< News – Mamie Martin Fund

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Cakes & Books! Language Schools in Portugal support MMF.

This month the International House language schools in Portugal have been spreading the word about Mamie Martin Fund.

People at a baking table
Cakes
People at a book stall
Books

International House Torres Vedras organised a hugely successful Bake Sale over 3 days and raised an incredible €475. The students learnt about MMF in class and were fascinated to see photos of the girls and learn about how they could support that work. Their enthusiasm was contagious and spread to parents and to people from nearby offices who made a point of dropping in to buy a cake and make a contribution. One of the teachers commented, “We were so pleased with the support of students and parents for the fund.”

For the second year running the International House Portugal schools included a second-hand book sale in aid of MMF at their stand at the annual conference of the Portuguese Association of English Language Teachers (APPI) in Aveiro. Teachers were keen to find some golden oldie methodology books and of course happy to contribute to MMF, especially after hearing the favourite tagline: “The World needs more educated girls and women!”.  Thanks to these generous contributions €450 was raised and many teachers went home having learnt a little about MMF.This month the International House language schools in Portugal have been spreading the word about Mamie Martin Fund.

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Mercy’s visit is in full swing!

We are delighted that Mercy Sibande, our Malawi Director, has arrived in Scotland. She brought the sunshine with her and she is much more comfortable when it is warm by Scottish standards.

Mercy has already been meeting donors and supporters. She was ‘at home’ in the Edinburgh Botanics and had an informal chat with local MMF supporters. She has already been to two musical concerts – one in Edinburgh and another in Fife. She says “I think I am into music although personally not great at singing.”

Some of her work is more formal, such as an MMF Board meeting. This is being held in person in her honour. The coming week brings further opportunities to meet her. 

Tuesday 26th May: One World Shop, Edinburgh 6-7pm 

Weds 27th May: Smith Museum Café Stirling from 11:00

Thurs 28th May: City Chambers Edinburgh 11:00 – 12:30. Girls’ Education event hosted by the Scotland Malawi Partnership.  

We are grateful for all the work she does in Malawi, for leaving her family to spend this precious time with us and for bringing us vital up-to-date news from Malawi about the schools and girls supported by MMF.

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Football song fundraiser

Scottish teacher and musician, Stuart Ross, spent a year teaching at Bandawe Girls’ Secondary School in Malawi back in 1998. Now teaching in Hamilton and living in Ayrshire, he still remembers Malawi and the needs of its children. So, when he wrote a song about Scotland and the World Cup, he wanted it to benefit those children.

Stuart has shared his song, ‘Make us Proud‘, on YouTube and has created a fundraising page for those who would like to express appreciation of the song.  What lovely support this is for our work in Malawi. We are so grateful to Stuart and his family, friends and colleagues who are donating to that page. 

Quite mad but such fun! Thanks Stuart and good luck to Scotland, of course. 

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Joyful fundraising – garden openings

The best fundraising (and awareness raising) is that which is joyful. The public openings of Humbie Dean Garden in East Lothian are just that – joyful and mood-lifting. 

Frank Kirwan opens this wonderful woodland garden through Scotland’s Gardens Scheme. 60% of the entry fee (£6) comes to us to support girls’ education in Malawi. We also benefit from Frank’s plant sales and other garden-related activities during the year.

If you need any more encouragement to visit, one review of the garden includes this accolade: “Really enjoyed this wonderful garden. Owner, the gardener, was very knowledgeable and enjoyed engaging with the visitors.“

Openings this year: Weds 15 April, Weds 6 May, Weds 20 May, Weds 3 June, Weds 8 July & Weds 12 August. All 10:30am – 4pm

Admission £6.00, children free. Enjoy your day!

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International Women’s Day 2026

In the week of International Women’s Day 2026 we were honoured to meet the Malawian Minister for Gender, Children, Disability & Social Welfare, the Hon Mary Navicha MP. 

