Support school costs for children in rural Malawi

Hello! Thank you for continuing to support PIH and the Program on Social and Economic Rights (POSER), which aims to break cycles of poverty in rural Malawi. We're happy to share this story, provided to us by the POSER team, about POSER's impact on Malawi's youth:

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 for your generosity!