Before we had our own school, we sent our children to schools in surrounding towns. Our transport costs mounted and sending students to a number of different schools wasn't working. We were priviliged to receive donations to build our own primary and secondary schools.
We employ 11 teachers in our secondary school and 12 teachers in our primary school. Unfortunately, we have problems retaining our teachers. Teachers are in high demand in Malawi. The best teachers work in elite private schools. Most teachers can choose where they work. To keep our teachers, we need to offer them staff accommodation and pay them on time. Some months, sponsor donations arrive late. Our first priority is always to feed our children. We do not have enough buildings to accommodate all of our teachers.
And so, we are proud to offer a new initiative, our teacher sponsorship programme. Sponsor a teacher to cover their salary package and help us pay them on time and retain their valuable skills.
Teacher Profile: Mrs Jane Paligolo
Jane is the Deputy Headmistress of our secondary school. As a young girl, she finished high school with good marks in 1983. This is a great achievement in Malawi.
There were only 2 career options for a girl: nurse or teacher. Nursing involved tuition fees, so she studied teaching. Studying full time, she worked to pay her living expenses through college. In 1986, she graduated with a junior certificate in Primary School teaching. From there, she worked full time, raised a family and studied in her spare time (!) to upgrade her certificates, one by one. In 2008, she graduated from University and came to work for us. At times, both she and her husband were out of work and struggled to feed their 4 children.
Today, her husband works for a bus company. He rarely sees his family and they miss each other dearly, but he is very happy to have a job. They work hard to support their 4 girls, ranging from 8 to 19 years old.
My eyes stray to her clean and well presented, but very old, dress. I remark that if all of her children are accepted into University, she will live to support her children for more than 15 years. 'That is the way of things,' she smiles.
The schoolchildren love Jane. 'We understand each other well', she says.
