Educate a girl and her family’s life changes for the better too

Calicioius Ganuel (18) had planned to go to secondary school four years ago when she completed her primary education, but in November 2019, she gave birth to a baby boy Colings, putting an end to her dreams of becoming a nurse.

“My education was finished,” she told MIF during our recent evaluation visit. Or so she thought, because she is now in her second year at Kankao Community Day Secondary school in Balaka district, in eastern Malawi thanks to a MIF scholarship.

Calicious lives with her seven siblings and her mother in a small house in Chimpakati village, a six kilometre walk from her school.

Her early marriage ended soon after the baby’s birth and she returned home to live with her mother and siblings. Her child’s father has no contact with his son.

Her mother, Yasinta (47) grows maize and cotton on the small plot of land adjoining their compound, and she also earns cash by working on other people’s fields. It is very common in Malawi for relatives who live in the cities to keep gardens at their “home village” which they pay local people to cultivate.

Yasinta earns on average MW 4,000 (£3.50) for four days work clearing a piece of land for planting. Based on the school fees for 2023-24, Yasinta would have to work at least 40 days to earn enough to pay for Calicious’ education.

Calicious had no hope of getting her secondary education until Felix, her village’s community agent for our in-country partner WOLREC, approached her mother to tell her about the MIF scholarship scheme.

Yasinta is very happy that her daughter can now go to school. “I don’t have to worry about the fees or uniforms, I can think about my other children, she told us.”

Malawi’s First Lady joins forces with the McConnell International Foundation to support girls’ education

Lord Jack McConnell, founder and chair of the McConnell International Foundation, met with Malawi’s First Lady H.E. Madame Monika Chakwera to discuss education for vulnerable girls at a summit in State House during his recent visit to Malawi.

The meeting focused on the many challenges facing girls in rural Malawi, in particular early marriages. Malawi has one of the highest rates of early marriage and teenage pregnancy in the world, with about half of girls marrying before the age of 18, according to government records.

Lord McConnell said that MIF wants to make sure that their scholarship scheme not only provides girls with their schools fees, uniforms and learning materials, but also mentoring support. “We want to help the girls get through these challenging years, to emerge stronger and hopefully move on to further education, and a good job,” he added.

Watch Luntha TV’s report here.