March to Malawi is a group fundraising event that wants to draw 40 people from around the world to participate, and collectively aim to walk the distance from RIPPLE Africa’s base in the UK to RIPPLE Africa’s base in Malawi. That’s 8,474 miles from the UK to Malawi – or a commitment of 210 miles per person – to be achieved over a period of 7 months from March to September 2012. Anyone in the world can participate! You simply need to make a commitment to walk 210 miles (just 1 mile a day, or 7 miles a week!) and set a personal fundraising target of just £500. Joining in will help people to keep fit, and participants will feel fantastic about raising money for RIPPLE Africa and helping the whole group to meet this important challenge. If we can find 40 dedicated people to help us meet our target that will add up to 8,474 collective miles walked around the world, and a collective £20,000 raised for RIPPLE Africa!

To get involved, visit our special webpage about the event, and send us an e-mail to register.

On the afternoon of Saturday 3 December 2011, 14 boys, Ali Gaskell (their physics teacher and previous RIPPLE Africa volunteer) and many parent helpers gathered at the Tonbridge School pool, hoping the swimmers would be able to achieve their target. In fact, there was no reason for any doubts as the boys swam tirelessly with impressive dedication and enthusiasm. Swimming together, they all cheered each other on and every swimmer swam an impressive number of lengths. Special mention has to go to Baz Shemirani who swam an astounding 102 lengths in 50 minutes. This collective effort meant that, within 50 minutes, the group had more than attained their target as they had swum a total of 831 lengths – or 20.8km! And they still had some time – and energy – to spare for a bit of water polo!

While the swimmers did a fantastic job, it was the whole class who made this event a real success. The aim of the swim was to raise money for RIPPLE Africa, and the class decided to fund some of the charity’s projects in the local pre-schools and the secondary school. The whole class raised a phenomenal total of £1,000 including Gift Aid, with one student (George Huxham) raising over £100 by himself. Ali Gaskell visited Mwaya over the Christmas break and was able to tell the boys of Year 8 what the money they had raised was being used for and who it was benefitting.

If your school would like to raise money for RIPPLE Africa, please go to our School Charity Fundraising page.

The evening was a great success with about 100 people attending the event, including 10 previous RIPPLE Africa volunteers who joined in the fun. The Chargé d’Affaires from the Malawian High Commission, Mr James Ali, and his wife also made the journey from London to attend, and he gave a very good speech during the course of the evening.

Vicki and Clements, the MAN representative, organised a variety of events during the evening, the most popular being the drumming session with drummer Jerry Elliott, who had brought along about 20 African drums so everyone could have a go.

We’d like to thank Vicki and Clements for all their hard work to make the evening such a success.

If you would like to hold a fundraising event for RIPPLE Africa, please go to our Start Fundraising! page to find out how.

To sponsor a deserving student like Emily, please get in touch with us.

If you’re not a friend of our Facebook page already, please consider adding us, and help us get to the next 1000!

Emily’s story is an inspiring example of how the hard work of a single individual can result in a huge difference to the lives of so many on the ground in Malawi. Unlike many of our community fundraisers whose link to RIPPLE Africa began through their volunteering experience in Malawi, Emily’s story is different. “I found RIPPLE Africa just by searching over the internet. I was looking for a charity doing astounding work either in Tanzania or in a country in that region of Africa. It was important to me that I chose a charity working in Africa rather than the UK as it was going to be the African people and their wonderful landscape that gave me the opportunity to go on this adventure. I searched for a relatively small charity that was somewhat unknown to the general public so I could raise awareness for the charity. I found a charity where I thought the money I raised could make a difference to a variety of projects; environmental to schooling to healthcare.”

