Latest News

Community, Donations

Wedding bells raise funds for Malawi

Phunzira

Saturday 29th July 2023 marked the joyous occasion of the wedding of John (the father of Philippa, one of our Trustees) to his partner Annett. In lieu of wedding presents, they asked for donations towards two charities close to their hearts and Phunzira was lucky to be one of these charities. The donations made to Phunzira came in at just over £700, which is hugely generous!

On behalf of the entire Phunzira team and the communities we serve, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to John and Annett for thinking of Phunzira and to each one of the guests who generously contributed to our cause. Their support makes a real contribution to our current and future projects and means we can continue to make a positive impact in Ruarwe.

Once again, Tawonga Chomene for being a part of our journey and for sharing the love and joy of John and Annett’s special day with the community in Ruarwe!

Community, Donations, Healthcare

Medicines for clinics

Phunzira

During the years of NYM’s closure we have been fortunate enough to source funds via trustees for medical emergencies, such as the provision of sanitation units during the three years of covid. Since receiving a recent grant, NYM has assisted two clinics in the catchment area with life-saving medicines during a recent nationwide outbreak of cholera (which has fortunately subsided), as well as recent purchase of antibiotics due to a government shortage affecting clinics nationwide. There have been no antibiotics in either Ruarwe or Khondowe clinics for many months, resulting in unnecessary deaths due to simple illnesses that were otherwise treatable. Both clinics are now stocked for many months to come, by which time the usual government provision of medicines will have hopefully resumed.

Education, Nursery, Youth

NYM nursery school returns

Phunzira

NYM has re-opened its nursery school after nearly 3 years of closure due to covid. A lady within the catchment area was employed to educate and guide the children, with the support of other NYM staff for cooking and cleaning. NYM’s nursery has been praised by the local primary schools for assisting children to enter primary-level education with sound educational knowledge and solid foundations for learning. The nursery re-opened on 13th March – it started with only 8 learners and grew to 25 learners by the end of April. As well as providing the young ones with daily nutrition (fortified maize porridge) and educational activities (alphabet, numbers, calendar…), the aim is to adopt a holistic approach to learning by providing workshops for children and parents on current issues such as nutrition, sanitation, protection of land and trees for future sustainability, dangers of overfishing in the lake, and plastic waste management. The aim is to start sensitising learners when they are young, so they can grow with a keen interest in their surrounding environment, as well as acquire useful knowledge and skills on how to protect and sustain it in the future for their individual and communal benefit.

Community, Education, Healthcare

Re-opening of NYM

Phunzira

Nyumba ya Masambiro’s free-of-charge community centre in Ruarwe village started opening its doors again to community members after over 3 years of closure due to covid. The centre, originally established in 2010, had also temporarily suspended all of its outreach and support programmes in the catchment area due to lack of funding. The consequences of this closure were sharply felt by the educational community, with pass rates at Ruarwe Primary School dropping from 85% to under 40% due to lack of support with school provisions. During this time, school dropout rates at primary and secondary level rose sharply due to underage pregnancies, which were far lower over the decade that NYM was open. This was primarily due to the regular youth activities (e.g. youth club, sports), provided free-of-charge at the centre, that served as a healthy distraction for children in a remote village with little to occupy their time. These issues were highlighted at NYM’s reopening ceremony on 29th April, attended by chiefs, village headmen, area and village development committees, and representatives of the health and educational institutions in the catchment area. The ceremony was a huge success, filled with speeches, dramas, dances, and demonstrations by NYM nursery children, as well as praise for the grant providers for facilitating the re-opening of the community centre and resumption of its outreach projects in the wider target area. The NYM staff are finally back at work and, although maintenance and construction works will be ongoing for the coming months, the primary focus is now on re-opening the library and youth projects, with the aim of reaching the same level of services provided before closure. Currently five members of staff have been employed during the day (and one night watchman), with the hope of providing further employment opportunities when the centre is fully open later in the year.

Community, Donations, Fundraising

Grant awarded to re-open community centre

Phunzira

Phunzira was lucky enough to receive a grant this month from The E and N Watson Charitable Trust, originally applied for over the summer by our Heath Coordinator Philippa Mander. The trust was originally established in 2014 and makes a number of grants to charitable organisations each year. Since covid hit in 2020, our charity has suffered financially and has struggled to recover without the assistance and goodwill donations of the volunteers usually passing through. We are extremely grateful to the trust for enabling our small charity to keep running and provide essential community services to some of the poorest people in the world. The extremely kind and sizeable donation will facilitate the re-opening of Phunzira’s community projects and volunteer programme in Malawi at the start of next year so WATCH THIS SPACE!

