We are happy to network with similar organisations working in similar areas of development

We are actively developing our membership, fundraising capacity and are developing a Development/Citizenship Education Programme for schools in Scotland.

Each day was started with a theory lesson in a small classroom behind the workshop. Soon there would be simple products available for sale (as this was a test in the quality of their work) and monies received were being put into an account. Although the training had only started three weeks earlier Newton was already able to give the opportunity for some of the trainees to work on simple tasks on Saturdays for which they were being paid.

Trainees – left to right

Austain Banda, 28 years. He has a polio weakness in one leg.

Bickson Phiri 29 years. He has a club foot.

Mike Magalasi, 20 years. He has a hand deformity.

Workshop supervisor – Tony Nthala

Thomas Lyson 24 years. He has a club foot.

Halex Molosi, 30 years. He has a polio deformity in one hand.

The workshop was spacious, light and airy. Piles of shavings and stools under construction were evidence of activity. Before leaving the workshop there was careful treatment of tools as they were put away, e.g. withdrawing the plane blades before storing. There will be a toolkit for each trainee on completion of his course to aid establishing his own business.

For more photographs (link to photo gallery)

The Trainees

Kamfosi Banda (male) aged 22 years, walks 8 km each way to central Dowa town for this training 5 days per week. He is married with one child. Previously he was a casual day labourer earning 200mk per day (£0.80). The loss of this income is a sacrifice made to gain this training in an attempt to better his situation. His wife is a farmer on a small garden plot. He has a handicap in his left hand from polio.

Agartha Kadzandira (female) aged 23 years, walks 3 km each way despite one leg weakened by polio. She is a single mother with one child. The child is looked after by the mother.

The training was taking place in a small hut in the town centre near a large store. It was small and cramped with the three treadle sewing machines. The trainer would be happy to accommodate more trainees – with an extension to his small training room. This is now under consideration for the second training period.

For more photographs  (link to gallery)

Tailoring Trainer – Mr Mphatso Mdima and his small tailoring school

We were shown some of the initial work of the trainees which was a skirt and a top, the latter still in progress. We were also shown their exercise books which contained samples of their sewing with marks out of ten. The trainer explained to us the reasons for the high and low marks for particular exercises – it took a trained eye to see the faults!

When a visitor from Tanzania called in, he said “I’m so glad I came. \i had no idea you people did such high quality work. You are amazing!” In this way and through learning about Africa, people at Garvald grow in their perception of the world and the part they can play as citizens.

Over 300 completed, inventoried tool kits have left Gorgie for African and South American destinations since the workshop began. Blacksmithing, tinsmithing, sewing, leatherwork, mechanic’s, furniture-making and plumbing kits have all been worked on.

We are now engaged in a vocational training project, providing carpentry and sewing machine kits in Malawi. This project has been lead by the Global Concerns Trust which has experience of working in several different countries.

This partnership has enabled Garvald Tools group members to have a more immediate and comprehensive connection with the recipients, who in turn learn about our refurbishers. This is very much in the original spirit of TFSR and the project still holds great potential for everyone involved.

To donate tools or enquire about volunteering, contact Paul Turner, TFSR Workshop Leader, Garvald Centre, 454/1 Gorgie Road, Edinburgh EH11 2RN

Telephone:       0131 337 4965

Email:              PaulTurner@garvaldedinburgh.org.uk

MACOHA also employ many adults with disabilities in their carpentry production workshops, and Bangwe Weaving Factory, a successful factory which produces beautiful handmade crafts and clothes. MACOHA use the tools we send to train adults with disabilities, in carpentry and tailoring.

