Milk, Education & Roofs-2019b

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Winter Report 2019

including Sept-Nov trip…..

Since the government introduced the breastfeeding-only policy last year, we have not been allowed to help vulnerable babies under 6 months with our goats’ milk.

However, a new direction has opened up—milk for pre-schoolers. Twice a week, a staff member visits a couple of Nursery Schools by motorbike, carrying a cool bag containing milk from our goats.

At each school, the organisation was impressive, it was obviously a regular and valued initiative, with about 150 kids receiving milk each time.

Teachers report that the children’s health has greatly improved and the numbers attending school has risen due to the provision of free milk.

COMMUNITY

Children queue for their milk at Mtikhe

Namata Nursery School patiently waiting for their milk…

Goats’ Milk

Roofs

Education

Sani-packs

Most girls struggle during their monthly period as sanitation facilities both at school and home are basic. They couldn’t buy disposable products and wouldn’t be able to throw them away anyway. The whole subject is not discussed openly so our girls were thrilled to receive packs of washable pads, panties, a zip-lock bag to carry soiled items and a bar of soap, all packed into a useful draw-string bag—they no longer need to miss their education!

19 of last year’s 34 Form 4 students passed their MSCE’s (similar to our GCSE’s) - a very good result for rural schools, at a higher percentage than the national average!

However, we weren’t in a position to be able to replace those leaving, so we remained with 65 students on our programme. We hope to be able to increase numbers again next year.

In September we provided Term 1 fees for all our students in the 3 local secondary schools, along with boarding, uniforms and exam fees.

Some of the students on our Programme from Michesi Secondary School - proudly showing off their new uniforms.

Sani-packs were given to all the girls on our Programme - in the past we’d found that each girl missed at least 2 days a month from her education, so now each feels confident all month long.

Donate now!

Education Fund

Mary L - 30 years old, AIDS-affected, from Makhonja Village. Her house completely collapsed during the cyclone earlier in the year, and with gov. help, she managed to build another, but was unable to roof it. We helped, and now she and her children are safe….

There was still devastation following the brutal cyclone which ripped through our area in March this year. One of the obvious problems was the growing hunger caused by the loss of maize destroyed in the fields, but also there’s evidence of houses broken down by the storms, and many roofs lost.

We helped as much as we could—traditionally final touches (trimming and final fixing) will be applied to most of these roofs after the rains begin.

Modester, 70 yrs old, her roof was collapsing—now repaired

Mary M, is 72 years old. One side of her house collapsed so she was living in the one small room remaining, with broken roofing.

We didn’t have the resources to build another house, but provided funding for a new roof. Local villagers, prompted by this news, restored the house for her.

However, regular school fees on an established programme aren’t the only call on our education budget. Schools asked for help for desperate Form 4’s unable to pay their final exam fees, families struggled with one-off educational costs, and not having primary school uniforms kept vulnerable kids out of school.

So we’re planning to extend our Education Fund -

you can help by donating specifically for this purpose….

“Memory” was one of those who benefited—a 12yr old who came to us

distressed and desperate for a school uniform as she’d been "chased away"

from school without one. Her father died 2 years ago and her mother went to

Mozambique three months earlier to seek food for the family, but never came

back. She's in the care of her brother (15yrs) who fends for them both by

buying, roasting and selling small bags of peanuts.

So we bought her a uniform, paid a one-off school fee, and now she's back

in Standard 8 - her final year of primary school, eagerly hoping for secondary education next year. From other funds, we repaired the roof of the house she shares with her brother, and added them to our Food Programme.

At the same time, another example of the use of our Education Fund was providing a blackboard for Mwaiwathu Adult School—18 unschooled men and women, from 4 villages, eager to learn to read & write - all taught by volunteers.