Hooke Court in Malawi was established as a UK charity in 2015 having been involved with 9 schools in the Bandawe area of Malawi since 2011. During the summer of 2019 we expanded and started working in the neighbouring Chintheche zone which comprises of 13 schools. The charity was set up with 8 trustees and has now increased to 10 - most of whom are highly qualified teachers and Head Teachers.
Our charity aims to help improve standards of primary education in the these schools to give advice, provide teacher training, maths and English lessons to the children in and out of the classroom as well as to fund raise to give the schools basic resources.
Mandy Cooper, trustee and her husband Pete, have spent many months in Malawi over recent years and have developed a strong relationship with the teachers in the Bandawe area of Malawi. As a result of this it was decided that Hooke Court would become involved in helping the schools in this area. Since 2014 we have been taking groups of volunteers to help implement phonics in the schools, provide team building activities for the children and carry out minor repair and maintenance in the classrooms. In August 2015 a party of 17 volunteers travelled to Malawi to work with the teachers and children. We raised money to pay for renovations to a girl’s boarding house, repair and resource some classrooms and provide a few basic resources for two schools. Two UK schools also forged links with 2 Malawi schools.
In September 2015 the Hooke Court in Malawi Charity was formed.
In 2015 the World Bank ranked Malawi as the poorest country in the world based on GDP. Only 40 – 50% of children complete primary education and 11% complete secondary education.
The Government made primary school education free for all children a few years ago but refrained from providing the schools with any more funding, resources or infrastructure to support this initiative. Consequently, teachers are faced with classes of 100 – 120 or more children with no resources except possibly a few desks. The parents are too poor to provide pencils and paper, the school has no money to buy such items making learning a very difficult task.
The Government have more recently stipulated that all children from 5 years old are to be taught everything in English. Previously, this was compulsory from 11 years old. Teachers need to have a comprehensive understanding of the English language and ways of teaching reading to enable this to be implemented.
At 13 years old, the children must take a test to enable them to enter into secondary education. The cost of this test is 50p, which is far too expensive for most so the majority of children leave school and join their parents farming for survival.
‘a fabulous opportunity for us to develop our skills and knowledge as well as helping others.’
GET INVOLVED! - Join our team of volunteers who go out for 2 weeks in August to help teach and maintain the local schools.
‘I have learnt a lot about myself and my outlook. Loved the project, beyond my expectations’
Your money could help to raise much needed funds for the people in one of the poorest countries in the world.
This can cost as little as £100 per term and will enable a 13 year old child to continue their education rather than join their parents in the fields.
You can make a single donation or monthly donation...
Please make payable to: Hooke Court in Malawi
Bank: HSBC
Sort Code: 40-19-21
Account Number: 31553569
Please make cheque payable to: Hooke Court in Malawi
Postal Address: Sarah McConnell, Hooke Court, Dorset DT8 3NX
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Sarah McConnell, Hooke Court, Dorset DT8 3NX
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Our volunteer programme earlier this year was another incredible success story. Our group of volunteers worked enthusiastically with the children and teachers in both the Bandawe and Chintheche zones. Similarly, the Malawi children and teachers were extremely welcoming, happy to see and work with us.
Jo and Helen, assisted by Chris, both worked hard to help develop the local teachers understanding of phonics as well as some measurement type activities in maths. Most days they taught classes of 100 or more children; just standing in the classroom proved a challenge! The teachers were grateful and were very interested to learn more out of the classroom. Jo, a Head Teacher from Weston Super Mare, also carried out a workshop with the Head Teachers and Deputy Head Teachers focussing on management and leadership. As a result, they are all very keen for similar workshops next year.
Ed, Alfie, Tilda and Tilly, our teenage cohort, set to work teaching much smaller groups of children English, Maths and Geography. They had all spent a great deal of time in the UK planning and resourcing their lessons which proved to be very popular with the Malawian children.
The afternoons, as in previous years, were spent playing football, netball and doing some craft activities. Their football and netball ability continues to impress me, and we all enjoyed watching them play shoeless and with great enthusiasm and determination.
Peter and Pete got very involved in maintain in the bikes which have been donated by Prodigal Bikes of Crewkerne. Every day they went up to the workshop to repair brakes, saddles, gears etc. Very quickly they became used to the Africa way and became adept at making do! Their reputation became so renowned that a little girl brought her pink bike for repair which they struggled with for days! The big highlight for both Peters this year was the repair of a wheelchair for Uchizi. His teacher had come to say that he could no longer attend school as his wheelchair had a puncture. The bike ambulance was sent to get the wheelchair, both wheels were replaced, the seat given a foam base and back and once it was reunited with its owner the head rest and side panels were adjusted to fit his new height!
Fiona spent her time meeting with the sponsored pupils who are all succeeding in their secondary education and of course continue to be enormously grateful for the help they receive to be able to attend school. Whilst meeting with the Head Teacher of one of the secondary schools we learnt that Dorothy who is a sponsored child has been doing so well she is to be a prefect this year!
Fiona also visited the schools that are supported by English schools. Thanks to fund raising in the UK we were able to arrange to have 113 desks to be repaired at Mkundi School.
A big thank you must go to everyone who has been knitting squares – we took them all out and four local ladies sewed them into 22 blankets for the Hearing Impaired children who board at school; many of them sleep on the floor with absolutely nothing to lie on or cover themselves.
As usual, School in a Bag and Sustainable Sanitary Kits, Yeovil donated bags and sanitary kits to us to distribute. These are so important in helping girls maintain their attendance at school.
The biggest project we have so far organised also started this summer. Helen, one of the volunteers had raised over £6500 to build a classroom for Kapeska School. After many meetings with the village, tribal elders and various chiefs we had a plan to build the classroom, the bricks kindly being donated by the villagers themselves. As of the middle of October they have finished building the walls and now onto the roof – fingers crossed it will only be a few more weeks – just in time for the rainy season.
Using money raised from Mandy’s funeral, the School for the Hearing Impaired are in the process of building a colourful new playground for their children. This school was always very special to Mandy and we thought it was a fitting way of using the kind donations we received.
As before, Sarah organised the purchasing of basic resources for all twenty-three schools- chalk, exercise books, pens, pencils, flip charts.
News of national exam results came in soon after our departure; the Bandawe Zone achieved third place in the district, a great improvement on their sixteenth place at the start of our involvement with the schools.
If you would like to Volunteer, Donate or have any questions in regards to the Charity, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Hooke Court in Malawi
Hooke Court
Dorset DT8 3NX
Telephone: 01308 862260
Email:
