Dear Seibo Supporters,
We believe that finding the solution to a problem often begins with people reading about it. We trust and hope that our newsletters fill you our donors with a sense that at least something is being done as Seibo continues to feed children at school in Malawi in the 7th month of operations. But we need to reach more people who feel compelled to act. We value your donation but we need you to become our ambassador too. By the end of September we are now active in 40 x nurseries and 4 x Primary Schools reaching thousands of children. But we need to grow a larger constituency of people who will will help reverse the neglect of hungry children and build on Seibo’s momentum. The hungry are watching, and waiting.
Nursery School Updates:
Child Monitoring In Progress!
With 40 nurseries actively feeding every school day and the cooking now left to volunteer workers in the community this gives our Staff Monitors an opportunity to check-in on the health and welfare of the children by measuring weight, height and upper-arm circumference.
The Seibo Kids
We are up to 50 Kids under the “Seibo Kids” scholarship programme- enabling the absolute needy children to receive a pre-school education and with that- a hot meal.
The below picture is of Grace Mandevu and her family. As a result of an assessment in June her 1-year old Bertha and Hope (3) are now attending nursery- and no longer left home alone while their siblings attend primary school and mom works in the field.
Primary School Updates:
Kaphuta Zone Primary Schools
In Kaphuta Zone in Mzimba, Northern Malawi there are 12 primary schools with more than 12,000 children in attendance. Seibo hopes to establish feeding in all schools by the end of 2016. Why not?
Chamng’ulube Primary School
Located in Chikondawonga Village, this primary schools is found 8km off the Mzimba main road. The school is surrounded by nine villages and has 7 qualified teachers looking after 310 children- a small school by Malawian standards!
School feeding “launched” on the 13th of September and a 120 L rocket stove now sits in the community built kitchen shelter.
On the day each child received their own mug for eating and to take home after school, wash and return to school daily.
The launch was attended by not only the teachers & children but all 10 village headmen as well as 20 women volunteers who had been trained earlier that day on how to cook using a rocket stove.
Children Playing at Kazomba Primary School, Northern Malawi
Local Community Support is Vital to Our Success
Monthly Milestones
40 Seibo nurseries in southern Malawi reaching approx 1,600 under-6 year olds- the most vulnerable age-group
2 x additional Primary Schools began school feeding in September bringing another 870 children into the safety ne
To You our donor- Thank you!
Messages
Meet The “Mandevu” Family “ Bertha our youngest even dances in the evening now… we are delighted”- Grace Mandevu
*that’s 1-year old Bertha on her mom’s lap!
– Fiskani Mbale
Growing Malawi
We are not alone. You our donor and we the team blessed to work for Seibo know that school feeding will only work with the commitment of the people it aims to benefit- from the school teachers who provide us with stories of improved concentration, the parents who ensure their child attends school and of course the community cooks who volunteer to be at the school from early morning- collecting firewood on their way!
In the same way we ensure that the Malawi Government is on side. Mr Mighty Kayoyo representing the Department of Education said; ” the feeding programme had arrived at the right time, with predicted harvests failing this year and inevitable hunger coming to Malawi. As representative of the Ministry, and with the Government increasing the number of hours the children are at school this year, it is good that the children are able to eat to keep up energy and concentration. “
Performances at Chamng’ulube
Modester Khotsa – a standard 8 pupil at Chamng’ulube – delivered a poem to the attendees at Chamng’ulube, thanking Seibo for what they have done for her and her fellow learners. She went on to say that before now there has been failure to learn because of hunger in the school but with Seibo stepping in with phala their problems are solvable. Learning will not be hard anymore.
A play was also performed by three fathers. They discussed how the introduction of the feeding programme will benefit the families in the surrounding villages and pointed out that their children have been encouraged to go to school. They also informed parents that it is their duty to make sure that they cooked phala every day, and to take good care of the materials that Seibo has provided. The performers then marveled at the efficiency of the rocket stove.
Matewu Primary School
Matewu primary school is located 4 kms from the main road and has 195 children of which many learn outdoors due a shortage of classroom and in the rainy season sit back to back.
Water is sourced from a borehole 2kms from the school so there are many challenges – but on the 13th of September with your help they began school feeding from a purpose-built brick & thatch structure.
A play was performed by the parents at Matewu school, with a song:
“Seibo is good because they have given us porridge and they are teaching us how to cook Likuni Phala”
It may not make the charts but the sentiment is understood!
The school’s Head Teacher, Mr. Moyo, said the school feeding will reduce absenteeism and encouraged more parents to send their children to school.
Concluding Notes
As we left Matewu Primary School…the head teacher told us that the school had lost 2 children in February due to malnutrition. Let us all commit to never allowing this to happen again.
We thank you for your enduring commitment to Seibo- a new movement with a renewed will to conquer hunger.
If we can then, why not?
