2024 was a busy year of continued support to our sponsored students and expanded Teacher Training programming which saw an increase in test scores as Nsondole CDSS. The students and families want to thank YOU, our donors and Co-Authors, for your generous support. These past couple of years have been rough for our students, but your contributions have helped them immeasurably.
While we made a big impact, inflation & food insecurity are still major concerns.
Students and their families are still being affected by the aftermath of Cyclone Freddy (2023), an exponentially increased inflation rate, and food insecurity. With your donations, we have been able to supply food for 27 students, reinvigorate the Women’s Empowerment Program, provide teachers with new teaching tools and practices for the 2024-2025 school year, and increase parent/guardian involvement.
Educators of Nsondole Community Day Secondary School
Here is how you helped bring this all to fruition:
Food Security
The students and families of Nsondole CDSS have been feeling the inflation squeeze that many of us were in 2023. A 50 kg bag of maize that once cost less than $0.50 USD now costs $24.15 USD, a cost that’s 50 times more expensive than before. Many students went without food at home, making it a struggle to focus on their studies due to their empty stomachs. A total of twenty-seven 50kg bags of maize and a total of fifty-four 1kg packets of sugar were purchased and distributed by our team with your generous donations. These ingredients have helped the students and their families sustain themselves, through simple staple dishes like porridge.
A 50 kg bag of maize that once cost less than $0.50 USD now costs $24.15 USD...
50 times more expensive than before.
Maize, a type of corn flour, is the staple food of Malawians. Shown here being made into fritters.
New Story Time Representatives
We have two new members of our team, Austin Chaona and Shalom Kaunda!
They are field representatives in Malawi that provide crucial information to our team in Minnesota. They send us student reports, test scores, and help organize Story Time programming with the teaching staff . They also conduct house visits and help distribute supplies like backpacks, uniforms and notebooks.
Teacher Training
Teacher Training was conducted on April 11th & 12th, 2024, and all the teachers of Nsondole CDSS were present. The facilitators provided the teachers with updated teaching methods and tools for grading examinations, lecturing and providing the students with a better learning experience.
One teacher of Nsondole CDSS stated that “We were penalizing the learners because we did not know how best we were to do assessment, mark questions, and award marks. We also had challenges in delivering content to our student[s] such that we thought the students did not understand the content because they were dull and yet we were not fully delivering the content for the students to understand and pass.”
Mr. Hezekiah, the Quality Education Assurance Advisor, stated that he has been a teacher for over 20 years, and he has never seen an organization like Story Time empower the teachers before.
He also encouraged the teachers to show their gratitude by doing well in teaching, producing good results for both the students and the teachers themselves.
““For a school to be successful, it requires hard work and dedication at the same time mindset change for the students to start liking school through the way the teacher behaved and delivered the content”.”
Mr. Hezekiah addressing Nsondole CDSS educators
Women’s Empowerment Program
The Women’s Empowerment Program has been reinvigorated with teaching the female students entrepreneurial skills, like cooking and tailoring, while reiterating the importance of their education and re-establishing a community where they feel empowered.
Ms. Samu educating the girl students at Nsondole CDSS
Test Scores
Nsondole CDSS students take two standardized tests throughout secondary school, the JCE (equivalent to a sophomore in high school) and the MSCE (equivalent to a senior in high school). Generally, school-wide Nsondole students have an 80% pass rate at JCE and 53% pass rate at MSCE.
This academic year, 83% of Story Time sponsored students passed the JCE and 71% have passed the MSCE. One of our beneficiaries, Joseph, achieved one of the highest scores in the 2024 MSCE results. Based on our team’s observations, we can see the result of Story Time’s Teacher Training applied by teachers, in these improved test scores.
““Nsondole CDSS teachers, guardians and us representatives are more than grateful for all the support that is being given to the vulnerable students at the school. This is giving a very positive impact in the lives of its beneficiaries at the same time promoting quality education for all.””
Thank you for your continued support with Story Time! Our efforts and hard work won’t be possible without contributors like you.