Scot Carrie Evans launches online fundraising appeal to assist four vulnerable Malawian school children who live alone

Carrie Evans with the children who are supported by their elder brother

* The appeal on https://gofund.me/4beffb59 has raised more than half of the £1,000, as reported yesterday, April 21 by UK’s East Lothian Courier online

* She discovered them while teaching English, expressive arts and science at Devine Destiny Academy Primary School at Manja in Blantyre

* We are hoping to raise enough money to buy beds, clothes, house supplies and food. Rising food costs in Malawi are making it extremely difficult for people

Maravi Express

A 21-year-old Scottish national, Carrie Evans, who visited Malawi in 2020 to teach English, expressive arts and science at Devine Destiny Academy Primary School at Manja in Blantyre, has launched online fundraising appeal to assist four vulnerable Malawian school children, whom she discovered living alone.

According to yesterday’s report (April 21) by UK’s East Lothian Courier online, the appeal on https://gofund.me/4beffb59 has raised more than half of the £1,000 target to help support Jeffery, who is thought to be 13 years old, who support three other boys in the age range of between four to 11.

East Lothian Courier reports that Evans is a former student for historical Knox Academy — a medieval grammar school, which is a co-educational state institution located in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland — who then traveled to Malawi two years ago to teach at Devine Destiny Academy whilst waiting to enroll for an HNC course in social science at Edinburgh College in August.

Her visit to Malawi, reports the online, came about through the Project Trust, which offers volunteering opportunities to people aged between 17 and 25 and having been inspired by her first visit, she is back in Malawi and looking for help for the four children.

“I just returned to Malawi two weeks ago,” she told East Lothian Courier. “This time I’m working with a local Malawian charity, Save The Poor Foundation (SAPOF).

“They have a number of different projects including child school sponsorship, supporting girls who have been victims of child marriage and a safe home for four boys.

“I am now working with these boys, teaching them English as well as helping run sessions with the girls groups on sex and period education,” she said, adding that  NGO SAPOF came to know of the boys that “they were living alone in an unfinished house with just a mat to sleep on and one blanket to share”.

“Jeffery, the oldest boy, wasn’t going to school so he could support his younger brothers. They have no living relatives.”

The report further quotes Carrie, who is from Haddington and works in McDonald’s fast foods in Dunbar, as saying the boys were in “desperate need” of clothes, food, house supplies and resources for school.

“Currently, their home has no beds or electricity and has very limited facilities for cooking. We are hoping to raise enough money to buy beds, clothes, house supplies and food.

“Rising food costs in Malawi are making it extremely difficult for people. We want to buy enough bags of maize flour (for their staple food nsima), rice, and beans to last them for some time.

“The boys really have next to nothing right now and the charity does not have enough resources/funding to get them essential items that they need.”

Carrie, will be spending three months in the country, had very kind sentiments for Malawi, saying: “Even though a lot of Malawians have next to nothing, they are happy and friendly people that want to help others and I think that’s something we could all learn from at home — be grateful for what you do have.”

Last month, BBC News also reported of another charity work in Malawi, that a group of six UK students, led by Layeena Masters and Amber Greenwood, are preparing for what to them is a “life-changing” trip to the country in June to help with the construction of a classroom for school children.

The BBC reported that the students — all studying for T-Levels in early years education at Blackburn College — had then raised £5,000 on behalf of the charity, Malawi Relief Fund UK (MRF-UK) to build the facility but were continuing to raise more money before the trip in June to equip and decorate it.

Malawi Relief Fund-UK is UK-based charity registered as an NGO in Malawi, which focusses on improving access to education, healthcare, clean water and providing decent homes.

MRF-UK has undertaken a range of initiative and some key initiatives include providing over eye cataract operations; providing over tap water points including boreholes and construction of decent homes in rural areas, in response to Cyclone Freddy that left many people homeless.

The charity also provided over scholarships at universities; at teacher training institutions; operates a vocational training centre and information vocational training in 3 rural centres as well as managing early childhood development in rural areas.

The BBC quotes Amber Greenwood as saying the trip to Malawi was a “fantastic opportunity”, adding: “I think coming to Blackburn College we weren’t expecting this opportunity at all, so it’s fantastic to not only explore ourselves but also give back to the community.”

The report says Greenwood, who hopes to continue studying children’s nursing at university after college, said she was looking forward to “supporting children’s learning and development, but also helping a wider community”.

He colleague, Layeena Masters told the BBC: “From what we’ve been told, there’s literally only the children, the staff and a chalk board there. So hopefully by us going there we’ll be able to provide them with so many memories with simple things like colouring.”

Layeena, who wants to get a job as an early years educator after college, told the BBC that the experience in Malawi is going to put all the studies they been doing so far into practice and take it globally — hoping to help the children develop mentally and personally.

Blackburn College’s lead lecturer in early years study, Shabana Bharucha, is quoted as saying the money had been raised by hosting events such as a Ramadan Souk, a marketplace at the college with stalls of handicrafts and food.

She told the BBC News that Malawi was chosen as it is “a poverty-driven country” and thus decided they should take the students on a “life-changing experience where they can take the learning that they do in college on a global level and really make that impact”.—Content by East Lothian Courier & BBC News; edited by Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express