It is great to be back in Malawi and we are keen to get working on a few projects at Matandani school. We are very lucky to have been so well supported for our visit this year. Everyone has been so generous with their donations of money or equipment/resources. A special thank you to the I.N.T.O. (Irish National Teachers Organisation) for their continued support of the project and also to Mary and Malachy who organised a hugely successful Tea Party in aid of Matandani! Thanks to all of you who have donated, we have a good amount to spend and bring over to Matandani this year!
With this money, we have 5 main areas that we are hoping to support this summer.
1. We brought over a lot of teaching and sports equipment in our suitcases this year. We had donations of sports jerseys, footballs, netballs, volleyballs and frisbees. We had a large donation of reading glasses (110+) as well as school supplies like school bags, rulers, maths sets and a huge amount of pens! We also added to our First Aid cabinet, with gloves and medication. We brought 100 Mooncups for distribution to the girls and teachers. All of this equipment/resources will be added to the schools resources where it will definitely get used throughout the year.
2. Sanitation – After discussions with the sanitation committee, there was a need to order more chlorine to help with the cleaning of the toilets. Last years total was not enough for the year. Even though there is a shortage of chlorine in Malawi, by working with the local health centre, we are able to buy enough. We also are planning on buying more pales (buckets) and new cleaning equipment. Total spend will be MWK 315,000 (€300)
3. School Books – Last year (2022) we spent almost €1500 on new school books for the learners. That worked out at almost 1,000 books. We are lucky enough to be only 5km from the Ministry of Education where they actually print the books, so we can get them at cost price! This year, we are checking how well the books have been looked after and hoping to spend a similar amount on another 1000 books. As with everything around the world, the prices of books have gone up, so we are projecting a cost this year of €2,000.
4. Finishing off the Admin Block – We started building the block last year and the main construction side of the build is complete. However, this year we are hoping to add all the finishing touches, like plastering, painting and fitting windows. Once that is complete, we also hope to fit the two rooms out, with office furniture, like office desks and chairs, filing cabinets and shelving, as well as notice boards etc. It will be a fantastic space when finished. Projected cost – €2,000.
5. The final part of the plan for this year will be to build a teachers house! Now that we have 16 classrooms our attention will turn to building much needed houses. These are needed as in Malawi, teachers are posted to our school and schools are supposed to be able to house the teachers. In reality, very few schools are able to do this. We have two teachers houses at present, but the plan would be to build 6 more over the next few years. Projected cost – €5,000.
One of our older teacher houses!
