Gwangwa Housing Project

One of the biggest problems at my school is having very few teachers. It’s really unfortunate that my kids don’t get the educations they want and deserve simply because of a lack of someone to teach them. Currently, we are 8 teachers against nearly 400 students. What’s more is that two of my teachers are learning at Domasi Teacher’s Training College in Zomba which is wonderful for them to become better teachers, but not helpful to our current students who miss them periodically as they go for classes and exams throughout the year. For instance, they’ll be leaving at the beginning of next week and will not return until next term. That’s ten weeks of having only 6 teachers at Gwangwa!

In response to this problem, my community has come up with a pretty good solution. The same group of local chiefs, parents, PTA members and teachers who worked on our kitchen project have proposed that we undergo a large construction project to build housing for at least two new teachers and their families. The idea is to build nice, strong, attractive homes in order to entice teachers to come live in the village and work at Gwangwa. The problem is that most people graduating from teaching college would rather live somewhere with electricitly and running water than in the middle of nowhere without. We are confident, however, that once these houses are built the ministry of education will answer our prayers and send the teachers we so desperately need.

We have already started work on the house. The foundation has been built and bricks have as well been collected. The funds for this came from donations by local leaders including chiefs and village headmen as well as contributions by the parents of nearly all students. A portion of the money obtained from school fees has been used as well. We are working to get this project done, but still need a lot more help.

I have decided to raise a portion of the project costs from people back home. It’s a pretty big goal, but I hope that we’ll be able to find the help we need. If you are interested in personally donating or know of a group or organization who would be interested in raising funds please check out the link below.

All donations will be processed through Peace Corps and are tax-deductible.
Please contact me if you’d like more information on the project including letters or flyers or if you are interested in learning more about anything I am working on in Malawi.
I will keep you posted as the project continues!