Action for the Benefit of Children and the Build Malawi Project...
The BUILD MALAWI Project is a small, community-based venture that has been operating in Malawi from September 2007.
We work with the community directly on the ground to help provide the essential tools to be gained from both formal and informal education and help create the support networks that we feel contribute to an active and fulfilling life!
Check out the *NEW* 
Build Malawi MySpace blog for up-to-date info, pics and vids from Malawi!
Please see the News page for our Newsletters for all of Phase 1, whilst a summary of our financial information and expenditure can be found here.
The aim...
ABC’s ‘Build Malawi Project’ focuses on primary school education and chose the area of Chisala in the Nkhata Bay district in the north of Malawi to do its first major development venture.
The project team in Malawi has started building a Primary School that will cater for children between the ages of 6 and (potentially) 15 years.
In Africa, physical structures are rarely used for just one purpose and the school and we are keen for the school to also serve as a Community Centre after school hours. In this way, we want to promote informal education as well and reach out to the maximum amount of people, whilst involving the community every step of the way!
Our objectives
- Provide for the mental, moral and physical welfare of young people through the furtherance of education, regardless of age or gender
- Provide a safe and conducive environment for learning
- Help the community implement a wide variety of schemes that will allow all individuals to grow in their desired direction
- Promote the sharing of knowledge between cultures
- Help with the government’s efforts to promote sustainable and responsible living (For example, encouraging small scale commercial enterprise and promoting more efficient agricultural techniques currently being investigated in Malawi)
- Help the already widely-spread knowledge about HIV/AIDS awareness reach the communities on the ground in rural parts
- Help combat problems concerning gender/female roles in society, particularly in rural areas
- Tackle environmental issues, such as the serious problem of de-forestation and flooding, which are of course related
We do not want our help in Malawi to be an imposition and stress our partnership with the communities in the Chisala area.
Building
Building the school will be conducted in two Phases and we are very happy to announce the completion of the FIRST PHASE on the 7th January 2008.
In this Phase we have built the following structures:
- Double Classroom blocks x 2
- Administration Block
- Teacher’s house (with running water to a hand-wash basin and shower and a separate single pit-latrine)
- Afridev Water pump
- Separate Urinals for girls and boys
- Separate Double pit-latrines for girls and boys
- Single pit- latrine for teachers
The structures really do look beautiful and we really splashed out on decorative items, such as good quality, colourful paints, to make the school look cosy and appealing.
‘On-the-job’ Training
It was a dream of the project Managers, Tanya Clarke and Kondwani ‘Happy’ Nyondo, that the building process benefit the community in some way. Their constant involvement from the start was important in order to foster a sense of ownership and responsibility.
So, we partnered with the Malawian Technical College (TEVET) in order to implement an ‘on-the-job’ training scheme and we chose 6 youths from the community with secondary school qualifications to embark with us on our adventure. We are very happy to announce that the four odd months of construction has allowed all of them to graduate with a Tevet certificate. Tevet is linked to the government and is nationally recognized and very well respected. We hope that this will provide these individuals with great prospects for the future.
The trainees will be employed by ABC in the second Phase to help complete the school and thus give them a first taste of a professional career.
So, what else?
The philosophy behind our work in Malawi is that if you create something then you have more interest in its survival and we want to ensure this happens for years to come.
Building, however, is only a part of what we want to achieve!
The Primary School will allow for a variety of extra curricular activities that will encourage personal development, self-confidence and good health. We want to help the school will set up sports teams, after-school classes, art and music classes, discussion groups and a school garden.
The Community Centre will allow the community to set up a range of programmes and workshops that will provide an informal education for both children and adults. Literacy classes are particularly important to help the large number of school drop-outs (especially women) achieve their potential. We have an exciting range of ideas which have come directly from the community in Chisala and we will be working in partnership with them to ensure the sustainability of the school/centre for future generations!
Come and join us in making the project a massive success!
A big thank you to Kawalazi Tea plantation, owned by Global Tea! They donated living accommodation to the project managers for the duration of the project and also provided us with valuable transport for building materials that have dramatically cut costs. Visit www.globaltea.com for more info.
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