Month: September 2025

Community, Donations, Education, Fundraising, Malawi, Nursery

Upwards of 35 Nursery School students this academic year

Phunzira

We are delighted to announce that in this academic year, 2025–2026, Nyumba ya Masambiro’s nursery school has 35 children enrolled – the maximum capacity.

Over the years that NYM has been in place, a number of other nurseries have opened within Ruarwe and the NYM catchment area. However, due to the prohibitive cost of covering both the staff members’ salaries and the porridge meal, these have all closed within a short period of opening. Nyumba ya Masambiro has been able to maintain the nursery as a result of ongoing financial support from Phunzira.

Within the community, there are calls for NYM to open a second nursery class, as there is growing demand for children to attend the nursery at NYM. At present, this would be an unsustainable cost for NYM and Phunzira, but we would be very happy to accept donations towards the nursery and all our other ongoing activities at NYM.

Do get in touch for more information about donating to Phunzira.

Community, Education, Malawi, Youth

Tutorials under the trees 

Phunzira

NYM continues to host ad hoc tutorials throughout the year. At times, these are individual one-to-one tutorials for students run by the staff according to their own strengths, and at other times, whole classes are brought to NYM by primary school teachers to receive extra lessons on our site.

In the hot season, everyone is keen to leave the heat of the classroom in the afternoon for their extra tutorials and take up lessons in the shade of the many trees we have on site at Nyumba ya Masambiro.

Nyumba ya Masambiro will always remain an open space for any members of the community to come and converse, learn, and be together, and we are grateful to the teachers from Ruarwe Primary School next door for using our open space to conduct their extra lessons.

Community, Education, Malawi, UK Schools, Volunteers, Youth

Stories Without Borders: From Scotland to Ruarwe

Phunzira

We are delighted to share the joyful news of a special collaboration that has connected learners across continents through the power of storytelling.

In 2023, two teachers travelled from Inverkeithing, Scotland, to our community in Ruarwe. During their visit, they worked closely with learners at both Ruarwe Primary School as well as youth visitors to Nyumba ya Masambiro to collect and record local stories — tales of daily life, imagination, culture, and hope.

At the same time, back in their own school in Scotland, students were also busy writing and sharing their stories. The result is a beautiful exchange of voices and experiences, bridging communities through creativity and mutual learning.

We are proud to announce that these stories have now been officially published into books. Even more exciting, copies of the books have arrived in Ruarwe, where learners can see their words in print and read the stories of their friends in Scotland.

The books are now available at the NYM Library, where community members, students, and visitors are warmly invited to come and read them.

This project is a wonderful reminder that while our communities may be separated by distance, stories have the power to bring us together. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the teachers, students, and everyone involved in making this cross-cultural journey possible.