We are excited to share that we have had a 100% pass rate among EKARI-sponsored high school seniors on their year-end exam for the third year in a row! Considering there is a country-wide pass rate of only 61.6%, this is terrific news! This year-end exam is the sole indicator of whether or not a student will be able to go to university.
Out of our 13 seniors, all 13 qualify for university! This shows that our Complementary Youth Programs, including our Tutoring and 3 Meals a Day Programs, continue to make a significant impact on EKARI students allowing them a better chance to earn a higher education and increased likelihood of future employment.
Thank you for supporting EKARI's Tutoring and 3 Meals a Day Programs! We wanted to let you know that we are currently deactivating this project from GlobalGiving (but will continue to operate the programs in Malawi!) in order to focus on a new project to expand our efforts to provide lifelong learning skills training for youth and adults in Malawi.
We will kick off our year-end fundraising campaign for this new project on Giving Tuesday, November 28. Keep an eye out as we will send the special link via EKARI's email newsletter and social media to where you can donate through GlobalGiving.org!
Thank you for your continued support!
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In September 2015, Dyson started his freshman year in high school at Phalombe Secondary School in Malawi, but struggled to focus in the classroom because he knew his mother would not be able to pay his tuition fees (~$50 per term) for the entire year. He figured he would have to drop out.
Dyson is the last born in a family of six children. His father died in 2004 during a fishing accident - he father fished in order to support Dyson's family. Dyson's mother is alive, but unable to provide enough financial assistance for Dyson's education due to lack of education herself and lack of sustained employment.
Dyson knew the importance of education and greatly wanted to continue his schooling so he applied for support from EKARI Foundation in early 2016. Although he struggled to keep up his grades during his freshman year, his teachers highly recommended that EKARI support Dyson due to his hard work ethic and impoverished family. His teachers saw something special in Dyson and knew that he wouldn't be able to continue his education without EKARI's support. We accepted Dyson and started supporting him during the 2016-17 school year. Our In-Country Director, Elias, saw a great change in Dyson this past school year: he moved from placing in the middle of his class to the top of his class!
Dyson just participated in EKARI's Tutoring Program in August. He says of the program, "During tutorial lessons teachers are serious with their work and their attention is always on us unlike when we are in schools. Our knowledge and thinking capacity has greatly improved because when we have problems teachers always attend to us very seriously and we feel very good when we receive answers for the questions we ask during these lessons. I am now able to be in position one in many subjects because my understanding grows every holiday!"
Dyson has learned a great deal from our 3 Meals a Day Program as well. Dyson was raised in a family who did not know what breakfast was. He never ate breakfast before joining EKARI. Through EKARI's 3 Meals a Day Program, he now understands how eating three meals day, especially breakfast, aids his studies. He plans to share this knowledge with his community by giving talks in his community's elementary schools. He hopes the children will share this knowledge with their families and all will start to eat breakfast!
Dyson stated in his application to EKARI, "... education is very important to me because it will help me to end ignorance, to support my life, to live a successful life, and live independently."
This is an amazing statement from Dyson and is right in line with our mission.
At EKARI, we believe in the singular power of education to break the cycle of extreme poverty. Every person, at any age, has the right to the knowledge and skills they need to become self-sufficient.
Dyson and his fellow students will be back in school next week building upon the knowledge they gained from the tutoring sessions in August!
We thank you and appreciate your continued support of the Tutoring and 3 Meals a Day Programs.
We have an exciting update for you, as well as a heartwarming story from two of EKARI's students. We started construction on the Father Joseph Makina home, which will support students' studies by providing them with access to nutrition, sanitation, tutoring programs, and electricity for homework--all of which they can't access without EKARI. Construction began in early March of this year, and it employed 32 people from the community of Phalombe who benefited from the wages they received at each stage of the project, including laying the foundation, building the walls, completing the roof, and installing electricity. This home will allow EKARI students to maintain a supportive environment with quality nutrition and adequate space to do homework, without having to travel long distances from school to their families' homes, thus supporting the 3 Meals a Day and Tutoring Programs that you have so generously contributed to.
