Nansato Nursery Trust, Malawi

Registered Charity SCO37402

What's going on now

It is now Spring 2009 and we would like to use this opportunity to let you know what has been happening in the Nansato Trust nurseries in Southern Malawi. We have much to be thankful for and to celebrate. We regularly receive from, and send letters to, the teaching staff in the four nurseries. They tell of happy children who are being stimulated, having fun and learning. They tell of teachers who are thankful for their jobs, are faithful in their attendance and enthusiastic and dedicated to their teaching and to the children in their care. Every month 32 bags of porridge are delivered by Mary’s Meals to Nansato Primary, and Manfoster, the Trust caretaker, delivers 8 bags to each nursery on his bicycle! Each morning a volunteer from the village arrives to cook the porridge, and everyone goes away well nourished and happy at the end of the nursery session.

It’s amazing to think the nurseries are now in their third year with the first pupils now in Primary 2! At each of the schools new children were successfully registered in January 2009.

Paula and Stuart visited the nurseries in July 2008 to review the progress of the schools and had a fantastic trip. Here are their comments from the trip:

"We were very pleased when talking with the teachers to see their sense of ownership as they reported how ‘their’ schools were working. There have been a few ‘teething’ problems, which the staff and committees have worked through themselves, which was also very encouraging.

It was just incredible to meet all the new children in the schools and we even recognised a few faces enjoying a second year of porridge and fun (this was due to a change in the starting age for primary school in Malawi.)

We were so impressed with all of the schools, at each of them children were playing and learning, and the classrooms were full of laughter, singing and smiles. There were two nurseries, Nkanda and Samson, which absolutely amazed us. The teachers here had taken it to the next level and we were stunned at the standard of education the children were receiving. The teachers were working really well together and had a real passion for their job and care for the children in their schools. At Nkanda, the teacher, Rhoda, even goes back every night to water the plants!

It was a very busy trip, meeting with staff and committees, visiting the nurseries, replacing resources, and it flew by. We did manage to fit in a visit to the schools to see the children from last year now happily settled into Primary 1.

Another great success story was the appointment of a new teacher. Frank, the teacher at Nkanda managed to get a post working with the government which was brilliant. This meant that Rhoda and the Nkanda committee had to find a new teacher to replace Frank. We were delighted to meet Feston. He’s a really enthusiastic teacher and all the children at Nkanda love him! We absolutely loved our trip to see the nurseries and can’t wait to go back! Click here to see photos of our trip."