May 2010 Newsletter...
Dear all our wonderful supporters!
We know that it has been a while since our last newsletter and there are some exciting changes to update you on!
Expand
Expand is a new organisation, registered with the HMRC and soon to be registered with the charity commission in the UK and Malawi, that focuses on alleviating poverty through education in poor parts of the world by building infrastructure, such as schools and community centres, and facilitating trainings.
The experience of The Build Malawi Project taught so much to the Expand team, who have now taken over the BMP at Chisala and are starting up other projects in nearby areas.
It has been a long but productive year for us at Expand trying to finalise our official status in UK and Malawi. We are happy to say that we are very nearly there.
Tanya met with the Minister of Education in early May and had a fruitful discussion with him about the education sector. He has issued his full support for Expand and looks forward to working with us.
Build Malawi
The Build Malawi Project was an enormous success, and we are proud to say that we have established the foundation for future projects and development in the area. Not only is the school thriving in that it is now teaching all the classes (Standards 1 to 8), but it now has over 500 pupils and is looking beautiful.
However there is still much to do. We have insisted on a break for the community to get accustomed to its new facilities and they are managing it very well. There are many projects that now need to get underway at the school and in the general community to help further growth in this still very poor part of Malawi.
For example, we will need regular annual donations to help us fund the teachers required to help teach the growing number of children and to keep the standard of education at a good level.
A volunteer teacher will earn about £300 a year and a qualified one £500, and could make a massive difference to the school's success.
We intend to embark on the following projects over the next 2 years (2010-11):
- Sports Centre and sports grounds: football, netball and volleyball. We will fund a sports teacher/centre manager
- IT skills training: organising laptop drive to use in the library where the Peace core volunteer has started IT classes. Extension of library facilities
- Building a volunteer's house and one or two teacher's houses
- Acquiring more volunteer teachers & conducting teacher training schemes
- Organising School Management Committee and PTA trainings with local District government on roles and responsibilities
- Subsidising sky blue polo shirts with Chisala School logo for uniforms
- Building accommodation facilities at Mzenga Secondary School, 30 km away
Mzenga Secondary school and secondary education
We need to get kids following through with their education, through to tertiary level if possible.
Expand will support Chisala's students with the costs of school fees, uniforms, books and accommodation fees so the pupils can board in safe, reliable housing. We in turn need your committments to help support this programme - any small amount will do. Standard 8 learners will be doing their MSCE exams in June which hopefully will propel them onto secondary school!
We are also looking to help build accommodation hostels for both girls and boys at the nearby Mzenga secondary school (30km away!) so we will post more news on these developments in the coming weeks. This would be a sizeable investment amounting to an estimated £50,000 and would provide the hostel buildings for between 60-100 students, beds, ablution facilities and kitchen/washing facilities. Plans and specifics have yet to be finalised but will feature on the website in due course.
Let's get Expand alive and kicking!!!
We hope our website (www.xpand.org.uk), Twitter (Expand_charity) and Facebook (Expand) pages will help do this for us and spread the love!
You can donate through our online facility with Just Giving and please don't forget to fill out the gift aid forms where we can reclaim 28p on every pound. We know times are tough right now, but if you could spare any amount then it all goes towards a great cause that you know is making a difference.
If anyone knows of a charitable or corporate trust that may be interested in knowing about us then please pass on our details!
tanya@xpand.org.uk or buildmalawi@hotmail.co.uk
Website enquiries: andrew@xpand.org.uk
Thanks for reading and we hope to welcome your visit on the website very soon!
The Expand Team
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