In the fall of 2000, I became involved as a volunteer teacher with ERGO (Educational Resource Group Overseas), an Edmonton based NGO that had built a fully funded private school for girls in Malawi. This school had been operating for only a year and a half when I joined the volunteer teaching staff. There were 28 students with 14 girls in Form 1 and another 14 girls in Form 2. The girls had gone through a selection process and had been selected on the basis of both need and ability. None of the students would have had the opportunity to attend Secondary School had they not been selected to attend the ERGO school. Upon my arrival at the school I became instantly aware of some extremely serious interpersonal conflicts that were occurring between and among the Canadian and Malawian volunteer staff as well as between and among the ERGO board members in Canada. We were also informed that the organization was experiencing serious financial difficulties and that there were only enough operating costs to keep the school going for another couple of months. At the end of the second year of operation, when I had been in Malawi for only five months, the ERGO NGO decided that they had to close the school due to financial, organizational and interpersonal problems. Their long term plan was to close the school, send the 28 girls home, and try to solve the organizational and financial problems with the aim of reopening the school after a couple of years.

As the last remaining Canadian volunteer at the school in Malawi, I saw the affect that the school’s closure had on my students, their parents and the entire community. It was clear that the girls had lost their hope that they would complete their education and they feared that they would return home to their villages and be pressured into early marriage. In my opinion and in the opinion of the two remaining Malawian volunteer teachers, Memory Chazeza and Macdonald Namponya, this was a desperate situation that required immediate action on our part. Within the first month of the closure of the school, three of our students were married. The two of us, myself and Memory decided to try to help the remaining 25 girls finish their education. I returned to Canada and have been fundraising money for the girls tuition, while Memory has supported the girls in Malawi by holding monthly meetings with their parents, finding Secondary Schools that would accept the girls, transporting the girls to their new school, and helping the girls remain focused on their education despite the many obstacles they have face on a daily basis.

My fundraising efforts have consisted of speaking at Rotary Clubs, schools, personal sponsor and friends and family. To date, I have fundraised $130 000. This money has been used to pay for the girls’ tuition, uniforms, transport to and from school, school textbooks and school supplies. I have returned to Malawi every summer since the closure of ERGO (four summer trips to date) at my own personal expense and have spent time meeting with the girls, their parents, their teachers and their community members. On each occasion Memory and I have traced the money that has been wired to each institution and have been convinced that 100% of the sponsorship dollars have been used appropriately. From the beginning of this sponsorship project, I have made it clear that as long as the girls do their best, Memory and I will continue to help them complete their education. Their sponsorship does not rely on high marks and the passing of courses. Many of the girls have had to repeat years at school and rewrite exams. The sponsorship has been given equally to all of our former students regardless of their achievements. I have also made it clear to the girls that the only condition we have put on the continuation of their sponsorship is that they demonstrate to their teachers that they are working to their own personal best potential.

At this time, 22 of the original 28 girls are still in our sponsorship program. The other 6 girls have dropped out of their own accord and have gotten married and are living in their home villages. Of the 22 students remaining, all of them have completed their Form 4 (equivalent to grade 12), 17 have passed their M.S.C.Examinations (equivalent to grade 12 diploma exams), 5 are now in Malawian universities (4 of these 5 are on full government scholarship), and the rest have completed two year diploma training courses in Tailoring, General Fitting and Business Studies. They are now all between the ages of 18 and 22 years, none of them are married and none of them have children. 6 of the girls have recently opened their own Tailoring/Chicken business under the direct guidance of Memory Chazeza. I have sent the girls a loan of $3000 and the girls are committed to paying this loan back at a rate of 20% per year.

For the past 5 years I have been raising money to cover the following project expenses:
a) Tuition for Memory Chazeza who is currently completing her fourth year of a degree program at African Bible College in Malawi.
b) Tuition for Lucy and Beatrice who have both started 2 year diploma coursework at Natural Resources College in Malawi.
c) Tuition for 11 girls who are currently in trade school at the Phwezi Women’s Training Center in Malawi.
d) Money for a Business Loan to be given to six of the girls that have completed their diploma courses and would like to go in to business together. Two of these girls are trained as seamstresses and the other four have a Business Studies diploma. They would like to set up a Tailoring Business as well as a Telephone Bureau.

I continue to find myself humbled and empowered by the wisdom courage and determination that these young women show as they strive to achieve independence amidst the multitude of hardships that are all too often, insurmountable.