At Namende primary school there are no reading books, nor reference books.  Indeed there are very few text books.  It’s a struggle for children to learn English which is their second language and one which very few of the children speak at home. Reading story books on a computer with children in years 1,2 and 3 was a real delight.  They were captivated by the images and loved following the words on the screen as they learnt to read them.

It was wonderful to be able to take assembly at Chipwepwete Primary with the help of three of our sponsored students, Gift, Bernard and Yamacani, as well as some of the year 8 boys at Chipwepwete, Clement, David, Patrick and Asaidi.  We acted out the story of Samuel anointing David to be King of Israel and talked about the qualities that make a great leader. The new secondary school is in the background. A fantastic time

Every 40 seconds a block is made at Chipwepwete for the foundations of the new secondary school.  The foundations for three teaching blocks are currently being laid and will have the slabs on before the rains come at the end of November.

Thank you for your donations towards relief and rebuilding following the cyclone. We were overwhelmed by your response. We are pleased to announce that we have enough funds to rebuild the bridge which had been destroyed at Chipwepwete. Work began in June and is expected to be completed before the rains start at the end of November.

Leonard Haji, head teacher at Chipwepwete Primary School, says ‘More children will come to Chipwepwete once the bridge is finished as currently they are going to schools far away on the other side of the river’.

Furthermore the bridge will generally improve the village economy by opening the route to market for traders to sell their crops, bringing further development to this rural area.

Our latest news is here in our latest newsletter Hope4Malawi Newsletter Autumn 2019 .  Read about our sponsorship programme, rebuilding the bridge at Chipwepwete after Cyclone Idai, progress on the secondary school and how St John’s have made an impact.  If you’d like to receive our newsletters please email Sara at info@hope4malawi.org for further information.

What do you do when a mother of five young children tells you plainly that she cannot afford to visit her son at boarding school nor attend parents evening and in fact is struggling to find enough food to feed her family each day?

Well, I was frankly speechless; I didn’t have the solution.  The silence was broken by Yamacani humbly announcing how grateful he is for the privilege of going to secondary school, how the opportunity of a secondary education will be lifechanging for his family and he couldn’t thank us enough.  I was struggling to hold it together.  Yes, we are funding Yamacani’s education at secondary boarding school through our sponsorship scheme but on the surface we could surely do a whole lot more. Yet what is appropriate?  Although we had taken a bag of maize as a gift, providing food on an ongoing basis quickly becomes aid rather than sustainable development, and doesn’t help in the long run.  This family is not alone.  There are many like this, and things are particularly tough after the crop failure following the floods earlier in the year.

Yet there is a dignity about this young family. We looked around her very small straw roofed home, beautifully located in the hills, about a hour walk from the tar road. There are two rooms for the six of them, no furniture, just mats on the floor to sleep on.  Everything was neat and tidy, a few clothes stacked in the corner of one room and some pots and pans in another. Yamacani is the eldest of the five children, at 15 going int his third year at secondary boarding school, a bright young man who can now speak almost fluent English, and is kind hearted conscientious, and honest

Hope4Malawi now sponsor 45 students from poor families through secondary education.  If you like to know more please contact sara at info@hope4malawi.org

A great morning: Assembly with the children at St Mary’s and All Saints CofE Primary school in Beaconsfield. They have raised funds to provide school meals for 169 children at Namende for a year and given us 10 computers for our computer project. Amazing, thank you!

We had an amazing opportunity to share about how we are helping to empower girls and help them to be the best they can be through the MyGirl programme – Hannah and Sara were interviewed at the netball world cup during half time in the Malawi match #empoweringgirls #thisisnetball#malawinetball #hope4malawi #bethebestyoucanbe

We had a great morning at St John’s URC Orpington yesterday. We are so grateful for their fundraising and reaching their target to build toilets at the new secondary school at Chipwepwete.  We had an opportunity to share about our work in Malawi and Mark preached on Luke 12:32-34 about how God wants us to care for the poor whilst trusting him to provide for all our needs.  It was an awesome morning. Thank you to everybody involved

For the cost of a meal out you could provide school meals for a child in rural Malawi for a year, making a huge difference to their attendance and ability to concentrate in school. It costs £12 per year to provide a child like Noah from a poor area at Namende, 10km from the tarmac road, with school meals for a year. We’ve just set up a new campaign at virgin giving to make donating and fundraising so much easier.  Please consider doing a fundraising event so your friends can also support these fantastic children. Thank you
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/Hope4MalawiNamendeFP