FOCHTA has entered its 20th year of service
February marked FOCHTA’s 20th anniversary. We at FOCHTA have always tried to keep our NGO small, because it is better to run a ‘tight ship’ than to be big and not working as well. In this way, we could monitor the welfare of our students whom we support. Starting from Day One, FOCHTA has been unrelenting in the pursuit of literacy in a country of 18.6 million people, with 43% under 15. Our focus therefore has been to provide bursaries to secondary school students, for whom it is not free, unlike in primary schools which are not fee paying. Yet only 80% of children have completed primary schooling and fewer at 37.8% in secondary schools. However for those who are supported by FOCHTA in their secondary education, only one or two have not finished, this due to sickness or pregnancy. When students are supported by FOCHTA, they not only have their school fees paid, but their living expenses are covered as well. In the ranking made by the World Bank for the scale of extreme poverty, Malawi ranks 4th out of 1965 countries.
Since 2003, FOCHTA has provided a secondary education to 2750 young people, mostly orphans. The number of students varies each year, depending on budget constraints. In the current school year that started in October 2022, we have 44 secondary school students in our care. FOCHTA has also enabled 24 students to have graduated from universities, with them now working in various professions in the community, and almost all of them have since married and lead a meaningful life. Details of students’ achievements will follow shortly.
FOCHTA also established over the years five small libraries in school grounds in different parts of the rural Thyolo District, as most schools do not have school libraries. Workshops are regularly conducted to help with and to empower students. Our Fochta Vocational College has also become more than a landmark in the district. However enrolling more students is a big challenge, for even though fees are low, most could still not afford it. To this end, we have an ongoing agreement with TEVETA, a quasi-government department for vocational training, for them to supply us with some students’ fees. In addition, we are now in active discussion with the Catholic Archdiocese to collaborate in the running of the College, and have received blessings from the Archbishop of Malawi in this endeavor.
But all these things are only made possible by the generosity of our donors. And we would like to express our gratitude to all our friends who have enabled us to continue our work all these years and into the future.
FOCHTA Has Entered Its 20th Year of Service
February marked FOCHTA’s 20th anniversary. We at FOCHTA have always tried to keep our NGO small, because it is better to run a ‘tight ship’ than to be big and not working as well. In this way, we could monitor the welfare of our students whom we support. Starting from Day One, FOCHTA has been unrelenting in the pursuit of literacy in a country of 18.6 million people, with 43% under 15. Our focus therefore has been to provide bursaries to secondary school students, for whom it is not free, unlike in primary schools which are not fee paying. Yet only 80% of children have completed primary schooling and fewer at 37.8% in secondary schools. However for those who are supported by FOCHTA in their secondary education, only one or two have not finished, this due to sickness or pregnancy. When students are supported by FOCHTA, they not only have their school fees paid, but their living expenses are covered as well. In the ranking made by the World Bank for the scale of extreme poverty, Malawi ranks 4th out of 1965 countries.
Since 2003, FOCHTA has provided a secondary education to 2750 young people, mostly orphans. The number of students varies each year, depending on budget constraints. In the current school year that started in October 2022, we have 44 secondary school students in our care. FOCHTA has also enabled 24 students to have graduated from universities, with them now working in various professions in the community, and almost all of them have since married and lead a meaningful life. Details of students’ achievements will follow shortly.
FOCHTA also established over the years five small libraries in school grounds in different parts of the rural Thyolo District, as most schools do not have school libraries. Workshops are regularly conducted to help with and to empower students. Our Fochta Vocational College has also become more than a landmark in the district. However enrolling more students is a big challenge, for even though fees are low, most could still not afford it. To this end, we have an ongoing agreement with TEVETA, a quasi-government department for vocational training, for them to supply us with some students’ fees. In addition, we are now in active discussion with the Catholic Archdiocese to collaborate in the running of the College, and have received blessings from the Archbishop of Malawi in this endeavor.
But all these things are only made possible by the generosity of our donors. And we would like to express our gratitude to all our friends who have enabled us to continue our work all these years and into the future.