Malawi, known as The Warm Heart of Africa, is a small landlocked country in southeast Africa. It is bordered by Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique.

Malawi is among the world’s least developed countries. The economy is heavily based on agriculture, with a largely rural population. The life expectancy is low and the infant mortality rate is high.

United With Hope’s focus in Malawi is a little different than in India. Instead of individual child sponsorships, we support education on a broader scale. Our main focus is on supporting Chipambo Primary School as a whole. We believe education is the key to lifting people out of poverty. By supporting education, we aim to help these students be better prepared to give themselves and their families a better life.

Chipambo Primary School is in a rural area on the outskirts of Mzuzu, the third largest city in Malawi. When we first began our work in the area, most classes were held outdoors with students sitting on the ground. The only water supply was an old bore hole and a nearby stream. Now there is running water at the school! We helped to build the first brick classrooms. The community has worked hard to help by providing the labor and some of the supplies. We have also built latrines to improve sanitary conditions. We’ve purchased sports equipment and team uniforms. And in 2017, we were able to bring electricity to all of the classrooms, due to a very generous donor.

The needs of the school are great. Students come from many surrounding communities. Some walk more than an hour each way to attend the school. There are currently about 650 students enrolled. While we have been able to provide some desks and some textbooks, most students are still sitting on the floor and many students must share a single textbook for many of the subjects taught.

Any donation, large or small, would benefit 650 eager learners!

• Provide a desk for $22.

• Textbooks range from $5 to $8 each, depending on subject and grade level. Each student studies 7 – 9 different subjects, so many many textbooks are needed just to get to the point that only two or three children must share a book.

• Teaching supplies are always in demand. Consider our $5/month sponsorship of the school to help provide these teachers with the basic necessities for teaching. (See donation button below.)

• More latrines are desperately needed. When we built the block of six new latrines a few years ago, this was a huge improvement to sanitation. But 650 students are using 6 latrines. Another block of 6 or even 10 more would ease the lines and improve conditions. It will cost approximately $1300 to build six more.

In addition to Chipambo Primary, we have recently begun supporting Lukalazi Secondary School. Fewer than 25% of Malawi’s population is able to attend high school. Fees are high and supplies are limited. As more and more of our Chipambo Primary students graduate and are accepted into high school, we felt the need to assist on the secondary level, too. We have only just begun our partnership with the school, so far by providing materials as they have been adding classrooms and some teacher supplies and textbooks. We hope to be able to increase our support over the course of the next year.

We are fortunate to have Mathias Mwitha as the director of our programs in Malawi. He oversees every project, making sure the money our donors share with us is used wisely and according to plan. He has worked tirelessly for us for many years, receiving no salary from our organization. We are pleased to announce that we have recently added an assistant director, Mrs. Khetase Tembo. She is a primary school teacher and has a deep understanding of the needs of our sponsored schools and the students. She has been so helpful to our programs.

Please consider making a one-time or continuing donation to support education for kids with few opportunities or resources!