Juliana Chilenga lives with her 4 children and 3 nephews in Mkhoza, Northern Malawi. Her youngest child is 12 years old and the oldest is 20. She works as a maize farmer to earn money and provide for her family.

After noticing that many children in the village would spend most of their time playing rather than learning, she reached out to the local chief: “I consulted the chief if the community can open a nursery school.”

Since then, the chief consulted the community to open a Early Childhood Development (ECD) nursery school, where every household contributes towards the nursery with maize and Malawian kwacha. The chief also selected caregivers to help with the running of the ECD nursery including Juliana. 

To set up the ECD, there were ongoing issues that needed to be solved: 

• The ECD faces issues of lack of teaching materials: “I do not have any books I can refer to, thus I teach children from what I can recall that day.”
• The children lack playing materials.
• The ECD does not have its own cooking utensils.
• Voluntary workers like Juliana find it difficult to make time for the ECD: “I know the work is voluntary, but as a farmer it usually takes most of my time, as I am not supported in any way. I usually have to wake up very early to attend to my farm and make sure and back and ready for lessons that start at 7am to 12pm.”

Since the operation began, they have been working closely with Chikwina primary school with their head teacher recommending the ECD project get support from Temwa. Juliana hopes that Temwa will be able to help provide teaching materials so she can deliver more content-rich lessons for her students. 

“Thank you Temwa for choosing to work with us!”

They are hoping to construct a bigger room so that children can be divided into three groups, making it easier for the teachers. The community has already begun moulding bricks and hope Temwa can help build a permanent structure.

Find out more about the ECD Project here.