< News Archives – Page 5 of 18 – Mamie Martin Fund

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Karin completes her #Birthday30 challenge

Congratulations to Karin Kastern who is the first #Birthday30 participant to complete her challenge. Karin lives and works in Norfolk, England. Her project was to visit 30 Norfolk churches. That county seems to be littered with very old and picturesque churches, as Karin’s photos show. Not only did she visit and photograph these churches, Karin also gave us bits of information about each one. You will find her page fascinating because we have included these snippets of local history.

Thanks to Karin’s daughter, MMF volunteer, Heidi, for introducing her to #Birthday30. Great credit to Karin for getting herself registered and for sending photos and info for each of these churches.

You can check out how the other #Birthday30 folk are doing here. There is still time to join them (link here) – the project goes on all year – the year of our 30th birthday, of course.

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Kiltwalking in the rain

On Sunday 30th April, 3,500 people walked in the Glasgow Kitwalk 2023. Among them were Kathleen and Nick, who walked the full 23 miles from Glasgow to Balloch. Captain Violet and her group walked 14.5 miles from Clydebank to Balloch. Toffee, the dog, is too old and stiff for this year’s walk but Simone and her children, Yara (11) and Sa’Ad (13), walked with (Aunty/Captain) Violet and Sud.

In true West of Scotland style, it rained most of the day. Spirits were not dampened, though. There is only so wet you can get. Moira supported the team on her bike, meeting up at pitstops with food, moral support and encouragement. Yara has just come back from her school outdoor-bound week and had sore ankles. These were strapped up by St Andrews First Aid at each pitstop – lots of TLC was administered too and she continued very bravely.

The atmosphere on the Kiltwalks is always great. The fun on the Glasgow one is hard to beat, regardless of the weather. People supported each other, laughed and fooled around and they just ignored the rain. It did clear up just as the MMF team was finishing. That was nice for the photos.

Thanks to those intrepid walkers, to all their supporters and to those who have donated to their fundraising page – there is still time to support them with a wee donation. They have raised enough for a Malawian girl’s fees for three (almost four) years. Wow!

https://www.justgiving.com/team/MMF-Glasgow23

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Dad & Daughter ran for Malawi

Against the backdrop of the horrendous effects of Cyclone Freddy in Southern Malawi and a drought in the North, it has been great to see the positivity around Hannah and Phil Wright running in the Manchester Marathon today. What a great good-news story. They completed the 42 kms (26.2 miles) in 3 hours and 57 minutes. How amazing is that?. Phil and Hannah have been running together for 10 years but this was their first marathon. Hannah explains:

“I started doing cross country at primary school in Malawi. Dad used to run the cross country club at our school and we ran around the botanical gardens in Zomba together. Dodging the baboons! This is our first race together and will be a massive challenge. We enjoy running as it is a way to spend time together and stay fit.”

Hannah and Phil have already raised enough money to send a Malawian girl to school for three of the four years of secondary school. They are overwhelmed by this generous support of family and friends. They are well on the way to making it a full four years of funding.

Getting the tram to the start
Cocky at 2 miles in
Cheery at 6 miles in
Determined at 12 miles in
Tired at 20 miles
Thrilled to finish

The engagement on social media today was lovely. Friends from far and wide posted encouragment and made donations. Old friends rediscovered each other too. Almost all the donations of the £1k already raised came in small amounts – £5, £10, £20. Never think that your donation is too small to make a difference. It is the only thing that does – to paraphrase Margaret Mead.

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Lighthouses – #Birthday30

It’s lovely to see what activities our supporters are doing as their #Birthday30 challenges. We love the photos sent in by loyal supporter, Jean Gordon. Jean is spotting 30 lighthouses this year. In an effort to scoop several in one trip, she recently went on a bus tour of East Lothian, Berwickshire and Northumberland with reservoir-visiting Sue Dumbleton.

They visited some fascinating places and we put together this short video of Jean’s lighthouses to date.

Some of the facts we’ve learnt from Jean are:

A light on the spire of Berwick-upon-Tweed’s Town Hall acted as a landing light for shipping before the current lighthouse was built.

Brownsman Island has not one but two lighthouse ruins (1800 and 1811), later replaced by the Longstone Lighthouse – look closely and see the seals!

That Longstone Lighthouse was the home of Grace Darling, the lighthouse keeper’s daughter, famous for rescuing survivors from the 1838 wreck of the Forfarshire.

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/Birthday30

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Do one action today for girls’ education

Faith Banda, ex-pupil of MMF

Today is International Women’s Day. One of the major issues in today’s world is that of girls’ access to education. It is easy to be so upset about issues like this, that we feel helpless and hopeless. But you can do one powerful thing today to help girls get an education. You can leave a bequest in your Will to the Mamie Martin Fund or any other organisation which supports girls’ and women’s education around the world.

That’s it. Simple. We provide a template for a codicil on our website. We received a bequest from a long-standing supporter this week and this will enable us to provide a full secondary education for extra pupils in Malawi. What a wonderful legacy. You could be part of a girl’s future too.

