July/August Newsletter...
Welcome to our first July/August 2007 newsletter for the Build Malawi Project! If you have received this, it is because you have taken an interest in our adventures and it’s great to have you on board.
Since going to Malawi in July, Project Manager, Tanya Clarke, has much news to report. Despite the challenges that the project has faced in this last month, we are delighted to announce the commencement of the building stage of the project in the first week of September.
News from Malawi
Building has started! We are happy to announce that all is going well and we have the foreman, trainees and labourers on site as well as the first load of building materials. We will keep you updated with pictures, videos and newsletters on this.
ABC has a fantastic and enthusiastic team out in Malawi. Kondwani Nyondo, aka ‘Happy’, is co-project managing with Tanya. ABC is based in the South, Blantyre, and we are also doing another small project there to build a library and dining hall for a very poor school (check www.malawiabc.org for more information).
Up where we are in Nkhata Bay, we have identified a brilliant supplier and foreman who fully support the essence of the project and the training programme that we want to introduce. The Teveta “On-the-Job” training scheme was an enormously popular idea amongst the youth, proven by the great turnout for interviews.
To the left is a picture of the six trainees chosen and the Youth Action Committee, as they call themselves, chosen from amongst all the young people in the surrounding communities. Our trainees will train with our foreman, Major Ntchafu, and 6-8 bricklayers and carpenters to learn skills that will provide them with exciting opportunities for the future. There are four boys and two girls and we wish them every success. Thank you Teveta for making this possible!
We are very pleased to confirm the full support of the Traditional Authority of the area, TA Timbiri who has been instrumental in mobilising the communities to make bricks and clear the site. The village headmen and chiefs are also in full support, as are both District and Central governments. At local level, Mr Victor Matayataya, the Community Development Officer, has been extremely active and has helped us create good relations with local government.
However, most importantly, the local community have been extremely active and are very happy about the project. Tanya and Happy have conducted numerous meetings with various groups and members of the community to encourage involvement and the results have been outstanding. Currently, the villages are taking turns to make the 300,000 odd bricks needed for the first phase of the project, which will take us until the end of the year.
On the left is a picture of the community and youth making bricks. ABC provided them with maize flour and beans to help keep up morale and strength. It’s a hard job!
On the right is the site chosen by the community for the primary school, which up until this week was thick bush!
The project has also secured the support of Milton Keynes Rotary Club for the water and sanitation aspect of the project. We are pleased to announce the partnership of Mzuzu Rotary Club in Malawi that is overseeing the installation of the borehole and Afridev Water pump.
Our partners for the borehole and pump are the Central Church of Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) and we are working closely with Jim McGill and his contractors who are experts in this field.
Here is a picture of the vitally important Water Committee that will oversee the use of the water pump. It is made up of six women and four men.
We are expecting the water pump to be drilled and installed in the first week of September also.
School Fees
Tanya has been in Malawi now for over a month and has met many youths in the community. Some have approached her regarding secondary school fees as secondary education is not free in Malawi, as with primary. However, it is one of the most important certificates to obtain, as even this level of education was required from the Teveta trainees.
It costs roughly £5 to send a person to secondary school here in this District for a term, which is £15 for the whole year. Factor in costs for a school uniform and shoes and that totals at around £20. So far, ABC has been approached by three youths regarding secondary education, although this number will surely rise. There are no secondary schools in the immediate area and the kids often have to find somewhere to board or stay with relatives
Please consider donating specifically to this cause as it could help so many youths in this area. Donate securely online at www.justgiving.com/buildmalawi/donate with the heading, ‘FEES’ + your name, in the name box. We are able to see this information on our Justgiving account. If you can also leave your e-mail address, Tanya will write to you personally and let you know the name of the person who has benefited from your donation.
Volunteering
If anyone wants to volunteer with the project in UK or Malawi, then please contact Alice Boff in the UK at alice@buildmalawi.org and Tanya at buildmalawi@hotmail.co.uk. We love fundraising events! Please contact Alice for more information on this.
Our team in the UK
We do have a great team in the UK, so please contact either Alice Boff (alice@buildmalawi.org) or Maggy Keet (maggy@buildmalawi.org) for any information or if you want to get more involved.
All the team, whether in the UK or Malawi, can be accessed on buildmalawi@hotmail.co.uk, so just specify who your email is for in the heading and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thanks
ABC and the Build Malawi Project would like to thank everyone who has helped raise funds for this project in the UK and abroad. Although you are too numerous to name individually, you know who you are! Grass roots level organisations such as ours rely on people like yourselves who actively participate, often for free, to help get something great started. So, thanks again!
We would also like to express our many thanks to Kawalazi Tea Plantation, who have offered us a house on the plantation as our living space and headquarters. Global Tea (www.globaltea.com) recently won the prestigious "Queens Award for Enterprise Sustainable Development".
Please do keep checking out the project website at www.buildmalawi.org for updates and pictures, as well as Tanya’s blog at www.myspace.com/buildmalawi from Malawi.
I hope that this newsletter has updated you on the project’s progress in Malawi and introduced you to some of its key players. There have been many challenges but thanks to the support and cooperation in Malawi of the community, government, suppliers and builders, ABC, Rotary and Teveta, we have started as planned in the first week of September. The water pump will be installed at this time as well. We will keep you posted!
Best wishes,
The Build Malawi Project Team
NB. If anyone would like to get in touch with Tanya by post, the address in Malawi is:
ABC, c/o Kawalazi Tea Plantation, PoBox 237, Mzuzu, Malawi
By phone:
+265 (0)9 600 734/ +265 (8) 152 020
