< Malawi Archives – Page 5 of 9 – Mamie Martin Fund

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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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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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Gift Aid is a win-win arrangement

We really appreciate all donations and those which are gift-aided provide an extra boost to our funds. As we start a new tax year, we thought it might be helpful to remind you of what Gift Aid is and what the rules are.

Adding Gift Aid to your donations means that, as a charity, we can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give. It will not cost you any extra. Free money. What is not to like?

You can only do gift-aid on donations for which you receive no benefit, so it can’t be a payment for goods or services. We can claim it on donations for our gift cards because you, the donor, are not getting the school uniform or pens, etc..

You need to make a Gift Aid declaration for us to be able to claim. As long as you tick a box about future donations, you only need to make the declaration once. Our gift aid declaration is now online, though we can always send you a paper form. If you are a regular donor, it is most likely that we already have a completed declaration from you – you could always get in touch to check if you wish. When you donate through JustGiving, they collect the Gift Aid on our behalf.

Do I pay enough tax to Gift Aid donations?

Your donations will qualify as long as they’re not more than 4 times what you have paid in tax in that tax year (6 April to 5 April). The tax could have been paid on income tax or capital gains but no other form of tax applies.

If you pay tax at a rate above the basic rate, you can claim the difference between the rate you pay and the basic rate on your donation. Win-win.

Thanks to all our donors for their loyal support, whether they can include gift aid or not. Without you we would not be able to support girls at school in North Malawi.

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Brian’s first Borders22 adventure

MMF Trustee and Chair of The Soko Fund, Brian Kerr, cycled from Stranraer to Berwick-upon-Tweed last week. He covered 199 miles and most of that was into a strong headwind. It is widely accepted that no matter the direction of the prevailing wind, it will be in your face when cycling. Brian sent us pictures and comments along the way and now shares this reflection on the trip.

“I am riding down this flat road nearing journey’s end, sun on my back, plenty juice in the battery, westerly wind blowing me along .. all just about as good as it gets.

And I am thinking-just how lucky am I …what did I do that I get all this fun and freedom, fulfilment etc etc etc …?

And when it’s this good I also find I am thinking of all the MMF /Soko girls (and the rest) who have to fight and struggle, on and on, just to get a decent education, and some better life chances.

So I’m thinking : go straight to that Justgiving page and give them a wee boost, just as soon as you get home! Think about doing the same – even though you haven’t had all the fun (oh, and pain btw) that I have had these last few days.”

While Brian writes about the final day in good weather and with a following wind, his other days where quite hard in terms of sleet and a very cold headwind. You can give him a shout-out with a small donation here.

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Borders22 launched today

Today we launch our 2022 fundraiser – Borders22. Find your national, local, county, district, country, provincial BORDER and off you go – all in support of girls’ education in Malawi, your good health and, most of all, having some fun.

We are delighted to be one of the two beneficiaries of the royalties from Dr Alasdair Allan’s book about the Scotland-England border. That lovely gesture sparked the idea for Borders22.

From today you can upload your trips along with any stories or photos. You can email them to Moira if you prefer. The project runs until 30th September so you have plenty of time to plan adventures!

People are already planning walks, both on location and virtual, cycle rides, scoots and all sorts. Join in the fun. Let us know what you are planning and we will help you to publicise it.

You can set up a fundraising page here. Donations to the Borders22 fund are always welcome too.

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The Mamie Martin kiltwalk team

We are delighted to introduce you to the Mamie Martin team in the Glasgow Kitwalk on 24th April. They will walk 14.5 miles from Clydebank to Balloch. They are:

Intrepid leader and Kiltwalk veteran, Mariot Dallas. Mariot has obviously forgotton how sore her feet were after last year’s Kiltwalk!

Angela Drummond is a newbie to the Kiltwalk but a longstanding MMF friend and supporter.

Violet Hejazi, is a steadfast MMF supporter, normally on a bike. Violet, from Syria, is a law student at the University of Stirling and likes a challenge. Her life has already had more challenges than most people will ever encounter but she is up for the Kiltwalk.

With Violet is her sister, Simone, nephew, Sa’ad (11), and niece, Yara (10). They are being lent kilts by SlanjKilts, one of the Kiltwalk sponsors.

Violet is also bringing her friend, Sudhir Ghildiyal, who is a hotelier in Glasgow and his profile pic suggests that he might be handy on a building site too.

We wish them all a fun day. Heidi and Moira will be a mini support team on bikes, to fetch and carry as the walkers need. Watch out on the 24th April for updates all day and training updates before that.

The team page is here, from which you can access each of the fundraising pages. Remember, the Tom Hunter Foundation will top up all donations by 50% again this year. So this is an efficient way to donate a few pounds to girls’ education in Malawi.

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Why be a Mamie Martin Fund Trustee?

MMF’s Co-convenor shares some ideas about trusteeship of our little organisation, with thanks to all those who contributed to this list.

  1. Educating and empowering girls helps to save the planet. See BBC Radio 4 – 39 Ways to Save the Planet, Educating and Empowering Girls
  2. The Scotland -Malawi and Malawi-Scotland relationship is strong and well supported by our governments. As a Trustee you will be playing your part in a lively and vibrant country to country partnership 
  3. We are a working Board, so you will have the opportunity to use your existing skills and experience as well as learning new skills
  4. We use digital resources to work and communicate as efficiently as possible and to save time
  5. Your work will be interesting, you will learn a lot and will never be bored
  6. You will never be short of conversation topics, or material for interviews and applications
  7. You will give your time and energy, but you will know that you are helping to make a difference. See Number 1 above.

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Pledge 100 on the home straight

As 2021, the year where we commemorated the centenary of Jack and Mamie’s arrival in Malawi, draws to a close, we are happy to be able to give you an update on one of this year’s successful fund-raising initiatives: #Pledge100.

This project got off to a fantastic start in January when our first pledger, Shona, started on her 100 5km runs. After that, 35 enthusiastic pledgers joined from as far afield as North America, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Portugal and Oman. And of course, closer to home the UK was well represented by swimmers, cyclists, photographers, hoolahoopers, walkers, yoga practitioners, language learners, card creators, bulb planters and music sharers. One of our artistic pledgers in Sweden has actually undertaken 3 lovely pledges and has now completed 300 drawings!

As well as having a good time, the aim of #Pledge100 was to raise awareness of the work that Mamie Martin Fund does to support girls in secondary education in Malawi. The pledgers did a great job of updating us on their progress by sharing photos and posts on social media. As one of the pledgers said, “I’m at number 76 of my Pledge 100 and it’s been a fun way to engage with my social media friends about the work of the Mamie Martin Fund.”

As 2022 approaches some pledgers have decided to carry on and complete their pledges next year, while so far 21 have received their certificates of completion. The best news of all is that currently the total raised by our pledgers stands at a magnificent £8,700. A huge thank you to everyone who took part in this challenge and to the generous sponsors who supported them. Donations can still be accepted at https://mamiemartin.org/donate/

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