on a £33,000 expansion for Bright Futures Secondary School.

Work has started on another motel style accommodation block – this time for 6 teachers. There will also be further latrines/washing facilities and solar power for the accommodation block and the school. Obviously this is a huge amount of money and we are so grateful for everyone’s support. It means so much that people believe us and the community we are helping to support.

The students know that education is the way out of the extreme poverty they are living in and this is an investment in their future. They will have a brighter future with choices and chances that they would not previously have had. A huge part of the school day for these young people is a free school lunch. Their families cannot afford to feed them properly. The substantial, nutritious lunch they have at school each day means at least they have eaten. They are able to concentrate because of the food they receive at school. Their families can concentrate on trying to feed the other members of the family and have one less mouth to feed.

Did you also know that, by keeping these young people in education, we are helping to prevent child marriages? When families cannot afford to feed their children, often they will agree to the eldest daughter being married far too young. Levison and team have supported lots of girls by matching them with a sponsor and easing the financial burden on the family slightly. Some of these girls have been as young as 11. Many children and young people regard Bright Futures Campus as their safe space and girls have run there in tears to tell Levison about proposed child marriages. Another benefit is preventing teen pregnancies as young people are focused and working hard to better themselves.

National exams are at the end of S2 and S4. Even if students do not manage to pass their s4 exams, they are far more literate and numerate than they were before attending secondary school…which will benefit them in whatever job they get after leaving school. They also learn practical skills like agriculture so will know how to grow their own food.

These young people need to be nurtured because of the trauma they have faced in their young lives. They are all living in extreme poverty, most have suffered from malnutrition, all are hungry. Most have lost family members and are living with extended family. Some families have been affected by HIV and Aids. So an holistic approach is taken at Bright Futures Secondary School. These young people need adults to believe in them. To help their confidence and self-esteem. To be positive role models. To know that they are as important as other young people. This is why Bright Futures Secondary School has been built and is now expanding…to give current students, and the hundreds that will benefit in future, a brighter future.

My previous blog looking for sponsors to support vulnerable students to take up their place at Bright Futures Secondary School is here: 5 weeks to find sponsors for 11 vulnerable students – Changing Lives Malawi

This is the link to help to provide seeds for the students to grow their own food: https://donorsee.com/project/24114?share=1

If you’d like to help by holding a fundraiser or would like us to attend an event or you’d like to make a financial donation please get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you again, Sarah x

The ground has been cleared of rocks, boulders and vegetation
Thousands of bricks are being made by hand
Bricks are covered to stop them drying out too quickly in the sun and cracking. Then they are stacked to make a kiln and covered in mud. Fires are lit in the gaps underneath.
The difficult work of digging the foundations
Some bricks were bought to use for the foundations, then the others will be used when they have cooled down enough next week
The men are working hard to get the accommodation block built during the school holidays
The builders are hard at work
Progress every day
Such hard work digging the foundations
https://videopress.com/v/mLl916y8?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true
Some bricks were bought to start off the building
The truck has been invaluable to fetch supplies although there is a fuel shortage and they had to wait in a long queue for fuel to arrive and to get a tank of fuel (no extra cans were allowed which is a real nuisance as they are in such a rural location)
such hard work
water is needed to be brought from the river as the borehole only has enough water for domestic use during the dry season
the builders are making great progress
https://videopress.com/v/MlWtVoDP?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true
collecting planks of wood which will be used for the roof

Thank you to The Clive Richards Foundation

Thank you to The Clive Richards Foundation for the grant for this teachers accommodation block. We are delighted with the results.

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Sarah’s blog 13/4/24

We were so grateful to receive a grant for £11,000 from The Clive Richards Foundation to build a staff accommodation block, staff latrines, boys latrines and girls latrines. We were just waiting for the signwriter to come so that the accommodation block was totally finished to show the photos. Four male teachers are living in this accommodation. The four self-contained apartments all have their own bedroom and sitting room.

It certainly hasn’t been straightforward as currency has been devalued, prices of goods keep rising and the rainy season started before the project had been completed. But despite the issues, they’ve worked hard and succeeded and now the teachers are pleased to have these lovely new rooms.

As the area is very rural and the community is living in extreme poverty, there is no suitable accommodation in the surrounding area that teachers could rent. The Clive Richards Foundation recognised that we needed quality accommodation to attract quality teachers for Bright Futures Secondary School.

Enjoy the photos and I have attached the links to previous blogs at the start of this accommodation project. To The Clive Richards Foundation for taking a chance on us and trusting us with a grant – THANK YOU. It makes a big difference when people understand our vision and come onboard with us to help us achieve for the young people we are supporting. We are so grateful for the help we receive from individuals and organisations. Many thanks again, Sarah x

Staff Accommodation
The next building at BFSS

Teachers’ Accommodation

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Sarah’s blog 29/11/23

Thanks to the grant we received from The Clive Richards Foundation, work is progressing well on the new teachers’ accommodation block. We are hopeful that it will be finished very soon and the builders are working hard. There will be lots more photos to follow but you can see the block with rooms for four teachers taking shape.

Here are some photos and links to previous blogs. Also, here is the link to our new fundraiser to support self-sufficiency and sustainable projects for the young people we support. Giving for a Sustainable Future https://gofund.me/d3cf8c3a The next building at BFSS Staff Accommodation

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