BeeHive School nurturing future Malawian leaders

Dear Friends of BeeHive School,

BeeHive School has really been blessed with generosity this holiday season. There has been such an incredible outpouring of kindness - it has been a snowball of love and support. It is truly humbling. Thank you everyone! At this rate, we'll have the final of the three buildings completed in no time.

A special thank you goes out to long-time BeeHive volunteer Katy Harrison for her fundraising support this holiday season.  Katy was the magic behind the school photodocumentary showing the construction progress of the classrooms at Beehive School (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku0epqdiGCQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL)  

Katy is also leading a very successful fundraising effort through Global Giving’s “gifts for good” campaign where people who donate more than $75 through the online Global Giving site receive a gift - a beautiful handmade necklace.  Katy found the necklaces on www.etsy.com, a website that is “a community of artists, creators, collectors, thinkers and doers” where people can sell things that they make.  The necklaces are gorgeous and very high quality - each made with unique African stones and beads.  This endeavour has been very successful and has raised $950 USD (142,500 kwacha) for BeeHive School, and there are three necklaces left.

The story behind the necklaces is quite special.  The US artist, Casey Hunt, started making necklaces to sell through her Etsy store as a way to raise money for micro-credit loans for people in Africa.  BeeHive volunteers Katy and Eva purchased 10 necklaces for the gifts for good campaign and Casey used that money to provide a Kiva loan to fund a group of women in Uganda that own a shoe store business - you can read all about it on her blog.  Katy and Eva also paid for the postage to send to the donors, so that way every donation given for a necklace goes directly to BeeHive School.  Casey’s connection to Africa runs very deep, as she and her husband adopted a son from Ethiopia.  You can read more about their journey here.

The ESC Foundation, a family foundation based in Germany, recently discovered BeeHive School and approached us with some very probing and detailed questions, which we were delighted to delve into.  After a thorough vetting of BeeHive’s mission and the intended use of the funds, the ESC Foundation donated €2000 ($2600 USD or 430,000 kwacha), which will be used to complete the third and final building.  Please join me in a “Ich bin Ihnen sehr dankbar” (I'm very grateful/thankful to you) to the ESC Foundation!!

Ryton Methodist Church, in Gateshead, England raised £738 ($1500 USD or 188,300 kwacha).  Special thanks to Judith Stoddart, along with David Stoddart, Amanda and David Baker, Reen Dunlop and others.  Judith writes “It was a pleasure. We love Chimzi dearly and would love her to come back after Christmas, so when we found out about your school building project it made sense for us to try and help out as much as we could. We have been given another £105 this morning and maybe more to come!”

A very special thanks goes out to school teacher Debbie Watts who is a primary school teacher in the US' Department of Defense and is currently based in the UK.  In the UK, it’s customary for students and their parents to give a Christmas gift to their teacher, but this year, Debbie decided that what she wanted more than anything else was support for Beehive School.

Debbie writes:
“The group of children I teach every day--your children--make my job so rewarding. I get to do useful work that I enjoy with people I like. I feel so lucky.

I know how generous these children, and you, their parents, are. I know many of my students this year plan to bring me a little something special to show their appreciation. Every year I receive lovely, thoughtful Christmas presents. And I am so thankful for the gesture and the gifts.

But I look around my schoolroom and my home--it’s filled with so many wonderful things. As Americans, we are blessed to have too much abundance in our lives. I truly cannot think of another thing I need or want. The gifts that would mean the most this year are gifts for others.”

Her generosity is amazing and BeeHive has received many donations from the staff and parents at her school.

People all over the world are reaching out to help BeeHive and this support doesn’t just come in the form of financial donations.  Architect Rowan Haysom donated his talent, time, and expertise to design the BeeHive School buildings.  From his website:

"The design for a new primary school in Mzuzu, Malawi. The construction is based on locally available materials and appropriate technologies. These include natural passive heating and cooling devices, sun dried bricks, load bearing masonry construction, etc. The plan demarcates layers of transition from the public to the private realm, with the hall and library open to the public past the control of the admin hub. The classrooms are beyond a further transitional layer, placed in a cloistered arrangement. The external spaces are as important as the internal rooms, and together create an intimate, protected and safe learning environment." http://www.haysomwardmiller.co.uk/page1/page7/page32/page32.html

Niall, the staff and students of BeeHive are overwhelmed with the generosity of all these kind people around the world.  For anyone still trying to decide where to invest their hard earned dollar this year - please consider BeeHive School.  With a little more help we’ll have the buildings completed by the end of 2012 - making it possible for over twice the number of students to attend school in safe structures (As many of you recall - the old school buildings were at maximum capacity and BeeHive was forced to turn away students.  The old structures themselves were also structurally unsafe).

Thank You Everyone!  And a very Happy Holidays from everyone here at BeeHive School.

Warmly,
Eva Markiewicz and Katy Harrison
Beehive School Volunteers

p.s.  Have you seen the latest photos of the school garden!  The students collect rain water to cultivate their plots.  
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150413629209139.364265.271055084138&type=3

Links:

• BeeHive School Photodocumentary of Construction Progress
• Architect Rowan Haysom Comments on his volunteer work
• Artist Casey Hunt Comments on the Story Behind the Necklaces

Dear BeeHive Community,

http://www.facebook.com/apricotproject?sk=info

Thank you again for donating to BeeHive School and continue to stay in touch. Your involvement has been very important in making BeeHive what it is today.

