At SolarAid we love feedback and the letter below from Ronald Mkhwichi, the Headteacher at Koche School at the southern end of lake Malawi, is exactly the kind of un-promoted feedback we strive for.
Mr Mkhwichi sent this letter, on his own initiative, to express his thanks for the work SolarAid have done with his school through our social enterprise SunnyMoney. It’s so encouraging to hear what a huge impact the solar lamps have had at his school, none of which would have been possible without our amazing donors. If you have donated to SolarAid over the last year your contribution has helped make this happen so please accept our thanks, as well as Mr Mkhwichi’s.
We’ve transcribed the letter below and hope you enjoy it! (When he says ‘bulbs’ he’s referring to the solar lamps).
FROM: The Head Teacher, Koche Model School, P.O. Box 45 Mangochi
TO: SunnyMoney Officials
Dear Sir / Madam,
An amazing report on the wonderful success of the SunnyMoney project at Koche School.
On behalf of all teachers, learners and the entire community around our school, I herby write to bear witness on the success of the SunnyMoney project at our school.
To begin with, I would like to applaud you for your great decision of including our school in this project. Our school has indeed transformed since the project was introduced to our school and here are some of the activities which we have carried out at our school using the money collected from the people who were given the bulbs and come to have the bulbs charged.
I would like to bring to your attention that these people who were given the bulbs are supposed to pay a sum of MWK 600.00 each month and half of this money is sent to SunnyMoney while the other part is for the school.
We have seen the following wonderful developments at our school as follows:
A. Maintenance of the broken windows: Without SunnyMoney, our school would have been in a very bad shape because when the government failed to come to our rescue despite several attempts, which we made to inform the Ministry Officials but they could do nothing to help and we used this money from SunnyMoney to maintain the broken windows.
B. Fixing of the doors and locks: The funds realised from the charge of the bulbs has assisted us to have the doors and locks of our school fixed. Without this project, our classes could not be well secured as villagers could have an access of the classrooms and destroy the teaching and learning resources which are prepared by both parents and teachers.
C. General maintenance of the classroom roofs: On a happy note, I was like to thank the officials of SunnyMoney for the good decision to include a school in this project because without this project, the roofs of classrooms would have been blown off because they were weak and many nails got rotten as well as some poles which was a great threat to our learners. We bought roofing nails which were used to reinforce the roofs which were week. I am also glad to inform you that we paid the carpenter using the same money.
D. As you know that us at our school there is a feeding program sponsored by World Food Program and as such, cooks come at around 2:30 AM or 3:00 AM to prepare porridge for all learners and the bulbs to play a crucial role in assisting them to see properly and work comfortably because with darkness, it could be very difficult for them to see at night and they could even hurt themselves.
E. The bulbs has also assisted our school to have very good pass rate this year. The bulbs were given to parents in our community who had learners in Standard 8 so that the students could be able to study at night. I am very happy and so excited to share with you that we have managed to send learners to Malosa Secondary School, Dedza Government Secondary School, Likuni Boys Secondary School, Lisumburi Secondary School, Mangochi Secondary School, and Koche Community Day Secondary School. Here is the summary; Malosa 1 girl, Dedza 1 boy, Likuni 1 boy, Lisumburi 3 girls 2 boys, Mangochi 3 girls, 5 boys and Koche CDSS 14 girls and 7 boys.
Finally, I would like to thank and appreciate you so much for the great work which you are doing to our school and the entire community. It is our hope that our relationship will grow from strength to strength.
Yours in service,
R. Mkmichi
Headteacher