< News Archives – Page 6 of 18 – Mamie Martin Fund

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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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Friendship and collaboration in person

On Saturday last we were delighted to attend in person at the AGM of the Scotland Malawi Partnership (SMP). What a day of warmth and excitement. We had not seen friends and colleagues for so long. The day felt like true partnership all the way through. We shared a table and volunteers with the One World Shop. We caught up with Kenyawi Kids, Steka Skills, the David Livingstone Birthplace, MalDent and many many others. The team at SMP put on a great day which included Malawi Gin (of course), Malawian food, great music and a tremendous tribute to the outgoing CEO, David Hope-Jones, who has been so supportive to the Mamie Martin Fund over the years.

We were pleased to introduce our friends from the Malawi-Scotland Partnership to our friends at St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church, where they were welcomed to the Sunday morning service.

Thanks to our volunteer, Liz Hall, and to all the supporters who stopped by our table to chat or buy notecards or gift cards.

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Dalgety Bay Coffee Morning

As part of our two-months long photo exhibition in Dalgety Parish Church, Fife, the Church members and the Fairtrade group hosted a coffee morning for us on Saturday 12th  November. It turned into a wonderful gathering of friends old and new. It was a chance for people to catch up and learn about our work in Malawi. Alan Kimmitt, a previous Trustee, and his family did the 40 mile round trip from Glenrothes to join us!

Not one but two local Councillors, Sarah Neal and David Barratt, attended, giving us their support. Sarah, who had visited Malawi in her 20s and was very affected by the poverty she saw, commented “we (myself and David) want to support the Trustees who do amazing work in Malawi. The work …. is so welcome…. I do think that if you educate and empower a girl you educate and empower their whole community”. See Sarah’s testimonial here.

The show of Nerani Nthara’s recent photos sparked lots of interest and discussion. Church member Isobel’s delicious cakes attracted much deserved attention too! Visitors commented on the welcoming buzz in the room and ate a lot of cake if donations are anything to go by!

Safe to say, this event exceeded our expectations in terms of attendance and donations raised! This church has a long standing link with Northern Malawi and has given us regular support. Nevertheless, we were all astonished at everyone’s generosity. Donations were requested in return for cake and coffee/tea and the basket had to be emptied more than once to make room for more notes! Donations of more than £400 were received on the day, with more coming in later. We also had an offer from Isabel to bake for us again! This may well become an annual event!

Cllrs Sarah Neal & David Barratt
Isabel, the baker of cakes
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Another online AGM

This video from Mchengautuba Community Day Secondary School was the hightlight of our AGM 2022. Holding our AGM online started as a necessity. Now we choose that way because we can include so many more people. Our friends and colleagues from Malawi are always particularly welcome. We had 25 participants in the meeting with some others watching it live on Facebook. You can watch the recording on this link.

The highlights of the business part were:

  • Things are currently very difficult in Malawi. The impact of the Covid-19 and the devaluation of the Kwacha has hit people hard
  • Mercy Sibande‘s title is now Malawi Country Director, which better reflects the seniority of her role there
  • We have improved our governance in several ways – we have revised our Strategic Plan, improved our cyber security and improved our internal and external communications. Our new Strategic priority is Localisation, ensuring that as much as possible is done in Malawi by Malawians
  • We noted that Brian Kerr is stepping down from the Board and we thanked him for his years of service
  • We welcomed Patrick Chinguwo to our Board. Patrick is a lecturer in Law at the University of Mzuzu
  • Noted that we need paid or voluntary help with our IT work.

Reports from our Country Manager included a heart-warming story about a girl who is back at school after having a baby.

The treasurer reported on the year’s accounts. Noted that

  • More than 90% of our money is spent in Malawi
  • 95% of our money is spent on direct provision of services (fees and other costs in Malawi)
  • Because our admin work is being done on a voluntary basis, our costs are low (5%)
  • Small regular donations from individuals are the backbone of our funding

The Marketing team reported on the year’s fun and fundraising. Noted the new Christmas Jumper appeal which was launched at the meeting.

Noted that we will be 30 years old in 2023 and #Birthday30 will be our marketing focus – do 30 things for MMF.

