The word ‘community’ defines us: it reminds us both who we are ourselves and what we aspire to be in our relationship with others. Lancing College has been linked with the central East African country of Malawi for over 40 years. Since 1982 there have been 20 biennial expeditions of Lancing students to the country – the 21st takes place this summer – and tens of thousands of pounds have been raised for the individuals, children’s homes, school and clinic we support out there as a College community.

Those Sixth Formers who spearhead the Malawi expedition are ambassadors for a cause in which we all play a part. Our biggest annual community fundraising event – pupils, staff, parents are all welcome to take part – is for Malawi: it’s a sponsored 12 mile Walk across the South Downs, which falls on the first Saturday of each new school year. The focus of the walk is funding the continuing education of Malawian students.

We partner with the charities Open Arms Malawi & Care In Action to sponsor students reading university degrees in Malawi. Veronica & Promise graduated (in Nursing and Environmental Sciences respectively) in May last year; Brighton graduated in Optometry in January 2026. It was a source of particular pride when on May 29th, Norman graduated in Social Work and Political Leadership: Lancing had sponsored him for the past 12 years through secondary school and university. We now continue to support Ben and Victor, reading Education; Agnes, reading Natural Resources Management; Steve, reading Information and communication technology; Judith, studying for a BSc in industrial laboratory technology, and Bornster, studying to be a nurse and midwife.

We additionally sponsor five children through their secondary education.

We’re hoping and expecting that every Lancing College pupil will take part in the walk on Saturday 5th September and raise some sponsorship over the summer as part of that communal effort. If each pupil approached just ten family members or friends for £5 sponsorship each, we would raise the amount needed to cover this year’s sponsorship of our undergraduates’ education, with any additional funds raised going towards our other Malawi projects at Chankhasi School and Kumanda Clinic.

A few hours of effort by us – a life transformed forever.