The Dalitso Project
September 2018
9/26/2018
Thanks again to you all for all your ongoing support. Apologies for the late update! I am preparing to leave for Malawi so the September update is late. September was container month again. The container left at the start of September this year and the packing of the container was done expertly by the Dalitso container team and by a team of marines from 45 commandos Condor. We are once again extremely grateful to the marines for giving up their time and energy to help us with this. The container has left in plenty of time again this year, so all being well it should be with our centres in time for Christmas. September also brought about the results for the standard 8 exams (primary school leaving certificate). This year all of our pupils passed, which is a great achievement, however unfortunately only 4 of them were selected to a secondary school. This is because in Malawi, there are many pupils wanting to study at Secondary than there are places in Secondary school. This means that even when pupils pass their exams it does not guarantee that they can go to secondary school as they have to pass within the top cohort of their region. Unfortunately several of our students were not able to do this on this occasion and so they are going to have to repeat the year to see if they can improve upon it next year. Three of our further education students at the nursing and allied medical college have now completed their studies and passed their final exams. Jean Maluwa and Emmanuel Phiri graduated as nurses and Freeston Mawale graduated as a clinical officer which is similar to a doctors assistant. It is exciting to see them reaching the working stage of life and whilst they wait for their government posting they have all volunteered to work for us in Kambilonjo in the Dochas Centre. Jean is a 22 year old girl who has been part of our sponsor a child program since 2010. Jean’s Father died when she was a toddler and her mother has brought up Jean and Jean’s two nephews since their mother’s death in 2009. Life has been tough for Jean, but she is a hard worker and since then she has soared through primary and secondary school into nursing college where she has performed exceptionally well. Jean is now very excited to finally be ready to enter working life and begin to provide for her family. Freeston Mawale also lost his father when he was very young but his mother got a job working as a cleaner for Aquaid Lifeline our partner organisation. Since then he has been working as hard as he can to become a doctors assistant (or clinical officer as he will be known). This is something that he has wanted to do all his life! While Emmanual Phiri joined our program more recently and has also done well, there is a lot of personal excitement with the graduation of Jean and Freeston as Jean has been my own sponsror child for the last 8 years and Freeston was one of my pupils when I lived and taught in Malawi in 2008! Paul Sochera and Lovemore Kalepa who have just graduated from Secondary have also been selected to attend a welding course nearby the centre at Thyolo which will be a great opportunity for them to develop their practical skills. At Thyolo the wedding dress shop is now operational although the majority of custom so far has been from the boutique dresses and jewellery that they are also selling. It is likely that this business will take some time and advertisement to reach its full potential. Our infant rescue has also picked up a few needy children. Meet two of the cuties. The weather in Malawi is now getting progressively warmer and more humid moving towards the rainy season, so all our gardeners are getting ready to plant the maize and potatoes for the year ahead. We hope that there will be good rains for a good harvest this year. Thanks again for your continued support! Here’s a picture of some of our Thyolo children with their new school uniforms to brighten your day! Becky
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