Students from the Matundu School in the community of Galileya proudly stand in front of the new school block completed in September 2020 by The Sonder Project in partnership with buildOn.

NEW SCHOOL BLOCK BRINGS SMILING FACES TO MATUNDU SCHOOL

In the village of Galileya, (located in central Malawi) 400 middle school students at Matundu Primary were greeted by a brand-new school block following their return from the Coronavirus school closures. Prior to the completion of the new building, nearly all of the school’s classrooms were temporary structures, some of which were made of dried grasses.

Moses Chindipha (Back row, 2nd from Left) parent and member of the Project Leadership Committee pictured with his family

Moses Chindipha, a parent of two students that attend Matundu Primary and a member of the school’s Project Leadership Committee told us,

“I was not confident enough to tell my children to go to school because I saw no key through the structures at the school to lead to my children’s success.”

Now, the new school has the strongest foundation structurally in the community, and it sends a message to students that the path to development goes through education.

Upon seeing the new building in Galileya, Moses now believes that a lot of developmental activities will follow, and the lives of people will change.

“Indeed, education opens our eyes to things we cannot see without it,” says Moses.

A member of the community proudly uses his thumb to sign his name to mark his commitment to the partnership agreement between the community and the organizations.

Every school that The Sonder Project constructs is led in conjunction with a local Project Leadership Committee, which is made up of an equal number of male and female community members. The Sonder Project also works with buildOn to provide the materials and skilled labor. The community is responsible to collect the building materials such as sand, gravel, water, and provides the manual labor necessary to complete the project. No heavy machinery is used in the construction of the schools, as everything is dug and built by hand. The Sonder Project and buildOn intentionally functions this way to provide a sense of ownership and pride from the community knowing it was built by them and for them.

Moses tells us, “The community worked really hard at the worksite as a team knowing that this is something we own. It is our very own project and it will contribute to my children’s and community’s future.”

Students of Matundu School proudly sit in their new classroom at their new desks.

The school in Galileya is the 10th school constructed by The Sonder Project in partnership with buildOn, and the second in Malawi. The Sonder Project plans to break ground on another school in mid-October in the community of Kasikidzi, also located in Central Malawi. It currently costs nearly $30,000 to construct a new school block through donations. You can support The Sonder Project’s school building efforts by joining our school construction campaign HERE.

As for Matundu Primary, there are no longer any grass structures at the school, and the students and teachers are walking with newfound pride.