Thursday 29 August 2013

Win a holiday and support Joshua - for just £1

For the third year in a row we are joining up with the fsi to offer you the chance to win some fantastic prizes including:
  • Luxury holiday abroad
  • Weekend at Lake Windermere, the Lake DistrictSmall Charity Draw
  • 2 iPad Minis
  • Segway Rally Thrill for two
  • Bungee jump
  • London Eye Experience for the family
This raffle support small charities across the UK and is unique - it is a fantastic event for a charity like Joshua to be a part of and we hope you enjoy it too.  For every ticket you buys Joshua will receive 92p, at no cost to us! As an added bonus, whichever charity sells the most tickets will receive an extra £500, or £250 for selling the top prize winner's ticket. So if you win, you'll walk away with a holiday worth £2,000 and the knowledge you've helped a great cause. Good luck! Buy your tickets online now. Please spread the word and share this link with friends and family.

Thursday 22 August 2013

Jogging for Joshua


Jogging for Joshua India Merrony will be "Jogging for Joshua" this September as she takes on the huge challenge of running the Robin Hood Half Marathon. "To those of you who know me it is unheard of that I partake in any kind of sport, so I hope that this half marathon really demonstrates my support for Joshua!" India is tackling months of training because she wants to raise as much as she can for Joshua's life changing work in Malawi.  In 2011 India volunteered at the Clinic, which is her inspiration for doing the run.

"I have experienced first hand how much of a difference Joshua makes to the local community, having worked in a rural clinic set up by the charity. Here I was involved with contraceptive and general medical services, including HIV testing and advice. It is crucial that this healthcare service can survive and develop and it is the Pensulo Clinic in particular that I would like to raise money for."

If you can support India by donating what you can afford she would be most grateful, and from everyone in the team here and in Malawi we wish her good luck for the big day! http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/IndiaMerrony 

Monday 19 August 2013

Art for africa - 14th October - Shepsted

In 2008 Ray Mitchell volunteered in Malawi with a group from RBS. Ray helped to build Joshua’s Maternity Clinic and during his time in Malawi was touched by many lives. Ray is a self-taught artist and we were delighted to receive and e-mail from his wife Sheila, about some paintings he had done since his visit.

Ray was inspired by everything he saw from the everyday lives of the people he met to the incredible wildlife he saw. Ray has created such a great array of work that he will be exhibiting his paintings from the 14th - 28th October at Shepsted Library in Leicestershire. A percentage of the profits from any sales will go towards supporting Joshua's work. Thank you Ray!

Dates: 14th - 28th October 2013 Venue: Shepshed Library. Hall Croft, Shepshed, Leicestershire, LE12 9AN More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/615940418450412/?fref=ts

Rachel's incredible run

RachelRachel Blackamore helped build the Joshua clinic in Pen Sulo in 2008 with colleagues from RBS. Since then she has been a huge supporter of Joshua, returning to Malawi in 2010 to help paint the clinic for its official opening. Aside from this she has been a huge ambassador for our work here in the UK and this year she has once again gone above and beyond to help those in need. Rachel ran the Dublin Half Marathon for Joshua a couple of weeks again and has raised nearly £1,500 for Joshua. An incredible achievement and we are hugely grateful for her phenomenal support.

If you would like to fundraise for Joshua, through any event, just get in touch with Heather on heather@joshuainmalawi.org.uk or visit our fundraising page to find out more.

Volunteers in action

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.St Pauls

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

TonbridgeFor 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.

HurstpierpointA 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.

Joshua's Heroes Strike again

Joshua's Heroes 201310 Crazy Joshua supporters donned a variety of unusual hero costumes and capes to run along Brighton seafront and raise some much needed funds for Joshua’s life changing work in Malawi.
Kensa as a ZebraOur amazing team consisted of Louise, Jon, Nicola, Andy, Dave, Frankie, Kensa, Geri, Jess and Sarah. And these 10 Heroes raised an incredible £2,197. We are thrilled to have such fantastic supporters working so hard and having lots of funds to help raise invaluable funds for our work in Malawi - Congratulations to the whole team - You are Joshua's Heroes!
Find out how to get involved yourself here.