It is widely accepted that all children need a sanitary and hygienic learning environment, no matter where they are. However it is less well known that a lack of sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools has a stronger negative impact on girls than on boys. Girls need safe, clean, separate and private sanitation facilities in their schools to encourage them to stay in school. This is why the Join My Village program has been building sanitation blocks and latrines in primary schools in Malawi as...
Read more

There are aspects of human nature which are the same no matter where you come from. Take teenage girls for example – many of us know what they can be like! Moody, silly, rebellious, stubborn, excitable….the list goes on. At Join My Village we recently witnessed some interesting parallels and differences between our two cultures when it comes to teenage girls when our lead scholarship girl, Alice, faced disciplinary action at her high school. Alice, like many 15 year olds, has a "boyfriend"; a fellow...
Read more

This month I decided to visit one of the primary schools where Join My Village distributed reference materials. I jumped on my motorbike and set out for the 56 kilometer drive to Santhe Primary School. This is one of the primary schools that Join My Village has distributed  a total of 21 reference materials comprising of English dictionaries, Atlases, Black board rulers, Maps, and also English text books. When I arrived at the school I took some time to sit at a distance to observe...
Read more

All of us know how nervous we can get when we hear the word "exam". Here in Malawi we have quite a different exam schedule than you might be used to in other countries such as America. Here, students need to sit end of term exams as well as end of year exams. In addition, there are national examinations at different stages of schooling which are marked by the National Examinations Boards. If a student passes a national exam he or she is given a...
Read more

Join My Village activities work with all kinds of mothers. Young mothers, single mothers, working mothers and mothers who are raising their own children as well as other people’s, just to name a few. Although the mothers we work with are mostly through our Village Savings and Loans Associations and primary school teachers, sometimes they are also students. It is not uncommon for teenage girls to become pregnant in Malawi. In fact, pregnancy and marriage are some of the biggest constraints to girls’ education across...
Read more