EDUCATION
AND HEALTH
New
Community Library Is Now Open!
The Mwaya
Community Library is now open. Thanks to so many people for their contributions,
this library has become a reality. Firstly, a big “Thank You”
to Georgina, Leila and Christina from Stowe School who raised the original
funds, to Donncha, our volunteer librarian, for setting up the systems
and training Mr Longwe to become the resident librarian, to all the
schools and people who donated books, and to Mini Clipper who supplied
free transportation for onward delivery to Malawi.
We had an official opening day on 28 November 2005 which was attended
by the local community, and it was a great success. Since then, about
40 people per day have been withdrawing books. People of all ages are
visiting the library, and Mr Longwe and his assistants, George and Samson,
are very attentive and provide help with reading and selecting suitable
books. 2,000 books are already in the library, and there is space for
another 1,000.
It
was a joy to see the sheer wonderment in the eyes of people when they
first visited the library. It was also great to see some of the young
children with musical books which played music and made funny noises
when you pushed the buttons - the “Quiet Please” notice
was ignored just this once!
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Teacher
Training Courses and Teaching at the Local Secondary School
Paul and Amy
discovered quickly that the local teachers could benefit from extra
training, so they set about a teacher training programme held at Mwaya
Beach. The feedback from the teachers was very positive, and we will
try and encourage future volunteers to get involved with this.
We
have never had volunteer teachers at the local secondary school before
but when Paul, Amy and Crt discovered that the students were not being
taught because of drastic shortages of teachers (only four for the whole
school), they set to and started helping. They kept fit as well —
it was a 12 km cycle ride each way!
English
Classes at the Primary School and at Mwaya Beach
Anne and Pete,
who had previously been teaching in Ghana and had completed a TEFL course
in the UK, really got stuck in to their work at the primary school.
They also held regular English lessons at Mwaya Beach for children after
school had finished and for some of the women from the local community.
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Six
New Students Pass Exams to Viphya Secondary School
We have recently
started our programme to send the top achievers at Mwaya Primary School
to good secondary boarding schools. This year, we were able to send
six new students to Viphya Secondary School. They are keen to become
lawyers, engineers, teachers, and one wants to become the Environment
Minister to help save Malawi. Well, we’ll have to see in a few
years’ time!
Kachere
Nursery School Is Now Finished
Frank, the
builder, has now completed the work at the nursery school at Kachere.
Windows with burglar bars have been installed and, now that the rooms
are secure, things can be put up on the walls and materials can be left
in the rooms overnight.
The
school swing is in regular use and, although very inexpensive to build,
it has proved to be a winner!
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New
Incinerator and Sharps Pit for Medical Waste
We have been very
fortunate to have had Jorien and Elmar working at Kachere last year.
They really hit the ground running and set in place a number of interesting
projects. One that will be of great signifcance is the building of an
incinerator and a secure sharps pit for the disposal of hazardous waste
from the health centre. Previously, dressings and used syringes, etc.,
were thrown into a shallow pit and posed a real danger. Now, with the
new incinerator and sharps pit, these can be disposed of safely.
HIV/AIDS
Counselling and Testing
Although there
is an HIV/AIDS counselling and testing centre at Kachere, there are
many people who do not come to the clinic. Elmar and Jorien felt that
an outreach counselling and testing programme should be set up. Ben,
from Wisconsin, continued with this idea and worked on proposals to
raise money for this. We are pleased to say that funds have been secured
for this project from a UK charity - a real team effort!
Kachere
Health Centre
Interestingly,
progress also has its drawbacks. Mains electricity has now come to Kachere,
which is great news for the health centre, but there is now a bar playing
loud music in the village which has attracted sex workers from outside
of the area, and this will undoubtedly increase the incidence of HIV/AIDS.
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