Our names are Sarah and Liz. We are trustees for a charity in central Scotland called Changing Lives Malawi. We support a community in rural northern Malawi, many of whom are orphans and are living in extreme poverty. We are passionate about supporting the children and young people have a brighter future through education and sustainable projects.

Despite building and running our charity for the past 7+ years, we have not yet, because of caring commitments, had the opportunity to visit the projects and people we help to support. Now is the right time to make the dream of visiting Malawi a reality. We are visiting Chitipa for the first time in May 2026.

Sarah - As my background is in Social Care and Early Years Education, I hope to be able to use some of my skills to support the educators and orphans at Bright Futures Nursery as well as enhancing the work we are doing with The School Literacy Project and The Mother & Baby Project.

Liz - I work as an editor for television. I have also recently been on a camera course. I intend to take lots of photos and videos and make some short films about the projects and people that Changing Lives Malawi supports. I also look forward to helping out with literacy classes and giving some keyboard lessons on the two keyboards that were donated recently.

We have paid for our own flight to Malawi, our vaccinations, visas and insurance, but we are asking for your help to support the projects we will be working with. As we will be visiting a rural location in Chitipa District in the far north of Malawi, and the airport is in Lilongwe in the south, we would very much appreciate help with transport costs during the visit. It will be much safer to hire a car to use for the duration of our trip than to try to rely on buses and minibuses.

1. Bright Futures Nursery; we want every pre-schooler to have two t-shirts and three pairs of underwear, shorts or a skirt. These will be in a bag alongside soap, toothbrush & toothpaste, a blanket, a soft toy and two picture story books. As part of the school literacy project, we want every home to have at least two books so that all family members have access to sharing stories together. Supplying each bag costs £10. So we do need your help to keep this valuable project going. There can be up to 75 children age 4-6 at nursery. Children sleep on the floor in their homes, many of which are not watertight. They desperately need a blanket to help them keep warm and be able to sleep. If we give this care package when children start nursery then we know that each child in need has received these essential items. (Eventually, when the crisis has passed for the community, and they are in a better financial position to support themselves through sustainable projects, there will be less need to be providing as many items in the care package. However this will take time and the children need our help now).

2. The Mother & Baby Project; Currently, thanks to our supporters, new babies born at the local health centre receive baby clothes & blankets. When supplies allow, if mum & baby return after a few weeks, they are given more clothes, giving staff another informal opportunity to check mum & baby are doing well. We want to be able to give each new mum two bars of soap when her baby is born and then a few weeks later. This will cost approx £2 per person. As well as supporting usual hygiene measures, there have been confirmed cases of M Pox virus in the area. Many families cannot afford to buy soap. We need to help them protect themselves from infections and viruses as well as being able to wash their clothes.

3. School Literacy Project; none of the children and young people we help to support can afford to buy notebooks & pens for school. How can children learn to write? How can they remember what they have been taught if they cannot make notes? It costs approx £1 per primary school student to provide them with two notebooks and a pen & pencil. The more £££ we raise, the more students we can help. There are at least 60 students in a class in Malawian primary schools so we would like to be able to support as many as possible in the upper classes of Chambo Primary School. Will you help us please?