We’re always encouraged when we read the monthly report from our student support officer Daphney Phiri.

Our students benefit from Daphney’s visits both to their schools and homes. Home visits are focussed on developing relationships with guardians, checking on living conditions and student well being. Most homes are severely economically challenged with no stable source of income.

These visits have a big impact on student outcomes as we, along with the guardians work together to create a supportive environment.

We always try and coordinate our programmes and recently our HIV counselllor Fyson spoke to our students as part of a motivational workshop organised for students from Monkey Bay along with their teachers.

The workshop covered HIV awareness, prevention and management, and students had the opportunity to be tested.

They were also encouraged to think about their long term goals and how they might reach them - including the importance of attendance at school, communicating with teachers, study circles, choosing friends with positive behaviours and developing study habits.

4 years of support

Secondary Education in Malawi lasts four years with entry to year 3 dependant on exams at the end of year 2.

Daphney has been providing support to our students in form 2, encouraging them to be part of a study circle. She’s also provided some exam preparation that included time management, exam techniques and stress management.

There are always students who stand out and Chisomo and Aubrey, form 2 students have always encouraged each other to work harder and achieve their academic goals. In their recent mock exams in preparation for JCE they came out first and second!

Most of our students who live in villages do not have electricity. In the evening they use candles, battery torches and some are blessed with solar lamps as in the photo above. We try as far as possible to provide as many students as possible with these lamps that benefit not only the student but also the family.

Finally, we were really touched recently by a wonderful Malawian lady who lives in Lilongwe. She had an opportunity to visit our programmes some time ago and she was especially touched by this education support programme.

Unsung heroes

Whilst we’re very much focussed on the students, often the unsung heroes are the teachers who working in challenging circumstances with very limited resources.

Our visitor provided us with a number of gifts to be presented to the teachers and they were really overwhelmed that someone had thought of them.

Thank you Beatrice for your wonderful gesture and making these teachers feel appreciated.

The hungry season

Our greatest challenge right now is food.

Recent poor harvests have left people vulnerable to hunger and driven up the price of maize. And the price is only going to get higher.

We’ve launched a fundraising campaign to raise vital funds. Can you help?