For the history of our efforts to help local schools, and photos of some of the work we have done, see below.
OUR LATEST PROJECT - THE FOURTH SCHOOL BLOCK
MSP entrusted the handling and management of the building 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. She has now been promoted to head teacher of a
new, private secondary school nearby, but still lives in Mpasa. Both she
and Dion speak good English.
Dion has 2 children currently at Mwanazanga Primary School: his 2 older children also went there. They passed their final exams with flying colours. One is now at a private secondary school. The other has just been offered a university place. He has been lucky to obtain a loan which will pay his tuition fees and some of his other costs. The rest of his costs are being met by a private donor. Dion has been a real asset to us. I bought him a smart phone a couple of years ago so we could communicate via WhatsApp, and encouraged him to open a bank account that would receive international transfers. For over 2 years he has been handling considerable sums of money for us for bursary school fees, all of which is meticulously accounted for. He knows the building trade because of his work as a carpenter, and each time I have commissioned a school block, he has acted as translator while I have interviewed and negotiated with contractors, has gone to Phalombe or Blantyre to price the cost of building materials for me, has come with me to purchase them and has arranged for their transport to Mpasa. And he has worked with me in monitoring the quality of the build, and discussing improvements with the builders. So I was confident when we began work on the 4th block that he really did know what needed to be done.
Dorothy is another gem. I entrusted her with the distribution of some of the books which we shipped to Malawi which I had not been able to go back to distribute myself, and she did a brilliant job – travelling all the way from Mpasa in the south to Mangochi by the Lake where the books were being looked after, meeting with local charities, and transporting the balance to Mpasa for distribution there. And she is without doubt the best teacher I have met in my time in Malawi - committed to the children and to doing her best for them. Even better, she and Dion work well together, and share a delight in getting things done. They are both committed to helping the children in their area.
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| With Dorothy en route Blantyre Ghastly selfie, but a nice reminder! |
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| Dion with his wife Rose and their youngest child |
To begin with, they decided to hold a meeting with the chiefs and the community to explain what was being done. We needed the community on board: they make and provide the bricks, and do a lot of carrying of bricks, quarry dust and water for the build. They then decided to put the contract out to 3 new contractors for quotations, as well as approaching the man we have used for the other 3 blocks: they were keen to adopt a business-like approach and to make sure they were getting value for money, and wanted to give others a chance. I was really pleased with their approach, but rather glad when they decided (again after involving the chiefs) to use the guy I’ve used before: he knows what we want. And helpfully his price compared favourably with the other 3.
This will give you a flavour of the WhatsApp messages I received at the time -
Firstly we discuss that before we start everything we need to have a meeting with all the Chiefs around Mwanazanga School and all the committees of the school ,so that we discuss with them about how to get the contractor, Secondly to encourage them that all of us to take part for the project e.g. taking bricks to where we will put the building. Thirdly, the Chiefs together with us plus the payer we are going to have a meeting with the community to tell them about the project and work together and tell them to assist us where we want assistance from them.
Yes, we do the meetings with the Chiefs and the community and everybody is happy with the project and they are ready to assist us any how. ………. And we get three quotations from contractors and we sat down with the Chiefs and other school committee members going through them, so we support and choose one, we will send ……… We are getting the school materials prices, but we remain to get the price for the paint, wash and wear paint, we need to get it from Blantyre We can't get here in Phalombe.
Progress
Dion, Dorothy and I agreed and costed a schedule of materials, based on my records of materials used for the previous 3 blocks. Some items were more expensive this time, others less, so the overall estimate was much the same. I sent funds for the purchase of the first tranche in May. Here is a photo of the site as it was then, and photos of the first tranche of materials, safely stowed - I think at the school. And they employed a watchman to guard them – sadly, it’s a necessity.
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| Mwanazanga 4th block May 2021 |
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| The first tranche of materials, bought from generous UK donations |
The block was finally finished on 1st December 2021. There were a couple of delays. First, the contractor's mother became ill and died: he stopped work for some weeks to be with her. Then the contractor found that his workers were leaving him. I discovered that he had given us such a good price to get the work that he wasn’t paying them enough. Of course we sorted the problem out and work resumed.
That means that we have now doubled the school’s capacity. And since there are now 1850 students on the register, they need every possible space.
Dion and Dorothy have done wonders. Together they have seen the project through to completion, pretty well on budget, and almost on time. I can't thank them enough. And I am delighted that this has been a 100% local effort. They haven’t needed to have some strange white woman telling them what needed to be done. And they have rightly been able to take all the credit for the work, and I hope garnered some new management skills along the way.
WHY AND WHERE OUR SCHOOL BUILDING WORK STARTED
Dilapidated, inadequate school buildings
Mwanazanga Primary School
At Mwanazanga Primary School, a volunteer had paid to have four grass roof shelters erected (like the one at Chinjika on the photo to the left). When I arrived in December 2016, two of them had collapsed in the rains. A month later, the other two were down as well.
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| Collapsed grass shelters at Mwanazanga Primary, January 2017 |
The First New Block
The picture below shows Mwanazanga Primary School in January 2017. There were just 2 school blocks on the right (you can see just the far end of one of them), a small hut where porridge is prepared for the children each morning, and a 3rd block in the centre of the picture. Each block has 2 rooms, so there were 6 classrooms in total for the school's then 1,400-odd students.
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| Mwanazanga Primary December 2016 |
The need was so obvious, and the cost so small by UK standards, that it seemed ridiculous not to try to build replacement classrooms at the school. Within two weeks, I had costed a full schedule of materials, and appointed contractors for the work. By February 2017 it was under construction, with the assistance of a locally appointed management committee and project manager. It was completed in May 2017.
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| Digging foundations for the new classroom block at Mwanazanga March 2017 |
Of course we had to have an opening ceremony and a "tent" for VIPs. And chairs brought on bicycles from a neighbouring school - and some from the house I stay at.
And of course I had to have a dress for the ceremony - somewhat improbably bought in a sudden panic in Blantyre.
The lady in blue is the Primary Education Adviser for the district.
And there was singing and dancing, of course, as well as lots of speeches, a formal ribbon cutting, and an internal inspection.
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| The Jimu Chief |
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| Cutting the ribbon with the District Education Manager |
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And inspecting the rooms |
With the knowhow, knowledge and experience we had gained, and - wonderfully - enough money in the bank to do it, I was able to commission another block almost immediately. The foundations were being dug as I left the village on my way home on 7th July.
The 4 classrooms have cost £5,500 - £6,000, including labour, materials, and transport.
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| The 2 new school blocks at Mwanazanga primary school as at December 2017 |
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| The third block, October 2018 |
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| Internal plastering November 2018 |
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| Using cement and quarry dust for a really strong finish |
Mpasa and Mlirankhunda Primary Schools
At Mpasa Primary there was a different problem. A government funded classroom block (the usual pattern is 2 classrooms to a block) had been started, and never finished. The children were sitting on half bricks, with windows open to the pouring rain and hot sun. For less than £300, MSP has been able to pay for the floors and windows to be completed, for the walls to be painted and a new blackboard to be installed. £300 goes a long way in Malawi!
These are the classrooms at Mpasa Primary which we completed - new floors, windows, blackboards and paint. Have a look at the bottom 2 pictures of the children sitting in windowless rooms on chunks of brick.
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| A classroom as used by the children at Mpasa Primary School, January 2017. The adjoining room was the same.  |
