MALAWI - 110,568 Euros for the St. Steven’s School!
2023-11-09
Africa Runners have really gone the distance – and how! Now that most of the races and fun runs have taken place for the season, we have a total: the Africa Runners raised €60,568 in donations. We are delighted – and very grateful to everyone who pitched in! And because the Schwabe Group matches sums up to a total of €50,000, the total result was a walloping €110,568 to build St. Steven’s Secondary School in Malawi!
On November 8, 2023, the project manager for St. Steven’s school, Mwawi Shaba, received the donation check from Olaf Schwabe at an evening for the Friends of the Umckaloabo Foundation group held at Terra Medica near Karlsruhe.
St.-Steven's opens up new perspectives
We want to start building the school soon. St. Steven’s secondary school is a ray of light on the horizon for the children in the Kasantha region in Malawi. At the moment, there is no way for the over 4,000 children at the regional primary schools to attend a secondary school.
St. Steven’s means that for the first time, these children have an opportunity to continue past elementary school, which significantly increases their chances in terms of further education.
The girls’ situation remains difficult
In Karlsruhe, Mwawi Shaba was able to report about successfully completed projects such as the construction of St. Mauritius secondary school, which began operations in late 2022 and currently offers a good education to 140 students. He looked ahead to the future with a spirit of optimism: St. Steven's school is an important structure for the children and young people in Karonga who long to attend school beyond the elementary level.
Mwawi Shaba also emphasized that the situation in Malawi remains alarming, especially for girls. They are often married off early, forced to work at home or in the fields instead of going to school, and thus have very little hope of breaking free of a lifetime of poverty and dependence. The educational initiatives of the Karonga diocese focus their efforts here in particular so that girls can go to school and work towards shaping their own futures.