Tag: visitors

Namapasa School visit to Bright Futures Secondary School

It’s been a very successful and enjoyable day of netball and football at Bright Futures Secondary School with visitors Namapasa Secondary School.

Sarah’s blog 10/11/24

Today was an exceedingly busy day for Levison and team at Bright Futures Campus. The Feeding Programme was running today and approx 350 vulnerable children turned up to be fed their one proper meal of the week. Many of these children are suffering from malnutrition and also have stunted growth because of lack of food and nutrition.

Namapasa Secondary School is approx 40km away and had made contact to ask if they could visit to play football and netball against Bright Futures Secondary School. Of course the answer was YES. As BFSS is in such a rural location and it would cost a great deal to transport students to other schools, they don’t get to play sport against many other schools. This was a great opportunity to meet new students from another school and play team sports which everyone loves.

We were concerned about the students and accompanying adults from Namapasa SS not having anything to eat for the whole day, especially while they were exercising. Also with the feeding programme running today, all other children on campus would be fed apart from the visitors which wouldn’t be fair at all or show hospitality. We sent extra money so that the visitors could also share in a meal and the extra money covered all the costs of feeding the visitors.

An holistic approach is taken to the health and wellbeing of students at BFSS so days like today, and the recent rugby tournament, mean a great deal to the students and raise morale and self-confidence. School clearly is about far more than classroom based work and exams, although they know that they are expected to work hard and do their best in everything. Playing football and netball, with their friends, forgetting all the problems in their lives for a while, means everything to these young people.

Scores: Team A netball Namapasa 5 – Bright Futures 2, Team B netball Namapasa 10 – Bright Futures 12, Team A football Namapasa 1 – Bright Futures 0, Team B Football Namapasa 1 – Bright Futures 1.

I asked Levison if there was any feedback from today. He said “The visitors were very impressed with the hospitality we gave them. Most of them it was their first time to be at BFSS and were so amazed to see the beautiful environment they were not expecting to see in the area. They admired our beautiful classrooms, nice furniture and well organised teamwork.”

Levison continued “BFSS students were happy to have visitors to play sports with them as they have stayed for a long period without having a game.” “The visitors were also amazed with the agricultural projects, especially the chickens and the orchard projects. Some were also surprised to learn how we are pumping water from underground.”

Here are some photos and videos from earlier today. We hope you enjoy them. Here is the link to raise funds for a football tournament for local schools to take part (with food) https://donorsee.com/project/24384?share=1 Or perhaps you could help to fund the food for another school visit like today? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

And here is the link to help provide a Christmas Party with a meal and gifts for 500 vulnerable children https://donorsee.com/project/25004?share=1 Please will you join us in making a difference and spreading a little happiness to the children we help to support? Many thanks for reading and supporting, Sarah x

Some of the children being fed at today’s Feeding Programme. They are fed in age groups. Some walk huge distances for this one decent meal each week.
Bright Futures Campus is a safe place for all the children who come. They look forward to seeing their friends, playing games, learning new skills and, of course, having a nutritious meal.
A warm welcome to today’s visitors
Some of the visitors from Namapasa Secondary School approx 40km away
Everyone enjoying their lunch
Students from Namapasa School enjoying their lunch
Sharing food and showing hospitality to today’s visitors
The Bright Futures Secondary School Boys Football Team
Namapasa Secondary School Boys Football Team
Namapasa Secondary School and Bright Futures Secondary School boys football teams
Namapasa Secondary School netball team
Namapasa Secondary School Girls’ Netball Team
Bright Futures Secondary School Girls’ Netball Team

Bright Futures Secondary School – Visitors

Sarah’s blog 18/12/22

Yesterday was a HUGE day for Bright Futures Secondary School, for Levison and his team and for us. The school inspectors visited.

There are very strict guidelines to be met when a school is being built and opened, especially for privately run schools like Bright Futures Secondary School. Classrooms need to be at least a certain size, desks have to be bigger than a minimum size, there have to be enough text books, latrines etc etc. So yesterday it was time for Bright Futures Secondary School to be put to the test.

The inspectors arrived in the afternoon and spent about three hours in total. Mr Soko, the senior inspector and Mr Mwangupili met with Mr Levison Mlambya, Director at The Foundation and Miss Mtambo, Head Teacher of Bright Futures Secondary School. The outcome of the meeting was really important for the future of the school.

During the visit the inspectors looked at everything; teachers certificates, timetables, after school activities and other documents. They counted each text book. They looked at the classrooms, the desks and chairs, the science equipment, the latrines, teachers staffroom, clean water supply – the list goes on – they were very thorough.

Mr Soko and Mr Mwangupili couldn’t believe that the school had such lovely chairs. They also were amazed at the huge selection of books in the library and said how lucky the children are to have access to a library like that.

The new polytunnel that is a project of the agriculture classes got great praise and the inspectors were able to see that a wide variety of skills are being taught as well as the full curriculum.

Once the inspectors had ticked everything off their list they saw that there was still a big building that they hadn’t visited. They asked Levison what it was and he took them to see the shower block. They were absolutely delighted that the children had access to proper showers and private changing facilities.

The very, very good news is that the school passed the inspection with great marks. BRIGHT FUTURES SECONDARY SCHOOL IS NOW A REGISTERED SCHOOL IN MALAWI. This is an amazing achievement and we are so grateful for everyone who has helped us towards this goal.

