Vandana at 12 is not very different from other girls of her age.  She has dreams in her eyes and she wears a shy smile on her face. What make her stand out is the ‘never give up’ spirit amongst adversities and challenges.  Vandana was once enrolled in school but she does not remember when. However, her education was punctuated by a long break as economic hardship forced her father to migrate to Delhi, and later to Mumbai for work. Meanwhile her mother shouldered the responsibility...
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When Join My Village landed in Kasungu district way back in 2009, the first thing we did was to enter into an agreement with the Kasungu District Education Manager’s (KUDEM) office as one way of pulling each other towards a common goal; improving girls access to education in the rural areas of the district. Among the areas of agreement were: Join My Village to construct houses for female teachers; provide some reference materials for primary schools; and provide scholarships to needy and intelligent girls who...
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Many teachers teach through commitment and experience. But behind these committed and experienced teachers, there are reference materials which require the commitment from students themselves to participate and become engrossed into learning. Zumani primary school is 53 kilometres west of Kasungu town and it is just within the edge of Kasungu National Park.  The school has an attendance of 636 students of which 302 are girls. Previously, the school had no grade 8 classes where students could sit for secondary school entrance examination and the reason...
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This Valentine’s Day spending some quality time with my husband was a big bonus. Given our busy schedules, we decided to make time for ourselves. A leisurely lunch and a thoughtful gift presented with this soulful couplet made my day complete. suna hai mohabbat mein hadein nahin hoti, gar hoti hai hadh, to wahan mohabbat nahin hoti(I have heard that there are no boundaries when you love someone, if there are boundaries then love is absent)This couplet speaks a lot about breaking down barriers and communication...
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Imagine, you are a teacher in rural Kasungu and you are among just 6 teachers teaching at a school like Mtoso which has a total of 1056 students. Honestly, the teacher to student ratio at Mtoso primary school is compromised. The government, according to the Kasungu district education office, recommends the 1: 60 as a good teacher to student ratio. Mtoso is a full primary school with grades 1 to 8 but one may wonder how do 6 teachers manage such a large number of students?...
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