Selecting RIPPLE Africa as her chosen charity was only half the challenge, as in addition to fundraising, Emily had to make sure she was fit for the climb, too. The trek itself was a difficult 6 day hike through snow and rain, with a 4.5 day climb to the summit, including a challenging final 6 hour climb through the night by torchlight to reach the summit at sunrise. Emily booked her journey through Action Challenge, a company which specialises in organised challenge events. She met other members of her group at the airport who had also signed up individually, but soon became a close-knit team, assisted by the help of professional guides. The fundraising however she had to organise on her own, doing everything she could think of to raise money: “I raised the money by standing in the tube stations with a bucket and a sign, explaining what I was doing. I work at a bar and luckily my boss is awesome and allowed me to put a collection pot on the bar. I was also able to do charity raffles on busy nights and even did cake sales and a sponsored silence- which when you work on a bar is not easy! All this on top of donations from family and friends meant I was able to raise a total of £3745.52.”

RIPPLE Africa is proud to have people like Emily working hard to support our charity, and we’re glad that the experience is equally fulfilling for her, too. “Overall the experience has been invaluable. It takes a lot of hard work to raise that amount of money and it was disheartening at times but always rewarding in the end. The trek itself was indescribably beautiful. It was worth the long days of hiking in the rain and snow, soaked through to my underwear to reach the magnificent views of the summit, meet so many wonderful people and make friends that I’ll share the unique experience with forever. I’d recommend anyone who has ever thought about taking on an adventure, such as my journey to Tanzania to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, to raise money for charity to just do it. You won’t regret it and RIPPLE Africa is a fab charity to raise for.”

“Well, it looks like Mwaya may have it’s first ever women’s football team. During my recent volunteer experience with Ripple Africa I witnessed Jenni’s passion for football and the enthusiasm she showed for teaching. So when she combined the two and created a girl’s football team at Kapanda Secondary School, a match was made.

In addition to the hours Jenni did in the classroom and the numerous tutoring sessions she gave, I am sure a highlight of her time in Malawi was the opportunity to not only play loads of football but also to coach. (Although, looking at the way Jenni was limping around by the end of her stay, I am not sure that her Achilles tendon appreciated how much football she was playing.) Anyway, after tryouts and so many training sessions that even a professional team would have trouble managing to keep up with, it was time for the girl’s first game. As it turned out, Chifira Secondary School already had two female football teams and brought both their A and B team with them for the big day.

It was wonderful to see how excited the girls from both teams were and you could virtually see their confidence and self-esteem grow before you. Jenni was mortified when she saw that the other team was wearing Man U shirts (one of her least favourite teams…she is an Arsenal supporter) and used it to fuel her pre-match pep talk to the girls.

The match was held on a very hot (even for Malawi) Saturday afternoon and when the girls had got over the novelty of wearing shorts, with many a nervous giggle, they were ready to hit the field. The girls played with great spirit and determination. Even though the game went for 2 hours and the Chifira girl’s had enough subs to put a whole new team on the field in the 2nd half, the girl’s kept fighting, despite defeat. After the game, the girl’s were already talking about when the next game would be.

Now it looks like the time is right for a Mwaya woman’s team as well and although Jenni wasn’t there to see it, on all accounts, there was a great turn out for their first training session, with the likes of Ester and Catherine bending it like Beckham. Hopefully it is a legacy that will continue in her absence.

Good stuff Jenni!”

(Nikki and Jenni volunteered during the same time period, from September to December 2011.)

First up to report is the story of Rob and Nikki, a husband and wife team who worked in Malawi as a volunteer doctor and physiotherapist for the last couple months of 2011. As a husband and wife team, Rob and Nikki had a unique volunteer experience being able to work together in a health scenario in Malawi, where there would be little room for cross-over in their home of Australia. You can read all about their story by clicking here. Rob and Nikki’s story is the second we’ve posted as of late, having also recently published the story of Patrick, who volunteered in the first half of 2011. You can read about Patrick’s story by clicking here.

Check back soon for more RIPPLE Africa news!

• Jerry Elliott: Professional African drummer from Northampton’s Ginger Pig Band
• Silvaa King: Zimbabwean rapper who will be singing at the Olympics 2012
• Malipenga Dancers: Traditional dancers from Malawi

Matt Round will be DJing, and there will be a bar all evening plus a raffle and a curio stall selling traditional African carved wooden items.

If you are in or around Northampton tonight and want to start your Christmas celebrations, then do come and join us!