November/December Newsletter...
Hi again!
So, this is our opportunity to let you know once again what’s happening in our lovely village of Chisala, Malawi. November and December have been crazy months and very action packed to say the least!
News from Malawi
The rains have now fully arrived. Big, black storms threaten us daily, which has been nerve wracking, but luckily we have not had any storms that have caused any major problems yet. We expect the full wrath of the rains to arrive in January and so our 4 x 4 will be tried and tested to the max.
Kawalazi Tea Plantation continues to support us with transport and housing. Both have been enormously helpful and their assistance has really alleviated the pressure for sand in particular.
Some bad news has been that Major, our contractor, has been taken seriously ill twice. The labour force has been so understanding and supportive to all of the management and everyone is still working hard. We face the usual daily pressures for raw materials, but again, the community have been much more cooperative lately. I’m sure seeing the school looking so fantastic is a major incentive to keep going as well.
The best news for us here, however, is that the District Education Office has visited the school site and its representatives were very impressed with it all. It’s been built very quickly and they want to get pupils enrolled from the 1st January. The school term and year starts on the 7th January and we are all aiming to start as planned on this date. As you can imagine, everyone is very excited and is working hard to clear the site, ensuring it is a fit environment for children to learn in.
Building
On the building front, we are very happy to announce that all the roofs are fully on all the structures.
Both blocks are now undergoing the finishes, which include flooring, plastering walls, pointing (scrubbing the bricks down and putting cement between the cracks making them look very polished) and of course, painting. The structures look unrecognizable and it’s so exciting for us at ABC to see such a dramatic change so quickly.
The teacher’s house looks great too and the team there have been incredibly fast. Again, they are doing the finishes now and will complete finishing the walls afterwards. The kitchen, storage and bathing area is opposite the main house and these sections are separated by a small courtyard, as the picture shows.
The administration block looks very smart indeed. We are very proud of the steel window frames and burglar bars which will protect both the lovely glass windows and the building from theft.
The most exciting new, development is the start of the sanitation facilities! We are building two separate facilities for girls and boys. Each will have a double pit-latrine, a urinal and a hand-wash tank attached to it. This hand-wash is between the school site and the pit latrines and we hope that this strategic placing of the tank in the kids’ path back to school will encourage them to wash their hands. The idea is to obviously promote good sanitation practises, both at school and in the home.
The extra labour that’s been brought in has been great and extremely efficient. You respect anyone who can dig a 4 metre deep pit with a pick and shovel only! Definitely a six-pack creating job…
Desks
Seventy desks have also been built on site, varnished and they look wonderful! We are using a very good contractor who has given us a very good deal, but we are still seeking some more funds to build the extra desks needed for the next Phase.
We also need to consider teachers’ desks and furniture for the administration block. If anyone is interested in donating specifically towards these vital aspects, then please contact Tanya at buildmalawi@hotmail.co.uk.
Water Pump
Unfortunately, we do have a bit of bad news to report which is that the water borehole has not been yielding as much water as we expected. Although it is still functioning, there is a bit of silt in the water caused by the caving in of the walls during drilling. The soil is very soft in the area and this caused the unclear water (as well as unsatisfactory drillers!). The good news is that we are still working closely with the CCAP experts on this. Don’t worry though, ABC has not paid a penny yet and we are getting a new borehole and pump to replace this one. The current borehole is yielding some water, however, that is used for cleaning and cooking by the general community (some people even drink it all the same) and will operate until then.
Playground and Theatre
As mentioned previously, two volunteers have built the much anticipated playground and theatre for the youth of the community. Maggy Keet and Annie Carisma worked with local labour and youth to get the structures finished by the end of this Phase.
The pictures show what a great project this has been for the youth and has brought them together again. We are confident that they will make great use of it for all kinds of activities.