L-R Angie, Moira, Francesca, Nasim and Hon Navicha MP
Moira sharing info on MMF’s work in Malawi

The event in Edinburgh was hosted in the City Chambers, an appropriately impressive venue in which to welcome the Minister and her team to the city. Hosted by the Scotland-Malawi Partnership, it was a chance to hear from a range of Scottish organisations working across the areas within the Minister’s portfolio, 

Moira, from MMF, shared information about our work and our historic links to Malawi. A video clip of ex-MMF pupil, Stella Dzimbiri, provided powerful evidence of the impact of support at secondary school. The Minister shared the commitment of her government to education for all and to gender equality in particular. 

In this same week, Stella’s story has been shared by the Small International Development Charities Network (SIDCN) on their website. They, like so many people, are inspired by Stella’s story and by how huge an impact support at secondary school can make to a woman, a family and a community.

This week, in particular, we send greetings and good wishes to all our ex-pupils and to their teachers too. You are making a real difference in the world.

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Could you be our Treasurer?

Following the sudden passing of our colleague and dear friend Alan Laverock, we are looking for a professional individual to join us in the voluntary capacity of Treasurer. This person must have a strong background in accounting, with a clear understanding of charity regulations in Scotland.

We work mostly online, with Trustees and other volunteers based in Scotland, Malawi and other parts of the world! Board meetings take place every two months and are hosted online, with our wider AGM taking place in November.

Needless to say, we can only consider people who share our values and commitment to girls’ education. You must have a UK postal address – due to our bank’s regulations.

Please email [email protected] if you can help and/or spread the word! Thanks.

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20 years of supporting Scotland-Malawi links

The Scotland-Malawi and the Malawi-Scotland Partnerships are celebrating their 20 year anniversary. We congratulate them on the wonderful work done in supporting links between the two countries. As part of the celebration they have published a book which records some of the achievements of the Partnerships and their members. 

Photocredit: Kirsty Stroma Photography

We are proud to be included in this book – in the Education section. We provided evidence of the impact of our work in the North of Malawi. We shared a powerful quote from a Head Teacher in a school we support,

“We know that if girls get their education, they will be able to be independent. As a result, this cycle of poverty will be broken.”

We also shared the inspiring story of a woman whom we supported as a school pupil. Stella said “I will ensure that my children get educated.” 

Mercy Sibande, our Malawi Country Director, is quoted too and her powerful comment was:

“Secondary school has allowed them to critically think and at least make some changes in the way they deal with situations. Without it they would just have been that uneducated girl at the village.”

We benefit hugely, and have done for many years, from the advice and support of the Scotland-Malawi Partnership, as do all of their members. We look forward to continuing our collaboration in the years and decades to come.

Zikomo Kwambiri.

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Visit to Malawi after 50 years

Emyln and Ann Evans lived in Malawi for 3 years in the 1970s. Emlyn worked for Malawi Railways. They revisited Malawi recently. They share their thoughts about that visit.

L-R: Mercy Sibande, Joana Chimphepo, Ann, Emlyn, Dickens Msukwa at MCDSS

“We lived in Limbe, Southern Malawi, in the 1970s. We were close friends of Jack and Phyllis Thomson, and around 13 years ago we asked them to recommend a Malawi charity we could support – they came up with The Mamie Martin Fund, and we have supported the Fund ever since.

After much dithering, we at last decided it was time to re-visit Malawi. So … in October/November this year we visited Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre. With the wonderful help of Moira, Mercy and Gregory [Mercy’s husband], we were able to visit two schools in the North in order to see at first hand the impact of the Mamie Martin Fund on girls’ education. We saw far more of real Malawi in those weeks than we ever did in the 3 years we lived there in the 70s. We were part of an ‘expatriate’ community back then.

Kwezy buses eventually delivered us to Mzuzu and so we firstly went to see Mchengautuba Community Day School, in a poor suburb of Mzuzu. We were warmly greeted by the Head, Mr Dickens Msukwa, and Mrs Joana Chimphepo, who looks after the MMF girls there. They explained the many challenges the school faces, these include oversubscription and finding funds to complete the building of the much-needed hall. They then arranged a very lively Q & A session with the MMF girls. Then two of the liveliest girls suddenly said “Right – would you like to see around the school?” Linda and Grace then gave us the full belt and whistles tour – we left humbled by such a wonderful welcome, and having seen with our own eyes the result of MMF funding.

