About The Stephanos Foundation
Stephanos are a local charity in Malawi that provide rural nurseries with the resources & monitor progress made with these resources. They do not provide money to the community direct but instead provide funding for nursery buildings. In late 2022, our team in Malawi stepped in to provide school feeding assistance to 7 x CBCCs (rural-based nurseries) funded by Stephanos. What follows is a summary report covering feeding that took place over November & December 2022.

Mulengama CBCC
Located in Chikwawa, Lebekani Village. The CBCC is quite close to Seibo’s partner, Kachimera CBCC. The nursery has 4 teachers all educated to primary level. Of those, one teacher has received ECD training. The water source is the local stream. At the end of 2022 there were 41 kids registered to attend though we only managed to record the weight & height of 27 children due to others being absent. Seibo provided 122kgs of flour along with a stock book & register.

Namitsisi CBCC
Located in Ndaluza village. This nursery began on the 5th August 2018 and is registered with Blantyre Council. The community began the school when they saw that their children had challenges when beginning school at primary level. Having a CBCC ensured their children got a better start. The community also launched a school meal programme which ran for a year. The school meal was then substituted with ‘manna’ packs from an organisation called J-Life who provide packs of rice mixed with soya pieces and micro-nutrients. These packs are distributed twice a year but unfortunately do not last the whole term. When food runs out the community have to once again collect flour from villagers which is not an easy task. In addition, to receive the ‘manna’ packs the community must provide money for transport and failing this they cannot receive manna packs. Their water source is from a local river.

The Namitsitsi CBCC has 2 teachers educated to primary level. Neither have received any formal ECD training. The school had 35 children registered when we visited with ages ranging from 1-6 years old. We managed to record the weight & height of 29 children. In addition, we were delighted to supply 102 kgs of flour, 1 x register book and 1 x stock book.

Likhubula CBCC
Located in Chagwirauta village, T.A Kunthembwe, Blantyre district. This nursery began on the 23rd October 2020 and was the brainchild of the Stephanos Foundation who felt the community needed a CBCC. In the 2021-22 academic year 18 nursery children graduated from the CBCC and are now attending Primary School (Standard 1). In addition, two members of the community were given training on how to run the school and this CBCC occasionally receives food support from J-Life. The community have further plans to open a school farm though they have yet to build a permanent school block of their own. Clean water and teaching materials remain a challenge as the only water source is a local stream. At the time of our visit the CBCC had 32 children registered to attend ranging from 3-5 years of age. We managed to record the weight & height of 21 children who were in attendance the day we visited. The school is staffed by 4 teachers. The head teacher, Mr. Misaya, left school at Standard 8 and one teacher has an ECD qualification. We were delighted to assist the CBCC in late 2022 with 94kgs of flour, 1 stock book and 1 x register book.

Nasongole CBCC
Located in Jumbe village, T/A Nsomba, Blantyre district. This nursery began in September 2019 and classes take place in a local church building. The community are in talks with Stephanos Foundation to collect sand & bricks for a future permanent school block. There are 5 teachers of which 4 have received ECD training. Water is sourced from a well far from the school. On the day we visited all 42 registered children were present and we were able to record the weight & height of all children ranging from the age of 2 to 6 years. Seibo were delighted to assist the CBCC with 122kgs to cover school feeding in November & December 2022 along with a stock book and register.

Namitalala CBCC
Located in Wisikemu village, T/A Kuntaja, Blantyre. The CBCC has been in operation since July 2006 when the community had their first primary school thanks to support from a Member of Parliament at that time. Water is sourced from a borehole. Although 70 children are registered to attend ranging from 3 to 6 years we only managed to record the weight & height of 43 children due to the large amount of absences.There are 4 teachers who have all participated in ECD training. Seibo in Malawi handed over 206kgs of ‘Likuni Phala’ flour along with a stock book & register to cover end of year feeding in 2022.

Dyechiti CBCC
Located in Kaliwo village, T/A Kuntaja. This CBCC source their water from a local river and cater to children aged 2-5 years of age. Although 38 children are registered to attend, our team only managed to record the weight & height of the 20 children present the day we visited. There are 4 teachers, some of whom have attended a 2 day ECD course. All teachers expressed an interest in further ECD training however. Seibo in Malawi handed over 110kgs of ‘Likuni Phala’ flour and other items to cover the last 2 months of 2022.

Mpotola CBCC
Located in Chalamanda Village, T/A Kuntaja. Mpotola CBCC source their water from a well that is over 45 minutes walk’ one-way. Children range from 3-6 years of age and at the time we paid a visit they had 42 children registered to attend. However, only 25 children were present when we recorded the children’s height & weight. Our team in Malawi delivered 122kgs of ‘Likuni Phala’ flour to assist with school feeding for November & December 2022.