On behalf of BeeHive School,

Eva and Katy

--
The BeeHive School Website:
www.beehiveschool.com

Find us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/BeeHiveSchool

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY4ilS1Gx1c

Phone:
+1 510-508-6804 (Eva Markiewicz)
+1 510-520-8966 (Katy Harrison)

Partners with ASAP Africa
http://www.asapafrica.org/

US Postal Address:
Beehive School Building Fund c/o Katy Harrison
833 Sonia Way
Mountain View CA 94040
USA

Malawi Postal Address:
Beehive School
PO Box 831
Mzuzu
MALAWI

Links:

• Mini Video Documentary of Construction at BeeHive
• The Apricot Project

We recently went through a rigorous application process to become a field partner for a start-up.  This provided us with a good opportunity to crystallize what BeeHive School provides for their students and the larger community.  I hope you enjoy this thoughful discussion.

Mission:  Through education, BeeHive School is nurturing future Malawian leaders and innovators who will one day tackle the most severe problems faced in Malawi. Through a holistic model towards education BeeHive has been able to deliver top-quality education at a nominal cost.  

Key Features of BeeHive School:

- Continual Teacher Training and Mentorship Program:  The cornerstone to Niall Dorey's success has been his teacher training program.  Niall hand-picks individuals with a high potential for growth and learning to become teachers at BeeHive School.  Through the program, teachers learn to implement a more holistic approach to education whereby the students are viewed as human beings and encouraged to participate actively in class through discussions, asking lots of questions, and fearlessly attacking new material.  This is counter-cultural in Malawi where corporal punishment is still the norm and students in most traditional classroom settings are expected to be quiet and "seen, but not heard."  Niall trains teachers in advanced conflict resolution and non-violent discipline striving to make student's infractions a learning opportunity. Niall meets regularly with teachers individually and as a group to discuss challenges as they arise and provide a forum through which teachers can continually reflect, learn, and grow. BeeHive's teachers are known to be the best in the area and are often approached by expensive private schools that are able to offer substantial salary increases.  Niall takes this in stride, hoping that even though BeeHive is continually faced with the challenge of training new teachers, that in the end at least the entire region benefits from BeeHive's novel teacher training program.

- Holistic Education: Niall strives to help students grow and mature in areas beyond academics.  Unlike most schools in the area, BeeHive provides sports, music, drama, field-trips, art classes, computer training, projects in entrepreneurship, and attracts volunteer teachers from around the world to share their skills with the students.

- Educating Girls:  Unlike many private schools in the region, BeeHive strives to be gender-balanced and attract and educate girls.  Expectations and aspirations for their female students are set equally high to those of boys.  Female students at BeeHive school continue onto secondary school just like the boys - this is not the case at most other schools.

- Malawian Teachers for Malawian Students: - Niall strives to select and train teachers of local ethnicity, so that BeeHive students can fully identify with their teachers.  Many other private schools import teachers from Europe and wealthier African countries making it difficult for students to fully connect and identify with their teachers.  Teachers are highly respected in Malawi and are seen as being at the top of the social hierarchy, so having teachers of local ethnicity helps students develop a sense of pride and set high expectations for themselves because they see that their teachers are able to accomplish so much.

- Diversity:  BeeHive School is ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse - tolerance for all people and ways of thinking is integral to the philosophy at BeeHive.  BeeHive School attracts many children from visiting professionals in the area including professionals working with NGOs, emerging businesses, manufacturing, health aid workers, and missions.  This provides all the students with the opportunity to interact with other students and families with different beliefs and world views, this teaches the students about having understanding, respect, and curiosity for other opinions and cultures.

- International Volunteers:  BeeHive encourages volunteers from all over the world to visit the school.  This is not only a unique opportunity for the volunteer, but also for the student.  Meeting high-achieving volunteers from American and European Universities inspires the children to dream big and opens their eyes to the world of opportunities available to them if they commit to their studies. It also opens them up to other world views and helps them feel comfortable interacting with people from different cultures.

- Affordability:  BeeHive School's legal status in Malawi is that of a not-for-profit. BeeHive School strives to keep costs low in order to make the school accessible to as many students as possible.  BeeHive charges $200 per term whereas other private schools charge $1000 per term on the high end and $500 per term on average.  Most lower-cost private schools are in the $3-400 range and BeeHive is well below that.  BeeHive used to be at $70 USD per term, but due to the need to build new classrooms, BeeHive had to raise costs to $200 per term.  BeeHive hopes to lower the cost once the classrooms are complete.  Currently about 50% of the school fees go towards operating expenses and the other 50% towards completing construction of the new school buildings. 

- Computer Education:  BeeHive is one of the few schools in Malawi that has a computer lab and computer training for their students thanks to the efforts of Justin Cannon - an MIT student that visited BeeHive School in 2008 and installed a computer lab.  Students are taught basic computer skills like using a mouse, typing, basic programming, the concept behind searching for information, etc.  This early interaction with computers will be invaluable in bridging the digital divide as the internet and effectively using technology becomes pervasive and instrumental in every workplace.

- Other:  Teaching language in the national language - English.  Children can speak their local dialects at recess, but they must speak English in the classroom. Since English is quickly becoming the standard for international business and scientific communication, this is very valuable for the students.

Secondary Affects:

- Strengthens the middle class of Mzuzu because it provides a top-quality school where the middle class can send their children.  A common problem in Malawi is small business owners and entrepreneurs exit the country in search of quality education for their children.  This has a ripple affect by which the economy fails to grow and jobs are lost.  BeeHive is providing a strong motivator for small business owners to stay in Malawi.

- By strengthening the middle class, BeeHive is also contributing to fostering civil society and strengthening democracy.  It is also helping to build the local economy both directly by employing teachers and staff and indirectly by helping attract and keep high-value community and economic leaders.

- BeeHive School is becoming a feeder school for emerging secondary schools and Mzuzu University.

- Combating "brain drain" on Africa - a trend by which the most educated people, including teachers, business leaders, etc. leave the country in search for superior personal opportunities for themselves and their families.

Links:

• The Original Post
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