2020– a year of challenge, hope, inspiration & achievement. While not a year we would like to repeat again we do definitely want to repeat our thanks to Seibo donors who this year, more than any other year, came to the aid of those in most need; the poorest of the poor.

This time last year words such as ‘lockdown’ or ‘social distancing’ were unknown to most of us. The COVID-19 pandemic affected the world in many ways, and Malawi was not spared. With surrounding borders closed and schools closed the negative effects of containment measures were many; increased cases of child labour, rising teenage pregnancy & child marriages and increased substance abuse not to mention increasing hunger amongst the most vulnerable.Yet with your help Team Seibo in Malawi were able to provide take-home food packs for the most vulnerable families of young children. These interventions made a difference and continue to do so. In this article we look back at the year gone by. Thank you for your support for our work- and thank you on behalf of the children of Malawi.

Seibo’s 2020 Activities– a 2020- A Visual Report

With Love from Japan
December 2019: On behalf of our donors we sent $121,985 to provide for vital school meals in 2020.

Seibo Japan turns 4!
February 2020: On February 11th Seibo Japan celebrated 4 years of providing school meals in Malawi.

Schools Close in Malawi
March 2020: On March 23rd schools in Malawi were closed in response to the emergence of COVID-19. Our team in Malawi immediately responded to school closures by implementing home-feeding for the most vulnerable and began distributing emergency food packs. In addition to food, packs contained hygiene products such as soaps, disinfectants and water purification tablets. Meanwhile we made plans with the Malawi’s Department of Education, Science & Technology on how to distribute food packs to students of recently closed primary schools. In Japan we began a fundraising appeal to enable this vital work- click here for details.

With Love from Japan
May 2020: On behalf of our donors we sent $103,404 to fund emergency food packs and rural nursery school feeding.

Increasing Demand for Food Packs
Thanks to the charitable response to our appeal donors in Japan, Bulgaria & the UK our team in Malawi continued providing take-home emergency food packs to vulnerable families. With no sign of schools reopening plans were made to cook a breakfast meal on-site at rural nurseries 7 days a week to help the most vulnerable and to distribute food packs in primary schools. Click here for more details.

Primary School Food Distribution
June 2020: In coordination with Malawi’s DoE and with the assistance of the Malawi Red Cross our team in Malawi distributed food packs to over 13,000 registered primary school children across 12 x primary schools in the Kaphuta zone, Northern Malawi. In the same month our team provided a cooked meal on-site at rural nurseries 7 days a week. For operational purposes it was decided to replace a cooked meal with take-home packs of food from July. With no sign of schools reopening many families were now in a dire situation and our team in Malawi continued to adapt to an ever-changing situation.

Families in Need
Stories of families affected by school closures and COVID containment measures highlight the increasing need for food intervention among the most vulnerable and food distribution continues apace. See this article for more details.

Staggered School Reopenings
September 2020: Primary schools reopened after a 6-month period of closure. Seibo delivered over 60,000 kgs of food for school meals at our partner primary schools in Northern Malawi and also made a timely donation of 1,815 kgs of food to a children’s ward of a local hospital. Meanwhile our team delivered almost 4,000 kgs of food to families of over 800 nursery children details of which are available in the Sep-Oct 2020 online newsletter which can be read here.

Glimmer of Hope
With primary schools now open and plans in place to reopen nursery schools there was hope that challenges faced by vulnerable families might slowly be alleviated. In response to a potential funding shortfall Seibo Japan on behalf of our donors send a donation of $8,672 to Malawi. Reports from Malawi continually refer to families having to go without meals or living on one meal a day. We are both humbled and honoured to be in a position to assist those in need and in November we share some stories of hope to thank our donors and to highlight the important work our donors are enabling- click here to read some of those stories.

As 2020 Ends…
December 2020: As the year comes to a close the situation in Malawi shows some signs of recovery with some rural nurseries having reopened in November. However the most vulnerable families are still living in distressed conditions. we shared these stories with our donors – click here-.

From Japan with Love
December 2020: On behalf of our donors we sent $114,049 to our partners in Malawi to provide for school meals and emergency food packs.