< Chitenje Archives – Mamie Martin Fund

Michelle kiltwalked a marathon

The Kiltwalk went virtual again this Spring. People could choose their own challenge and complete it over the weekend 23 – 25 April. Michelle only learned about the Kiltwalk the week before. When she had checked that she had not misheard (‘so you wear some tartan and walk?’), she went for it, aiming to walk 20 miles around Edinburgh on Saturday 24th. She plotted a route which included Arthur’s Seat, Water of Leith and Cramond and set off from Newhaven.

Her preparation including buying some tartan; if she was to be a kiltwalker, there had to be tartan. She excelled herself in a few days, with tartan leggings and a skirt. Teamed up with an MMF tee-shirt and some Malawi-Scotland chitenjie, she was the picture of a true kiltwalker.

Supported by her sister Heidi and Moira from MMF, both on bikes, Michelle set a pace of 18 minutes a mile and she held that pace all day. We had a few rest and food stops and the occasional ‘tourist’ stop. The team met some other kiltwalkers but not as many as expected.

It was a lovely sunny day but there was a vicious North-Easterly wind which felt hard walking by the sea from Cramond to Granton. However, at Granton, hot tea and home baking was provided by an MMF friend and Michelle turned to the last few miles with renewed energy. It was after the home baking that she decided to go for the full marathon distance of 26.2 miles and she completed 26.3 miles on Newhaven pier as the sun went down. What an achievement!

In the meantime friends and family donated to her fund-raising page. All donations will be topped up by 50% this year by the Tom Hunter Foundation, so Michelle is, at the time of writing, well on the way to raising enough money to support two girls at boarding school in Malawi for a whole year. Double-achievement. Thanks Michelle!

Sally makes chitenje masks

Since early summer Sally Evans has been making face coverings for family and friends in exchange for donations to charity. She has made over 300 so far. The demand continues and masks made from African cloth, called chitenje (singular) or zitenje (plural) in Malawi, are particularly sought-after in Scotland.

Sally is a member of St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church in Edinburgh, who have been friends and supporters of the Mamie Martin Fund for many years. She is now accepting donations to the Mamie Martin Fund for her chitenje masks and has set up a page to make it easy for people to donate. 

Sally says, ‘I’m delighted to make some more face coverings to support Mamie Martin’s Back to School in Malawi after Covid fund to address some of the additional challenges in getting female students back to school after such a long interruption. I’ve been given some colourful fabric, normally worn by women in Africa, so will be using this as well as other remnants and recycled material. It’s a WIN WIN situation with fabric from Africa helping to keep us safe and helping to support girls’ education in Malawi!’

We are so grateful for this support and for the good-news aspect of the story. These are challenging times for everyone and Sally is bringing joy and pleasure to so many in her WIN WIN project. Thanks Sally! You can contact Sally directly about this on [email protected] You can also buy these masks at the Undercroft Café at St Andrew’s and St George’s West while our photo exhibition is there from 24th November.