December 2010 Newsletter...
Hello all and welcome to the second Expand Newsletter for 2010!
We are proud to announce that we are officially a UK registered charity, number 1137120, and are ready to fundraise for our projects in Malawi. Our website is finished so please so visit us at www.xpand.org.uk
Volunteers
Chisala School received its seventh volunteer, Nic Casby from London, UK, in August who came to help for a month teaching the children English and working with the teachers. He made a massive contribution and helped with ideas on how we can top up the Government's efforts to improve education at the school. Here is what he had to say...
"I had a great experience teaching English and P.E. What makes a teaching experience in Chisala so special is there is an honest, caring community and teaching staff who are very supportive and make you feel welcomed!
You can make a massive difference in a short time and the kids are so keen to learn."
We have finalised plans for a group of youths from Outlook Expedition (www.outlookexpeditions.com) to come to Chisala School and help with building toilets. We expect them in June 2011 and look forward to a lasting partnership between the schools.
If anyone would like to come and share their skills with a rural Malawian community, then Expand can offer opportunities at their project sites in the north of Malawi. Please contact Tanya for more information.
Projects in the pipeline...
We have some very cool projects lined up which all feature on the projects page on our website.
- Sports centre: Sports is an essential part of rural Malawian life and is a great tool to promote good health and HIV/AIDS awareness. The sports centre will have a football ground, netball and volleyball courts and a small sports centre consisting of changing/shower facilities. The centre will be run by a local manager who will look after the equipment and set up fundraising events for the centre to ensure sustainability. The centre will be available for the school and general community.
We'll need £15,000 for this project.
- IT Centre: We have identified some potential donors for the IT centre that we want to build in June 11 to bring IT skills and modern forms of technology to rural Malawi. The tools that IT skills offer for education are limitless and can help with all subjects and for all ages of kids. The IT lab will be adjacent to the library, equipped with solar power, internet, laptops and will be run by a IT Centre Manager trained and paid for by the project. To ensure sustainability, outside users will be charged so as to save funds for maintenance and repairs. We need funding and potential volunteers to come and help with this project next year.
We estimate that the IT centre will cost around £25,000 to build and equip.
- Ablution facilities: We aim to build more ablution facilities as we share the government's desire to improve hygiene and sanitation in schools.
One double pit-latrine would cost around £300 to build and we need 4 of these.
- Teachers Houses: Teachers are vital for the success of the school and few want to come to rural parts of the country. Therefore, good quality houses are vital to entice them to stay and incentivise them to work hard. We currently have 4 houses but have 8 standards (years) and some are so big that they have to divide each of them into two. We want to build 4 more houses over the next 5 years.
Each house will cost around £15,000.
- Teacher training: Teacher training is a vital part of improving education. Any teachers who would like to come and share their knowledge and skills are welcome!
- Teacher's salaries: Expand pays the salaries of the librarian, grounds keeper and night-watchman (who looks after the expensive equipment such as solar panels given to the school). Soon to be added will be the IT and sports centre managers. We have also promised to help top up volunteer teachers' salaries as the government teachers have too many pupils to handle alone at present.
The basic monthly salaries paid are £85. Nine of you donating £10/month by direct debit would help cover these essential costs!!! When the IT and sports centre managers come this will increase by another £70/month, and another £40/month for the volunteer teachers, totalling £110/month. Eleven donors committing £10/month would cover this for us, or 6 of you donating £20/month!!!
- Secondary School fees: We are very happy to announce that our first standard 8 class has graduated from Chisala School! Only 4% of the population currently go to secondary school at all, and it is essential that Expand helps the kids along with their education. Some may go to government secondary schools and others may go to private schools. None are free, so help with an individual's school fees, books, uniforms etc is required.
We can assure all donors that Expand would choose the beneficiaries along with the school staff and can send you regular correspondence from the students themselves on how they are getting on, as well as pictures.
For the local secondary at Mzenga School, which is 30km away, a student will have to pay £35/year. Books, uniforms, shoes, accommodation and food combined will come to around £165, totalling £200/year. Some of these items can be recycled each year, but some will have to be bought new.
Food for thought...
- A bag of cement costs £10. A double classroom block uses around 200 bags cement; a toilet around 10-20 bags, depending whether single or double; a teacher's house around 150-200 depending on size.
- A government teacher's average salary is around £500-600/year. Many will have to rent a house in the area if they are not given accommodation. Our teachers pay a small rent to help towards paying volunteer teachers at the school.
Mzenga Secondary School
We are happy to report that we visited Mzenga Secondary School with the Honourable MP, Grace Chiumia, to see how we can help the secondary school improve its facilities.
Its main problem is that of accommodation and girls in particular find themselves in some dangerous situations living out in the village. Many succumb to prostitution to survive, fall pregnant, get married or leave school early.
Expand wants to help with this worthwhile project and has got some local companies on board, as well as the full support and cooperation of MP and community. They will provide more than the required 25% labour and raw materials and have already made in the region of 300,000 bricks, with more on the way! The MP has promised help with transport costs.
We need to raise £20,000 to get this project started. The aim is to build 4 long blocks of 10 rooms each so each block can accommodate up to or around 50 students. Thus, the school could potentially accommodate up to 200 students in total. Local bricks, sand, community Foreman and builders will build the structures and most importantly, the cost to the donors will be mainly for items such as cement, iron sheets, nails, paints, window frames, glass etc.
Please watch the website for more information and you can contact Tanya for more specific information on plans and budgets.
Expanding!!!
We are now expanding into the neighbouring Mzimba District!
Mzimba is the biggest district in Malawi and one of the more rural. Since Tanya and Francois now live there, they can personally oversee all projects in the area. This is a huge advantage and ensures that all your kindly donated fund go where they are supposed to.
All people involved with Expand are volunteers and less that 5% is spent on administration costs (most of this is only when we are running a full project). Many of our donors have seen this as a huge benefit and is also why they have remained committed to Expand and its project team.
Malawi support
A massive thank you to Stewarts & Lloyds Malawi for donating some of the water system and tank which has been invaluable to ensuring safe water for the local children and community who rely on this borehole!
Come on Malawi business - feel the love and contribute!
We have many plans and there are lots of Malawi businesses and individuals who can and are helping out in any way possible, large or small. We are especially looking for sponsorship for our building plans, even something as basic as sponsoring some paints from our brand new Game to get the school spruced up and maintained! Please do get involved or contact Tanya or Francois for more information.
We're everywhere!
Find Expand on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon under the name Expand_charity. Add us as friends and make comments, follow our blogs, get and keep in touch and spread the word.
Donating to Expand
Thanks for reading this far - our final word is to inform you that if you want to donate to Expand then you can do so in one of two ways:
1. Via our secure online facility with Justgiving:
Just click the logo and it will take you to where you need to be!
You can make a one off donation, set up a standing order or set up your own fundraising page and raise money for Expand by doing crazy things! People donate online and you don't have the stress of collecting money.
The funds come straight to Expand's official bank account and all Gift Aid is calculated and included.
2. Cheque:
Send to charity registered address at 201 East Dulwich Grove, London, SE22 8SY.
If you are a UK tax payer then please do fill out the Gift Aid form that can be found on the Donations page on the website. Just print and send with cheque. We can reclaim 28p for every pound!
Please pass on this newsletter to anyone who may be interested and feel free to contact Tanya Clarke on tanya@xpand.org.uk for any more information and don't forget to check the website at www.xpand.org.uk for pictures and regular updates on our progress in Malawi.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Expand Team, UK and Malawi (Tanya Clarke and Francois Hudson)
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