The Head Teacher of Kaseye Girls’ Secondary School tells us why we must all support girls’ education:

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Scottish Parliament support for MMF on IWD

On this International Women’s Day, we are grateful to Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP, for lodging the following motion in the Scottish Parliament. We are humbled to be recognised in this way on such an important day for women around the world. The motion text is:

That the Parliament congratulates the Mamie Martin Fund on the celebration of its 30th anniversary in 2023; understands that this small Scottish charity has been supporting girls’ education in Northern Malawi since its inception in 1993 in memory of Mamie Martin, who worked for gender equality in education in Malawi in the 1920s; considers that the issue of girls’ education is now more topical than ever; further considers that girls’ education is vital to the development of any nation; believes that International Women’s Day is particularly important in many areas of the world in 2023, and wishes the Mamie Martin Fund success in its work this year and in the future.

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Welcome to our new Trustee, Fran

We are delighted to welcome Fran Coates onto our Board. Fran got involved with MMF when she enrolled in ‘Borders22’ last year and took her MMF tee-shirt across Europe on an 8-month trip from Saint-Malo to the Black Sea. She introduces herself:

“Since retiring as a Sign Language interpreter (SLi) in 2019 I have made two long cycle/camping trips around Europe.

The second was avidly followed and supported, for the full 8 months, by the MMF Borders 22 team. There are not the words to express what a boost this was during my trip, lifting me out of the lows, thankfully of which not too many, and celebrating the highs. Upon my return I have been invited to join the Board of Trustees, an honour I have proudly accepted.

Prior to my career as an SLi I worked in IT support, therefore I hope my skills can help maintain and enhance the development of this wonderful charity.”

Thanks for this on-going support, Fran. We know that you will be a great help to MMF in a number of ways. Now, get on with cycling those 30 bridges as part of your #Birthday30 pledge!

Fran and her bike enjoying Yorkshire bridges
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Birthday donations – an inspiring story

Elizabeth first heard about the Mamie Martin Fund through ‘Story on Bikes’ in 2020. She is now a regular participant in our cycling projects. She took a break from cycling for MMF in 2021 when she created 100 gorgeous embroidered cards as part of #Pledge100.

Some of Elizabeth’Some of Elizabeth’s #Pledge100 cards

When Elizabeth had a significant birthday this year, she requested charity donations instead of gifts. She feels that she has enough ‘things’. She nominated the MMF as one of two favourite charities and raised over £100 for girls’ education in Malawi through her generous friends. What a lovely idea!

If you would like to do something like this and need any help, get in touch. We’ve not been able to register as a charity with Facebook (because of being a Scottish charity) so it can’t be done on there, but you can publicise it on any platform. We can let you have info leaflets and support you on ‘the socials’.

Meanwhile, enjoy the photos of some of Elizabeth’s contributions to the funding of our work for girls in secondary school in Malawi.

Elizabeth cycled the boundary of Galloway in Scotland during a week of gales for #Borders22
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Ex-pupil to run MMF’s Instagram

On International Education Day, we are happy to announce that a young woman who was supported at school by the Mamie Martin Fund is taking over our Instagram account for a few months. This is part of our #Birthday30 year and is in line with the priority of ‘Localisation’ in our new Strategic Plan. We are working towards having as much of our work done in Malawi as possible.

Handy Kamanga was an MMF girl at Bandawe Girls’ Secondary School from 2008 – 2012. Click on her image above to see her intro. She studied Media for Development at the University of Malawi. She was supported in her final year there by the Soko Fund. She has worked for Plan International. She now has her own hair products business with the snappy title of ‘Kandy Naturals‘. We are delighted to have her young and enthusiastic approach to our Instagram channel and are sure that you will all notice the difference.

Thanks Handy!

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Volunteer fun

The Mamie Martin Fund is run by volunteers. Our only paid staff member is our Country Director in Malawi (Mercy Sibande). A recent survey of our volunteers suggested that they might appreciate meeting other volunteers. So, this happened for those who could attend last Saturday (Dec 10th) in Glasgow. 

L-R: Violet, Moira, Sue, Shona, Heidi

We met for lunch in the city centre. There were five of us, many meeting others for the first time and some were renewing acquaintance. Meeting online is great, of course. It allows us to work together across great distances. But meeting in person adds another dimension. We got to know each other a bit and explored ideas around the table.

Menu
‘Glasgow salad’

The event was fun in terms of the food and other customers. We asked about one item on the menu – ‘Glasgow Salad’. This is a joke about the legendary Glasgow diet and is a plate of chips. Adding to the fun was The Grinch at a table behind us. The day was topped off by a man in a Christmas suit, complete with matching tie. Sue is our photo volunteer and could not resist getting a pic!

All welcome
Sue, our photographer volunteer, on the case

It felt like an important time and we hope to do it again before too long. Meeting in person allows ideas to develop and relationships to be established or developed. Thanks, volunteers, we could not do our MMF work without you. 

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