< News Archives – Page 17 of 17 – Mamie Martin Fund

Category: News

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Preparing for Malawi trip

Governance visits to Malawi are an important part of our work with our partners there as well as playing a vital role in our accountability to our beneficiaries and donors.

Moira (left) and Angie plan their Malawi trip

This year Moira Dunworth will go to Malawi again and will be joined by fellow Trustee, Angie Wynn, for whom this will be a first trip to Africa. They met to discuss dates and other practical preparation tasks. Then they booked their flights so the trip will be from 25th September to 15th October. They hope to visit all of the schools we support and meet all of our partners as well as the many friends of the Mamie Martin Fund in Malawi.

A key task on this trip will be the signing of a new Partnership Agreement with the Diocese of Karonga. We start supporting girls at their boarding school, St Mary’s, in 2019 thanks to the Scottish Government’s funding of ‘Alison Cameron Scholarships’.

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Mercy gets her driving licence!

One of the outcomes of our recent Scottish Government Capacity-Building grant

Our wonderful Malawi Manager, Mercy, has achieved yet another life skill. She has succeeded in getting her driving licence! From what we know, and what we have experienced when visiting, driving in Malawi is quite an achievement!

Given that her role with us involves a lot of travel, having the independence and flexibility to drive herself will be so beneficial.

Our thanks go to the Scottish Government for the recent Capacity Building Grant which enabled us to fund Mercy’s lessons and pay for her licence, among many other capacity-building activities this past year

Many congratulations to her from all her Mamie Martin friends in Scotland.

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A Malawian perspective at our Board

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We were delighted to welcome Esmelda Chirwa to our Board meeting this week. She is from Blantyre, Malawi and is an MSc student at Glasgow Caledonian University. She has joined our Board as an advisor while she is in Scotland. It is so helpful to have a Malawian perspective on our Board discussions, particularly the viewpoint of a young Malawian woman.

She found her first Board meeting useful too as she has not realised the complexity of managing money at this end. It seems that we are in a win-win situation here; we benefit from her advice and those she knows in Malawi will benefit from understanding more about how small organisations work here.

Thanks Esmelda – it is a great pleasure to have you on board.

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Humbie Dean garden opens on 19th May

Finally, the weather is warming up so that thoughts are turning to garden visiting. We have just the garden for you! Humbie Dean is a two-acre ornamental and woodland garden sandwiched between two burns at 600 feet with interest throughout a long season. A limited palette of plants with hosta, hellebores, perennial geranium, primula, meconopsis, martagon lilies, spring bulbs, ground cover, herbaceous and shrub planting, bluebell meadow, mature and recent azalea and rhododendron planting. A short woodland walk has been created, only accessible by a series of steps.

Frank Kirwan has again chosen the Mamie Martin Fund as the beneficiary of his Humbie Dean garden openings with Scotland’s Gardens. Because of the very cold Spring, this year Humbie Dean is only open on Sundays 19th and 26th May & Sunday 7 July , 10am – 2pm. Admission £5.00, children free.

Directions: Enter Humbie from the A68, pass the school and village hall on the left then immediately turn right just before the Humbie Hub. Take second left and Humbie Dean is on the left between two small bridges. Limited parking.