Dunblane Likhubula Partnership

You may remember that late last year we repeated the fertiliser distribution to support those in the community who would benefit most to grow successful crops. The Likhubula committee have sent some photos showing great progress of crops so far, along with the following message: "Dearest friends, We are glad to let you know that the maize crop is promising this year. We hope people will have better harvest. The fertilizer donated helped the community a lot. See the photos a

One of the great new additions to the Bursary programme this session is a food parcel for each Bursar in January - often the time of the year when food can be in shortest supply. The forward thinking Likhubula committee bought this in advance before food prices drastically increased and have stored these until now when they expected it to be most useful. A ceremony with Bursars, their families and the Likhubula committee was held to ensure transparency and to celebrate the pa

As has become traditional, at the end of the year all those involved directly with the partnership in Likhubula gather together for a Christmas party. This was attended by Steering Committee members, Bursars, Village Chiefs, head teachers of the schools involved with the Bursary scheme and other invited guests. This is a great opportunity to celebrate the work of the Partnership over a meal and to share stories and encouragement. The Likhubula steering committee have shared a

When we visited Likhubula last summer, a number of future partnership projects were discussed. One suggestion was to support the provision of water to Nakhonyo village - one of the villages which make up Likhubula. Many years ago we had supported with the provision of water pumps in other areas of the community such as at Nansato Primary school. Water is such a valuable resource and clean water can make a huge difference to health. The Likhubula steering committee came back w

We are delighted to announce that we have agreed to support a former Bursar in his further education to become a teacher. Tayamika Nedi graduated from Chambe Secondary school in 2015 having been a Dunblane Bursar. He has been accepted to Chiladzulo Teacher Training Colllege - a government run college. This is a partially government funded 2 year course with a year at college and a year of teaching practice. Our priority is supporting secondary education rather than further ed

While in Likhubula this summer, discussions were had between our 2 steering committees on the sorts of things that had gone well (or not so well!) for the partnership in the past. One thing that was raised as a positive by the Likhubula steering committee was previous food and fertiliser aid. Through discussions around sustainability, longer term benefits and the idea of "a hand up, not a hand out", fertiliser aid was thought to be something which had worked well in the past

We are delighted to be able to share that the housing project has been complete. This has been a very difficult project and thanks must go to the Likhubula Steering committee who oversaw the final stages of work by a local builder to ensure its completion. 6 houses have been constructed - one in each village - and so 6 very worthy families will now have somewhere safe and dry to live. Beneficiaries are now living in the new houses, and a formal "handing over ceremony" is bein

This year we are really pleased to have provided solar lamps to all 25 of our Bursars. This follows a suggestion by the Likhubula Committee and Bursars Monitor on ways to support Bursars to achieve their best and will allows Bursars to study at home in the evening. As with everything in Malawi, these were presented very publicly to ensure transparency in a "very special event". The Likhubula committee write: "Here attached are photos of bursars, parents/guardians and Steering

The annual shopping trip for Bursars has taken place, getting all the school supplies and uniforms included when you become a Dunblane Bursar. Our thanks to the Likhubula Steering Committee for making this happen and providing the photos. Photos from the day can be seen here #friendship #photo #bursary

Our new Bursars this year were selected in the same way as in previous years through a process run by the Likhubula committee, village chiefs and the Bursary Monitor. The purpose of this is to ensure the limited spaces are allocated to the right people against a number of criteria including ability and need. All those who were deemed eligible and had a place at one of the Secondary schools supported by the Bursary scheme were invited to sit a short entrance test prepared by t

Did you see our news about the improvements to our Bursary scheme this year? Further to this, we are delighted to be able to support a bumper intake this year - 10 new Form 1 Bursars! This year we were due to reach 20 Bursars for the first time - 5 in each of the year groups in secondary school. Instead, we are now supporting 25! Thank you to all who support the partnership who have allowed this decision to be made, and best of luck and congratulations to all of our Bursars.

For a number of years now, we have supported 5 young people a year to progress to secondary education at Chambe Secondary school through our Bursary scheme. We are proud to be a partnership, and so everything we do is done together. During the visit in the summer, the Likhubula committee, Bursary Monitor and Head Teacher at Nansato Primary School made some suggestions on how to improve the Bursary Scheme which the visitors brought back to Scotland to investigate further. Ofte

During the visit this summer, a gift of £100 from Dunblane Cathedral Guild was handed over to Likhubula Mvano. This was to be used by Mvano to support the local community; something Mvano would know how to do effectively much better than us in Scotland. Mvano used the funds to purchase food and other essentials and distributed it publicly to those in need throughout the community. The Likhubula Steering committee have captured some great photos from the distribution which can

This summer, it was a privilege for Fiona, George and Ian to travel to Likhubula representing the partnership along with Dunblane BB's Project Malawi team. Like us, they wrote a blog while in Likhubula and it is well worth a read. http://bbprojectmalawi2016.blogspot.co.uk/ #photo #friendship

While in Likhubula, Fiona George and Ian kept a blog giving a flavour of just some of what they were up to. Have a read at the link below to get an insight into a busy but productive time in Likhubula http://likhubula2016.blogspot.co.uk/ #admin #friendship #text

Following a suggestion and request from the Likhubula committee, and previous much-needed food aid distributions, our 2 committees were able to arrange the distribution of fertiliser to 75 families in the Likhubula area. Our committee arranged the purchase of the fertiliser from a depot in Chitikale, while the Likhubula committee worked with the community and chiefs to identify the recipients and organise the distribution. This has been a very successful exercise and we hope

We have received video updates on the progress of the house building. After some delay in getting it online, we’re happy to share it with you. You can watch the whole video here Excerpts with those who will benefit from the houses speaking can be seen here; in Chichewa but with English subtitles! Thanks to Will, a local supporter of our Partnership who was in the area with work, for providing the video. Thanks also to all those who agreed to be filmed, and to Nat for his tran

​ We were proud to help bring Marys Meals to Nansato Primary School many years ago. They have helped us in the past with logistics for emergency food aid and we are happy to support them too! Until 28 December, the UK Government has agreed to double any donation made to Marys Meals! Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow, founder of Marys Meals said: “Dear friend, Recently we’ve been doing lots of work to measure the impact of Mary’s Meals. The early results are truly staggering, giving co

With the beginning of a new school session, the Dunblane Bursars had their shopping trip for school supplies. This includes stationery, uniforms, school shoes and the other essential items for school which are include in our Bursary Scheme. Our Likhubula Committee informed us they’d even managed to make the budget go a bit further: “We were given a discount when purchasing school uniforms so we used the balance to buy the Umbrellas for bursars so that they can use during rain

Fiona and Ian from our Steering Committee in Dunblane (plus Matthew and Louise!) attended the 10th Scotland Malawi Partnership AGM on 3 Oct in Edinburgh. This event also included the launch of the UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals. You can find out more about our involvement with these here. Fiona was asked to speak at the event about how our Partnership is working to meet Goal 1: No Poverty. She got a great reception and there was a lot of interest in the work of our Pa