Villager of the Month
This month we would like to recognise Mr. Banda (right) as our star of the month! Both Mr. Banda and Douglas (last months star, on the left) work so hard together and have done an enormous amount for the community’s development. We are eternally grateful to them for all their help and commitment. They are out there every day helping clear land and are instrumental in mobilising people. They are both active, influential community members and Mr. Banda is a devoted member of the CCAP church. Thank you!
Meet the TEVET Trainees
There are six TEVET trainees who are learning building and bricklaying trades through the project. They are young, full of energy and a real asset to the project. This month we'd like to introduce the remaining three trainees:
Jonathan Banda is 22 years old. He’s married with a new baby girl! He loves music and is keen to pursue TEVET training in the future.
Maria Kondwa is 18 years old. She also has a baby boy and loves dancing the traditional dance, Malipenga.
Wilson Longwe is 23 years old. He is married and is a very active member of the community. He loves building and travelling.
School Fees
Tanya has personally sponsored two youths in the community, Brenda and Damiano. She has many requests for help with school fees and chooses the beneficiaries carefully. If anyone is interested in sponsoring someone then please get in contact with her at buildmalawi@hotmail.co.uk. It is important that the youths in the area try and complete their higher level education to give them much better opportunities for the future.
News in the UK
Congratulations to all those who took part in a sponsored Spin on Monday 14th December. A big shout out to Matt Waterton who organised the event and to Phil Heale who taught the class. By all accounts it was a pretty gruesome two hours!
Many thanks on behalf of us all at Build Malawi Project to Bhavnita Borkhatria, Kate Cheney, Karen Garcia, Lizzy Pollard, Suzane Fred, Paul Holley, Darren Head, Louis Fazackerley, Melissa Garcia and Marcus who took part and to all the sponsors who have helped raise much needed money for the project. The amount raised is yet to be confirmed and will be announced in our first newsletter in the New Year.
If you would like to organise a fundraising event then please do get in touch.
Our team in the UK
Yes, we do have a great UK team. Please contact Alice Boff (alice@buildmalawi.org or alternatively write to buildmalawi@hotmail.co.uk and address emails to Alice) for any information or if you would like to get involved with the project.
Volunteering
If anyone would like to volunteer in UK or Malawi, then please contact Tanya Clarke at buildmalawi@hotmail.co.uk. We love fundraising events too, so please get in touch with Alice (alice@buildmalawi.org) regarding this if you want to do something for us. JustGiving is a great website that allows you to raise funds easily for any cause you choose. Visit www.justgiving.com for more info. You can also find us listed under Build Malawi.
Tanya writes regular blogs on her adventures out in Malawi, so please keep checking out the project website at www.buildmalawi.org for updates and pictures and her blog at www.myspace.com/buildmalawi.
As always, thank you all for your continued support. Please forward this newsletter on to anyone who may be interested.
Best wishes,
The Build Malawi Project Team
A personal note from Tanya:
We are almost at the end of the Phase and I just can’t believe what’s been achieved. There are so many people that I need to thank for making this dream possible for us.
Firstly, thank you so, so, so much to all my amazing family and friends who have contributed so much in so many different ways. I’m so proud to know you and have you in my life. To my best friend here, Happy, who has been a dream partner and brother.
ABC in the UK (Zaheer, Delilah, Dean); thanks for believing in me and trusting me to do what other people thought was crazy! ABC in Malawi has obviously been so supportive throughout, looking after me, putting me up, feeding me and always giving me very sound advice. I’m very happy to be a part of the family and I hope to develop ABC more in the future.
To Global Tea that owns Kawalazi; thanks Nadeem, Pannu, Cameron, Clement for your continued support and a safe house to live in. My mind would have gone long ago!
Obviously an enormous thank you goes out to our donors of all kinds, from you fantastic individuals, corporations and UK trusts. I really appreciate your belief in a small charity and some determined individuals. I hope that you will continue to support grass roots organisations that deal directly with the communities in these poor countries.
I’ll be back in the UK from the 25th January 2008 for a month if anyone wants to contact me. Thanks again everyone! xxx
