MISSIO UK RESCUES MUA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
Stella Zulu
The Holy Father’s office of MISSIO UK through the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) diocesan office of Dedza, has rescued children learning at Mua School for the deaf in the diocese with various interventions which have improved the learning and living conditions of the children at the school.
This is because despite the crucial work of providing free holistic education and taking care of boys and girls with hearing impairments in the whole Central region of Malawi, the school faces a lot of challenges and seems to be neglected by the government which makes the children and those taking care of them feel abandoned and less important.
The genesis for MISSIO UK’s help dates back to 27th of November 2019 when PMS received visitors from England and Scotland who noticed the numerous challenges faced by the school and decided to source funds to help address some of the challenges.
Speaking during the PMS Malawi supervision visit at the school on Tuesday the 8th of March, the second deputy head teacher for the school Mr. Happy Tchoka said the school struggles a lot financially as the money it receives from the government is very little to meet the needs of the school. This he said has seen workers staying months without payment and also the welfare of the children being put at risk.
“Mua School for the deaf has 198 pupils learning and staying at this campus, we do not receive any money from parents as primary education is free in Malawi and so we depend on financial grants from well-wishers. Because of that, we face a lot of challenges ranging from lack of teaching and learning materials to support the children, shortage of food stuff to feed the children and lack of boarding materials like mattresses as the school now has a lot of children compared to its capacity. Said Mr. Tchoka
The school Matron, Sr. Paulina Mpingo of Sisters of Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary convent, who are taking care of the children at the school said with funding from MISSIO UK, the school implemented a project in phases, the first phase involved renovation of girls hostels, construction of toilets, purchasing of various goods like refrigerators for the school and the sisters convent among others
The second phase mainly involved purchasing of food items for the children as the school faces food shortage.
“ We bought various food stuff like maize, beans, rice, groundnuts, flour, sugar, salt, cooking oil, chicken, beef (a whole cow) and many others, these have helped us to provide the children with proper meals which was not the case before MISSIO UK helped us. We have a farm where we grow crops for the school but we do not harvest enough because we lack resources for farming.” Said Sr. Mpingo
While appreciating the help received from the Holy Father’s office, the Matron called on well-wishers within and outside Malawi to help the school on a number of needs. These include the need for a security face around the school to prevent children from going out of the school which puts their lives on danger, maintenance of classrooms and offices that are in dilapidated state, needs for transport to be used to carry children to the hospital when they are sick
Member of Parliament for Dedza West, Mr. Patrick Bandawe who was present at the supervision visit said there was a misunderstanding of the school as it was deemed to be a Catholic institution controlled and taken care of by the Church. But having understood that the Church established the school to help take care of the underprivileged and the poor in the country, he pledged full support to the school and promised to provide as a starter pack, 1million kwacha for income generating activities.
The total amount received from MISSIO Uk for the projects is 11,000 Pounds equivalent to 11, 220,000 Malawi Kwacha. Mua School for the deaf is a primary school in the diocese of Dedza established in 1984 by FCI brothers (Brothers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary)