FOURTH SCHOOL BLOCK FINISHED!

 Our New School Block

I am happy to say that - COVID, storms and travel restrictions notwithstanding - we have now completed a fourth school block at Mwanazanga Primary School. The whole of the credit goes to a stream of astonishing donors, who gave so generously to make it happen, and to good friends in Malawi who saw the whole project through on the back of funds and budgets supplied by MSP.  It looks like this:

The front

A classroom, with blackboard

Disabled access and storm drain


You may think it's rather like the other 3 blocks we have built - and yes, it's pretty well identical.  But this time we have added disabled access, even more termite protection and electrical wiring, in the hope that the electricity grid will one day be connected.  

This means that we have now doubled the school’s capacity.  And since there are now more than 1,850 students on the register, they need all the space they can get. 

Wholly managed by friends in Malawi

MSP entrusted the handling and management of the block to two good friends in Malawi – Dion Makina, the delightful carpenter, pastor, school governor and very kind host, with whose family I have stayed each time I have been to Malawi: and Dorothy Mafukeni, until recently the deputy headteacher of Mpasa CDSS (Community Day Secondary School) where we run our bursary programme, now head teacher of a new, private secondary school nearby.

Dion took this video while he talked to the contractor as he prepared the wall for the blackboard.

Together Dion and Dorothy have seen the project through to completion, pretty well on budget, and almost on time.  There was a little hiccough towards the end, when the contractor found his workers leaving him.  I discovered that he had given us such a good price in order to get the work, that he wasn’t paying his men enough.  Of course we put matters right and work resumed. And Covid has put paid to Dion and Dorothy's hopes of a grand civic opening - though I'm delighted they've been able to take credit in the community for it.

Supported by the community

All the local chiefs have been behind their efforts, and have helped to motivate the community.  We need them.  They make and provide the bricks, and do a lot of carrying of bricks, quarry dust and water for the build.  We have received some nice, warm thank you messages from the head teacher and the chiefs as a result.  

I am delighted that this has been a 100% local effort.  They haven’t needed to have some odd white woman telling them what needed to be done. I hope they will have enjoyed developing some project management skills.  And they have rightly been able to take all the credit for the work. 

For more, see the page on School building.