Rural Nurseries in Malawi- The Challenges
From time to time we share insights into Malawi with our donors and on several occasions we have mentioned that Seibo has partnerships with both urban & rural nursery schools in Malawi. While urban nurseries tend to be fee-paying with rented or owner-managed premises the rural nurseries known as CBCC’s are quite different. CBCCs (Community-Based Children’s Centres) fulfil a hugely important role in providing Early Years Education in rural areas though it is also the case that most, if not all, are struggling. Struggling to source volunteer teachers, struggling to provide a safe learning environment and even struggling to provide a basic education. Our team in Malawi take great pride in being able to support CBCC’s in rural communities but admit that for us also the work remains challenging. In some cases there are no access roads and communication with stakeholders can be difficult. Yet it is precisely in these locations that we can truthfully say that your donations make the greatest difference- and much more could be done with very little. In this post we introduce the work carried out in February 2020 while also taking this opportunity to shine a light on some of our CBCC partners.
What Happened in February?
In our previous post we reported on food distribution to 5 of 9 rural nurseries (CBCCs) in receipt of school meals thanks to Seibo’s donors. Children attending CBCCs tend to be the hardest to reach with many living in seriously impoverished communities. In addition the school facilities and educational environment are usually at a poor standard. In our last post we reported that our team in Malawi reached 219 of the 321 total enrolled number of children with food in January.
Since then the team in Malawi have carried out another round of food distribution ostensibly to meet the needs of the remaining 102 children. However since January alone the number of children now attending 7 of the 9 CBCC’s has risen to 348 kids. Of these 348 children we have as of February managed to reach 320 (176 x boys and 172 x girls). We are still waiting to distribute food to the remaining 28 children who attend Mwayi & Chisomo CBCCs. These CBCCs have just opened and have not yet been able to confirm final registered numbers. Needless to say our staff in Malawi understand the benefit in getting food to these children as quickly as possible and are on standby.
Meet the Chisomo CBCC!
Located in the rural area of Chigwaja the Chisomo CBCC has been in partnership with Seibo since May 2016 and the community recently erected a new shelter which they intend to use as the school building. The funding was provided by a local politician (Hon. John Chisi) to the sum of MK 250,000 which enabled the local community to purchase cement and iron roof sheets. As you can see from the image below it is quite small and not ideal for use as a nursery school. Seibo’s funding is directed towards providing school meals but we are always happy to direct individual donations to specific causes. If you can provide financial assistance to the community of Chisomo we are more than happy to ensure your donation is used wisely.
Meet the Chilingani CBCC!
Located in Chilingani village the CBCC has been in partnership with Seibo since June of 2017. Until recently the CBCC was hosted inside the Church of Christ but with financial aid from Joshua, a community care group in Malawi, they moved to a purpose-built facility. Unfortunately due to the pandemic funding was hit and the building was never finally completed. There is so much that can be done for these communities in addition to providing vital meals and any help is always welcome. Thank you for supporting Seibo, the children of Malawi and for supporting these communities in their time of need.
