A new milestone as we reach 100 students
2023 saw the charity ‘MOSES’ officially merge with us to become one organisation, with MOSES now forming part of Mbedza’s education programme.
We started September 2023 with 90 students in the programme. In December 2023, following an application for funds, we received a grant from the Coles-Medlock Foundation enabling us to support 10 additional girls for four years, bringing our student numbers to 100.
Daphney, Deputy Director of Education, has made light work of filling our ranks with 10 new students already recruited to the programme.
“I recently recruited ten students under the Coles-Medlock Grant. Five from Songani and five from Pirimiti.,” Daphney told us. “This is great news for Isha, a 17 year old student who will soon start at Songani Secondary School. Isha hopes to become a nurse when she completes her education. She currently lives with her sister and they survive by running a small-scale business selling cakes.”
Our students continue to amaze us with their determination and resilience.
Two of our students, Hamis and Razak, come from homes with single mothers who rely on unreliable cash in hand work to try and put food on the table. With a one hour and a half hour walk to and from school every morning, the boys get up around 4:00am and leave for school at 5:30am.
Malawi is in its hungry season and these boys go to school without breakfast most days.
Hamis and Razak possess an unwavering interest to learn and achieve their goals in life and they say that they are always grateful for the opportunity they have learning through the support we are able to give them.
Sponsoring a student is without doubt a great way to change a life for the better. We are always amazed that the students in our programme, whilst enduring hunger, show an even deeper hunger for learning.
In November 2023 one of the students from Manor CE Academy who visited Malawi and met students on this programme said, “We see school as something we have to do but we should see school as something we get to do.”