Report of Visit to Malawi

October 2006

Lindsay Graham

(Secretary, The Soko Fund)

www.sokofund.org

Visit to Malawi October 2006

The Fund's slogan 'Help for the Heart of Africa' is derived from Malawi's catch-phrase 'The warm heart of Africa'. This captures not just the climate and geographical position, but a social culture that has made Malawi an impressively stable and peaceful country. But in common with the majority of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, it faces unrelenting difficulties in the struggle for development, especially widespread poverty and AIDS. Malawi has a further difficulty, however, since its natural resources are severely limited. This fact makes human resources even more vital to the country's future. Yet their development through education is often itself seriously hampered by poverty.

The aim of the Soko Fund is to contribute to the development of individuals by supporting them through university. But the Fund also aims to contribute to the development of the country by supporting students in vocational courses such as education and medicine.

While both men and women are important for this development, securing an education can be more difficult for women because of traditional roles. Although there are an increasing number of schools in Malawi that offer girls a good education at a reasonable cost, access to higher education is more difficult. Local universities and colleges are cheap by European and American standards, but the combination of fees and living expenses is too much for most families to contemplate. It is especially unthinkable for people who are expected to become wives and mothers. The result is that even the brightest school leavers are often unable to gain access to education that will make the most of their natural gifts.

At the moment, only 18% of the relevant age cohort goes to secondary school and only 0.3% of the relevant age go to university. Only a small percentage of these are women.

The majority of the students the Soko Fund supports at present are training to be teachers. It is estimated that 50,000 teachers are needed in Malawi to run the education system. The University of Malawi produces 200 teachers each year and this is greater than the other 2 universities. There is a desperate need for teachers and a great need for knowledgeable and qualified staff in many areas for Malawi to develop.

As Secretary for the Soko Fund, I visited the University on 17^th -20^th October 2006. The main University campus is based at Livingstonia, high in the hills in the northern region of Malawi. The aim of my visit was to meet with the students and gather more information about their studies and their future intentions. We also wanted to find out whether the support that the Soko Fund provides was working well for them. Meeting with the Principal and the university gave us the opportunity to confirm the organisation of the scholarships was working well.

At the present time, the Soko Fund is supporting 4 students at the university:

Jane Chikapa               Education (English)                Fourth year

Elcana Chihana           Education (History)                Fourth year

Rachel Munthali          Education (History)                Fourth year

Siphiwe Masola           Education (Geography)           Third year

At the time of my visit, the 3 final year students that the Soko Fund supports were on teaching practice in different schools around the northern region of Malawi. Jane Chikapa was allocated to Ekwendeni Girls Secondary School; Rachel Munthali was allocated to Karonga Girls Secondary; and Elcana Chihana was allocated to Bandawe Girls Secondary. Due to time constraints we decided I would visit Jane Chikapa at Ekwendeni and then visit the campus at Livingstonia to see the university and to meet with Siphiwe Masola, the third year student supported by the Fund.

Met with Jane at Ekwendeni Secondary. Ekwendeni is one of the oldest girls schools in Malawi, with over 25 years of teaching students. It is a large school with 2 classes of each of the four forms, totalling around 500 students. Jane has majored in English for her degree and during her teaching practice had been allocated two form 3 classes. This is the preliminary year for the senior secondary qualification, Malawi Secondary Certificate of Education (MSCE).

Teaching practice is the opportunity for Jane to put everything she has learnt into practice. Jane showed me around the school in the classrooms, the halls, the dining room and the hostels where the students are accommodated. She also showed me her lessons plans and some of her teaching materials. During her time at Ekwendeni, Jane is assessed three times with assessors sitting in on her classes and she must pass the assessments of her lesson plans as well as the in class assessments.

The University Campus

The library is a newly refurbished building with the main library and the computer room. Although the library is in good condition with good furniture there are only a few books in the library, as the picture demonstrates. There is a problem for students gaining access to materials and gaining access to relevant and up-to-date information.

The hostel for women is a more established building with a place for the students to wash their clothes, showers and a common room where they can study.

Siphiwe Masola

Siphiwe is in the third year of studying to be a teacher.  She is specialising in geography although she also has hopes of continuing her studies into postgraduate. Siphiwe has been studying methods of teaching and sociology of school, as well as subjects such as animal biology and economic geography.

Siphiwe is one of 7 children supported by her father. One of her uncles died a few years ago and as with so many families in Malawi, her father took in his brother’s 4 children. This meant that having the money for Siphiwe’s university fees was impossible.

The future

On the whole, the University of Livingstonia is doing well and has managed to establish itself in 3 short years, battling against many odds. The infrastructure of the university is in place and the buildings are slowly being re-developed. One of the difficulties the university faces is a shortage of staff. The university has staffing problems partly because so few people get to university, the number going onto teach at university level is very small. Also, the university is high in the hills in the north and attracting teachers to the campus can be difficult. Staff have been seconded from the University of Mzuzu although sometimes only for a short period. This has meant that staff work hard when they are there and on occasions students have classes from 8am until 10pm so that lecturers can cover more material.

Together, with staffing issues the university is also trying to build up its library to ensure that the students have a decent amount of material to study. Similarly the university is trying to raise money for an Internet connection, which would enable the students to gain access to so much more information.

One of the major challenges, however, facing the university is the difficulty students have in paying their fees. The university is reliant on money coming from fees but it also needs the students. The Soko Fund currently supports 4 students and will support 5 in 2006/7.

