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RIPPLE
News: March 2010 |
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EDUCATION
Kapanda
Secondary School
Due to a shortage of funds
over the past year, we stopped all additional building work at Kapanda
Secondary School, but we were able to complete the teachers’ office
building which incorporates a small library and storeroom. We have now
also installed a safe in which examination papers can be kept securely
so that the school can be used as an examination centre. Kapanda has
proved very popular with our volunteers, and they teach at the school
regularly. During their placement early in 2009, two volunteers (Joe
and Sarah) employed Amos who has proved to be a great asset to the school,
teaching maths and science subjects. Joe and Sarah are continuing to
support Amos now that they are back in the UK and are in full-time jobs.
One
of our dreams is also becoming a reality — we have had some funds
from a donor in Hong Kong, and we are now able to start the landscaping
of the school grounds and the experimental garden project. The donor
has asked for the garden to be called the “Norske Hagen”
which means “Norway Garden”. David Newman has been working
closely with Andrew Manda and, next year, we should see some interesting
results. |
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teachers' office is finished |
Andrew
Manda is in charge of landscaping the school grounds and setting
up the experimental gardens |
Amos
(RIPPLE Africa funded teacher) and Sally (Headteacher) in Kapanda's
small library and storeroom |
RIPPLE
Africa volunteer teachers |
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New
Books for Kapanda, and Great Exam Results
Text books are always in short supply in Malawian schools, but Annabel
and Sibel, who work at the European Patents Office (EPO) in Munich,
were able to secure some funding for text books for Kapanda through
ETWA (Europe-Third World Association), the EPO’s staff club. In
addition to this, Philip Green, a teacher at Aldenham School, ran the
London marathon and wanted the money he raised also to go towards text
books. As you can see from the pictures, we had a wonderful opening
ceremony at the school, and the books are now being used by the students.
However, we will shortly be needing more books for Form 4 which will
be starting in September 2010.
Just
before we left Malawi in December 2009, the Form 2 JCE (Junior Certificate
of Education) results were announced, and the students at Kapanda attained
a 68% pass rate. This is an excellent result for a Community Day Secondary
School as, typically, the pass rate is between 45% and 50%. To maintain
and improve these results, we really need to build some more teachers’
houses to attract additional teachers to work at the school. If you
feel you can help, we need £16,000 per house. We would love to
be able to continue with this building programme. |
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Delighted
teachers open boxes of new text book donations |
New text books
donated by the ETWA (Europe-Third World Association) at the European
Patents Office, and Philip Green, a teacher at Aldenham School
who raised money by running the London marathon |
Improved
pass rate for Form 2 exams |
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New
Library Extension
Every time Mr Longwe, the Librarian, has a meeting with Geoff, he has
a long list of requests, and a reading shelter for his important “clients”
has always been at the top of the list. Although Geoff and Mr Longwe
have not always agreed on the design of this building (Mr Longwe wanted
high walls to give privacy to the important clients!), it was decided
to have low walls that people could sit on and to make the shelter spacious,
light and airy. The building has been completed thanks to Brian and
Lilian from South Africa who provided money for some books and for the
shelter. The building is rather more elaborate than originally planned,
but the finished product will be a great success.
The
library continues to be very popular, and Mr Longwe and Japhet, his
assistant, who is rapidly becoming a younger Mr Longwe, keep it immaculate.
There are now over 4,000 books, and we have invested in more secondary
school text books. There is always a number of people in and around
this facility. The new Chief Chibunya from Matete is rarely seen without
a novel from the library — he is one of the library’s most
regular clients and reads a new book every week.
Now
that the reading shelter is finished, we need some additional money
for chairs and for shelving in the storeroom. |
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The
n ew library extension (left) for Mr Longwe's "clients" |
Andrew,
the builder, and his team preparing the floor |
There
is a storeroom at the back and an open area at the front for reading |
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Helping
Mazembe Primary School
We
have been working with Edward Mphande, the headmaster at Mazembe Primary
School. Frank and Lisabeth, volunteers from Holland, raised funds and
painted all four classrooms at the school. They also paid for the construction
of 93 wooden desks. The school is very under-resourced and has 466 students,
eight forms, but only four classrooms. But help is at hand — two
inspirational young Americans, Cassie and Dan, who have started a not-for-profit
organisation called Taking
Back Lives in Florida, visited us in June 2009 and decided to partner
with us. They are currently raising funds to build a double classroom
block at the primary school. The headmaster has already made the bricks,
and we are all looking forward to Dan, Cassie and their team coming
out to make this school block a reality.
Mazembe Primary
School only has two government teachers. RIPPLE Africa currently pays
for two trainee teachers, but there are also three Malawian volunteer
teachers who we would like to be able to employ. However, we need some
regular donations — the cost is £40 per month per teacher.
Also, at Matete Primary School, there are two additional volunteer teachers
whose salaries we are also wanting to fund. |
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Outstanding
Results! Two Mwaya Students in the Top 100 in Malawi
For
the past seven years, we have been sponsoring 40 students per year
to attend local secondary schools, and we also ran a scholarship fund
where we paid for the brightest students to go to expensive boarding
schools. Unfortunately, we have now had to withdraw this programme
due to a shortage of funds. However, this year, two students really
stand out from the others: Lael, who was the best student at Mwaya
Primary School five years ago and is Yalerd’s brother, came
second in the MSCE (Malawi Secondary Certificate of Education) results
at Viphya School. Francis Banda, who was sponsored by Brenda, Dick
and Stewart, also achieved good results, and both students are in
the top 100 students in the whole of Malawi. They both want to go
on to university, and we know that Lael wants to become an architect.
It would be wonderful if we could find a sponsor for each of them,
and, from past performance, we can guarantee that they would not let
you down.
Some previous
volunteers will remember George, who we sponsored through secondary
school. He worked at the library after leaving secondary school and
before he started university, and he is now in his fourth year at
the Polytechnic in Blantyre studying Business Administration and Accountancy.
He has been sponsored by Darren for the four years of his course,
and he is one of the top students in his year. He won the Total Malawi-Polytechnic
Best Student’s Award at the end of 2009, and he is also the
Financial Controller of the Students’ Union.
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The
Nursery Schools are Constantly Improving
The nursery schools are going
from strength to strength under Jimmy’s leadership. He really
takes his job seriously and is always full of energy and enthusiasm
which rubs off on everyone he meets. Our volunteers love working with
him, the teachers and the children in all the nursery schools.
We
are still looking for funding to build a nursery school for Matete 2.
The current building, an old church (shown above), is in a dreadful
condition and is currently propped up with poles. It will be quite a
mammoth undertaking to construct a nursery school building on this site
as it is about five miles from the main road, and the track is impassable
by vehicles so we would need to organise some temporary road construction
to get materials there. We estimate it will cost about £9,000
to build the school and provide suitable vehicular access. |
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A
happy, fun atmosphere at the Chiomba nursery school |
Jimmy,
the nursery schools coordinator, has established a great team
of teachers |
We
need help to build a new nursery school at Matete 2 as the church
building they are using is about to collapse |
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Company
Registration No. 04823686 •
UK Registered Charity No. 1103256 |
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