Support school costs for children in rural Malawi

We are very grateful for your support of Partners In Health and our Malawian sister organization Abwenzi Pa Za Umoyo (APZU).  With your partnership, we've been able to continue supporting students in rural Malawi with economic assistance to help pay for costs associated with attending school. During the period of December 2013 – November 2014, we are delighted to report that:

• 2,016 total students benefitted from POSER. These students are receiving social support from PIH/APZU staff, as well as help with uniforms/shoes, school materials (books, pencils, backpacks, etc.), and tuition/examination fees.

• 14 female students and 35 male students have received vocational training at Neno Vocational Training Center, where students learn skills in carpentry or sewing/tailoring. Of the 49 total students who have been enrolled this year, 26 have already graduated from the program. Upon successful completion of the carpentry program, graduates receive a set of tools, including hammers, saws, clamps, and other supplies that they’ll need to begin their own carpentry businesses. Sewing/tailoring students can continue to work in a local clothes-making co-op. Since the training center opened in July 2011, most of the students have come from HIV-affected households—either infected with HIV themselves, caring for patients, or orphaned by the disease.

POSER Recipient Profile: Alinafe

Alinafe is fifteen years old, and lives in Neno with her parents and eight siblings, including a twin brother. They are a family of farmers—they grow maize—but Alinafe aspires to be a doctor so that she can serve the people of Neno.

This dream was nearly derailed when she reached secondary school. In Malawi, primary school is free, but secondary school requires students to pay tuition. This cost is prohibitive for families like Alinafe’s, contributing to the fact that just 8% of women in Malawi have completed secondary school or beyond.

With POSER’s help, Alinafe has been able to continue her education. Her tuition is paid, and she receives a school uniform and learning materials, as well. Alinafe is thriving as a Form 3 student at Chiwale Secondary School, where her favorite subject is English, and her favorite teacher is Miss Chifwa, who teaches Bible Knowledge. She’ll graduate next year when she completes Form 4. She is appreciative of POSER’s support, and knows that without Partners In Health, she would not be in school.

POSER bolsters PIH/APZU’s (PIH’s sister organization in Malawi) clinical efforts by providing social and economic accompaniment to families and individuals in the greatest need. To ensure our efforts are integrated with broader development goals, POSER, like all of APZU’s departments, works closely with various government ministries. We’ve partnered with the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology to equip students with necessary school supplies.

With your support, children like Esther continue to benefit from the program, gaining access to essential resources and materials for attending school.

Esther, a seventeen-year-old student in Form 2 at Chikondi Secondary School, lives with her father and mother and 6 siblings in Helani village, 2 km from Neno boma in rural southwestern Malawi. Five of her 6 other siblings are girls as well and her parents, who farm maize, are both HIV-positive. For several years, the family members have been beneficiaries of the Program on Social and Economic Rights at AZPU. Types of support range from housing, cash transfer, and psycho-social to school fee payment for older students like Esther and school material provision for younger primary school students like her sisters.

Esther, whose favorite subjects are English, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences, says “had it been without POSER, I would not be in school now. Before I started getting support from POSER (towards the end of primary school in Standard 8), I would absent myself because I had no materials.” She goes on to say that “my vision is to complete secondary school and if I do not make it into college, I would like to work within POSER, to identify other needy people in the community… I am from the village, so I know how people are struggling I would like to be on the team bringing interventions to the community.”