As I keep saying, our charity is run by a small group of dedicated volunteers and no money is spent on admin and there are no salaries to pay. All of the money we receive goes to the projects we support. The fact that a secondary school was desperately needed and such a big project we knew we would have to build it in phases due to there being no reserves of money here or in Malawi. With your help, phase 1 of Bright Futures Secondary School has been completed and opened. Students are having opportunities that they previously would not have had.

Whilst the inspectors were delighted with everything they saw yesterday, we knew there would be recommendations going forward. Their first recommendations are for classrooms 3 & 4 to be built in order that students have continuity and can progress in their education at Bright Futures Secondary School. They also asked for more latrines to be built as student numbers increase. Thirdly, they were very pleased to see the science equipment but, as we knew, more needs to be bought to cover the whole curriculum.

Thank you so much to Mr Soko and Mr Mwangupili for such a thorough inspection and the very positive feedback. We are delighted that you are delighted with Bright Futures Secondary School. We are committed to ensuring that the school provides high quality teaching and a wide range of learning experiences. So our hard work and determination continues with fundraising for classrooms 3 & 4, latrines and science equipment. The two classrooms that have just been built worked out at approximately £10,000 each. New latrines will be approximately £3,000 in total, science equipment £2,000, desks £2,000 and textbooks £3,000. Thankfully, The Bananabox Trust supported us to send enough chairs for the next two classrooms.

In total £30,000 is required for phase 2 of Bright Futures Secondary School. It’s a massive amount but with your help and a huge amount of hard work we can achieve this to change lives in Malawi and give the children a much brighter future. Thank you so much for reading and supporting us, Sarah x

https://gofund.me/44a92444 contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

l-r Mr Levison Mlambya, Miss Mtambo, Mr Soko and Mr Mwangupili

VIP Visitors to Bright Futures Secondary School

Sarah’s blog 4/11/22

An amazing and very busy day at The Foundation! Lots of dignitaries were invited to see Bright Futures Secondary School prior to its opening on Monday. There were several village chiefs, head teachers from other local schools, head of the area police and church leaders as well as a few other representatives from the community. All of them were delighted with phase 1 of the school and the chiefs all spoke about how grateful they were for the donors and the work that is being done by Levison and team.

One chief, who hadn’t been to secondary school, said he wished the school had been there 20 years ago so he could have studied there. He asked Levison if he could visit the students at the school to talk to them and tell them how fortunate they are and to study hard. Another chief asked if adults could go to the school. Unfortunately, there isn’t room for them at the same time as the children, however Levison was able to tell them about the plans for adult literacy and numeracy classes.

The head chief said that he was going to ensure all the families of students knew that they had a responsibility to ensure their child behaved well and studied hard. The police chief said that he would ensure the protection of the teachers, staff and the work going on at The Foundation and, with the chiefs, would ensure all the villagers know who the new teachers are and that they must be respected.

On entering the classrooms, one of the men started crying. He couldn’t believe what had been achieved when, not so very long ago, there was nothing there. Now hundreds of the most vulnerable children over the next few years will have the gift of education. They will be given a way out of poverty and the chance of a brighter future. The VIPs listened to Levison and also asked lots of questions and wanted the donors to know how grateful they are for what is being done for the children in their community. So, on behalf of everyone in Ibuluma, if you have donated towards the school project – THANK YOU. We couldn’t help the hundreds of orphans and other vulnerable children without you.

The teachers have arrived and will be working some of this weekend with Levison to plan a timetable and plan their lessons for Monday. Of course, the children who come to The Foundation at the weekend will be interested to meet the new teachers! If you would like to contribute to help us to send money for desks, then here is the link https://gofund.me/44a92444

Busy times but thankful and grateful for all that has been achieved and for the people who are on this journey with us to provide a brighter future an continue Changing Lives Malawi. Enjoy the photos, Sarah x

Levison had a visitor

12/5/22

Everyone is always welcome at The Foundation. Levison receives visitors every single day….people in desperate need for a variety of reasons. They know The Foundation is doing it’s best to improve lives of the most vulnerable in that community. As help in that area is very limited, people are walking long distances as they are hungry and struggling. Food is getting more expensive and crops aren’t expected to do as well this year due to the very heavy rains and storms.

Usually, Levison is able to give people some clothes from the generous donations people have given us to send. Sometimes he can spare some maize to give them, but not always. They are able to take a shower if they want to. Yesterday a woman came asking for school fees for her daughter as she could no longer afford to pay. Unfortunately, Levison was unable to help….there are so many orphans more in need of a sponsor’s helping hand.

Levison doesn’t often receive visitors from other organisations, being so far north, so it was a lovely surprise for him to have a visit from Reverend Andrews Bipa who runs a much smaller organisation, The Trevor Foundation, which is near Mzuzu. Reverend Bipa had come to find out about The Foundation and the projects that are helping the community. Levison was happy to share information, answer questions and show Reverend Bipa around. They were able to share lunch together too. Networking and sharing knowledge is great for picking up ideas and encouraging each other to keep working hard to help those most in need. Thanks for reading, Sarah x

Levison and Rev Andrews Bipa in the library

Reverend Bipa was able to observe the nursery children enjoying their session

Reverend Bipa speaking about his visit to The Foundation