What’s next?

Our goals next month…

We’ve got lots of exciting things that we’re aiming to achieve in the near future!

• Excitingly with Christmas being next month we have our BAHASI Christmas party and trip! We still have some money to raise before this can happen so it is our goal to have the rest raised next month before the trip to see how you can help take a look at the how you can support us section.

• Our women empowerment program has now been running for six months which means it is time to close the program however we are currently working on extending the program as we have seen so many great developments.

• Additionally our youth empowerment program are planning on planting and growing a nursery next month. This is then going to be added into the home based care program by trying to plant at least one or two trees at each home visited in an attempt to aid environmental preservation.

What’s happened?

Our updates from last month…

We’ve got exciting fundraising updates and programs up and running!

Since our last update, we have reached our fundraising goal for the kitchen renovations and just in time as the rainy season has already come to BAHASI. Incredibly thanks to all your support, we managed to raise over our target amount instead of raising £257 we have raised £382! Our kitchen now has a new roof, door frames and doors.

Additionally we have reached our fundraising target for the BAHASI Nursery Christmas party! These funds will go to food packs for the families of children who attend BAHASI Nursery which will include sugar, soap, Kamba, sweets and biscuits. As well as this it will also cover the meal for the Christmas party.

The BAHASI Christmas trip fundraising is well underway we have raised £295 so far which is just over 50% of our goal! check out the how you can support us section to find out more and about how you can donate to this.

Another exciting development this month is our home-based care program starting up again. On the 12th of November a group of BAHASI staff and volunteers visited a house within the community to check on the resident’s health and see what we can do to support them. It was a very successful visit, and we will be returning to this house at a later date.

Last month one of our goals was to have moved our all of our boys from their old room into their new room however whilst we have made progress in decorating the new room and all of the younger boys have been moved we are currently reassessing how we utilize the space in the boys’ hostel. This means that until we have a set plan the younger boys will be staying in the new room and the older boys will be staying in the old room.

As well as these, this month we have also started our home assessments program which involves the BAHASI social worker visiting our children’s houses and family members to assess the living conditions. We had a positive first assessment and aim to visit another house next month to continue the program.

Last month we had a long term goal of renting a field and cultivating our own crops. Excitingly this month we have rented a field and have planted our first crop of maize!

Shout outs

Birthdays

We’ve had 4 birthdays this month!

1. Sameera Mita on the 9th - to find out more about her click her profile.

   

2. Khumbo Byson on the 11th - to find out more about him click his profile.

   

3. Pemphero Dickson on the 22nd - to find out more about her click on her profile.

   

4. Chisomo Byson on the 24th - to find out more about him click his profile.

   

Visitors

We’ve had 2 visitor this month!

On the 3rd of November BAHASI Nursery had a visit from standard 2 A&B from South End Primary School. The children had a great time getting to know each other and making friends whilst playing games, singing songs and sharing what each other had been learning in class. The students from South End shared that they had ben learning about different communities, the children then spent time discussing what kind of community BAHASI is. The students had the opportunity to look around the girls hostel here and see where some of the children live.

South End Primary School then made a very generous donation to the BAHASI Nursery consisting of clothes, which were then distributed to the children and were greatly appreciated. We hope to be working more with South End more in the future!

We also had a visit from the MAKAZI foundation in honor of international Men’s Day. The MAKAZI foundation shared with some of the local men in the community about positive masculinity focusing on creating a safe space to talk, heal, learn and redefine what it truly means to be a man. The reason positive masculinity was the chosen topic is because of the strong societal pressures for men. To endure silently and to never show vulnerability which is one of the root causes of men struggling is the inability to interpret masculinity in the context of mental health.

The MAKAZI foundation also shared some shocking figures from the data recorded by the Malawi Police Service. From 2020 to the first half of 2025 over 2,000 suicide cases have been recorded in the country and men account for the vast majority. With 1,250 men passing away by suicide between January 2023 and March 2025 alone. With various different struggles contributing to this such as poverty, relationship pressures, financial expectations and family responsibilities but one of the biggest being the societal stereotypes of what a man should be.

Thank you to the MAKAZI foundation for highlighting this important topic and sharing with the men within the community spreading awareness and support.

Highlights

What’s stood out this month?

This month some of the children at BAHASI have been working hard to put on an incredible performance of The Lion King. The show was fantastic and was a great opportunity for the children to demonstrate their creative talents in singing, acting, dancing and playing instruments in front of a live audience!

Another highlight from this month was when one of our new volunteers Ellen Lacoux put on a movie night for all of the children in one of the classrooms where they watched Alvin and the Chipmunks, she’s hoping to have more movie nights on Fridays for the children!

Struggles

What have been our main issues this month?

This month we’ve encountered a few struggles as a project, some which need addressing sooner than others.

Our main issue at the moment is transport. Currently due to the fuel crisis in Malawi we are struggling to get the children at BAHASI into school because of the increase in cost. Due to this some of our children are unable to get to school which impacts their education. In order to get our children the education they need, over the next month we need to raise £237 which will cover the transport costs for 20 days.

Another problem we’ve encountered this month is our feeding program. With our feeding program lacking the necessary funds, now the devolution of the kwacha is so present, our OVCs (Orphaned and Venerable Children) aren't getting enough fruits, vegetables and protein in their diet. This is massively impacting their health, their concentration and their energy levels. If you would like to help this cause, please take a look at our just giving page.

As we have just started to come into the rainy season here at BAHASI we have realized there is an issue with our drainage. This means that the lower buildings on the BAHASI site sometimes floods.

Additionally some of the children have brought it to our attention that they are in need of new shoes as theirs are falling apart and wearing through. If you think you be able to help with this issue please contact us!

How can you support us?

What’s our main focus?

Our main focus for this month is to raise the rest of the money needed for our Christmas trip. This is because our Christmas day trip to Hapuwani-Mulanje will take place on the 25th and we have met half of our target, so in order for this to happen for the children we need to raise the rest of the funds. This fundraising will go towards the transport for the trip, ice cream, lunch, swimming at the swimming pool there and biscuits. If you would like to donate and help us reach this target, please take a look at our just giving page.

Our other focus this month is the transport for the children to be able to get to school. If you would like to donate and support us in this, please take a look at our just giving page.

That’s it for this month.