In October 2024, the 10th Malawi trip set off on the 18,000 mile round trip to the ‘warm heart of Africa’.  Fern Graham, one of the students, captures some of the highlights of the trip for us.

Sarah graduated top of her class and now she's hoping to go to dentistry school. But if it wasn't for sport, she might not have been able to sit her secondary school exams.

Just one year on and the building for Charity's new lab is standing tall. Join us here for a virtual tour!

  The fo undations are finally underway for Achikondi Clinic's new blood laboratory.  The lab will be used to run routine screening blood tests for malaria and other conditions that would benefit from early intervention and treatment.

It was great to receive news of Namalu from the Open Arms team. Its cle ar from the report that their reintegration strategy is progressing well and there is much we can do to support Namalu.

  Retired midwife, Joan Pears, was so moved by her recent visit to Achikondi Clinic that she felt compelled to help fellow midwife and clinic founder, Charity Salima (pictured here with Sally). On her return, she created an appeal through Watson’s Malawi Partnership and raised £1,300 to help Charity meet her growing staff costs.

Every Easter, Sally takes a group of adults to Malawi to meet our partners and experience their work alleviating poverty among young people in the region.  This year, it was the turn of Veronica, Viv and Joan and nothing could prepare them for the brute devastation of tropical cyclone Freddy, one of the worst storms to hit the southern hemisphere.

This month, Malawi has experienced one of the strongest - and longest-lasting - storms ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. For those of you who have asked, we have included details of how you can support the families in need at the bottom of this article.

During our tour of the Mulanje Massif, Gusto, our guide, spoke to us of the difficulties confronting the local community in the face of rapidly escalating fertiliser costs and we were only too pleased to help.

Malawi is experiencing its worst outbreak of cholera in twenty years, greatly adding to the challenges facing our partners every day. Schools have had to close their doors and the cost of medical equipment is escalating as demand for treatment rises. We are responding by sending funds to Achikondi Clinic in Lilongwe and Kuche Kuche Clinic in Mangochi where the disease is especially virulent. 

  And in the blink of eye, it's all over! But for the 44 students - and nine members of staff who accompanied them - this trip marks the  start of a whole new love affair with Malawi and our partners there.

   On the last day of the October trip, we visited Charity Salima's award-winning clinic that has achieved so much for so many families in Area 23 of Lilongwe: dramatically reducing neonatal deaths and spearheading radical new family planning initiatives.    In the last year alone, Achikondi clinic has admitted 53 women for delivery, successfully delivering 51 babies while referring the other two women to hospital for specialist treatment. They have conducted 1774 ultra-sounds and supported 254 antenatal women.  In addition, the clinic has provided emergency medical support for 1678 people and more than 7000 families with family planning guidance and prophylactics, challenging local taboos head-on. But that's still not enough for Charity. As well as treating us to some memorable entertainment, see link below, Charity took time out of her hectic schedule to tell us about her ambitions for the clinic: "I would like to thank George Watson College through you, Sally...

  We are all so grateful for your ongoing support of our work and for cheering us on through these challenging times. Your sponsorship is enabling us to offer children like Peter the very best care and is truly helping to build a much brighter future. From all of us here - thank you!

  Dear friends and members of the Watson Malawi Partnership and the George Watson’s College community, We were delighted to receive your recent donations following your virtual ‘Race Night’ in March 2021. You raised approximately £4,000, which is a fantastic sum in support of our vulnerable children and communities in Malawi, and we are grateful for your efforts and dedication. I hope you’ll enjoy hearing some of our latest news from Malawi, as in spite of the difficult conditions we have operated within over the last year, a couple of our children have successfully been able to reintegrate with their communities and return home after thorough assessments, including Blessings and Yankho.  We also welcomed a new baby, Shadreck Benson I pictured above), who was born on the 4 th April 2020 and who comes from Simon Village, T/A Nankumba, Mangochi District. His mother had passed away from high blood pressure on the 21 st November 2020, and after his aunt was no longer able to...

Captain Baz took us horse racing this week - and all from the comfort of our sofas.

Open Arms reached out with a report on recent activities in Malawi, including the good news that the solar inverters are now in place in Mangochi and the steps they are taking to maintain operations during the pandemic. 

  Dear Miriam, We're delighted to receive your email, and we're very grateful for your fundraising efforts! This is so appreciated at such a challenging time for our teams in Blantyre and Mangochi. It will make an enormous difference to the children in our care at the Infant homes and for those who have been fortunate to return home, in their communities in Malawi too.  Best wishes, Grace  Click here to read the Christmas update from Open Arms Click here to see how The Sipping Point was able to raise funds for Open Arms  

Thanks to Miriam Reynolds and the wine lovers of our Watson's Malawi Partnership community, we have been able to give Open Arms £1,900 this month.  Miriam has organised a series of wine - and gin - tastings over the last couple of months and has given over all the profits to the Watson's Malawi Partnership.  She has kindly agreed to extend her sessions until March. Group sessions over zoom; DIY tasting notes for the zoom-shy or indeed, any way that suits you!  If you are interested, you can read all about here on the WMP website . And please do share these details with your friends, family and work colleagues. The  more, the merrier!

I hope that you and everyone at George Watson's are keeping safe and well. I wanted to personally thank you and the school for all your fundraising efforts and activities this year.  It has been an extremely challenging year for us all, and we relied heavily on our loyal supporters to see us through the worst of it. The support we receive from schools is part of the backbone of our organisation, and we would not be able to do what we do without this commitment.  Going forward, I'd love to keep in touch more often and find out how we can better support the school, or get more involved. Hopefully we'll be able to welcome you back to Malawi next year too! The children are now back at school, having all returned by the end of October 2020, and are enjoying a return to their routine. Our lockdown in Malawi has been a success and we are still implementing strict safety measures - the children have made incredible progress with home learning.  To find out more about how we a...

  We were delighted to learn from Charlie at Open Arms that our solar powered back-up equipment has arrived and is in the process of being installed at Rosie's House and Mangochi Infant House. On the back of Covid-19 and the impact the disease is having on fundraising, Open Arms is having to move towards educating more children in day schools and fewer in boarding houses over the next few years.  In Rosie's House, the solar back-up will allow the charity to reenergise its computing programme - which together with maths and English - is so essential for readying students for employment in Malawi. The rest of the equipment will go to Mangochi Infant House to provide better night-time emergency lighting and run computer support during daytime power outages. Charlie was keen to pass on his thanks to the supporters of Watson's Malawi Partnership, assuring us that the equipment, pictured here with KK, Benson and the local electrician, will enrich lives in Malawi.  For more info...