New Girls Hostel take shape

Posted on January 20, 2012 by geraldsibu

The Construction of 2 block girls hostel at Andiamo Education Institutions campus will be ready by Apri l this year, says Philipo Makina, the Foreman.

one of the hostel under construction

He says this is possible despite the fuel problem rocking the country.

“We are concerned with the problem of fuel because for us to transport cement from Blantyre we use our own transport,” says Makina.

Philipo is working with a team of 9 builders and Franco Fiorina, a volunteer from Italy who arrived on Friday 13^th to help in the construction of the the hostel which he started last year after finishing a secondary school class block in 28 days.

Meanwhile, the construction of the community hospital is almost ready. According to Makina who is also in charge of the construction work, the completion of the project has being delayed because of the scarcity of fuel.

Both projects are being carried out by Marandimo Building Contractors and Civil Engineering which is under Andiamo Youth Cooperative Trust

AEI commemorate Chilembwe day in style

Posted on January 17, 2012 by geraldsibu

Andiamo Education Institutions commemorated Chilembwe day with different sporting activities. Students under AEI gathered at Comfort ground where sporting activities were taking place. Students competed in Basketball, Athletics, Volleyball, Draft, Chess, Table tennis, Netball and football.In football, form three and Trade test students emerged winners when they played against Forms 1, 2 and TEVET students. At the end of regulation time the game ended 3-2.

All students were given exercise books.

Reverend John Chilembwe (1871 – February 3, 1915) was an orthodox Baptist educator and an early figure in resistance to colonialism in Nyasaland, now Malawi. On 23 January 1915 Chilembwe led a revolt against the British colonial government; the uprising ended when John Chilembwe was killed a few weeks later. John Chilembwe Day (15 January) honours the life of this famous Malawian.

Two volunteers arrived

Posted on January 14, 2012 by geraldsibu

Fr. Cesare and two volunteers from Franco Fiorina and Giuseppe De Vignani from Italy arrived from Italy on 13^th January,2012. The volunteers will help in the construction of Andiamo Secondary school girls’ hostel.

Franco Fiorina (left) with Don Cesare

Franco will concentrate mainly on the hostel. Once finished, the new hostel will accommodate 64 girls and this will ease the pressure of accommodation mainly this September when Andiamo Secondary School will for the first time have a Form 4 class.

Giuseppe De Vignani (second from right) with Augustino one of the volunteers

Meanwhile AEI office says that the accommodation problem will be history once another boys’ hostel is constructed.

a site where a block girls hostel is expected to be constructed

While Giuseppe will cooperate in different plumbing works, in Toleza for the health centre, Andiamo for the Community Hospital and also at the Andiamo Secondary School for the external toilets for the students.

Franco has been coming to Malawi for some time now. He has helped in the construction of many projects like hostels, class blocks for secondary and technical schools, just to mention few.

Fuel scares St. Monica

Posted on January 13, 2012 by geraldsibu

St. Monica Nursery school has described the present fuel scarcity as the big challenge to the institution. Daniel Mpama who is the chairman of the school, explained this in an interview.

St.Monica bus: Waiting for fuel

Mpama says that since the country started experiencing the fuel problem, things have become hard for the school to carry out its operations.

“Our school has got a bus which we use to pick children from 8 depots. With the fuel problem, we are failing to fulfil this. This has also affected parents as they are spending MK100 a day to pay a bicycle taxi to and from school,” says Mpama

Headmistress of St. Monica Nursery School, Annie Jalasi adds that since the school started this year, the number of children reporting for classes has not been stable. For example, out of 350 children, 80 were present on 10^th January,120 on 11^th January,113 on 12^th January and 116 were present on 13 January since the school opened on 3 January, 2012.

Jalasi also says that it is becoming difficult for teachers to manage their classes as they are mixing children of different ages in the same class. The school accommodates children of 3 to 5 years.

Thom Kapasule, financial controller at Andiamo Youth Cooperative Trust, has confirmed the development. Thom says that the fuel they are keeping at their reserve is meant for the maternity ward and some emergency situations.

Luwisho Kalambo now Principal

Posted on January 11, 2012 by geraldsibu

Andiamo Education Institutions (AEI) has promoted Luwisho Kalambo to the post of Principal at Andiamo Technical College. Raymond Chaghoma who was a principal since 2003, now is Director of formal courses with immediate effect .

Luwisho Kalambo

Luwisho 33, has a grade 1 for Motor Vehicle Mechanics (MVM), Diploma in Motor Vehicle Engineering, and Carpentry and Joinery. He started working at Andiamo Technical College in 2004 before he joined Tunjimuche Technical College in Namwera 2010 where he worked for only 8 months. When he returned, he was working as a deputy principal and Motor Vehicle Mechanics tutor. According to the AEI Coordinator, Luwisho has been promoted for his dedication and hardworking he has been showing since he started working at the institution. Luwisho Kalambo has since thanked AEI for the promotion which he said shows that the institution and Andiamo Youth Cooperative Trust ( AYCT) want youths in higher positions. AYCT has many youths in high positions.

