Life-Changing Charity Trip to Malawi for Culford Sixth Formers
18 Aug 2014
Culford School’s charitable links with Malawi were renewed this summer as 20 Culford Sixth Formers gave their time to help improve schools, orphanages and day centres in the country. Working with charities such as the Char Char Trust, who promote literacy for life in Africa, and the Good News Orphanage, Culford’s pupils built toilets, taught in primary schools and gave radio interviews on the importance of literacy.
The team gave away 350 new books, funded through their own efforts, while in Malawi. Lesley Martin, Head Librarian at Culford, who was on this year’s trip, was particularly gratified by this emphasis on literacy, commenting “For me personally the focus on reading and libraries was very special as well as seeing how eagerly the children responded to the books we brought. It is always rewarding to see how our own pupils throw themselves wholeheartedly into everything – they worked really hard and seemed to love every minute.”
Blood reserves are also critically short in Malawi, and twelve of the team gave blood while in the city of Blantyre, adding 15 life-saving pints between them. The pupils taught in four Blantyre primary schools, and visited Nankhufi School where Culford volunteers have built classrooms during previous trips.
Providing extra learning space has always been a key objective of Culford’s Malawi work. One of the schools they visited had over 6,000 pupils yet only 34 classrooms, giving average class sizes of around 176. The Culford-backed building programme is helping to dramatically reduce this figure.
The group were delighted to see Culford pupils from previous trips on the wall of fame inside the clinic, which is designed to encourage people to donate.
The pupils and teachers have returned from Malawi and will be supporting those participating in the 2015 trip during the next academic year. Culford’s annual Malawi trip is just one of the fulfilling and rewarding experiences that make up Culford’s Sixth Form Enrichment Programme, and proof that an education at Culford is indeed challenging, enriching and fun.