Through student sponsorship, mentoring, women’s empowerment, teacher training, and food security initiatives Story Time endeavors to provide holistic support to students facing various challenges, including inflation and hunger. Here's a glimpse into our activities during Q1 of 2024.
The year 2020 has brought great change around the world. Malawi has seen its share of floods, elections, and regulation changes due to COVID-19. If you haven’t had the chance to keep track of it all (who does?), Story Time has put together a brief rundown of what has happened in Malawi this year, and where things stand now.
The government of Malawi closed high schools mid-year in April 2020, and in November, the government invited Form 4 (Senior) high schoolers back to school in order to study for the exams that they were originally supposed to take in May. Senior students will take their government exams, and all students will advance grades in February. The government has mandated masks, hand washing, and social distancing, but in rural Malawi, at our partner high school, students are not able to buy these items
Teacher training workshops have started and are continuing this year. Dr. Zikani Kaunda, Story Time Vice President said, “It’s good that we have all the teachers on board, the progress will be demonstrated in the students’ performance.” Each teacher will have a plan of action, from today until the end of the term, to see what has improved in terms of students’ performance.
"School is very important for me because it will help me become a good business woman and know which business to invest in...I want to see my community developed and if I am educated, I can be able to help." Read the story of how Herrietta, age 17, Form 1, feels about schools, pads, and being comfortable in class.
This week’s story dives a little deeper into the personal life of one of our students. Odala is the epitome of a student that thrived when he was given the opportunities and chance to. Recently, he was able to pass the national Examinations and graduate high school. Learn more about Odala by reading this account of a typical day in his life.
When people travel, they sometimes have a preconceived notion on what to expect. At other times they go through a period of culture shock. But when you take the time to actually make your traveling worth something, one that you can remember many years down the road, and how much you learned and grew as an individual, that is an extremely priceless thing to have. Joua, one of our Story Time volunteers shares her first hand experience of when she first went to Malawi:
“The children are our future” could never be so relatable to relatively young country like Malawi. With the average population age being 20 years old, these children are ready to do great things. The members of this community feel very strongly that the portrayal of helplessness, in the face of poverty, is not an accurate depiction of their reality.
