Welcome to the JustGiving page of Rebecca and Guy, who are travelling with our friends Peter and Sally to this extremely rural part of Malawi on May 15th for 3 weeks to help with the amazing work of Hope4Malawi, which was set up by two very good friends, Sara and Mark Goodman, who we know from the school gates 17 years ago.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with average daily wages of $1 per day and an average population age of 17.2 years. It is very difficult for a child born in these rural areas to move beyond poverty, not least due to lack of education.

Hope4Malawi was set up to improve the educational opportunities for people they met, and also to help improve the educational environment by providing infrastructure, equipment and resources. Working with government schools, in the past 10 years they have fundraised for and built classrooms, libraries and toilets in 4 primary schools and have built a new secondary school. They now work full-time to continue this work by resourcing those schools and by building a centre for the development of valuable skills, which will enable the students to acquire jobs. They work in partnership with local people, local chiefs and local government: planning, training and helping to overcome any obstacles and barriers.

The four of us are all passionate believers in education as being a way forward for these poorest of people. Both Sally and Rebecca are educators and will spend time supporting the teachers and teaching in some of the classes. The teaching is rather daunting, with some classes having over 100 pupils and with no connectivity, few resources and no electricity.

The four of us would like to raise enough money to finish the building of a teaching block at the new skills centre, including provision for teaching IT, textiles and bike maintenance. There is currently a shortfall of £11,000 for this project, which is of course a huge sum. Anything else we can raise will go to fund desks, chairs and equipment where needed in the schools. In fact, the needs are so great that it is impossible for us to raise too much! For example, the morning meal provided at the schools by Hope4Malawi is often the only meal the children will eat; they found that the teachers sometimes had to walk 2 hours to get to work so they provide bicycles where possible; they discovered a significantly more heat-efficient way for the local people to build their outside cooking stoves, and have begun to introduce these; they have raised funds for desks and chairs because the children sat on the floor or on a stone for lessons.

While Rebecca and Sally focus on the teaching, Guy and Peter will help with practical tasks such as teaching how to make and build the stoves and how to keep the bikes serviced and working, while also supporting reading, music and encouraging participation in sport.

Any donation, large or small, will go wholly and fully to Hope4Malawi.

In the attached photos, you will see some of the needs and the work so far accomplished. You will also see areas where more is clearly needed to be done.

With grateful thanks,

Guy and Rebecca Stephenson

More information about Hope4Malawi and the website www.hope4Malawi.org

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