Hello again friends, family, and supporters of Seeds of Hope!

The Seeds of Hope Nursery School continues a staggering 10 years after it was initially launched by the community during my time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi (mind blowing), and the community support as well as the generosity of our supporters here in the United States continues to provide this critical lifeline for the children of Mphomwa village. Our director Mr. Nachiye reached out to me a few weeks ago to let me know that the school is doing well, and enrollment remains consistent around 50 children each term. However, it seems like the economic situation in Malawi is only continuing to deteriorate. Last year the official government devaluation of the Kwacha created an overnight 25% inflation of every living and school expense. And this year, Malawi has been hit hard by a fuel shortage crisis that has sent transport costs, and therefore all the goods delivered by truck, spiking again. Additionally, there was a presidential election in Malawi this past year which, while avoiding a decent into major violence, added to the uncertainties for everyday Malawians: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgy3g7zpl3o

As such, the goals of Seeds of Hope remain unchanged that we be a stable and safe community-led space for pre-elementary school kids to get some structured learning, supervised care, and at least one meal a day. My Nachiye has provided me with a new budget for the year, and was already including a caveat that the prices may continue to increase. There is greater demand than ever for early childhood education, and Mr. Nachiye and our community board have set the ambitious goal of building an additional classroom building this year so we can double our capacity.

Therefore, I come humbly to the many friends of the Mphomwa Seeds of Hope community with a fundraiser to cover us through this year of uncertainty, but with great hope for greater things to come. As always, I thank you and more importantly, the families of our Seeds of Hope Community thank you!