Last summer a number of students and I were privileged to participate in a community project at Thantwe Primary School, Malawi Africa.
Malawi is the poorest country in Africa and is one of the world's worst-hit by HIV-Aids with more than one million children orphaned by the disease. The majority of the population scrape out a living as subsistence farmers despite food security being precarious due to the climate. The democratically elected government is battling over 30 years of under-investment in public services; so school’s like Thantwe have just 6 classrooms for 649 students.
Exposure to the hardships of life in rural Malawi led us to feel a great sense of injustice that so many children in rural Malawi are having to live in absolute poverty; often not eating for days at a time and having to share one dark brick hut with up to 10 other family members. One that has no sanitation, no running water and no power. Consequently, we left Malawi resolved to help Thantwe School improve its educational facilities. By doing so, we hope to enhance the life chances for a number of Thantwe School’s students; improving their odds of winning a government scholarship to fund their secondary education. This in turn, will enable them to attain a wage earning job or a place at university. This will enable them to contribute to their local communities and start to break the inherent cycle of poverty. Many of the pupils at Thantwe are passionate and eager learners, only held back by the lack of educational facilities at the school; which the government cannot afford to provide.
To this end, we aim to raise £10,000 to build two new classrooms at Thantwe School.
There is no time to waste. We have raised £450 in 2 months; so we’ve made a good start. Now we need your help. Please make a donation and share this page with your friends on Facebook, Instagram, etc. Every penny counts, no donation is too small. Thank you.