Charity seeks help with solar work in Malawi

A charity and a thriving solar business are seeking to light up the lives of schoolchildren in Malawi with the aim of providing power to 15,000 people and creating the first solar powered community in Africa.The £100,000 campaign will also facilitate the creation of employment, enable businesses to flourish and Malawians to extend the length of their day which still ends with natural light.

The campaign, in the bicentenary year of the birth of one of Malawi's most famous adopted sons, Scots explorer David Livingstone, is an ambitious extension of a successful operation last year. The two organisations - Spirit Aid and Renewable Resources - joined forces then when the New Lanark

headquartered company installed solar panels to produce the power and also donated laptop computers to facilitate internet access.

The installation took place at a local school in Mphata-Milonde, Malawi. Eleven panels were attached to batteries in order to power the school as a stand-alone building without access to a grid connection. But now the two organisations have upped the ante and they want to extend the project to "˜light up' the entire village and its surrounding areas.

And they need the help of businesses and individuals to raise the money to enable the project to take place.

Spirit Aid is a humanitarian relief organisation founded by film and TV actor David Hayman. He said: "We want to create a centre of excellence. Not only will it extend the length of their day beyond 6pm, it will extend their social life and everything that goes with that."

Solar light and internet access would also improve the educational lot of what was to all intents and purposes still a "˜bush community', he said, and part of the plan was to set an infrastructure in place to educate the children to become future teachers and other professionals and train future solar engineers.

Renewable Resources is also based in Milton Keynes in the UK. Its chief executive Paul Gribben personally oversaw the installation of the initial panels and said it was the company's duty as a responsible, environmentally-aware organisation to give something back.

"This project is part of our commitment to use solar power to enhance the quality of people's lives and also for the improvement to the planet and just to see the look on the children's faces made all the effort worthwhile.

"There is also a natural synergy with that part of Africa as the closest large city is Blantyre, named in honour of the explorer David Livingstone, himself a son of Lanarkshire.

"Now we want to take it to the next stage and to create our village of light in darkest Africa. It is a shining example of what modern technology can do to and how it can improve people's lives."

Spirit Aid has been working in partnership with the community of Milonde, Malawi for the last four years. The organisation has initiated a Feeding Programme for High School Pupils which feeds 500 pupils every school day. Since the start of the programme the school role has doubled to 500 and teaching staff have doubled to eight. The exam pass marks have also rocketed from 12% to 96% and the school is now the highest achieving school in Mulanje District and one of the highest in Malawi.

David Hayman said: "Eleven graduates are now working as primary teachers in the community, two are police officers, two are Health and Welfare Inspectors and one is a Midwife. It is a wonderful success story in the heart of the African Bush.

"Spirit Aid also runs seven pre-school nurseries, and each nursery has up to 150 children who are fed a bowl of porridge each day and are given lessons in Chichewa, English, Arithmetic and singing and dancing.

"The Women's Training Workshop trains women in sewing and knitting using manual machines enabling them to earn an income from making school uniforms, industrial clothing, jumpers and sweaters.

"The installation of the Solar Power Panels will Enable Spirit Aid to further develop the potential of the community and the opportunities for all the Young People of Milonde. It is a wonderful initiative and Spirit Aid is delighted and honoured to be in partnership with Renewable Resources to whom we are very grateful.

"The Solar Power will enable us to eventually provide computers to the High School so that these young people can learn IT skills to complement their extraordinary academic pass results which will offer them exceptional opportunities to follow a career and lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

"It is truly a Centre of Excellence that we are building in partnership with Renewable Resources and the People of Milonde."

Spirit Aid was set up to support children and young people around the world by running humanitarian projects in places such as Kosovo, Guinea Bissau, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa, as well as at home in Scotland .

It identifies needs on the ground and targets resources within the local communities to make a real difference in health and living conditions. Spirit Aid is also pro-active in raising awareness of the need for peace in our lives and the future health of our planet.

Anyone who wants to donate to the project can do so at www.justgiving.com/teams/rr