In the realm of education, every student's journey is unique, but few stories encapsulate resilience and determination quite like that of Zalimba, a Form 4 student and beneficiary of Story Time.
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.
Austin came to Story Time in order to further his education. Partly due to his determination and partly due to Story Time sponsorship, he was able to apply and begin attending college - the first in his family to do so. He wants to be financially stable so he can provide for his family. He says he thinks about his future everyday and is confident in his ability to achieve his dreams.
Chisomo is a previous Story Time participant in the Women’s Empowerment Project, and since graduating, has become a volunteer facilitator and learner guide for CAMFED on the topic of sexual health and reproduction. She feels that because she went to school, “maybe I should do business. I should do something on my own.” But her mall business is not without struggle, due to the recent drought.
A few weeks ago, we covered the Youth Bubble in another blog post. We suggest reading it first, if you haven’t already, to provide context for the following story. This week, we’re sharing a story that illustrates the dire need for change in the way young people without resources, such as those from rural areas like our partner school, are facing a challenging future.
There is an “Invisible Generation” in Malawi. One that is virtually ignored. In Malawi, 70% of the population is under 30. This means an influx of youth coming into the workforce, bringing with them, dreams of innovation, entrepreneurship, and a better future. But that is not what is happening. There is a youth job crisis and a growing number of young laborers in need of work.
Malawi not only faces rising energy demand, but has insufficient power generating capacity, lacks investment in new generators, struggles with high transmission and distribution costs, poor power quality and reliability, and finally, heavily subsidized pricing, that is controlled mostly by the government. But there is some hope on the horizon.
“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.