The first keynote speech was by Mrs Joana Chimphepo, a teacher at Mchengautuba Community Day Secondary School (MCDSS) in Mzuzu. She told us the history of the school. She was one of the teachers there. Then she told us of the struggles of many of the students. They are often part of child-headed families, a legacy of the AIDS pandemic. Other illness cause the death of parents so many of the children have lost one or both parents. That speech is available on our YouTube channel.

The second input was a follow-up talk by Dr Isa Uny from University of Stirling on her From Fuel to Pot research.

The meeting closed with thanks to all those who attended and who made it possible. It was great to be so global!

A recording of the meeting is available on YouTube.

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Running boost to Deaf girls’ education

The Thompson Fund, managed by the Mamie Martin Fund, supports the secondary education of Deaf girls at Embangweni in North Malawi. The Fund was established in memory of Jack and Phyllis Thompson. Their daughter, Jenny, ran the London Marathon last Sunday in memory of her parents – Jack was also a marathon runner. She raised over £4k for the Thompson Fund. Jenny’s family, friends, colleagues and neighbours responded generously to her fundraising appeal. Huge thanks, also, to her running friend, Pete, whose friends all joined in with donations.

Jack Thompson
Jenny 2022
Jenny ran 42kms in memory of her parents and in support of Deaf girls’ education in Malawi

Jenny ran the 42 kms in 4 hours, 40 minutes and 45 seconds – amazing! Mercy Sibande, our Malawi Manager, will show photos of Jenny to the girls at Embangweni whose education is only possible because of the Thompson Fund. It remains to be seen what they think about running to raise money for girls whom neither the runner nor the donors have ever met. They will certainly be impressed and will be motivated to work hard at their studies. To quote our treasurer, who has been in Embangweni and knows the situation of these girls,

“Great job, changing lives of Deaf kids in Malawi who, economically, are really the lowest. This help doesn’t just change their lives, it gives them a life.“

Jenny’s page remains open for another short while – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jenny-chambers1

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Edinburgh Kiltwalk 18th Sept 2022

Three women who are the MMF Kiltwalk team in Edinburgh

Team Mamie Martin are back at the Kiltwalk and this time it’s a 14 mile walk around Edinburgh. Three amazing women are walking for MMF. Kathleen Sargeant was a member of the Falkirk High School visit to Bandawe Girls’ School (BAGSS) in 2008. She is now a volunteer with MMF. Angela Hoey, is a new friend of Mariot’s and the MMF. Their connection is their daughter and son’s long-term relationship. The three women have plenty of motivation for this challenge. Kathleen still remembers her time in Malawi with the schoolgirls of BAGSS, Mariot has the family connection through her mother Margaret and grandmother, Mamie Martin. Angela is looking forward to the personal challenge, ‘This Sunday is something for me to do something that when I achieve it will make me feel very proud of myself‘

The team are looking forward to an enjoyable walk, interesting chat to help pass the time, guilt free chocolate consumption, but most of all, another opportunity to raise funds for the work of MMF in Malawi. All money raised will be topped up by the Sir Tom Hunter Foundation. If you’d like to make a donation, click for their team page.

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MMF photo exhibition doing ‘the rounds’

We are delighted that the photos of our work in Malawi are now in their fourth venue in Lancashire, England. Our partners there, the Lancashire West Methodist Circuit, are ensuring that as many people as possible get to hear about our work.

MMF photos creatively displayed at Homes Methodist Church

Our Lancashire West partnership supports six girls at secondary school in Karonga, North Malawi. Those girls will be going into their second year (of four) in October. The photos are currently being shown in Holmes Methodist Church. Three other churches are involved with Holmes in this particular exhibition, which runs until 5th September –

You can see the locations and further details of these churches on the Circuit’s website. A ‘Circuit’ in this context is a group of Methodist churches. Our partnership is with the group, rather than any individual church.

Thanks to Helen Hindle for creating this lovely display and sending us these images. Next stop for this exhibition will be Dalgety Bay in Fife, Scotland.

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Working together to support jobs in Malawi

Rachel Farey, business manager of the One World Shop in Edinburgh is our guest blogger this week. She writes about her pleasure at being introduced to Malawian company, Kibébé, by the Mamie Martin Fund. After some challenging times, Kibébé products arrived in the Edinburgh shop this month. 

