Josie & Alice have always had a strong link with Chikale Primary School. In the past six years, they have built two classrooms and a school block for the school which have been funded by many fundraising efforts including a school fate which went down really well. Alice feels so strongly about the children in Nkhata Bay, that she also supports them by paying school fees for some of the children to better their education and their future.

We are always looking for volunteers to come and help at three Primary Schools which we have links with along with the Nkhata Bay Private Secondary School. We’ve had volunteers in the past put on school workshops to teach the children different skills from the standard school ten subjects that they are taught on a daily basis. If you are thinking of teaching at any of our schools, then we require anyone wanting to teach at the secondary school to be a qualified teacher and you must commit to at least three months. If you are thinking of teaching at the Primary School then again you must commit to three months but anyone can come and help out as long as you have a good level of English.

Alternatively you could set up or work on establishing links between the schools here and schools in other parts of the world, or a school you have previously worked at. At Chikale Primary we have been doing a link in the last two years based on brilliant guidelines set out by the British Council Connecting Classrooms Programme, and other links have been set up such as a pen pal scheme and computer projects between schools. This is a valuable exercise for the children here in Nkhata Bay to learn about other cultures and to interact with people all over the world. Depending upon how long volunteers are here for at Butterfly, they will be able to help in different ways.

VOLUNTEERS CAN CONTRIBUTE IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

• TEACHING – We always appreciate volunteers to teach at one of the local primary schools to introduce new ideas and lesson plans.

• TEACHER TRAINING – Work alongside local teachers to deliver extra teacher training lessons for them.

• LINKING UP SCHOOLS WORLDWIDE – If you are going to be volunteering for a while we are very keen for long term projects with a class aimed at linking them up with a school in the U.K. or elsewhere. This could be though different ways, either using the connecting classrooms template, or working on computers or a short film.

• WORKSHOPS – Take special lessons on a particular topic that you have particular experience in.

• MEDIA CENTRE – Set up computer lessons for the older children, or work with the teachers showing them how they could utilise the Media Centre for teaching certain topics.

If you are interested in volunteering, please see our Volunteering page. If you would like to contribute to this project but you are unable to make it over to Malawi, please see our Make A Donation page.