Boarding School - Royal Alexandra and Albert School

Open Arms Infant home - Malawi

The school is permanently sponsoring four young orphans at the Open Arms Infant Home in Blantyre, Malawi, to be educated at Primary and then Secondary school.

We have collection boxes in each boarding house and fundraising efforts are made by houses or other groups of pupils.

At the moment, it costs £1,500 per year to ensure that the four children receive a private, primary education. You may wish to send an amount into school and if this is the case, please could you place it in an envelope clearly marked "Open Arms Infant Home Appeal".

We thought you might like to see the happy, smiling faces of Wilson, Mary, Norman and Aubrey, who we are supporting.

Over the last year there have been some significant changes and progress made. The most notable change is that Mary has moved to our second Foster House, Richmond, and six-year-old Moses has taken her place.

Mary is developing into a fine young girl and we thought it more appropriate at this age for her to live with other girls. Mary obviously enjoys her 5 foster sisters, and together they celebrated her birthday last month. The boys already know Moses from their time together at Open Arms, so he fitted in well as a younger brother and now attends Ladybird International School.

Aubrey continues to make progress and benefits from weekly physiotherapy for his Cerebral Palsey. He still takes the bus to school to be sure he gets there on time, but is now able to walk home with the others which gives him the chance to become more familiar with the area, and of course builds his strength.

Wilson is now the proud owner of a pair of hearing aids which he wears to school. His hearing deficit was noticed at Rose’s House where he spoke very quietly, now his confidence is noticeably improved.

Norman continues to be a bright and energetic lad who excels at Mathematics and loves to play football.

Open Arms employs a Teacher to run the nursery school at Harrogate House, Ms Enipher Nasiyaya. She tutors the boys weekly to encourage their academic progress. A TV donated by a volunteer has been a fun addition to the House. It is very pleasant on a Saturday afternoon to hear the children discuss the local soap opera and tell you about the characters. The boys speak English quite well.

Open Arms has had two major developments in the last year, with the opening of a new Infant Home in Manochi and a third Foster House for our school-age long term residents. We now have 80 babies and children in residence, with capacity for 106.

The famous four continue to do extremely well.

Aubrey (minor cerebral palsy) is making particularly pleasant progress at school. Malawian schools are not particularly sympathetic to disablement and I think he was merely tolerated initially because of the fees of the combined four. However, he has shown convincingly that cerebral palsied children can make an equally valuable contribution to the school. His speech and English though slurred is probably the best of the group. Mary, is fast growing up, we had contact with her brother recently. Norman, is the naughty one! - He finds it difficult to concentrate at school - However, we believe nothing sinister about him, he just doesn't like school! Wilson, is the strong silent one. He is making good progress, his English is coming on rapidly, and he reads well and is a thoroughly nice young man. They are all receiving a tremendous benefit from what you started three years ago.

We would like to send our thanks on behalf of all four of them, to the staff and students of the Royal Alexandra and Albert School.

Very best wishes from all of us at Open Arms.

Term started today for the 4 children who Royal Alexandra and Albert school are sponsoring.

This is a fantastic step for us. Because of your support we have been able to choose what would be considered one of Blantyre’s best private schools, quaintly named Ladybird International School. It is 1.3 kms from the house that we have bought so is just about ideal. Thought you might want to see the image taken this morning. They were very lively in the Land Rover on the way but very subdued by the time we left them at the classroom door. They will be assessed this morning to ascertain whether they should be in reception or Standard 1. The fee structure at MK20,000 including transport per term will come to £1,000. They will be joined by a fifth and then a sixth later in the year. Uniforms and extras will be quite affordable.

For this our grateful thanks to all at Gatton Park. We look forward to sending you the school reports for these four!