Balaka market burnt down Petrol suspected as the cause

Posted on January 9, 2012 by geraldsibu

Vendors in Balaka main market have nothing to depend on after fire gutted down almost half of the market on Saturday night. The fire which started around 9 pm was extinguished by well wishers who rushed to the scene of the accident before Fire brigades from Zomba City Council (89 km from Balaka) joined them at around 11 pm.

: People are suspecting that the fire started from here (under the tree)

Although the fire was much scary, some managed to rescue few things from their shops while others never managed. According to Balaka Police Public Relations Officer Titani Chadwala, some bad mannered people looted shops on the other side of the market which was not affected by fire thereby taking advantage of the accident. He also confirmed that 100 shops were destroyed during the accident.

: What used to be sheds reduced to ashes

People have blamed Balaka Town Council for not having equipment which can put out fire during such incidences. According to our sources at Balaka Town Council who asked for anonymity, vendors are blamed for not taking safety measures when doing business in the market.

“We have been advising them not to keep flammable things in their shops but they never listened,” say the sources.

Balaka Main Market has fire extinguishers equipment but during the accident people failed to use them as there was not even a single drop of water from the pipes.

Government officials, Montfort Fathers, a musician Lucius Banda, former Member of Parliament Ronald Chanthunya were spotted at the scene of the accident during the night to see for themselves and sympathize with the vendors .

Lucius Banda popularly known as “Soldier” said that he was saddened by the inferno as a lot of merchandises has been destroyed which is a big setback since for some this was the only source of income.

According to police publicist, the cause of the fire has not yet been established as investigations are still underway but some people are suspecting that the fire started from the shop whose owner was allegedly keeping jerry cans containing petrol. The suspect is in police custody for questioning.

Scarcity of fuel in the country has forced many people to keep jerry cans of fuel in their houses which is becoming a big threat to their lives and property.

This is not the first time Balaka has had fire accident. In 2006 a house belonging to former member of parliament for Balaka South, late Thom Mnesa was gutted down and property worth millions of kwacha was destroyed. In June last year Nthandizi Market was also destroyed and this was after Balaka District Education Offices were also destroyed.

Malawians should expect economic hardships

Posted on January 7, 2012 by geraldsibu

Malawians should expect to dig deeper into their pockets to survive in this new year 2012. According to a monthly survey report released by a Roman Catholic body, Centre for Social Concern (CFSC), the cost of living is becoming deplorable in the country.

things are becoming expensive every day

The survey was conducted in major cities in the country namely Mzuzu, Zomba, Blantyre and Lilongwe.

The report indicates that an average family of six to survive in the month of December 2011 had to spend K61,173.00, K60.080.00, K65,000.00 and K69,303.00 in Mzuzu, Zomba, Blantyre and Lilongwe respectively.

Recently the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been pressurizing the government of Malawi to devalue the Malawi Kwacha again after devaluing it in August 2011 by 10%.

There is much fear that problems which are rocking the country may cause private investors to close their offices and companies and leave a lot of people unemployed as some investors have already done.

Some economic experts have expressed fear that if government will not take appropriate action things will become worse each and every day like shortage of fuel, shortage of forex and increasing of price on basic commodities which Malawians are facing now.

Donors have been blaming the Professor Bingu Wa Muthalika and his Democratic Progressive Party led government of bad governance and this has led to some of them to freeze aid.

Christmas Lancheon

Posted on December 23, 2011 by marcalessandro

Fr. Mario Pacifici will be the guest of honour to a luncheon organised by Movement for I Dream at Andiamo Trust Hall on Christmas Day. Movement for I Dream comprises people living with HIV/AIDS.

According to one of its members, Jackson Edward, who is also a member of Tinyadire Moyo of Andiamo Youth Cooperative Trust, the group has invited people with disabilities, orphans, teenagers and the elderly from Balaka district. These people will come from Phalula, Kankao, Utale and around Balaka town.

Well-wishers including the guest of honour himself have made the luncheon possible by donating some cash.

Movement for I Dream has a membership of more than 10 000 people in Balaka alone.

Early Christmas for Andiamo Music School

Posted on December 23, 2011 by geraldsibu

Some Christmas gifts will come and go but this one will not. The Department of Performing Arts of the Chancellor College, a constituent college of the University of Malawi has awarded a certificate to Thom Damba Junior, a Principal of Andiamo music school, for completing successfully a short music course from 4 – 17 December 2011.

The training covered Music Theory, Introduction to Music Instruments, Posture and Handling of Instruments, Fingering for Brass and Wood Wind Instruments, Compass of the Instruments, Tonal Registers of Instruments, Over Blowing and Harmonic series of wind instruments and technical fingering, Transposition of wind Instruments, Scales (major and minor), Formation of Chords and Chords Progressions.

The training was made possible by the cooperation that exists between Andiamo Youth Cooperative Trust (AYCT) and CMB/LAMA. There are plans that in future students from Andiamo Music School should pursue further music studies with the University of Malawi.