September 2009 Newsletter...
Hello there!
Sorry that it has been so long since our last newsletter but we are happy to tell you that so many things have been happening at Chisala and all is looking absolutely fantastic.
We are the number one school in our zone of Mpamba in Nkhata Bay District and also the most beautiful according to the ‘Beautification of Schools’ programme. We will now compete at District level.
Chisala students have won several important academic competitions (or Quizzes) in the zone, despite not even having Standard 8 yet.
We now have a total of six Government teachers, out of a total of 7 classes, which is a vital contribution for the success of the school. Our final Standard (year) 8 is coming next year (school starts on January 5th) from the current Standard 7 and this will take us to our 3rd year!
The teachers (from left to right) are:
Back:
Luckness Malwanda (Standard 2 teacher),
Mr Zimba (Standard 5 teacher),
Anna Phiri (Deputy: Standard 1 teacher),
Mr Edwin Mhone (standard 6 teacher),
Douglas Gondwe (librarian),
Topsy Mhone (Gardener)
Front: Mrs Mwale (Standard 4 teacher), Mr Banda (Headmaster: Standard 3 & 7 teacher)
(The picture was taken on a Sunday so they were all informally dressed!)
Additionally, we have two volunteer teachers, Mr Chirwa and Miss Banda, from the local community and their wages are paid for by parent contributions and revenue collected from various fundraising events. The fact that we have an equal number of male and female teachers helps create a balanced atmosphere at school and different activities of all kinds have been started up for everyone.
We also welcome the new Peace Corps volunteer, Vanessa Kramer, to Chisala. We are sure she will do wonderful things! Good luck.
Power and light!
The most exciting news to report is that Chisala School is now lit! In July we put in three solar panels on the library which is powering lights outside and inside, plug sockets, television and DVD player and we installed TV Malawi, the national TV station, broadcasted via a satellite dish. This allows the community to watch sports events, the news and various programmes that will help with education.
The school creates revenue from these events as well as from charging phones so that they can pay their volunteer teachers and pay for small maintenance items. The school has its own bank account and the School Management Committee (SMC) treasurer goes weekly to deposit any funds collected.
The library also has new steel tables and chairs that last for ever, as well as a whole collection of new books and wall charts given by us and by people in the UK that participated in the book drive (the total number of books that came was 1,600!) organised by Charlie Watson and Alleyn’s Junior School - thank you so much for these gifts! The kids are now reading and the plan is to now get the women in for literacy classes with Douglas, the librarian.
Each teacher’s house has also been donated one solar panel that powers light inside and a security light, and two plug sockets. This is a very big incentive since very few teachers’ houses have panels and the aim behind this is to encourage them to stay for longer and work harder for the kids at the school.
Water
We are now almost ready to put in the school’s very own water system! Despite some teething problems with the current borehole, it is now producing better water and we will be installing a submersible pump and solar panel next month. This will pump water into a 5,000 litres holding tank and a piped system will provide all the houses and the school with water.
Sports & future projects
The Project Managers remember the days when the community were a lot more reluctant to get involved with the school building and planning since they were not that accustomed to development. We are happy to say that those days are gone and the school is now one of the top priorities for the area’s development. Extra land is being negotiated and discussed by local chiefs so that further expansion can occur when required.
One of these expansions is the sports ground behind the school and clearing has already started for the football pitch, netball court and volleyball court. We are expecting some balls and nets to come next month and a Government grader will flatten the land too. Next year we plan to build a small sports centre with changing facilities and showers to promote sport in the community. The community will make Soil and Cement Stabilised Bricks (SSB) to build the centre that are much more environmentally friendly at a local level as they don’t require burning, only curing in the sun. They will also provide labour and local building materials like sand.
This opportunity has been given by our good friends, The Great Football Giveaway, who are currently in Rwanda giving out balls in an inspirational project that first brought Tanya to Malawi. Check out www.thegreatfootballgiveaway.org.uk.
Further projects include plans for a big school garden where maize will be planted to create revenue for the school, as well as various vegetables and crops that the children will get involved with growing. The ultimate plan is to try and get a feeding programme going next year and with all this land to grow food on we hope there will be plenty to go round. We are also building more pit-latrines next month.
The school has also been granted land for the building of more teachers’ houses and a Build Malawi Project volunteer’s house next year. We would like to encourage a volunteer or two a year to come and help out at the school and community centre and set up and monitor future projects at Chisala. Watch this space for more information on this and get in touch with Tanya at buildmalawi@hotmail.co.uk if you are interested in helping out next year.
From ABC to Expand
The Build Malawi Project is parting ways with its fantastic partners, Action for the Benefit of Children (ABC). Together we have accomplished a worthwhile project at Chisala and worked hard for it! A big thanks to the Kharodia’s and Khan’s in the UK and Malawi and all the other people who helped us along the way.
Build Malawi will now be part of a new charity set up by Tanya called ‘Expand’. We are in the process of finalising the charity specifics and will inform you when all is set up to receive further donations. The website will be at www.xpand.org.uk and will be set up at the end of October.
Donations
As mentioned, we are in the process of finalising the new charity specifics but we do have a charity bank account set up for it in the meantime. You can donate to the project by sending a cheque to our charity office at:
Expand: Build Malawi Project
201 East Dulwich Grove,
London,
SE22 8SY
Our online facility will be coming with the website at the end of October, so we will let you all know about it when it happens!
Thank you!
Thanks for reading this far and supporting us!
There’s been so much going on and there will continue to be provided we get the support we need.
Please donate to our cause at Chisala generously when you can - it really does get to the ground!
Check the BuildMalawi.org site for the latest info - more new pics have been added to Gallery 12!
Zikomo Kwambiri!!
The Build Malawi Project Team
