Author: Nick Webber Trust

Thank you so much to all you wonderful, generous people who bought a period pack for a young woman who attends school in Malawi. We have been blown away by your generosity. We have received enough donations to supply more than 100 hundred young women with 5 reusable sanitary pads, 4 bars of soap, a tub to wash them in, a sealable bag to store them in, and 2 pairs of underwear.

That is enough to give them to every young woman whose education the Trust pays for, and all the residents of the hostel we built in Kochilira village to help young women attend the secondary school there and improve their safety.

The packs will enable the young women to attend school no matter where they are in their cycle – improving their chances of completing their exams and getting the grade they deserve. We are arranging delivery, distribution and explanations of how to use and wash them in the next few weeks.

Last year we were bowled over by your generous support of our Christmas campaign to raise funds to enable the Women Lawyers Association of Malawi to build a drop-in law center and refuge to support women and children fleeing domestic violence. There have of course been a few delays due to Covid, but we are delighted to say that work has begun. Pauline was delighted to join members of the board of the Women Lawyers Association, as well as Malawian members of NWT’s board of advisers, at a groundbreaking ceremony last week.

For most girls and young women in Malawi managing their periods is difficult as very few have any sanitary products or pants. Most simply don’t go to school during their period – which means that they miss up to a quarter of their education after they hit adolescence. 
 
This Christmas we are giving you the opportunity to change that for the girls and young women whose education NWT support. Your gift of £12 will enable us to provide each female school student 5 reusable sanitary pads, 4 bars of soap, a tub to wash them in, a sealable bag to store them in, and 2 pairs of underwear.

You can donate via https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/schoolgirl or directly into our bank account with the reference ‘Christmas’.

Download your choice of Life changing present gift certificate or Bloody good present gift certificate to put under the tree/in the card.

If we receive enough donations to help more young women than those whose education we support, we will offer them to other young women who attend school through our existing projects and relationships.

Before we unveil this year’s Christmas present campaign, we  wanted to give you an update on our project with the Women’s Lawyers Association in Malawi to enable them to build a drop-in law centre and refuge for women and children affected by domestic abuse.  We have now reached our initial target of £20,000, a suitable piece of land has been purchased in the capital city, a local architect has designed a plan for the building, local contractors are being interviewed this week, and construction will be underway very soon!

More good news: at long last Pauline is allowed to visit Malawi again, and will be on hand to witness the progress made.

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To ease your worry about whether you’ll be able to get your pigs in a blanket on time, we can offer a crisis-free start to your Christmas preparations….one aspect you can safely and helpfully get sorted right now. Yes, our NWT Christmas cards are now available!

Again focusing on our efforts to increase the opportunities open to  girls and young women, this year’s card, which we are calling “The Work of Our Hands”, features one beneficiary of our training courses in carpentry. 

We also have a few of last year’s cards, “Room at the Inn”, featuring the hostel for female students, which are available with or without the Christmas greeting.

All cards are available at £4:50 per pack of ten, plus a contribution to post and packing. (As a guide, it costs £1.83 to post two packs, whereas £3:10 covers anything up to ten packs).

You can order by emailing or messaging  webber.pauline@gmail.com, or by post (1, Apple Tree Walk, Clymping, West Sussex, BN17 5QN). And you can pay by cheque, posted to the same address, or by direct bank transfer.

Why not do it now, and breathe a sigh of relief?