Joshua is delighted to have had 5 groups
of volunteers this summer, all of whom have had a huge impact on the
communities we work with.
Fifteen students and two teaching staff from
St Pauls School and Wellington College travelled to Pensulo Village to work on a much needed Assembly Hall at Joshua's non-profit Secondary School.
The
team built up the walls for the assembly hall and the latrine blocks on
the site, hand mixing cement and learning to lay bricks, completing one
long wall in one day! They also
spent time at the local feeding centre, helping the local ladies and playing with the children.
Although they were only on site for 4 days they, in their own words, achieved a huge amount:
"Fantastic - I've learnt more than I thought I would. Tonight made me realise how valuable our contribution is". Annie
For the past three years, students from
Tonbridge Grammar
travelled to Swaziland. This year was their first year working with
partners Joshua. Fifteen students and two staff continued work in
Pensulo Village on an Assembly Hall for the Secondary School.
The
team completed the mammoth task of building the stage area of the
Assembly Hall, as well as spending time with the local knitting group
and learning about common medical issues at the local Clinic. They also
visited a local feeding centre, helping the local ladies and playing
with the children.
How this will make a difference:
Joshua Secondary School is an exam centre for the local area. The
Assembly Hall at the Secondary school will mean that students who are
currently forced out of their classrooms, and therefore miss school
during exam periods will now be able to continue with lessons. Exams can
be taken in the hall. Registration can also now take place, no matter
what the weather; and the hall can be rented for community events e.g.
weddings to generate an income for the school, which can be used to buy
resources and maintain the grounds and building.
A team of ten students and two teachers travelled from
Hurstpierpoint College
to Chilingani village near Blantyre, to work at their partner school.
This is the third time that Hurst students have worked at the school.
The
team worked hard on a double classroom block at Chilingani primary
school, raising close to £10,000. The classroom was at foundation level,
and the team worked with local builders to build up the walls - laying
bricks and hand mixing cement, seeing huge progress. They also painted
and pointed, seeing the trusses go up ready or roofing before they left.
They also spent time at the local feeding centre, helping the local
ladies and playing with the children.
How this will make a difference:
Numbers of students per classroom in Malawi can reach 80 per class.
This makes teaching and learning very difficult, and often leads to
'tiered classes', with classrooms being shared between different year
groups. A new classroom block will make the world of difference and will
vastly improve the teaching and learning conditions at Chilingani.
Read more about their time
here.
The
Quest Overseas Summer Team
have been living in Manyowe and building a new feeding centre there –
working very hard from the foundations up. Joffat has been brilliant as
usual, inviting everyone to his home for dinner. From the second week
they’ve also been helping out at the feeding centre currently in
operation – in their words
“This was definitely an eye opening
experience, and many of us considered this to be both a high and a low. I
think for the first time, we got to really see how orphans live here in
Malawi - this was a perspective many of us had not yet been aware of.
However, this was a high as we were so touched by how happy the children
were. Its clear that the community here are really making the best out
of an unfortunate situation. This makes us hopeful that this situation
will be a thing of the past as the years go on.” Read more
here.
The
Quest School Team
of 13 from Epsom & Ewell High School spent 2 weeks in Kachumbe
village, where they’ve built a playground from tyres and wood for the
kids at the feeding centre, as well as repairing doors and doing some
painting at Kachumbe and at Nkanamwano feeding centre. They also spent a
few days helping Kumwandika community to build a pig pen for their new
pig project. Among other things the also enjoyed what Malawi had to
offer – including eating mice! Climbing Mulanje, visiting Salima, and a
safari to Zambia. They’ve just got back to the UK. Read more about
their time
here.