On this Volunteers Week, we remember that Mamie Martin was a volunteer. She and Jack married in 1921 and set off for Malawi . Jack was serving with the Livingstonia Mission but Mamie’s role as a missionary wife was undefined.
As they began their life together in Malawi Mamie’s passion for education and equality led her to set up classes and boarding schools for girls and women. She didn’t need to do this, and she encountered some difficulties, but she battled on and made a difference to many people. Jack and Mamie’s letters and diaries became the book Salt and Light, and eventually the Mamie Martin Fund was set up, and here we are today, supporting girls through secondary education in Malawi in memory of Mamie.
In the Mamie Martin Fund today, we rely on volunteers and we celebrate them in Volunteers Week. They raise funds, they serve as Trustees, they lend us their skills in social media, photography, admin, video editing, etc, etc, and together we are making a difference to girls and women in Malawi. I like to think that Mamie would be pleased !