Empower Malawian villagers to make a difference

We recently held our end of Summer Social this past August and had it attended by over 50 of our supports. Given the current global pandemic, we decided to host the event over ZOOM. Our amazing speakers included Ashlee Touzalin of RPI Bwenzi, Adama Diggs of Harlem Grown, Bethany Clark of Invisible Children, and Tammy Ying of The Music Box NY. Each story told was unique, inspiring, and motivating. We raised awareness for our cause and brought our Global Community together. 

Given the success of our Malawi students' COVID-19 Project Awareness this past June, we decided to launch another program, targeting four local elementary schools. The project will focus on COVID-19 preparedness and prevention in grade schools, partnering with a total of four schools across the villages of Chikwawa and Mulanje. We will work with one primary and one secondary school in each village, covering roughly 85% of students in our partner villages. Our team has designed child-friendly information and communication materials on COVID-19 facts and prevention tactics which will be distributed and taught in the target schools. Members will visit schools and promote and demonstrate proper hand washing and positive hygiene techniques while teaching on and myth busting disease prevention and control. 

Lastly, on the US side, our RPI students have started the semester and are hosting events on campus and over ZOOM to raise awareness for our cause. We have also purchased and distributed over 200 masks to for members of the RPI community. 

As we continue to empower and support our communities, locally, and globally, we always ask for your support and call you to #DoMore. Find out how at Bwenzi.org/DoMore

Links:

• http://Bwenzi.org/DoMore

Our team successfully finished and implemented our annual project which concluded on March 16^th, 2020.

A few key highlights from the trip:

We purchased additional books and learning supplies for each of our communities, which will be used by our local student leaders in coordination with the community's volunteer teachers to hold guided reading groups. One of our villages, Roben, received a fully stocked first-aid kit (which we plan on restocking at various intervals throughout the year); this was based on specific feedback we received from the community leaders. We also successfully implemented a pilot project, where we renovated an existing building and re-purposed it into a brand new education center. This was an incredibly successful trip and the team could not be happier with the project turnout.

In more recent events, with the global pandemic around COVID-19, our team in Malawi decided to launch a COVID-19 Awareness project to properly inform members of our partner villages of the dangers of the virus and how easy it passes on from one person to the next. In the past two weeks, our team in Malawi Polytechnic teamed up with Education for Change and Malawi College of Medicine to form a task force. The goal of the project was to dispel any misconceptions about COVID and provide hygienic supplies, as well as setting up local washing stations. The team went into each of our partner villages and taught the importance of hand washing through live demonstrations. Through this project, the goal was to reach at least 6,000 people and provide them with the necessary tools to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

As we continue to empower and support our communities, locally, and globally, we always ask for your support and call you to #DoMore. Find out how at Bwenzi.org/DoMore