buildOn Impact: Ensuring Education for All in One Malawian Community

Elizabeth Mwale was born in 2005 in Fwifwi, Malawi—one of the most densely populated and least developed countries in the world. The majority of Malawi’s residents live in rural communities where up to 90% of adults are unable to read and write, and the nation is ravaged by one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the world. After leaving school in second grade, it would have been easy, even expected, for Elizabeth to become another statistic of poverty. But today, she is back in school and thriving, and has something many in developing countries often live without—hope.

In partnership with In a Perfect World, buildOn’s Dwalala School in Fwifwi is bringing hope to many like Elizabeth, from primary school to adulthood. Since the school completed construction in June of 2014, enrollment has grown to 727 students (a 28% enrollment increase) and 54% of these students are female. Additionally, more than 100 adults are learning to read and write for the first time and a small business loan program has been initiated which has the potential to bring long-term stability and self-reliance to the community.

Unfortunately, there are many factors that can prevent a child from receiving an education, even when there is a school nearby. Extreme poverty, gender discrimination, a lack of understanding about the human rights of children or of the inherent value of education, can keep a child out of the classroom. But through the buildOn Enroll Program (now offered in six of the seven developing countries buildOn works in), children like Elizabeth have the opportunity to return to school after dropping out, and many are attending school for the first time. Plus, with help and financial support of adults in the community, children who return to school are more likely to stay there.

Because of the buildOn Enroll Program, thousands of formerly out-of-school students are now back in class and thriving.

Forty-four-year-old Linesi Banda is one of those adults. She volunteered to help build the Dwalala School so that the children of her village would have an opportunity she missed out on as a child – the chance to learn to read and write. When Linesi learned the school would also have an Adult Literacy Program, she signed up immediately.

“I was annoyed with the conduct of my husband. He would give me letters for safekeeping which were actually letters from his girlfriend since he knew that I was illiterate and I could not read them,” Linesi says. “That is the situation that prompted me to start the Adult Literacy classes at Dwalala. I have also seen that the world is changing and it needs educated people.”

Because of her newfound education, Linesi is now able to read and write, and is taking an active role in her community and in her own life. Linesi and the other program students started a village savings and loan initiative that provides microloans to small business, such as selling fruits and vegetables, baking and brewing beer. And through this promotion of basic education, Adult Literacy participants like Linesi have the opportunity, often for the first time in their lives, to learn about poverty, health, disease, and injustice. “I am very proud that I am no longer in the dark,” she says.

“The world is changing and it needs educated people.” Because of the Adult Literacy Program in her village, Linesi will be one of them.

Linesi, like many others, is committed to ending the cycle of poverty and illiteracy in her community, and has joined one of the income-generating initiatives that help children like Elizabeth remain in school. The community’s Leadership Committee purchased three goats from funds they raised and buildOn contributed funds for an additional seven goats. With the addition of seven offspring, the group now has 17 goats to support the children who were previously out of school. Ten of these goats have been distributed to the village’s most vulnerable learners and there are plan to distribute more ones the goats mature and produce offspring.

The community is also beekeeping to support their students, and currently has seven bee hives. When the honey is ready to harvest, earnings will be used to purchase basic needs for the children who are most vulnerable. Additionally, the group is also sewing sanitary pads for school-aged girls in the community. Due to an unfortunate stigma associated with menstruation, and a lack of funds for sanitary supplies, young girls in Fwifwi and in other developing communities around the world generally miss at least one week of school each month while they’re menstruating, causing them to fall behind in their studies.

A boy from Fwifwi shows off two of the goats his village purchased to help support his education.

Elizabeth, who is now 11 years old, has no plans of leaving school again. She considers herself a role model because when she leaves the Dwalala School at the end of the day, her friends who are not enrolled in school admire what she’s been able to accomplish during her time there. Once she completes her studies at Dwalala, she plans to continue her education and become a nurse.

Elizabeth—and the hundreds of thousands of other students enrolled in buildOn schools around the world—are defying low expectations through education. When we build schools today, they can build stronger communities tomorrow.

buildOn and In a Perfect World have partnered to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy in some of the the world’s economically poorest countries. In a Perfect World has funded the construction of 21 buildOn schools, where more than 3,400 students are educated daily, and has pledged to build 33 more by 2020. buildOn is grateful for our continuing partnership with In a Perfect World.