Training in the Community

Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Tailoring Training Project
In Dowa District  (Central Region)  (link 4)

Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Carpentry Training Project
In Dowa District  (Central Region) (link 5)

The Ministry of Education

Zomba District – project aim – to re-introduce vocational training programmes in rural primary schools.
They have to date, as a result of this project, introduced carpentry or tailoring training into seven rural primary schools. For the majority of children in Malawi, primary education is the only education they will receive, children often being as old as fourteen or fifteen when they leave. It is therefore vitally important that they learn skills when they are there, which will enable them to find employment or be self employed. Teachers are working with local artisans from within the schools’ community, volunteering their time to teach the children in ‘clubs’ after school. As well as pupils learning carpentry and tailoring, they are also able to create assets for the schools, such as desks and school uniforms. They sell some furniture and other products made, teaching the pupils basic business and accountancy skills and generating money to buy more wood and materials. In every school the involvement of the Parent Teacher Associations and School Committees has been vital in finding the volunteer artisans and buying materials.

This project is a collaboration between Global Concerns Trust,  Scottish Tools For Self Reliance (TFSR) workshops, The Malawi Council of the Handicapped (MACOHA) and The Ministry of Education (MOE) in Zomba and Chiradzulu Districts. The project is funded by the Scottish Government’s International Development Programme (2008-2011)

The Projects

In Scotland, good quality second-hand carpentry tools and old Singer sewing machines are donated to three TFSR participating workshops across Scotland, and refurbished by groups of volunteers, all adults with learning difficulties. These workshops are based at Centres run on Rudolf Steiner’s principles :
Garvald Factory in Edinburgh
Milltown Community near Arbuthnott, Aberdeenshire (link 2),
Camphill in Aberdeen (link 3 – to come).

The output is high quality refurbished tools ready for a long working life in Africa. Toolkits and sewing machines are then boxed and shipped to Malawi. The volunteers who refurbish the tools in Scotland have benefited equally from being involved with this project. Their motivation has been increased by having lots of photographs, information and feedback from the groups using the tools in Malawi. They are certainly proud to be involved in such a positive exchange between groups of adults with disabilities in two very distant and different countries, and to be part of the larger Scotland Malawi Partnership.

In Andhra Pradesh, a homely community for street children has become a state-recognised success in providing education, shelter and a sense of belonging, to around 80 boys and girls. CHILD Ashram (Children’s Welfare Home – Innovations for Life Development) was founded fifteen years ago, by a railway clerk, Ramachandra Sarath, who had a compelling motivation to help change the lives of the children he saw living on the railway platforms.

“I saw it as my responsibility as a citizen,” says Sarath. Initially, he tried to get the children admitted into children’s homes, but they were refused. He began thinking about opening a school for street children, so they could receive an education and aspire to a better future. Sarath applied for leave from his railway job, and started studying Sociology and Education. “I decided that we needed to go back to the olden days, where rural teachers were like family. We needed a school for street children where we all live like a family.”

However, the first days of the Ashram were difficult. They had no money, and little support from the local community. The Ashram began as just one hut. Gradually, Sarath managed to get donations from villagers, and many times over the last fifteen years, his wife Sunita has pawned her wedding jewellery to raise funds for the Ashram.

But to begin with, the children brought from the railway platforms refused to stay at the Ashram. “They would tie the teachers to the beds, take goods from the Ashram to sell in the market, and run away,” says Sarath. “I was laughed at by everyone. They told me that the children were vagabonds”.

Sarath thought long and hard about how to encourage the street children to stay at the Ashram. “I realised that we had to provide something that made the children want to stay, that made them feel special”. Now each child joining the Ashram is given a new set of clothes and a haircut, made to feel that they belong, and that they have an important role to play in the Ashram. New children quickly realise that there are others who share similar experiences, and informal peer-group counselling is encouraged. Since then, every child brought to the Ashram has chosen to stay.

Today, CHILD Ashram is non-hierarchical, and practically run by the children themselves. Sarath’s role has become that of a facilitator. The children are divided into patrol groups, following the Boy Scout system (Baden Powell was Sarath’s inspiration). Each group is composed of children of different ages, with a patrol leader taking the role of head of the family, and is responsible for looking after the younger children.

Every evening, the patrol groups meet to discuss the day: any needs, complaints, difficulties in classes or with their teachers, and evaluate what could be done better. Later in the evening, the patrol leaders come together with Sarath or another facilitator, to feedback on the children’s views of the day, and discuss and implement any changes that should be made.