“In the One World Shop we stock the hugely popular Kilombero rice from Malawi and have long wanted to have more Malawian products. In October 2019, MMF introduced us to Kibébé. We loved their products and immediately wanted to buy them for our shop. However various personal and global events intervened and it seemed that this dream was not to come true. We held onto that vision and after some great help from Kibébé and encouragement from MMF we were thrilled to receive these fabulous products in time to display them in our special Edinburgh Festival marquee, outside the shop. They are already proving very popular with our customers.

Kibébé  products are hand made by artizans living in and around Dzaleka refugee camp. Kibébé pay fair wages and this work is life-changing for the producers. All Kibébé products are of the highest quality – well-made and sturdy. The range held in the One World Shop includes soap, bags, journal covers, face masks and accessories. It wasn’t easy to get these products to Edinburgh so hurry to check them out while they last.

It is great to see the result of three NGOs working together – all to benefit people in Malawi for whom this work means dignity, education and hope.” 

In her spare time Rachel enjoys taking part in MMF cycling events and we’ve had a lot of fun together, raising money for girls’ education in Malawi.

One World Shop’s Opening hours during August: Mon – Sunday 10am – 6pm. Tel: 0131 229 4541

Email: [email protected]

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The power of working together

We are pleased to share this guest blog post from Denis Robson, Chair of the Thondwe Community Partnership, another Scotland-Malawi link:

“As a long-standing member of the Scotland Malawi Partnership, we regularly meet with organisations that are equally passionate about programmes in health, education, and economic development. As we were expanding our collaboration with Thondwe Primary school we were thrilled when a networking opportunity brought us into contact with Moira Dunworth who was very willing to share the Mamie Martin Fund (MMF)’s knowledge and expertise in girls’ education in Malawi with us. As a very small team looking to seek out others with a common aim, our connection with MMF provided an opportunity to rapidly learn, improve outcomes and avoid duplication.

The girls heading to secondary school in 2022, supported by the Thondwe Community Partnership

By collaborating we can increase the exposure needed to grow girls’ education in Malawi and as we gain experience perhaps we can combine knowledge to help solve problems together. We quickly discovered that we needed to do more than pay school fees to ensure successful educational outcomes. Your Ready to Learn Fund is essential. Our GET-IT (Girls’ Education in Thondwe) programme now has 5 girls. Apatseni, Debora, Brenda, Mary and Margaret successfully completing their first year at a local Community Day school and a Boarding school. Learning from your experience, we are setting up a mentorship programme. The first step of this is that the Head Teacher of Thondwe Primary school, Annie Siyani, will mentor these 5 girls as part of our Partnership’s support.”

It is a joy for MMF to be able to share our experience and to discuss these issues with like-minded people in Scotland and Malawi. We are delighted to have been able to help the Thonde Partnership with the planning of GET-IT. We wish their pupils every success.

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The impact of our work on two very different pupils

MMF Treasurer, Alan Laverock, has recently returned from Malawi. MMF girls are selected on the basis of need, not academic ability. He was struck by two particular girls, whose stories demonstrate the range of needs we meet:

“Mary came to speak to us privately, after we had spoken to the group of MMF girls. She was visibly upset, barely able to speak. Eventually, it was clear that the issue was that her aunt was putting pressure on her to get married. This would entail giving up her education – and she was now in Form 3 (of 4). The income from her marriage would help her gogo (grandmother) and ‘this is your duty’. The girl knows the value of her education and really does not want to lose this with one year to go.

Photos of other MMF girls by Nelz Photography

We were able to affirm her in her belief in the value of an education and to assure her that the fees were in place for Form 4. We also told the headteacher (with Mary’s permission). She will keep an eye on the situation. Sadly, she has experience of this.

Martha presented herself for the end of Form 4 feedback interview with Mercy. Her brilliance shone through like a searchlight and was truly uplifting. She is keen to be a doctor. We are convinced she has what it takes to succeed. Not only does Malawi have a shortage of educated women, there is a chronic shortage of doctors.

These are two fantastic examples of the difference that donations to MMF are making. Thank you all.”

Note: names changed.

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