Donations, Healthcare, Malawi

Emergency cholera medicines

Phunzira

For over a month there has been a nationwide outbreak of cholera across Malawi. At the request of Ruarwe and Khondowe health centres, Phunzira has sourced funds in order to purchase necessary and life-saving medicines to stock the two clinics. The funds were collected by our Heath Coordinator Philippa during an on-site visit and purchased from a private seller in nearby city Mzuzu, due to poor availability of government stockpiles in all other local pharmacies. The outbreak is hitting worst in southern cities such as Blantyre, where population density is high and sanitation services are poor, however most parts of the country have now sadly felt the devastating and life-threatening consequences of the outbreak, which continues to grow for now.

Business, Education, Nursery, Volunteers

2022 NYM update

Phunzira

Despite the sad closures of NYM’s main activities at the community centre, in December 2022 some small parts were re-opened with great joy from the staff and surrounding communities. The library is running and being visited primarily by students to access during revision time due to its wide range of academic text books sourced in Malawi and UK. We are also happy to announce that the youth centre is currently being used by a children’s nursery, with free-of-charge access to the large room and recreational/ educational resources. In addition, donations are being sourced in order to provide medicines to the two nearby village clinics, where not even basic drugs such as paracetamol are available due to nationwide government shortages. The maize mill business has also received an injection of cash, allowing for essential maintenance work and the purchase of maize, to sell directly from the centre. All other activities in Ruarwe village still remain closed due to insufficient funds since the start of Covid – it has been a very challenging time and we are extremely grateful to our staff and supporters for keeping us alive over the last two years. We hope that by the end of this year the maize mill and its subsidiary businesses generate enough funds to re-open the weekly youth club and sporting events, at which point we will look towards starting up the volunteer programme again – it has been missed dearly in Ruarwe!

Community, Malawi, Volunteers

2021 Covid closures

Phunzira

Sadly NYM’s community centre in Ruarwe village still remains closed due to Covid-19 and insufficient funds. However, the maize mill business is open sporadically and helps to employ its two necessary members of staff (cashier and miller), as well as contribute towards the employment of two extra NYM staff members to look after and maintain the centre during its current closure. We are very thankful to all the staff in Malawi for their swift and transparent actions in managing the emergency donations we received for coronavirus provisions over the year, and we hope they will all be re-employed by the end of the year to re-open the community facilities and workshops once again. We are also grateful to our supporters out there for all the generous donations and offers to volunteer – we will assess the situation again in a few months so keep dreaming of Lake Malawi and watch this space!

Community, Healthcare, Malawi

Raising funds across the globe

Phunzira

A huge thank you to all our friends and supporters that have helped us to send COVID-19 emergency relief funds to Malawi of over £1,800 since our activities were suspended in March.

Donations are being used to purchase essential sanitation items during the pandemic such as soaps and face masks, in order to distribute swiftly and free-of-charge to the elderly and vulnerable at this difficult time. The local clinics have also suffered a sudden shortage of essential, basic medicines due to the prioritisation of Coronavirus supplies, so a range of drugs and equipment is being sent to assist at Ruarwe and Khondowe Clinics. In addition, all NYM programmes and activities have been suspended since March, including the maize mill microbusiness which was eventually closed in mid-April, so the staff from the community centre and its associated businesses are now able to access emergency relief funds to help feed their families.

A special thanks to our good friends in the Netherlands Marlieke Moors and Derek van Bakel (pictured below on Lake Malawi) – with the help of friends and family they managed to raise a whopping €800 for their Kingsday (Konigsdag) fundraiser in just a few days! A big thank you also to all our supporters that have managed to donate at this economically challenging time, and to the family and friends of the Nissims and the Manders for their continued generous contributions. YEWO!

Community, Donations, Fundraising, Malawi

Donation appeal during coronavirus crisis

Phunzira

While we’ve had to pause Phunzira and Nyumba ya Masambiro’s usual activities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, hardships within the community continue. We have made it our mission to support the wider community in Ruarwe, that said, we have had to shift our focus. We have been informed by a healthcare professional that all the soap available in the village has been bought up. We all know that washing your hands with soap is absolutely key in reducing the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, we want to source funds to purchase soap in Nkhata Bay and transport it to Ruarwe for distribution within the larger community. We will arrange distribution with elderly and vulnerable citizens in mind and manage it as fairly as possible.

Any additional funds raised will be used for ongoing COVID-19 response activities and ongoing wider needs within the community.

Please head to our Donate Page to help us support the community.

Thank you for your generosity at this difficult time, when everyone is having to tighten their belts globally. Yewo Chomene!