Malawi, The Series Round 3

The high school I attended (and later taught at) in Lloydminster has been building a relationship with the orphaned and vulnerable children attending the school Royie started up in Mngwere, Malawi. The Lloyd school has been learning about Malawi and Hands at Work, raising funds, generating awareness and interest and writing letters. One of the main reasons I visited Malawi was to understand more about the community and the children in the schools so I can bring more information back to my school. I visited all the schools Royie's children are attending. There are three schools in total: Tima (which the Community Based Organisation [CBO] runs out of Royie's church in Mngwere), Milonde 1 and Milonde 2 (government schools). Tima CBO takes the children for the first 2 years in order to get them adjusted to school, to keep closer tabs on them, and build good skills and passion for school. Royie's first group of kids he started with in Tima CBO have just entered the government school this year. After Grade 2, the children attend Milonde 2 which runs up to Grade 6, and then further onto Milonde 1 which goes up to Grade 8. After that, one of the best Secondary Schools in the country is very near, but many don't make it there.

To understand the schools a bit better, I spent a whole day interviewing teachers, principals and children. This is what they had to say.

Principals:
[The headmaster of the school and head teacher spoke about their school, successes, and challenges.]

We teach 9 subjects: English, Maths, Chichewa (local language), Science & Technology, Social & Environmental Studies, Expressive Arts (music, dance, games, drama), Life Skills, Agriculture, and Religious Education (including Islam, Christianity, and ADR, their traditional spirituality). We have 804 learners and 11 teachers. Our classes have up to 150 children per 1 or 2 teachers. The government recommends 60 children per teacher, but we just can't manage that. Because of this, we are preaching, not teaching. This is our main challenge. Our classrooms are overcrowded. The rooms are very small and children are sitting on the floor, shoulder to shoulder. Ideally we would want a ratio of 1 teacher to 40 students. We are also short of books. The government sponsors us, but we mostly have to supply our own. We would love to have posting boards to post papers on and demonstrations for teaching, lockers to store learning materials, and desks and chairs for the students. Another challenge is the unreliable water source. We have a seasonal water trap but when it is dried up we have to fetch water over 2 km away. This makes a huge challenge for teachers because it is difficult to keep clean and they often come to school unbathed and with dirty clothes. Other challenges include parents' inability to meet basic needs, lack of permanent and adequate toilets, and no teacher housing (part of the deal of being a teacher is that the government provides houses for you near the school). [One thing I found very interesting is that they never one mentioned or hinted at their salary.]

[I was impressed that these guys spoke so much about their successes. In my experience, mostly challenges are spoken about and successes difficult to come up with.]
We have very hard working teachers and they love their learners very much. They are quick to offer extra classes to ensure their students succeed. Our school always wins competitions against other schools in the district. We won a National Quiz on Aids. Our students won us MK 40,000 (approx $212). Our school sends the most learners in the district to National secondary schools and because of this, pupils come from all over to attend our school. We are also proud that our learners can read and write in Grade 1.

[Because I was curious, I asked about salaries].
Our pay ranges based on the grade we teach. When a teacher first starts out, they are placed in Grade L. They can only move onto the next grade level (and pay scale) by receiving a promotion. The problem with this is that if a teacher completes all the requirements to receive a promotion, but gets denied, they are never allowed to receive a promotion again. The teachers can upgrade themselves to teach at higher levels by going back to school, but they can't afford it.
Grade L pay starts at MK 19,000 per month (approx $100) before deductions. They usually earn a net pay of around MK 15,000 per month (approx $80). A teacher in Grade 8 can earn between MK 40,000 - MK 50,000 per month (approx. $212 - $265). There are very few Grade 8 teachers, though, because the government controls how many are promoted. Too many Grade 8 teachers costs too much. They currently have 1 Grade 8 teacher in their whole district.

Teachers:
[A teacher, Peter, spoke about the kids from Tima CBO and their adjustment to Grade 3 in the government school.]

