Victor Mthulo
I am Victor Mthulo, working as Seibo’s Program Supervisor. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Education (Humanities) from the University of Malawi – Chancellor College, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Managing Rural and Community Development from the ShareWORLD Open University. I joined Seibo in August 2023 – will be one year in just two months. My normal day involves making payments and compiling finance reports; preparing and checking team plans and following up on tasks and activity reports; checking and consolidating program data such as requirements for likuni phala, attendance, enrolment, feeding and stock balances; budgeting and grant requests and staff performance management. I also handle staff recruitment and drafting of program documents such as operating procedures, and signing off key correspondence. I love my job because it offers me a rare chance to play a role in making things happen, things that determine the health, education, destiny and hence development of our community and country. I have a history of loving porridge so much when I was a kid, and feels satifying to be one of the enablers for other kids to have a warm cup of porridge in school.
Future Namacha
My name is Future Namacha and I am Seibo’s communications officer. My job gives me the opportunity to interact with different stake holders there by increasing my self-esteem as well as the positivity of my social relationships.
The most exciting part is when I visit a school and get greeted with smiling faces of children who are always eager to be on camera. It is very interesting to collect stories from these children of how our porridge benefits them.
Cheers Seibo.
The most exciting part is when I visit a school and get greeted with smiling faces of children who are always eager to be on camera. It is very interesting to collect stories from these children of how our porridge benefits them.
Cheers Seibo.
Sawako Nevin- Director
Staying in Malawi for the second time accompanying her husband. Sawako is the originator of the Send Your Girls to School Project for which she collaborated with Malawi’s top musician Lucius Banda to create a campaign song. The song is encouraging adults around primary school girls to send their girls to school and let them shine. Sawako recently organised a fundraising event to support a Malawian NGO ‘Girls Empowerment Network’s reusable sanitary pad project as the lack of hygiene materials is one of the reasons for girls students’ high absenteeism and drop out rates. She was also involved in launching the JOCA-sponsored school feeding programme in Kazomba Primary School in Mzimba South in Malawi. This is the foundation of Seibo’s school feeding project which starts in February. Being a graduate from Seibo primary & junior high school in Osaka, she gave the organisation its name.
Approximately 5 out of 10 children in Malawi suffer from stunted growth.
Stunted growth results from chronic malnutrition, leading to shorter-than-average height. This condition typically arises when a child doesn’t receive adequate nutrition during the first 1,000 days after birth, affecting not just physical but also cognitive development. The impact is lifelong, often influencing academic performance and reducing future earning potential (World Food Programme, 2014).
One out of Five People Live with Under 1.90 USD per day
Around 1 in 5 people globally live on less than $1.90 a day, which the World Bank defines as the international poverty line. This extreme poverty results in limited access to essential food and educational opportunities, creating a humanitarian crisis (World Bank, 2015).
One Child Dies Every Five seconds
Around the world, one child dies from hunger every five seconds. This staggering statistic amounts to 14,000 child deaths per day. It’s a crisis that urgently needs to be addressed as an international priority to alleviate the suffering of children from hunger (Doctors Without Borders, n.d.).
64 Out of Every 1,000 Malawian Children Do Not Reach Age Five
Among Malawian children, 64 out of every 1,000 do not survive to their fifth birthday. The main causes of death include pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and complications during the perinatal period, such as premature birth or childbirth complications. Diseases like pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria, along with malnutrition, are preventable and treatable if detected early and proper medical care is given. Unfortunately, delays in accessing healthcare or inadequate diagnosis and treatment in medical facilities result in many preventable deaths. The loss of children to illnesses that could have been treated is a heartbreaking reality (World Bank, 2015).