School uniforms for children in Malawi
Donation protected
Check out the full story, with photos and videos, on Theia Notes. Some additional context after the photo below.
Our goal is to raise KWA 5,000,000 (EUR 6,300) by 16 December 2019 to bring a Christmas gift to these children
None said it better than the United Nations, which have education as their #4 Global Development Goal: "Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to creating sustainable development. In addition to improving quality of life, access to inclusive education can help equip locals with the tools required to develop innovative solutions to the world’s greatest problems."
The aim of this fundraiser is to bring a present for the holiday season: Providing them all with the opportunity to attend school - or at least removing the barrier to entry of their family needing to invest in uniforms.
The cost is shirt and short KWA 6,000 (EUR 7.5). Of the 1,500 students, 800 children at the school need uniforms.
This will also allow for the taxi trip to go to town and bring back the uniforms to the village. From the closing date, the fund transfers to Banjo’s account will take 2 to 5 days, so this timeline gives him enough time to go to town, purchase the uniforms and bring them back before Christmas day.
Why we want to help:
During my travels in East Africa in January 2019, I had the chance to visit Kande Beach in Malawi. It was part of an organised tour managed by Abosolute Africa (which I highly recommend). Our stop on Lake Malawi’s shores lasted a three days only, but if was plenty time for us to fall in love with the scenery, and most of all the people.
Beyond the many tourist activities that one can do there (from horseback riding to fishing), one has the opportunity to leave the camp and visit the main village hosting it. As soon as we stepped outside the camp’s main gate, as you would expect, many locals came to us. In other countries, under different circumstances, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by this – but not in Malawi. Unexpectedly, the people wanted to learn about us, who we were and why we came to their country in particular, and they wanted to share: their life story, their lifestyle, their issues and challenges. Malawi is nickmamed “The Warm Heart of Africa” for all the right reasons.
In one of our most humane encounters during our trip, we made friends with Chud, a young man who has, as the others in his group, relentless energy to grab life by the horns and make the most out of it. Beyond generating a small income from his interactions with tourists like us, Chud works is a very active member of his community, and supports his family, the local school and the local hospital in any way he can. He introduced us to his grandmother, his young brothers and sisters, his way of life. We also had the chance to meet his uncles, twins going by the names Mel Gibson and Banjo.
Both twins are leaders in their community. Banjo, whose “real” name (on his ID card) is Patson Banda, had taken us to visit the local school where flocks of children welcomed us with open arms, and we had the priviledge of talking with the School Principal and the head teacher.
Through our discussions, the help that the village, school and children need became clear. The school takes in a total of 1,500 children children aged 6 to 14. The Malawi Government has made uniforms mandatory to attend school; however, the current state of the economy and the precarity of each family makes this requirement a clear barrier to entry for most children. At the time of writing this article, 800 children need a uniform this year. Until they do, they cannot attend school.
For the past few weeks I have been in contact with Banjo, organising a fund raising for the local school. If this first fundraising is successful, we will organise separate ones for other issues that need tackling (fixing the water pump, financing hospital supplies,…).
This project is the first step, focusing on puting children back in school. Banjo firmly believes that education is the path to improving the lives of all Malawis.
Our goal is to raise KWA 5,000,000 (EUR 6,300) by 16 December 2019 to bring a Christmas gift to these children
None said it better than the United Nations, which have education as their #4 Global Development Goal: "Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to creating sustainable development. In addition to improving quality of life, access to inclusive education can help equip locals with the tools required to develop innovative solutions to the world’s greatest problems."
The aim of this fundraiser is to bring a present for the holiday season: Providing them all with the opportunity to attend school - or at least removing the barrier to entry of their family needing to invest in uniforms.
The cost is shirt and short KWA 6,000 (EUR 7.5). Of the 1,500 students, 800 children at the school need uniforms.
This will also allow for the taxi trip to go to town and bring back the uniforms to the village. From the closing date, the fund transfers to Banjo’s account will take 2 to 5 days, so this timeline gives him enough time to go to town, purchase the uniforms and bring them back before Christmas day.
Why we want to help:
During my travels in East Africa in January 2019, I had the chance to visit Kande Beach in Malawi. It was part of an organised tour managed by Abosolute Africa (which I highly recommend). Our stop on Lake Malawi’s shores lasted a three days only, but if was plenty time for us to fall in love with the scenery, and most of all the people.
Beyond the many tourist activities that one can do there (from horseback riding to fishing), one has the opportunity to leave the camp and visit the main village hosting it. As soon as we stepped outside the camp’s main gate, as you would expect, many locals came to us. In other countries, under different circumstances, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by this – but not in Malawi. Unexpectedly, the people wanted to learn about us, who we were and why we came to their country in particular, and they wanted to share: their life story, their lifestyle, their issues and challenges. Malawi is nickmamed “The Warm Heart of Africa” for all the right reasons.
In one of our most humane encounters during our trip, we made friends with Chud, a young man who has, as the others in his group, relentless energy to grab life by the horns and make the most out of it. Beyond generating a small income from his interactions with tourists like us, Chud works is a very active member of his community, and supports his family, the local school and the local hospital in any way he can. He introduced us to his grandmother, his young brothers and sisters, his way of life. We also had the chance to meet his uncles, twins going by the names Mel Gibson and Banjo.
Both twins are leaders in their community. Banjo, whose “real” name (on his ID card) is Patson Banda, had taken us to visit the local school where flocks of children welcomed us with open arms, and we had the priviledge of talking with the School Principal and the head teacher.
Through our discussions, the help that the village, school and children need became clear. The school takes in a total of 1,500 children children aged 6 to 14. The Malawi Government has made uniforms mandatory to attend school; however, the current state of the economy and the precarity of each family makes this requirement a clear barrier to entry for most children. At the time of writing this article, 800 children need a uniform this year. Until they do, they cannot attend school.
For the past few weeks I have been in contact with Banjo, organising a fund raising for the local school. If this first fundraising is successful, we will organise separate ones for other issues that need tackling (fixing the water pump, financing hospital supplies,…).
This project is the first step, focusing on puting children back in school. Banjo firmly believes that education is the path to improving the lives of all Malawis.
Organizer
Pierre Cattoire
Organizer
Lyon
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