Heidi Floyd returns  from an amazing three months in Malawi as part of her gap year experience..  

We are proud to announce that our work through the Watson's Malawi Partnership has been recognised by the Scotland Malawi Partnership and their new school partnership awards. George Watson's College was one of five schools to be win the award on the back of a two-minute video our pupils put together, explaining how we work in partnership with our friends and colleagues in Malawi to provide real and lasting support for each other. The judges commended us for our range of interests from supporting maternity units and infant homes and working with local schools to create more opportunities to learn from each other to tackling conservation challenges and bringing sport to more people. The award was presented by the hugely inspirational William Kamkwamba, author of 'The Boy who Harnessed the Wind". You can take a look at our award winning video here and read our article on GWC news .

We're back in the headlines thanks to the Sport & Culture's work with Hibs football team.  Edinburgh Evening News recently heard about the strips Watson's Malawi Partnership took out in October. They published a fantastic article all about the importance of sport for motivating communities and spreading the word on the importance of protecting our environment. We are incredibly grateful to Hibs FC for donating dozens of sports kit and equipment.  Click here for the full story .

Four of our students spend the morning with Pentland Primary talking about Malawi.

Many thanks to everyone who supported the Run4Reforestation in Portobello this year. As you can see from  the article , the Berries and the Happy Hammers were very happy indeed with the new kit we funded!

This year, for the first time, we have included a stay at the beautiful Kuti Wildlife Reserve to develop our interest in animal conservation.

This week, we met some of the local villagers who are looking after the 2000 saplings we funded this year thanks to the generosity of the WMP community. Zomba TREEZ has enlisted members of the local football team in a bid to protect Zomba's trees from firelighters and poachers. As well as staging planned firebreaks and manned patrols across the 18 hectare region, these villagers are looking after all the saplings that have been planted to offset the massive deforestation that has devastated the area. Due to the increase in population and the need for woodfuel for cooking and heating, Malawi has lost 85% of its trees in the last 20 years. Zomba TREEZ aims to mitigate the damage caused by the loss of this biomass and help reduce the effects of climate change in the Zomba area. In an effort to offset the damage caused by our trip to Malawi, we are looking into ways we can contribute to Malawi's conservation efforts in a meaningful and sustainable basis, both in Zomba and Mul...

This week, we're talking to girls about how to stay in school during their monthly cycle.

Following the safe return of Beatrice and Samuel to their families in Blantyre, we now welcome Israel, pictured here, and Godrey into the wider Watson's family. In 2019, thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we were able to formally commit to the sponsorship of four children at Open Arms. While Beatrice and Samuel have since returned to their families, Grace and Abdul continue to thrive in Open Arms' care.  Abdul can now walk unaided and loves company. His family came to visit him in August and we hope he will be able to join them soon. Grace loves to sing but has recently grown quiet. Unfortunately, her chances of returning to her family are slight as her mother is from Zambia.    For more information about our relationship with Open Arms, click here .

This year, we are expanding our October student trip to include animal conservation at Kuti Reserve. We are looking forward to learning how to protect the animals from poachers, safe-guarding the perimeters from poachers and monitoring the animals in its protection.

We are working with Edinburgh College on a new programme that enables vulnerable young people in Malawi to develop a new model of dignified 'voluntourism' that challenges the practice of poverty tourism and white saviourism.  Respectful dialogue between marginalised young people in Malawi and Scottish school pupils will enable the Malawians to earn a sustainable income while Scots develop new and profound knowledge.

Charity's Clinic in Area 23 is one of Malawi's most successful baby units.  Volunteers, like the Perth Watsonian Ladies pictured here, have knitted hundreds of little hats and socks to keep newborns warm while maintaining essential skin-on-skin contact with mum and tiny little jumpers to go home in.  I f you would like to make some booties for the programme,  here's a good example of a pattern  with draw strings to help keep them on.

We were delighted to see two of the seven new solar geysers we bought for Open Arms up and operational during our community visit in March, with two more ready for installation in September. With half of all electricity used to heat water for baths, clothes washing, cleaning and feeding 80 children, we are hopeful that Open Arms should now see a dramatic reduction in energy costs. 

In April, we handed over a mobile thermal ablation device to a clinic in Achikondi. It will be used to treat women with cervical abnormalities immediately on detection in a bid to reduce deaths from cervical cancer, currently averaging 1600 every year in Malawi. This life-saving equipment, funded by WMP, was in response to an initiative introduced by Professor Heather Cubie.

Last year, our students donated 2000 seedlings to the Zomba plateau to help offset the carbon footprint caused by their visit. These trees have since been planted, nurtured and protected from poachers by Tom and Petal from the Zomba Forest lodge and can be seen starting to flourish in their care.

Six months after the girls from Bolero Palms and Watson's took on the taboo topic of menstrual cycles, discussing how best to use the reusable pads made by St Columba's Church, we've been back out to check they are working as planned.  Click here to take a look at our video to find out more about how these pads work . And the results of our research suggest they are a great success, keeping the girls at school during their cycle. We're now working on a system to dry the pads discreetly.

This year's group of students have been busy learning about Malawian culture in action with Malawian drummer, Davie. Click here to hear more .  But look out Bolero Palms, these students are looking forward to teaching you some Scottish Country Dancing!

On Wednesday, 20 March, Watson's teamed up with Mary Erskine and Stewarts Melville to share their experiences of Malawi. On display at the Merchant's Hall was a selection of photos, sold off in a silent auction to raise just under £1000. Click here to see some of the photos on our video .

Our students spent the day with the Scotland Malawi Youth Congress exploring the opportunities and the challenges facing our partners in Malawi.  Initiatives like these are invaluable to our programme, ensuring our support is both sustainable and beneficial on all sides.

In February, our team managed to sort through 3000 bras for our students to take out in October. Bras are impossible to come for most women in Malawi and are one of our most appreciated donations - along with reusable sanitary pads, football boots and new-born baby clothes. We're always looking out for smalls - especially teenage bras - and people to help us sort through the donations. Our next sorting session will take place on Sunday afternoon, 22 September in the Galleon.