Malawi News

Revellers Love The Rain for BFiM

Kerry — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:21:29 +0000

The Blues n Rock Garden Party was once again a huge success, with over £4,000 raised by the event for projects in Malawi. Despite torrential rainfall, revellers danced to the stunning musical acts, and continued to tuck into fabulous foods with gusto – even the power cuts didn’t stop the festival style fun at the gorgeous garden venue. BFiM aims to raise £10,000 a year, so a big thank you goes out to everyone who attended, bought a raffle ticket and of course volunteered to take part in our annual event.

Blues and Rock Fundraising Festival Countdown!

Kerry — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:52:46 +0000

Preparations for the 2011 Blues and Rock Garden Party are well under way. This Saturday the secluded festival venue in Colchester, Essex will be filled with throngs of happy people partying to some lovely festival tunes, eating fabulous foods from around the world and enjoying the refreshments of the obligatory beer tent. For anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to attend the most popular party in town, we urge you to get yourselves down there!

To help raise funds for charity work in Africa, this year there will be performances from the Groove Busters, Audio Pirates, Jazmine Ava Band, The 366 and flamenco guitarist Tahir. Plus a fundraising art installation by ChewingLard, Vegetarian food by Monique, homemade foods of the world by Rachel Balm and of course the on-stage prize draw and auction of great goodies by Tom Bowden. Last year’s on-stage antics saw the auctioning off of one of Tom’s colleagues which raised an extra £50 for Building Futures in Malawi.

As every penny counts, we urge you to buy a ticket through Just Giving or on the door and join in the fun. The weekend is set to be a sunny one, with plenty of Pimms, people and a jolly good party atmosphere.

Building Futures in Malawi Gets a Charity Gift From Google!

Kerry — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:23:09 +0000

Building Futures in Malawi has received a grant from search engine giant Google to get more people to donate money, volunteer to work in Africa and buy charity gifts on our website. The grant has the potential to boost the number of visitors to the site significantly, and more importantly raise more money for our many projects in Malawi. As you may be aware, 100% of any money that you donate goes towards our projects in Malawi – not one penny of your donation goes on admin costs or advertising, so this grant is going to be an enormous help to get more people involved in our projects and aware of what we have been doing in Malawi over the last 12 years. Thank you Google!

Your Donations Fund New School in Africa

Kerry — Thu, 26 May 2011 10:37:30 +0000

A new school in Africa, named Lingadzi Academy Library is now possible thanks to donations made to BFiM. The land has been bought, and the architects have worked their magic to produce a resource that has something for everyone in the community. As well as building a school and library, there will be a football stadium that has been specially designed to incorporate much needed storage space without using unnecessary extra resources. There are several more community football pitches, netball courts; one of which is a showpiece and boasts a small stadium – and we will be planting lots of trees. The groundwork for this project has been going on for a long time now, and it is great to have finally secured the land and have a start date for development – June 2011!

BFiM Charity Work in Africa Gets Another Boost Thanks to You

Kerry — Mon, 16 May 2011 15:49:30 +0000

We’d like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who have supported, and continue to support Building Futures in Malawi by purchasing charity gifts, making donations and signing up for charity work in Africa. The success of the website has meant that we have just received a £500 donation, been contacted by 7 volunteers, have 50 footballs and 5 boxes of sports kit; and someone has contacted us who may potentially be donating a library! This is great news indeed, and it really does help build the futures of those in Malawi! Please keep up the wonderful support and check back to find out what else is going on with our latest project – The Lingadzi Academy in the next blog post.

Charity Gifts Fund New Project In Malawi

Kerry — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:24:10 +0000

Thanks to all the charity gifts purchased by our supporters and the donations raised by fundraisers, we are in the final stages of securing more land in Malawi and hope to commence work on the Lingadzi Academy in July this year. Plans for the development include a school, library, multi-use community hall, playground, sports facilities and arts space. This will be a great addition to the many successful projects that have been funded by charity gifts, donations and the generosity of charity fundraisers in the UK for communities in Malawi. This is also the perfect time to remember that we have no running costs so that every penny donated to Building Futures in Malawi goes to the projects that benefit the people of Malawi.

Why We Need To Remember to Support Charities All Year Round

Kerry — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 15:21:44 +0000

The latest events in Indonesia have marked another spate of publicity that reiterates how important it is for people to donate to charitable causes. Whether it is through buying charity gifts, volunteering time or donating money, every little helps when it comes to helping those in need. Indonesia was at the centre of a number of natural disasters within a few short days. An earthquake was followed by a tsunami and then a volcanic eruption. These events were out of the control of all of those affected, and the resulting rescue efforts and aid highlight the need for supporting not for profit organisations all year round to make sure the coffers are not empty when help is needed most.

Unusual Auction Raises Money For BFIM Library Project

Kerry — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:47:50 +0000

The recent Building Futures in Malawi Blues and Rock Garden Party went down a storm. Not only did a larger than ever crowd revel in the unique atmosphere that was electrified by some of the best musical talent in Colchester, the charity gift auction was an unusual turn of events. As regular guests of the BFIM music event will know, each year a cake is auctioned off to raise money to improve the lives of children in Malawi, but this year there was a surprise in store for the guests. An employee of sponsors High Position, an Essex based search engine optimisation company, offered themselves up for bidding in return for a night out on the tiles. In good spirit Kerry McCarthy was won by colleague Tobias Bowman and the pair spent an evening drinking fine wine and eating good food, followed by some dancing at a local nightclub. In total the event raised a stunning £5,900 which will go towards the latest project, building a community sports school which includes a secondary school, sports fields, community centre and library amongst many other things.

BFIM Blues and Rock in the Garden Party 2010

Kerry — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:43:47 +0000

The annual shindig to raise money for Building Futures In Malawi projects is to take place on Saturday 10th July, and with temperatures predicted to be the hottest of the year, it is guaranteed to be a blazing success. The Blues and Rock in the Garden party will be supplying fabulous food, delicious drinks at a licensed bar and some of the best entertainment Colchester has to offer. The musical line-up includes the Jazmine Ava Band, Audio Pirates, Jake Morely and Martin Newell, and all the proceeds raised will be divided between BFIM, Anti Slavery International and Medecins Sans Frontieres Sierra Leone Appeal. The event has been an annual success attracting throngs of happy revellers and willing volunteers in the preceding years. To enjoy a slice of the action at this year’s event buy tickets through BFIM’s Just Giving Blues and Rock 2010 page, where you can also donate if you can’t make this year’s party.

Nick Clegg Supports National Volunteers Week

Kerry — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:38:40 +0000

National Volunteers Week has just come to an end; running from 1st to 7th of June, the annual event celebrates the hard work put in by volunteers to improve the lives of others. Charity work often goes unnoticed unless it is a huge publicised event, but the truth is that every day people are giving their time and their energy to make a difference all over the world.

Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, has given his support for National Volunteers Week stating “Volunteering is a fantastic way for people to give something back but also to learn new skills, make new friends and perhaps take a first step back into employment.” A sentiment shared by volunteers and their supporters alike. As well as giving recognition to volunteers, the event also offers information and resources to those inspired to devote some of their time and skills to a charitable cause.