An incredible year

For the last year St Mary Magdalen Church in Tilehurst have been fundraising for Joshua. Having organised a range of events from Organ Recitals, to Fish and Chip Suppers and Charity Cards Sales we are delighted to announce that they have raised a total of £1,628.60 to support our life changing work with HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Malawi.

Over the last year it has been a delight getting to know the congregation and clergy at the church who have welcomed us with opened arms and gratefully received cups of tea. At every meeting they have been keen to learn more about our work and we were especially touched when they held a special collection to raise funds for the victims of Malawi's recent flooding.

A special thank you must go to Peter and Mair Mayers, who instigated this year of fundraising for Joshua and have put endless energy and enthusiasm behind making every Pasta Party and Coffee Morning a success. Not to mention Peter tackling the Heroes Run for us last May. Peter volunteered in Malawi with Leighton Park School in 2012 and saw first-hand the difference our projects have on some of the poorest people living in Malawi. The people he met and the experience has stayed in his heart since then and we are delighted to have such a dedicated supporter and fundraiser championing our cause.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has donated time, effort and money to making this year of fundraising such a huge success.

If you are a church and would be interested in having one of the Joshua trustees come and talk to you about our work please get in touch with Heather Deaville on heather@joshuainmalawi.org.uk

Tell them we are over the moon!

Joshua Trustee David Pearson has been working hard to complete a footbridge over the Mudi River and we are delighted to announce that it has now been completed. The Manyenje footbridge has been funded by Sherborne Castles Rotary Club. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the club and all its members for their incredible support. 

The Manyenje footbridge will transform lives during the rainy season by providing easy access to Manyenje Village year round. This will enabling villagers to safely use local schools, health facilities, financial services, churches and maize mills.

Speaking when the construction site was visited, the Village Headman of Manyenje was all smiles that a second bridge had been completed on the south-western side of his village after the first one (a road bridge) was constructed a year ago by Sherborne Rotary Club in collaboration with a Malawian Rotary Club. “As you can see, my village is an island and once the Mudi River swelled up during rainy season, this village was inaccessible. No one could neither go out of it nor come into it. Now everyone would have free mobility”, said Village Head.

How will this footbridge change lives? Manyenje Village is surrounded by three primary schools and two secondary schools. In order to get to school children from Manyenje have to cross Mudi River. Attending school became erratic and dangerous during the rainy season as it was dependent on the water levels in the river. As a result children often missed days or weeks of school and fell behind their classmates.

The bridge will also benefit people living in the surrounding villages, as children from villages in the western part of this region can now get to the newly built Manyenje Junior Primary School and Under-Six Feeding Centre much easier.

“The bridge will improve the livelihoods of people in Manyenje Village and all surrounding villages. It has been completed timely when the problems of crossing Mudi River were about to start at the onset of the rainy season. Everyone in the village is very happy with the development,” said an overjoyed Mai Kambila, a Caregiver at Manyenje Under-Six Feeding Centre.

The Village Head Manyenje concluded praising Joshua as quoted, “my village has become a town overnight. I now have a primary school, an under-six feeding centre, a teacher’s house and now, a bridge. Thank you Joshua! Please, send our gratitude to the donors. Tell them we are over the moon!”

24th Oct - Early Walk

Before eating breakfast the team undertook a 5am trek to the lone tree visible at the peak of the mountain to catch a view of the sunrise. Not only did we time this perfectly, arriving minutes before the sun rose over the mountains we also managed to explore another Joshua feeding centre situated in thicker more lush vegetation. Despite our collective exhaustion following days of hard work, this not only energised us, but also set the tone for the entire day.

In comparison to other days the work load was less rigorous as the two manual jobs (brick laying and landscaping) wound to a close, as both progressed towards their completion.

With our work completed (foundation slab poured and 1000's of bricks moved and laid) on the teachers house we now pass on the baton to the local builders to complete the skilled elements of the build.

After 20 tonnes of earth moved by pure will power and strength the landscaping was completed ensuring guaranteeing the future of Masika junior primary school.

Within all of this work, many members of the team still managed to enjoy themselves playing with the local children. In particular Fay who spent an afternoon climbing classroom rules and Charlie who enjoyed an evening of collecting tennis balls from the river following a rowdy game of baseball.
As the team finishes its last day of work and looked towards our final day in Manyenje the feeling is overwhelming of gratitude for the villagers consummate kindness and willingness to join us, whether it be in work or play.

Blog entry by Mr. Dan wamphagu Rojas

'wamphagu' - strong man

23rd Oct - Muli Bwanje!

After a restless night featuring Alex Rae's snoring and a rooster we all awoke for another day of project work in Manyenje. We split into three groups, one going to Marys Meals the second going to continue the teachers house and the third in the dust bowl.

At the teachers house the main task was brick laying, with the outside walls growing with increasing speed. The most progress however was made by the landscaping team. The main terrace was completed and the lower terrace was levelled out.

The Marys Meals team enjoyed the time spent with the local children and have made strong bonds with the kids.

Away from our main projects Rob and co. completed the improvements to the tippy taps and some of the landscaping team helped plant up a new tree nursery with the local children. They seeded 153 blue gum trees.

Blog entry by Jack

All Three LP Groups in Action

The day started at various times today, 6.30am for most, 5.30am for cooks and 4.45am for anyone awoken by Faye.

The day quickly gathered momentum; group 3 working in the feeding centre, group 2 landscaping and group 1 on the building site. Being in group 3 I can honestly say I've never met a more likeable group of kids in my life (despite the great escape attempt I halted as I prised a dangling child off the wall).

The experience for group 2 was very different in that their day was spent sweating in a dust bowl, as they shovelled and transported soil behind the new primary school to create terraces. 

Similar was the experience for group 1 as they also spent the entire day in the sun, laying bricks on the new foundations of the teachers house.

In the evening we celebrated Malawian Jo's birthday with balloons and banoffee pie!

Blog entry by Rob

Jump to it!

Today we split into 3 groups. Group 1 worked in Mary's Meals feeding centre and Groups 2 and 3 helped with the building of the teachers house. The Group that worked in the feeding centre found it extremely enjoyable and are very grateful they were given the opportunity to experience such a new but incredibly important part of the community.

The other two groups began the first of the strenuous building  jobs. This involved mixing cement and laying the slab to create the foundation of the teachers house.

Later in the day the Inspector for public works visited the site to check it was up to strict malawian Government standards. The groups work passed with flying colours and received the official stamp of approval!

We taught the children 'jump on it' and it has since become the village dance in my opinion.

Blog entry by Alice

Manyenje here we come!

Currently out in Malawi are a group of volunteers from Leighton Park School. Below is their second blog about their experience so far, enjoy!

 
Today we travelled to the village Manyanje with the young children chasing after the mini-bus as it pulled into the village. This was just the start of probably the best welcome any of us have ever had. 

As soon as we arrived we set up our mosquito nets and went out to play with the children as soon as we could. We blew bubbles for them and played with balloons and the ukulele - the excitement on their faces and their eagerness to gather round you to join in was a really special experience.

Later in the afternoon we had the welcoming ceremony which all the village attended, where we exchanged speeches and watched a traditional Malawian dance. After this was probably the best part of the day when we played football and netball with loads of people from the village and taught the younger children 'swing low' with Adrian. 

The welcome and playing time with the children has summed up why Malawi is the heart of Africa and is something none of us will ever forget. I think it has also made us feel extremely grateful to be here.

Group diary entry by Milli

Find out more about volunteering with Joshua.