A Tale of Misuku & Makapwa
In 2019 Seibo lost a CBCC partner (Misuku CBCC) due to a difficulty procuring local volunteers to act as cooks & caregivers. With many Malawians (especially rural-based families) struggling to make ends meet and children out of school the future is bleak for children without an education. That is why we made the decision to support rural communities by providing free training to CBCC caregivers. We engaged village headmen and CBO’s (Community-Based Organisations) and asked them to support the caregivers- financially where possible. Caregivers who sign up for free training also make a commitment to provide voluntary childcare for at least 2 more years and to act as ‘trainers’ to other people in their community. We like to think of it as an investment in the future- that of Malawi’s children!

Meet Makapwa!
In a previous article we introduced the Makapwa nursery & the community behind the nursery initiative.
If ever a community needed help it is Makapwa! The people who live in this community are farmers- and to get to market to sell their produce they must walk 30kms one-way. There are no roads in this area and few visitors. Yet this community managed to build their own nursery with local materials. The first school they built had to be taken down as it was made from burnt bricks with a grass roof. The community had no choice but to rebuild the school again. Without the proper materials however it is only a matter of time before the rain and wind destroy their good work.

The last 2 years of the COVID pandemic has hit rural communities like Makapwa the hardest. In some cases markets are closed and farmers have nowhere to sell their produce. The children of this farming community are at nursery school but the entire community is reliant on only one volunteer to mind all the children. Seibo are now offering training to this volunteer (and many other CBCC volunteers) and asking their communities to help as well. But there are some things these communities cannot do alone- that’s why we want to build a proper nursery school building that won’t need repairing or rebuilding after the rainy season.

While it is true that Seibo’s strength is in school-feeding we cannot do our work if there are no volunteers or indeed no nursery schools to partner with. As such we have teamed up with Beehive Construction to construct a nursery & toilet for Makapwa nursery to ensure the community’s continued success. With an estimated cost of around USD11,000 work is scheduled to begin this month in Malawi.

Needless to say now that work has started things get real. And once more we appeal to anyone who can help to do so. Even a little can make a difference- and rest assured if there is any spare money remaining after our appeal we will use it for school feeding and ensure the poorest of the poor receive a hot meal at school.

To help give the children of Makapwa a lasting gift this Christmas make your donation HERE!

Thank you for helping make our world a better place!
Team Seibo