At La Fosse, we believe that we have a responsibility of care that stretches beyond our clients, candidates and employees. As one of our charity partnerships, we have been supporting the Mangochi Orphans Education and Training (MOET) School in Malawi for a number of years. With Christmas coming up, we’d love to share with you some updates from the school and why Friends of Mangochi Orphan’s Education (FOMOE) is such a fantastic cause.

October

MOET Re-opens and Implements COVID-19 Safety Strategies

MOET was happy to receive all learners back to school from their homes after a long COVID-19 holiday. During the pandemic, life at MOET has not been the same, so to help combat the virus, teachers learnt how to safely manage classes, including how to practice physical distancing and regular sanitizing. MOET decided to help the community easily access some of the essentials for prevention. Using the sewing machines from their vacation and skills development section, students and tailors have been designing and sewing better face masks that are being sold at a cheaper price, which also offers a fundraising initiative to the institution.

​National Reading Program (NRP) Training

The Ministry of Education developed strategies aimed at aiding pupils to start reading as early as possible, after research that concluded that pupils had difficulties to read, especially in the first three years of education. To help implement change, the Ministry of Education has been vigilant in providing training and following up progress of the program. In October, MOET teachers were trained on how they can improve their skills of making pupils read as early as possible. Teachers were happy with this training and they are now better prepared to teach than before.

​Off-Season Farming for Income Generation

The COVID-19 pandemic has suffocated income generation at MOET. As a strategy to boost income to sustain operations, MOET embarked on off-season farming of maize, tomatoes and vegetables. MOET has also increased its efforts this year in raising more tree seedlings at its tree nursery.

​Standard Eight Students Graduation and Farewell Party

After finishing writing their exams on 2nd October, learners had their farewell party on 5th October before going home for a holiday while waiting for their results. During their graduation, they used poems and songs to describe the memorable times they had at MOET. The school also organised a party to celebrate and conclude all the memories with their lovely learners, parents, staff and management. It was a great memory and a day to remember.

November

Cosmogolem Shelter

With support from Koen Venmechelen, MOET constructed a shelter which is intended to accommodate a Cosmogolem and provide a free environment to learners by reporting issues such as human rights, gender based violence, or whatever issue they may encounter that may not make the learning environment free and safe for them. The Cosmogolem is considered as a powerful creature that is responsible for defending children. Recently, with the emergence of COVID-19 and need to observe some physical distance, the classes were found to be inadequate to accommodate the number of pupils, so MOET decided to use one end of the Cosmogolem shelter to accommodate a class. While this has partially resolved the space problem, it has also created another problem of not providing a secluded environment for pupils to report issues. MOET appeals to well-wishers to help create more learning space to the pupils in order to relieve the Cosmogolem. To get involved, please head to the FOMOE website.

Well-Wishers Capitalise on Facilities to Fundraise

A lot of people appreciate the effort that MOET is doing in educating the community. They have been supportive to our initiatives in different ways. Locally, Christian Organization is one such category that has the heart to support in a way they can. Recently, church members from Blantyre booked for a two-day weekend accommodation. They had church activities in one of MOET’s target villages and used their facilities, choosing to return to MOET this year in order to help the institution sustain day-to-day operations.

New School Uniform

Another very important activity that took place in November was the introduction of a new unique school uniform. The change in the school uniform will improve recognition of MOET students wherever they can go, and is both important in terms of determining discipline of the pupils outside the school as well as for precise identification.

​Fish Ponds Aid Fish Farming Lessons

MOET has five fish ponds which provide breeding space for fish in order to produce fingerlings that are sold. The ponds were also established to act as reservoirs for excess water spilling off from an irrigation scheme dam. These water spots aid in regulating temperatures at MOET, and help instill knowledge on fish farming to pupils at MOET.

Commitment to Training

The key principle of MOET is to education children while they are young for them to get used to educate themselves even after finishing their school. For this to happen, teachers need to have a pool of skills to instill into the pupils. In November, MOET recruited new nursery school caretakers and were trained before commencing their work. They learnt how to handle kids, they learnt how prepare and deliver their lessons and the use of learning and teaching resources as well as nursing them. In addition, they learnt how to make dolls and telling stories through pictures.

​Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

MOET pupils understand the need to keep the environment clean, and have been trained on how they can reduce, reuse and recycle waste. The photo features the students showing off their new creations.

As you can see, even just over the past couple of months, MOET have had the ability to work on some fantastic initiatives thanks to donations provided by La Fosse and other FOMOE backers. It’s so rewarding to see these children thrive and we look forward to another year of progress. We’d like to wish all the students, staff and fundraisers a very happy holiday season.

If your business is interested in donating to MOET, please go to the FOMOE website to learn more.