Photo by John Edgell, President, Oak Bay Rotary Club
Memory Chazeza (above left), Director of the Atsikana Pa Ulendo Malawi Girls' School, and the Executive Director of APU-Malawi Education Foundation and co-founder of the school, Christie Johnson (above right), are making presentations throughout the Victoria area. At the Oak Bay Club, Memory gave a touching and inspirational history of why and how the school came to be and how Christie Johnson helped her turn her dream into a reality. Memory’s dream of building a school to provide girls with an opportunity for education and a better future is creating a ripple effect by creating better futures for the families and communities of these students too. She explained how Malawi is one of the smallest countries in Africa but it has lots of problems. Memory believes that education is a way out of those problems. Educating girls gives them hope, increased self worth, and provides choices like being able to choose when and how many children to have. It gives them a voice and helps them avoid poverty, reducing the threat of HIV. Memory will be returning home to Malawi on Friday (December 3) after a successful tour through Alberta and BC. Unfortunately seven of the Vancouver Island Rotary Club presentations had to be cancelled because of bad weather and poor driving conditions, but plans are underway to reschedule these clubs later in the year. This week, presentations will be made at Harbourside (7AM Wednesday December 1 at the Union Club), Sooke (12.15PM December 1 at Village Food Markets), Sidney (6.30PM December 1 at Glen Meadows Golf Club) and Victoria (December 2 at Noon at the Union Club). Rotarians who have not had the opportunity to hear Christie and Memory speak on this hugely successful project, funded mainly by individual Rotarians and Rotary Clubs, could attend one of these meetings to hear them speak. An excellent article on the school's history and progress appeared last week in the Peninsula News - you can read it at this link. The article covers how Christie's inspirational volunteer work resulted in her being nominated on CBC’s Champions of Change. She made the final cut of 50 - more than 1000 were nominated. For more information on the Malawi Girls' School visit this link . A new blog has just been started to keep donors and all up to date on happenings at APU Malawi at this link.