Food is grown by the children in the Ashram’s kitchen garden, and any excess produce is sold and bartered in the nearby village. The children take responsibility for determining the food requirements for the week, and helping with the cooking.

Classes last half the day, and children are encouraged to progress at their own pace. The rest of the day is spent working the garden, doing science practicals, and learning Scout survival skills. Many children arriving in the Ashram have never been to school before, and are illiterate.

However, through encouragement and support, the children are now achieving outstanding results in their high school exams, and are supported by the Ashram in whatever future studies they choose. One former street child, who had never attended school prior to coming to the Ashram aged 12, is now studying Electrical Engineering. Another works as a Police Sub-Inspector in Hyderabad.

Some of the children are choosing to return to the Ashram after their studies. Carmella, aged 19, was the first girl to come to the Ashram, after both of her parents were killed. She is now studying nursing, and plans to return to work in the Ashram after completing her studies.

Venkanna and Madhavrao, both aged 17, came to the Ashram as young boys, and have grown up there. Having completed their High School exams, they have decided to work as volunteers alongside Sarath in the Ashram, while studying part-time for a degree in Social Work.

CHILD Ashram has evolved as a sanctuary for children, from the dangers, threats, and deprived opportunities of life on the streets or the railway platforms of India. The children themselves play a central role in influencing the Ashram’s development.

“We want to purchase more land to grow more of our own food, and become more self-sustainable,” said one boy. Another boy expressed problems retaining teaching staff. “Their salaries are too low,” he said. “We need to try to increase our teachers’ pay”. Many of the children were keen to take on former Ashram children as teachers after they qualify.

This philosophy underpinning CHILD Ashram is one of constant reflection, development and improvement, led by the children themselves. The result, tucked away in rural Andhra Pradesh, provides former street children with dignity, self-respect and the opportunity to choose their own futures.

Child Ashram – how to improve the Ashram, from the children’s perspective

• Vehicle for transportation. When one boy needed urgently to go to hospital earlier this year, they had difficulty in transporting him.
• Better sanitary facilities. This was expressed by a lot of the girls, and is a problem across India (many girls drop out of school in India before they have reached 5^th standard because there are no toilets or sanitary facilities).
• Better science laboratories. Many of the children dream of growing up and becoming doctors, nurses, or engineers.
• Increase the land the Ashram has, and grow more vegetables to become more self-sufficient. Many children expressed the view that they were too dependent on well-wishers, and wanted to produce their own food.
• Improve nature around the Ashram. Currently the land is very dry and arid.
• Increase the salaries of staff. The children say that the salaries their teachers receive are too low, which is why many leave for jobs in government schools.
•  Improve sports teams and equipment. The children are currently playing in the local area but would like to play at district or state level.

A male plantation worker receives Rs150 a day. A female plantation worker receives Rs120.

Children of coffee plantation workers often do not attend school, or have a high drop-out rate. In Mudegire, the government primary school used to be a model school. Previous students include government ministers, who, unfortunately, have done nothing to contribute to it since they have left. Many other children in the town go to private schools. Only those who cannot afford to pay, the children of the plantation workers, street loaders, and daily labourers, go to the government school.

Thus, the school has become a ‘bridge school’. Children who have never attended school before learn in a more informal atmosphere, to inspire them to learn, prior to joining a regular school class.

The majority of the children are first generation learners; their parents have not attended school. This is an important factor increasing the likelihood of the children dropping out of school. Whilst some parents admit their children to school, they do not come to see their children’s progress, or attend parent-teacher meetings.

Some of the children do not have any parents, or come from single parent families. Some children live in a government hostel, as the plantations their parents live and work on are too far away. There is no one who takes responsibility for making sure that the children attend school.

Kumar studied in this school. He now has a Diploma in Education, and is employed to assist the teachers at his old school. For the past two years, he has been working on retaining the children in the school. Kumar carries out home visits, if children do not attend school for a few days, gives family counselling, and helps the children in class; all to ensure that the children do not drop out of school. As a result, the dropout rate has been falling.

Kumar also works identifying youths who have dropped out of school, and working with them to encourage them to go back and receive an education.