History
Helen Layton, one of the founding members of the Reach Foundation UK, first came into contact with the community in Chikwawa, Malawi. In November 2015, 20 children were attending a small community based care centre where they were being given a bowl of porridge once a day, three days a week. On the 12th of April 2016, following discussions with our partners (The Pashello Charitable Trust) in Chikwawa about the need to feed the children in order for them to thrive and be better educated, the first feeding programme was established. Each child attending the community based care centre would receive a proper breakfast everyday before attending classes given by our partners. Since this time, the number of children attending the community centre has risen from 20-101! With continued conversation from both Africa and England, funds were quickly raised which enabled our partners to start building a larger shelter for the children attending our feeding programme. Donations were coming in from the support effort being made in England and, in addition to other donations being given around the world, Pashello were able to construct a big enough shelter to school the children and to start a health clinic. Equipment required to treat children and vulnerable adults were purchased and stored in the health centre. The Reach Foundation UK strongly believe in the sustainability of all developmental projects we are involved in, therefore, the majority of the equipment, food, tools and staff are sourced in Malawi.
In September 2016 we launched a new feeding programme that meant that each child would receive breakfast and lunch every day at school. The children now receive two meals a day, five times a week. The Reach foundation UK pay for the salaries of 4 teachers and 4 cooks. We have also been instrumental in the purchase and installation of a maize mill for the community to use. This mill has already started to change the lives of many families in the community and is part of our long term vision to continue to support the reduction in the number of families affected by malnutrition in this highly underdeveloped community. We have sent out hospital supplies to support the local hospital in Chikwawa and sponsor the provision of medication which is distributed through a mobile clinic. Our vision is to continue to support the improvement of health and education within the communities of this region of Malawi through continued needs assessments carried out by the Reach Foundation and conversations with our partners in Malawi.