The children attend regularly. They are average students, they definitely aren't the bottom of the class, despite the unique challenges they face. They were facing many challenges (food, clothing, health, grief, etc.) but Tima CBO has minimized these challenges so the children are better able to focus in school. They interact very well with the other children. They all play well together and aren't stigmatized. As a teacher I face a big challenge of the large numbers of learners and the little learning materials we have. In order to cope with this, we do a lot of group work. Another challenge is that we don't have enough classrooms for all the classes. One of the classes takes place outside under the big tree. During rainy season (Oct - Apr), the class learns in the hall (which is basically outside still, but under a veranda).

Students:
[Interviewed 3 students cared for by the CBO, one of Royie's original students in Grade 3, one student in Grade 6 and another in Grade 7.]

Teleza is an 11 year old girl in Grade 3B. She stays in Mngwere Village with her Granny. She is a very clever girl whose favourite subject is Chichewa and who desires to be a teacher. She loves to play a common Malawian game called Wishu. You use bowls and collect sand. There is a person in the middle that has to fill the bowl with sand while others are trying to hit him/her with a ball. She says her biggest challenge is soap for bathing and writing materials for school. She says she loves school and knows that if she stays in school, she will know how to read and write. She has a field where they have planted maize and beans. They will harvest between June and July and Teleza will be a big part of this harvest. As the Granny gets older, responsibility will fall more and more on Teleza to do the farming. This is the only way they are surviving. From the CBO, Sarah visits her three times a week. Sarah encourages her to go to school. Teleza is very happy when Sarah visits and so is her Granny (she gives a big smile). Her mother passed away when she was 4. When her mother passed away, her father married another woman. He comes sometimes to see her, but really isn't around much. In Malawi, when men marry, they become part of the woman's family and stays with them. When they divorce or the wife dies, the man must go back to his own family. The man can take the children but he will most likely get re-married and the new wife usually treats the children poorly. He knows it is best for the children to stay with the Grandparents. When asked if she's happy, she just smiled and giggled, then proceeded to take me to a bush of flowers to pose in front of as I took her picture.

Felista in 17 years old and stays in Mngwere village with her mother's younger sister, who is 25. She has an older sister who is 19 but she is away doing domestic work for a family in Lilongwe. Royie found Felista in 2009 staying alone in her house, both of her parents had passed away. She was incredibly vulnerable to lonely men and the CBO feared men could come at any time. She was 15 at that time and in Grade 4, but was taken away to work a farm for 1 year. This seems to be common with vulnerable children. Because Mngwere is not a developed or highly educated place, people see it as a place they can get workers. Farmers come into the community and advertise that they want workers and it seems to be children that get taken. Vulnerable children see it as an opportunity until they come back after 1 year and received very little pay. When the CBO found out she was working the farm, they talked to the person that hired her. They were kind enough to allow her to attend school when she wasn't farming. After coming back from working, she stayed with her Aunt and is now attending school at Milonde 1. She says she likes school because she wants to assist all her relatives when she finds work. She says her main challenge is at home. Some days they can't find food and this causes her to struggle with her school work because of her hunger.

Deborah is 14 years old and stays in Mngwere village. She stays with her Granny and her Uncle. She likes school because she wants to be a useful citizen in Malawi and become a nurse. She says she knows people who are sick right now, one of them being her Aunt's daughter. She has been sick for 3 days and Deborah has been helping them fetch water for her bath. She loves to read books in English and does it every opportunity she has, which often isn't much. They struggle with water and she has to fetch water up to 1.5 km away. This usually takes her 1-2 hours, depending on the cue. She says she fetches water because she doesn't want her Granny to be troubled to go. She does this as soon as she comes home from school and as a result has to complete homework during the night with a torch.

All the children spoke highly of their Care Workers from Tima CBO that visit them regularly. The CBO is doing a lot for the children, 165 orphaned and vulnerable children in total. Everyday after school, they come to the Care Centre (Royie's church in the meantime) for a meal. All the children also receive exercise books and pens, uniforms, home visits, and blankets. Many children sleep on the bare, dirt floor which is a huge problem especially in the winter when it gets down to 0 degrees Celcius. The Care Workers also provide homework help for the children at the Centre after school. This is very important (as we learned from Deborah) because the children become very busy fetching water and working the fields as soon as they get home from school. Tima CBO is also providing Grade 1 and 2 classes for 28 children, an additional meal for them, and soap.