Two students, Chisomo and Carolyn both attend Phalombe secondary school, but their families live hours away. The girls said the new home will be beneficial especially during times when school is not in session, such as holidays, because the existing home was congested and overcrowded. In the existing EKARI home, they were not able to sleep on a bed because the beds took up too much space, thus they slept on mattresses on the floor so that there would be enough room for everyone to sleep. Additionally, the house was so congested, hygiene and sanitation were difficult to implement. The new home will also help prevent students from being distracted by familial and societal pressures, such as pressure to not return to school and to stay in their home villages to make money for their families. Construction is scheduled to be complete by the end of June / early July.
We are so grateful to you, our donors, for continuing to support the 3 Meals a Day and Tutoring Programs, which have now been reinforced with the additional resource of providing a safe space for EKARI students to focus on their studies and graduate from secondary school.
Zikomo/Thank you!
EKARI Foundation students have been busy the last few months, so we wanted to send an update on the most recent tutoring session that your donation has helped to make possible. You might remember that a few months ago, EKARI Foundation purchased new lab equipment for students to be able to conduct physical science and biology experiments. Not only can EKARI beneficiaries now test hypotheses safely, but they can operate equipment that opens their minds to technical work that is a needed skill in the job market. Additionally, the students worked in groups, which they enjoyed.
EKARI’s In-Country Director Elias described the small group practical work in detail. He said that during tutoring time learners are put in small groups to discuss a certain problem and then find a solution. When they go back in class they present their findings in front of the entire class. Finally, they come up with a better solution together with the teacher.
These small teams are what we call study cycles: formation of small groups where students can discuss about past examination questions in order to make everyone benefit from the right answer to the question and best approach to it. Innocent, a student at Phalombe Secondary School told us that “study circles help us to bring different perspectives to class, and better inform how we understand a topic more effectively than other teaching methods.” Additionally, because there is a serious lack of proper materials for students at school, they could not previously see these experiments in action. Linda, another Phalombe student, said that the "discussions helped me to learn arrange of skills, improved my motivation, and drive my learning."
The group sessions were also open to other students in the community beyond EKARI beneficiaries, including 55 seniors who joined to prepare for the upcoming senior exam. The exam is the sole factor that determines if they get accepted into college. The last update we have for you is that in light of student feedback, we are currently considering adding Geography as another subject to our tutoring sessions because it has now been added as a required subject in many schools.
As always, we truly appreciate your support for EKARI Foundation’s Tutoring Program.
For our latest report on EKARI Foundation's Tutoring Program, we are focusing on a special student of ours: Stella. Stella is from a family of six children. Both of her parents are alive, but they are subsistence farmers who cannot afford to pay for school fees or even basic necessities for their children. Stella is now a sophomore in high school. Before she attended secondary school with assistance from EKARI, she told our Malawi In-Country Director that she "struggled to understand math and English. But now, thanks to EKARI’s Tutoring Program, my comprehension is increasing."
The Tutoring Program is essential because it provides students support outside of class, especially for difficult subjects including math, English and biology. Stella was also having a hard time with biology, but after attending multiple tutoring sessions, she scored an 87 in biology.
The Tutoring Program provides critical small group and private tutoring assistance to students who are sponsored by EKARI. Typically, students do not get 1:1 attention in their classrooms because there are an average of 75 students or more per class. As one of six children in her family, Stella is grateful for the opportunities EKARI has provided her. Her goal is to become a medical doctor, and she said that her and her fellow students "can now learn to improve our communities, and that I can be a role model for my community, so others will look up to me and achieve their own goals." With EKARI’s support, Stella will continue her education.
Additionally, Stella had the chance to visit another EKARI program that supports adult literacy classes. After she saw the impact that the classes have on that village, Stella approached the directors of EKARI several times and asked that EKARI opens an adult literacy class in her village. She understands the importance of education and adamantly wants her family and community to receive an adult education.
We are so grateful to you, our supporters, who give Stella the hope she needs to thrive. EKARI Foundation cannot exist without you, and we hope that you have a joyous holiday season.
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