Scottish Scouts Malawi Appeal - latest news

Return to Malawi - a report by Anne Masino

Last year, I was in the fortunate position of being able to return to Malawi. I had spent eight weeks there in 2007 with the Sunrise Malawi Team, living and working at Makwawa, the Scout Association of Malawi’s National campsite near Zomba. This was not the first expedition I had done, but it was the first time I had the opportunity to return to a country and see how the work we had done had benefitted the country.

My visit began with my attendance as an observer at the Southern Zonal Conference. It was the first time The Scout Association of Malawi (SAM) had hosted the conference and they had worked very hard to make it a success. It was exceptionally interesting for me to meet the delegates from other African countries and to hear what their Scout Associations were doing, while SAM did an excellent job of acting as hosts.

After the conference, George Devine, who had led the Sunrise Malawi expedition, and I headed south to Makwawa. I was surprised and delighted to discover that the buildings we had renovated had been kept in good order; the grounds had been left to get a bit overgrown, but other things, which included some tents, 2 generators and a cement mixer, were being looked after.

We had renovated the buildings so the campsite could become a place that could continue to operate and generate income. The commissioner’s house had been let for several months and the tents, generators and cement mixer had been rented out, with the money raised having been used to further improve the site.

I am often asked how I know the funds are being used as they should be. Malawi is a developing a country that still has things to learn, but what I saw proved to me that our support was assisting an association that is moving in the right direction. It has made me more determined to support the Scottish initiative to support Scouting in Malawi.

Sam, one of the expeditioners who came with us to Malawi in 2007, had returned in 2008 and was working as a volunteer at Makwawa. He had built his own house with help from some of the locals he had become friendly with and was helping to promote the campsite, as well as assisting Shay, the camp warden, with other work onsite.

After spending some time with our friends at Makwawa, George and I went to visit some other Scouting projects in the North of the country and then finally returned to Lilongwe to spend some time with Steve Kanane, Chief Executive of SAM.

Scottish Scouting had already raised funds which had been sent to Malawi prior to our visit; I was to find out how that money had been spent. It had been used to purchase six sewing machines, fabric for shirts and wood planes. The sewing machines allowed Rover Scouts to learn a trade and produce Scout shirts - allowing the association to have the uniformity they desired. These and the wood planes enable vocational training. Further funding will allow skills training in computing, metalwork, art and cobbling to be offered.

All the projects in the appeal have been chosen through collaboration with SAM and were identified as things that would help the association continue to grow and work with young people in Malawi.

It is hoped that the spin off from links through the starter boxes and the heightened awareness created through the Malawi programme materials will promote even greater friendship between Scottish and Malawian Scouts and lead to groups from Scotland travelling to Malawi to assist with training or to use the campsite in future.