The Alexander Scholarship

The Soko Fund is also administering the Alexander Scholarship. The Alexander scholarship has been established by the Alexander family in the memory of their father, Rev James Alexander, who spent many years teaching in Livingstonia. The Alexander scholarship supports students from the northern region (traditionally the poorest area of Malawi) to study to become teachers.

Along with the Alexander Scholarship, the Fund will soon be supporting 6 students at the university. The Soko Fund is small but is gaining in size and intends to expand its much needed support in the next few years.

University of Malawi

I visited the University from 24^th – 26^th October. The university was the first university in Malawi and was established in 1964. Professor Leonard Kamwanja, the Pro-vice Chancellor, administers the Soko Fund scholarships throughout the university.

The university has 5 colleges – Chancellor College (Education), Bunda College (Agriculture), Kamuzu Academy for Nursing, the Polytechnic (Commerce) and the College of Medicine. At present, the Soko Fund is supporting 4 students at the university, with 3 students who have recently graduated. The majority of the four students are studying to become teachers, with the final student about to complete her degree in accountancy. The details of the students are:

Donna Phiri                             Accountancy                                       finishes December 06

Violet  Mlozi                           Education (Home Economics)                        third year

Mphatso Mbendera                  Education (Geography)                                 second year

Tamenji Longwe                      Education (Home Economics)                        second year

Graduates:

Mary Chiputu                          Education

Nailesi Kamanga                     Education (Geography)

Thokozile Munthali                 Agriculture (Health and Nutrition)

During my visit I had the chance to meet with the students who are currently studying – Donna, Violet, Mphatso and Tamenji – and with two of the students who have already graduated – Nailesi and Thokozile. All the students told me that they would have been unable to continue their studies without  support from SOKO. They also mentioned that the small living allowance that comes with the Soko Scholarship has been very beneficial to them. This money has enabled the students to increase their access to the internet (all students have to pay for their time on the internet), allowing them to use material from up-to-date journals online. Although the library is reasonably well stocked, there are not many multiple copies and some of the books are older and do not contain the current ideas and information. This allowance has also helped the students to buy some books that are not available from the library.

Violet, Tamenji and Mphatso are all studying to become teachers. During an education degree, students take several subjects in the first two years, only specialising in the subject they will teach in the third year. Violet, our only third year student, has already decided to specialise in home economics. However, Mphatso and Tamenji, being second year students, are thinking of specialising in Geography and Home Economics respectively, Each student will spend 3 months of their final year in teaching practice at a secondary school.

The students showed me around the campus, which is a large area. There is the main building with lecture rooms and offices as well as 10 hostels for men and 4 for women; the cafeteria; the sports halls and courts; the students union; and the big hall where graduations take place.

The future

At the present time, the Soko Fund is supporting 4 students at the university, with 3 having already graduated. One of these 4 students is due to graduate in February. As well as continuing the support to the 3 remaining students all studying to become teachers, the Fund will offer support to 1 student in Agriculture, 1 student in Commerce, and 1 student at the Nursing College.

Graduate Portraits

The visit also gave me the chance to meet with two of the students who had recently graduated, Thokozile Munthali and Nailesi Kamanga:

Thokozile Munthali

Thokozile (on right of picture, with Donna Phiri) is an exceptionally bright student and graduated with distinction in October 2006 - the only person to do so in her class and one of only nine in the whole college. She studied agriculture at the Bunda College of the University of Malawi, with a specialisation in health and nutrition. Thokozile wrote her thesis on anaemia amongst the under 5s in Mzuzu (an area in the northern region). The college work with a grade point average (GPA) system which has a scale of 1-4, with 4 being the highest. During her undergraduate, Thokozile was averaging 3.89.

Thokozile herself has had to face many difficulties. Sadly, she lost her father when she was nine, leaving her mother to struggle alone in bringing up 4 children. Her mother realised how bright Thokozile was and took early retirement in order to use the settlement in order to send Thokozile to a good secondary school for the last two years of her schooling. Tragically two weeks before Thokozile was due to sit her final exams at school her mother died. However, Thokozile was determined to pass her exams and managed to do well in her exams and get a place at university.

Thokozile is now set to do a postgraduate in Health and Nutrition, enabling her to specialise further. She sees herself working on a food or health programme within Malawi, supporting people to improve their nutrition and particularly working with children. The postgraduate will put Thokozile in a much better position to get a job with an NGO. Her studies will be funded by the Cordiner Scholarship, which is a part of the Soko Fund aimed specifically at supporting postgraduate studies.

Nailesi Kamanga

Nailesi graduated in June 2006 with a degree in Education. Two days after her graduation she was offered a job teaching Geography and Social Studies at Malindi Secondary School, near Zomba in the southern region of Malawi. During her degree, Nailesi wrote her thesis on: Water Accessibility through kiosks in Peri-Urban Areas: A case study of Nancholi in Blantyre District.

Nailesi is one of five children – 3 boys and 2 girls - and the only one to reach university. Her father works in a soap factory and does not earn enough to send any of his children to university. Nailesi, however, was bright enough to secure a place at university and the university helped her to find financial support.

Nailesi is enjoying teaching at Malindi Secondary School, which is one of the best schools in the Zomba area. It opened in 2003 and has good teaching and learning materials for the students. Nailesi intends to teach for a while and then consider returning to university to do a postgraduate degree.

Lindsay Graham

www.sokofund.org                                                                                     Lindsay@sokofund.org