Support school costs for children in rural Malawi

Thank you for contributing to Partners In Health's Support school costs for children in rural Malawi project on Global Giving. I encourage you to take a minute to read this brief story about a beneficiary of the program -- Chifunilo.  With your help, we are providing the basic tools and resources for children like Chifunilo to succeed, thus breaking the cycle of poverty and disease, one community at a time. 

Chifunilo lives in rural Lumbe village with his four younger siblings and grandmother. At 17 years old, he is in Form 2 and says “without POSER’s support, I wouldn’t be in school at this time.”  He has been receiving support from POSER for three years – since Standard 8 – and all of his siblings are also beneficiaries. This assistance is critical for the family, because as Chifunilo says “even to get soap my family had to do piecework. My grandmother relies on farming, but it is difficult because she is aging. After school we go to the garden to help her.” However, with support, Chifunilo is doing well in school and is thinking about his future. His favorite subjects are Geography, English, and Mathematics, because with Geography “I know about the location of other places, other countries, and about their natural resources.” With good math skills, he knows it “will make it easy for me to be an accountant or to work in the bank.” One day, he “would like to work in an office, especially to work on a computer… I am dreaming of work[ing] in an office like this one. I would like to do the job you are doing yourself, because you are helping us.”

POSER reaches 2,000 vulnerable children in the district each year through its school support initiative. 200 of these are secondary school students, like Chifunilo.  These students, in addition to the fee payments to their schools, also receive uniforms, math instruments, rulers, notebooks, and pens. Staff members also build strong connections with the students to support their psychosocial health and provide mentorship and support.

APZU will continue to welcome donations to cover the costs of school fees and materials for secondary school students. Zikomo kwambiri to everyone who has supported this project! You are helping to make a critical difference for children in Neno. 

Thank you so much for your support of Partners In Health's project: Support School Costs for Children in Rural Malawi on GlobalGiving.  We are excited to share the story below with our generous donors like yourself who have helped to provide the resources that are benefitting children and their families in the communities that we work with. 

Kenneth Chiwaya, a student in Form 4 from Donda village in Neno, Malawi, is looking forward to graduating from secondary school in June of 2014. He is 23 years old and has only been able to attend school because of school support provided by Abewenzi Pa Za Umoyo’s Program on Social and Economic Rights. As Kenneth puts it “I am thankful to PIH because I am able to learn everything and I am able to go every day to school. Nothing is … making me go work instead of to school.”  He lives with his sister and his grandmother and the family, which turns to the APZU-supported Neno District Hospital for its medical and health needs, has also received support from APZU to renovate their house. Kenneth, appreciating the holistic approach that POSER takes to supporting patients and their families, says the house renovation “has helped us with our life development. Now the house doesn’t leak”

 POSER reaches 2,000 vulnerable children in the district each year through its school support initiative. 200 of these are secondary school students, like Kenneth, who, without the support of POSER, would be unable to enroll in school due to school and exam fees.  These students, in addition to the fee payments to their schools, also receive uniforms, math instruments, rulers, notebooks, and pens. Staff members also build strong connections with the students to support their psychosocial health and provide mentorship and support.

 APZU will continue to welcome donations to cover the costs of school fees and materials for secondary school students and looks forward to sharing another report in early 2014. Zikomo kwambiri to everyone who has supported this project! You are helping to make a critical difference for children in Neno.