Child sponsor letter from Mzuzu
10/12/2007
Update from the SOS Children's Village Mzuzu
Social Centre:
We support 65 primary and 97 Secondary school students in providing school fees, provision of school uniforms, shoes, traveling bags, blankets and other learning materials so that hard earned household resources can be used elsewhere. 90 households are active in small businesses and formed revolving loan schemes. We provided modern crop technologies and farm inputs to 40 households and 20 granny-headed and children-headed households receive food support. 90 Family Development Plans have been developed to ensure family enrichment which involves many community meetings. Much emphasis has also been put on networking and collaboration to ensure coordination and to complement existing institutional efforts. We liaise with the Government, and NGOs in the area on the development of HIV/AIDS as well as in other family strengthening and Community Based programmes.
Children’s Village, Mzuzu:
We have had an eventful last 6 months. We have been upgrading the academic qualifications of our mothers and aunts to study for forms one and two and will sit for their exams next year as well as facilities getting computer lessons. Our development plans for the children are being upgraded. We have some new staff members as some experienced ones are moving to our new Village in Blantyre. Maintenance of the Village is an ongoing activity. The Moringa Tree project is growing well too!.
SOS Nursery School:
This year started with a bang having a full capacity of 90 little ones. We received toys, cooking & eating utensils and buckets from UNICEF for use in CBCCs in collaboration with the Social centers Family Strengthening Programme. Management of free play and theme development were emphasized during this period. Children participated in a fun day of tree planting and we decorated Easter eggs to take home for the holiday.
SOS Primary School:
At full capacity our school is progressing well with all our 12 teachers, although not as well as we’d hoped at the end of the1st term where the children were still adjusting to their new classes.
The Bible Club is on going and well attended as well as the sports events and activities. The girls’ are enjoying their netball especially because they qualified for the quarter finals in the Mayor’s Trophy.
In May we took part in the inter-schools athletics in Mzuzu City which included long distance running, discus and javelin throwing.
Sponsor update from Lilongwe
With the children’s homes in the Village newly painted, the children are caring for the Village much more.
We continued with training and counseling session e.g. hygiene, nutrition, financial management, decisionmaking,
career choice, conflict resolution, education etc. Fanny Mwale (inset) was recognized by the
Olympic & Commonwealth Association boss but also the attention of the FIFA technical instructor for her
football skills. Children participated in live presentations on radio and formed clubs that will not only help the
village but also the community. e.g. Human Rights, HIV/AIDS, Writing, Debate, Wildlife etc. Some families
were treated to a day on Lake Malawi and parties were held by some mothers for their children who did
exceedingly well at school.
Fanny Mwale
Our Youth have been very active. Four have been resettled into the community after completing vocational training. Two youths who graduated from our College in Namibia, are working and are now independent and 5 were very successful in their tertiary education exams. Nine youth attend SOS Ghana International College and 4 of them write their final IB exams in June. We now have a National Youth Development Team with 2 youths, SOS staff and ex SOS youth as members. Here we look at ways of improving youth work in Malawi. Workshops for youth have been held such as Crime Prevention, Financial Management, Leadership & Conflict and Career Guidance is on going
of course. A Youth Council made up of our youth as members, runs well, where they try to improve their own young lives.
The Vocational Training Center continued to run to full capacity (140 students). In April 110 of 115
students who wrote examinations were awarded internationally recognized certificates—a 95% pass rate
with 100% pass rate in Agriculture and IT respectively. 78 of our110 graduated students are employed
with some continuing training at institutes of higher learning. 8 Carpenters and 7 Bricklayers sat for
their final Malawi Craft Certificate examinations and we are eagerly awaiting their results. We are
presently registering with TEVET which will enable our trainees to be locally assessed at a reasonable
cost, as currently students are paying in foreign currency which is prohibitive for them. Enrollment has
started with more than 100 applicants with 16 already enrolled from our Social Center. Keep up the
good work!!!!!!
Social Center:
Our Family Strengthening programme (FSP) has been very active in providing
services to 358 children and adults with clinics and outreach visits and provision of vital meals. This
also included psychosocial support to guardians and youth. Two villages have started pig farming. 22
Kindergarten students and 1177 primary school students and 109 students in secondary school as well
as 44 tertiary education students receive support from us in the form of school fees, and basic school
materials. Education campaigns took place in the villages to encourage parents and guardians to send
their boys and girls to school. Eco-San slabs for toilets are being carried out in the surrounding
communities. In our 6 centers communities were met with and they were assisted in identifying c
caregivers and forming committees for our Community Based Child Care programme. Trainings in
HIV/Management was on going.
Secondary School has achieved 69% pass rate for School Leaving final exams compared to less than 30% as the national average. We are still awaiting the appointment of an English teacher. Our Football team has done well in reaching the 1/4 finals in the Coca-Cola Trophy and our netball and athletics teams are doing well. We are participating in the UNICEF sponsored National Queen’s Programme for the top academic students and we really hope we will be the winners!
Lilongwe Primary School with 652 students enrolled in regular classes and 78 in the special needs class, the school had a 100% pass rate for primary school leavers at the end of last year. This year has been filled with teachers attending workshops on HIV/AIDS, Joyful Learning, Tennis Coaching and New Curriculum. There has been a strengthening of coordination amongst teachers and many Parent Teacher’s Association meetings were held with a full turn out. Morning classes have been introduced to improve performance of Std 8 exams results.
However, unfortunately, we do not have enough teachers especially for Special Education, and they are not available in country. Discipline at the school has improved. For those students still giving problems they have continued to receive counseling.
Medical Center: The Rehabilitation Programme carried out outpatient Therapy sessions,, Parent Workshops, Home Visits, Provision of Specialized Equipment as well as running the Vocational Club over the last 6 months. Out patient therapy was given to 350 children who come twice a week. Children with Special Needs at our Primary and Secondary Schools also receive support from us.. 13 workshops were held for parents who learnt about their children’s disabilities and how to help them. We also visited children at home to provide specialized equipment like walking frames, toilet boxes and special foods or to evaluate their home situation. The Day of the Disabled was celebrated with UNICEF support, where we invited all our children, their parents, the Vocational Club for day long celebrations More than 350
folks attended. The Vocational Club has 14 members who learn food preparation as well as tailoring, tinsmithing, briquette making, carpentry and vegetable sales. 5 young men harvested maize, sweet potatoes, cassava and other vegetables. It was a busy time for them! Our Clinic has been particularly busy as peak malaria season has just passed.. We are seeing an increasing number of patients who are HIV+. Under 5 screening and vaccinations, ante natal visits, family planning, nutrition support, skin clinic and more specialized services have been on going. The Short Stay ward has also been very busy
Kindergarten in Lilongwe. It could be referred to as a farmer harvests crops after waiting for a long time. There is joy at the end of the year when children leave the KG for Standard 1 after graduating. In December 2006, 65 children graduated from our Kindergarten. The Village hall was full of people especially parents including our SOS mothers. This time, it was only one girl from the Village who had graduated. One was Mesiya, seen here with her Mum.
Children performed many activities e.g. traditional dances, recited poems and rhymes and finally they did the Christmas play. Parents were really impressed especially when the play was done in English. This year our children really enjoyed their sports, games and creative activities in their group rooms after the lunch break. Children decorated Easter eggs and made beautiful Easter cards to take home to the parents/guardians. Open Day in April was well
attended where the parents/guardians collected their children’s reports and enjoyed the opportunity to discus the progress of their children.
Relevant Countries: Malawi.