Education Malawi Project #12441

Support school costs for children in rural Malawi

by Partners In Health (PIH)

Project Report | Dec 15, 2016
Support children in Malawi - December 2016 Update

By the POSER Team | Malawi

Thank you for your cotnued support of Partners In Health and the Program on Social and Economic Rights (POSER) in Malawi. We're pleased to share this update from the field, provided by our POSER team:

"Konzeka is a soft-spoken fifteen-year-old sitting in a neatly kept blue school uniform. She has come to visit us after class today to discuss her experience with POSER's school support program and her academic accomplishments so far.

POSER has supported Konzeka through the past four years of her education. Throughout primary school, this took the form of pens, exercise books and school materials. When she passed the entrance exam to continue to secondary school, POSER paid the annual school and exam fees that can make secondary school education prohibitively expensive for vulnerable families like Kanzeka’s.

Despite being similarly committed to his education, Kanzeka’s oldest brother had his studies cut short by financial hardships at home. He had to take on odd jobs to support the family, including his younger brother who suffers from epilepsy and requires significant attention and care. Konseka credits the POSER program with keeping her and her younger sister in school. “Without the POSER program, there would not have been enough money at home for me to continue my studies,” Kanzeka said. “I would be at home doing nothing, or maybe doing odd jobs around the community. When a girl drops out of school, her future is not bright.”

But the future looks bright for both Kanzeka and her sister who aspire to become a nurse and a doctor respectively. Asked her favorite subject, Kanzeka enthusiastically lists four: English, Math, Physical Science and Geography. “I want to finish my studies in the next two years and continue to University,” she said. We ask her if she is one of the best students in her class. Her piercing light-brown eyes twinkle. She replies, humble but confident, “Don’t worry. I’m doing just fine.”

Thank you again for your generous support! Happy holidays!

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Sep 12, 2016
Support children in Malawi - September 2016 Update

By the POSER Team | Malawi

Thank you so much for supporting Partners In Health and the Program on Social and Economic Rights (POSER) in Malawi. We're pleased to share this update from the field, provided by our POSER team:

"Before we can thank Yamikani for taking the time to visit us after school, he has already thanked us for the support the POSER program has provided to him and his family.

Yamikani, who is 20, has been raised for the past eighteen years by a single mom. His father abandoned the family eighteen years ago, leaving his mother with only a small plot of corn and tomatoes and sporadic odd jobs to feed him and his three younger siblings.

Despite this challenging financial situation at home, Yamikani completed primary school. When it came time to proceed to secondary school, Yamikani began receiving financial support from the POSER school program. POSER has paid Yamikani’s annual tuition and exam fees for the past three years, alleviating the financial burden of education on his household and making it possible for him to continue his studies.

“Without the POSER program,” he said, “continuing my education would have been very, very difficult, because of the number of children my mother is caring for.” He hopes that his two younger siblings, who are not yet old enough for school, will be able to receive support through the POSER program and that they will be able to go far in their education.

As for Yamikani, he enjoys studying math, physical sciences and biology, and hopes to pass the exam to enter University later this year. “I want to become a doctor,” he said, explaining how he has admired the work of doctors in his home district of Neno where PIH operates. “There are so many people here who are so vulnerable. My relatives. My friends. They are all being cared for by these doctors, and I would like to one day be able to provide this care as well.”

Thank you again for your generous support!

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May 19, 2016
Support children in Malawi - May 2016 Update

By Nandi Bwanali | Public Relations Coordinator - Abwenzi Pa Za Umo

Photo by Nandi Bwanali / Partners In Health

Above: Students in Neno, Malawi show off their new shoes and school uniforms provided by POSER.

With school now in session, PIH/Abwenzi Pa Za Umo (APZU)'s Program for Social and Economic Rights (POSER) team is busy ensuring that the needs of the many students supported by the department are met. In addition to paying school fees, the team is rolling out the distribution of school shoes, uniforms, and other learning materials such as notebooks and pens.

The cost of a school uniform is now around $5, a hefty price for most in the parents and guardians living in Neno district in rural Malawi, where the average daily income is less than $1. Wearing a proper school uniform, however, is a prerequisite for attending classes and students without uniforms are sent home and denied a chance to an education.

Students like Happy George, an eleventh grade student who was identified by his classmates as the poorest in the class was referred to POSER by his school when his guardians were unable to continue to support his education.

Happy George, who is at top of his class, lost his parents when he was very young and has since been supported by his older sisters who dropped out of school to care for their family and work to make money to fund their brother’s education.

“This helps ease the burden on the parents and guardians as they cannot afford to send the children to school, let alone buy them school materials. We usually see cases where the lucky few manage to get one or two books which is still not sufficient for all their subjects,” shared Ivy Mwanaku, POSER assistant.

Happy George would one day like to become a scientist. This is one of many dreams and aspirations the department is supporting.

“We try our best to make sure that they learn just like the other students with their concern and concentration being solely on passing their exams,” said Mwanaku.

At the beginning of the year the department accounted for 2,000 children living in Neno District who are need of school aid. Most of these children are now receiving school support from POSER, and more children are being referred. The POSER team works diligently in its efforts to identify children in need of support and proceeding with their efforts to help them receive the education they deserve.

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