March/April/May Newsletter...
Ah yes, here we are again in sunny Malawi to start Phase Two.
Luckily Tanya came back in time from the UK to get things started well ahead of schedule and we are pleased to announce that building has now started. ‘The Operator’, our new car, has replaced ‘The Beast’, which has now been sold, and apart from some minor repairs is purring like a kitten. The house is also looking great and all of ABC here in Malawi, including our lovable Happy, are in good form.
Labour
We are working with a new contractor, Emmanuel Masebo, and we have an enthusiastic team on site building the following structures: 3 teacher’s houses with plumbing(!), 2 double class room blocks and pit-latrines. Work has already started on the first teacher’s house.
We would also like to introduce you to our head foremen Peter (left) and Mnthali (foreman in Phase One), who will be on-site every day.
We are happy to report that the trainees have been employed by the contractor and will be on a month’s probation. They are now out of our hands!
Water
We are still working with the CCAP to install our new water pump next week. We have not paid for the old one, so we hope that the contractors will do a better job this time round. We have also decided to help out the nearby health clinic and buy it a new water tank as the old one was leaking a lot of water. It is now up and connected to the clinic as well as all of the clinic’s and school’s houses, allowing for our excellent plumbing system!
The Community
We are very conscious this time round to try and get bricks to the site on time to avoid the pressure we faced last time. Three very affluent members of the community have promised 100,000 bricks between them and I’m sure this will help top up the community’s efforts. All the chiefs have promised to make an agreed number of bricks and they have assured us their full co-operation in this.
The chiefs have been very amicable and welcoming this time round and see the immediate benefits the school has brought to the surrounding communities. We have the old team back to work, such as Kelvin (sand collector and night watchman), James (stores clerk), Douglas and Mr Banda (school building committee).
Deaths
We are very sorry to announce the passing of our much loved chief, Jimmy Carter. He died on the 20th April 2008 and will be very much missed. He really helped us through some difficult times and contributed immensely to the success of the project.
The Acting village Headman of the nearby Galanombe area has also passed, Mr Kanguenta Phiri, who was very active in the running of the school and was also the PTA chairman.
The School
Mr Banda (centre), the Headmaster, has been a fantastic support and the school committee really help us sort out a number of issues within the community. We now have three Government-qualified teachers, including our newest addition Anna Phiri (centre) and our original teacher, Luckness Mwlanda (left). Parents also contribute towards the salary of a volunteer teacher, Chance Chirwa (right) who has been a great help with the school teaching standard 2 and sports.
The kids attending at the moment are still quite young (standards 1-4/6-9 years) as we have yet to build for standards 5-8. The children learn through many interactive games both outside and inside the classroom. They also participate in extra-curricular activities such as sports, music and dance and have a manual labour hour where they help clear up the school and toilet facilities.
The teachers and students organised a welcome home for Tanya and Happy and the kids gave them offerings of sugar cane, fruits, nuts and wood carvings. They were so touched since this was the moment they had been waiting for; to see them at learning at the school. Here is a picture showing one of the performances the children put on for them. Thanks guys!
Library
We have received support from Woodnewton Junior school to help us build a library, and they have additionally donated some books. James Allen’s Lower School has also donated some children’s books to us, whilst the Malawi Education Project (www.malawieducationproject.org) has promised many library books at the end of the year.
We are in the process of trying to source some solar panels for our library and admin block. If anyone would like to contribute towards this aspect or has any contacts, then please do get in touch.
We may have a laptop waiting for us which will be used to promote IT skills in the community.
Sport
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ian Hughes-Guy and Gillian Murphy for their donation of football kits. They have been very well received here!
Here is a picture of the football teams in their new kits.
The Great Football Giveaway (www.greatfootballgiveaway.org) has also donated some footballs and netballs for the schools and football/netball teams in the area and there are more to come.
We are in the process of organising a new project that will promote sport in the community and we will be getting funds aimed specifically for this.
We plan to create zones and upgrade the facilities by levelling pitches and providing sports equipment (nets, balls, posts). The youth in particular are very excited about this and have been very active in land clearing the site.
If anyone has any football kits and netball bibs to donate then we would be VERY happy to take them off your hands! This would greatly help our efforts to provide the teams here with kits they can be proud of and ultimately promote inter school/community matches. Send any packages to 201 East Dulwich Grove, London, SE22 8SY, UK and they will be sorted and sent to Malawi.
Community Centre
Now that things have settled more, we want to get the community centre going. We will be starting up literacy classes, sewing groups, trying to organise the youth and women’s groups to meet again and a tree re-plantation programme. We will keep you posted on this.
Volunteers
We have a new volunteer arriving, Howard Brewer, who will be helping us out for a while as well as Francois Hudson who will be in Malawi for good. Welcome guys!
Unfortunately, however, Peace Corps volunteer and Tanya’s good friend, Annie Carisma, is now leaving Chisala and will be sorely missed. She has been here since the beginning and knows all they’ve been through out in Malawi.
If you would like to volunteer with us then please get in touch with Tanya at buildmalawi@hotmail.co.uk although places are very limited since we like to keep our group small at any one time. We would like to stress that any volunteering done with us is very informal and the volunteer would have to be completely financially independent.
News in the UK
Congratulations to Jill Henderson and Woodnewton Junior School in Corby who have been raising funds for a library which will house the much needed resources. Jill, who approached us last year, has made the Build Malawi Project her school's official charity. The whole of Woodnewton Junior School are working towards many fundraising activities, having already raised over £500 and collected lots of old books from their library that will be shipped over to Malawi in the next few months. If you have any old dictionaries and/or reading materials please contact alice@buildmalawi.org and we will arrange for these to be sent out.
Howard, our new volunteer, will be arriving in Malawi in the next week to start work on the project. He has taken over some filming equipment so we look forward to being able to bring you some footage directly from Chisala Primary school.
Thanks
Thanks again to Global Tea and Kawalazi Tea Plantation that continue to help us by providing transport once a week, as well as our accommodation.
We are still working closely with Government, and the relevant education and community development ministers have been an invaluable support. The Government still looks forward to making Chisala Primary School (now formally registered) the model school for the District and we are working hard to make that happen.
Thank you,
The Build Malawi Project Team