Ann was also overwhelmed by the generous gift of a wrap (chitenje), when the school has so little compared to schools in the UK.

The following day, with Mercy, we visited Bandawe Girls’ Secondary School, near the Lake. Again we were shown every consideration, and warmly welcomed by Mrs Rachel Msumba, the English teacher. We discussed the challenges the school faces, and then had another lively Q and A session with the MMF girls – one question was – “ In Malawi our main activity is agriculture – what is the main activity in UK?” Great question … well, what is our main activity? Having stumbled through an answer to that, we had to explain a free Health service to these pupils.

We again left, humbled by the dedication and hard work of all the staff. At both schools we witnessed the wonderful work Mercy is doing mentoring and supporting the girls, whatever their needs.

Later that day we visited the nearby graves of Mamie Martin and her baby – an immensely moving experience.

We are so grateful to Moira, Mercy and Gregory, and all the staff we met for arranging such enlightening experiences. We were able to see clearly what the Mamie Martin Fund is achieving. We thank all at MMF for giving us this opportunity.

(Our visit did coincide with a severe petrol shortage, but we still managed to move around.)”

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Alan Laverock – an appreciation

We mourn the untimely passing of Alan Laverock, MMF Trustee, Treasurer, Co-Convenor and friend.

Alan volunteered his time and skills to be the MMF Treasurer in 2020. We were delighted to have this new Trustee with his accounting expertise and his deep knowledge of Malawi.

Since then, Alan has been a key member of our governance team. He kept our books straight (so essential) and provided essential advice and guidance on matters of accounting and management. He was generous, too, in the sharing of his knowledge and understanding of Malawi. His regular visits to and long stays in Malawi were greatly to our advantage. He represented us superbly well and gave moral and practical support to Mercy Sibande, our Country Director. Mercy said of him

“It is a great loss indeed. Alan will be missed greatly, his works were to improve the livehoods of many in Malawi. May his soul rest in peace. Will miss his support for the schools visit.”

The Scotland Malawi Partnership have written a full tribute to Alan. We cannot do better by him than to direct our readers to it – here.

Alan with Remmie Kamanga in Mzuzu, Nov 2021
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International Teachers’ Day

As new school years have started in many parts of the world, on October 5th , World Teachers’ Day, it’s time to celebrate teachers everywhere. This year for the first time UNESCO will mark World Teachers’ Day in Africa, during the Pan-African Conference on Teacher Education in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This event ties in with the launch of a new Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) and the African Decade for Education which aim to prioritize education and the teaching profession, recognising their importance in helping to advance Sustainable Development Goal 4, quality education.

By Janet Sinclair, teacher

The idea for the Mamie Martin Fund was inspired by the memory of a teacher, Mamie, who although she arrived in Malawi (Nyasaland) in 1921 as a missionary’s wife, immediately felt drawn to supporting and teaching the local girls who faced many barriers and had few opportunities to continue their education. Once a teacher always a teacher!

This mission is still at the heart of our work today and MMF is proud to have been able to support more than 700 girls in secondary education in Northern Malawi since 1993. The theme of this year’s Teachers’ Day is collaboration, and without the collaboration of the teachers whose hard work and commitment are integral to helping Malawian girls to achieve their dreams, MMF’s work would be impossible. So, on this day we would like to recognise the invaluable work of these teachers and thank them for their contribution.

 “Teachers empower students with skills and knowledge that can help them find better job opportunities and improve their standard of living here in Malawi.”  (Stellah Banda, student teacher)

“The greatest untapped resource in the developing world is not oil, gold or rare earth minerals; it is village girls who often are held back from school, married as children and expected to spend their lives fetching water and caring for others. Talent is universal, even if opportunity is not.” (Nicholas Kristof, New York Times, Oct 1st 2025)

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