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. 

  The Christmas upcycling auction raised a mighty £574 for Malawi this year thanks to a record number of fabulously refurbished items by the Watson's DTE upcycling club. 

Watson's Malawi Partnership is now a register ed charity with Amazon Smile. Which means you can nominate us for a small donation every time you shop with Amazon.   And the good news is, you only need to nominate Watson's Malawi Partnership once. If you are interested in participating, all you need to do is sign up at to Amazon Smile through their website. If you use their mobile app to shop, you will need to switch that on too through the app's menu section.  It's fairly straightforward but if you get stuck, here is a link to the instructions:  Amazon.co.uk: AmazonSmile Mobile App Instructions .  Thanks for thinking about this - every little counts!

  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.

Earlier this month, Sally Rae joined the board of the Scotland Malawi Partnership, an organisation that aims to build connection and collaboration between these two long-affiliated nations.   Sally was recruited for her experience of working with young people sharing an interest in Malawi. She has organised every school trip since she conceived the idea, back in 2012, with Richard Travers. Since then, the Malawi school trip has doubled in size and become an annual fixture in the Watson's calendar.  If you'd like to know more about the work of the Scotland Malawi Partnership, click here: Our board | Scotland Malawi Partnership (scotland-malawipartnership.org)  

   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...