Skip to main content | From a village with only one book in 2002, Gumbi has become a village of teachers. Four children are now qualified teachers and one is at university.PATRICK KAMZITU is a Malawian government health worker for the Nambuma area and the manager of the project in Malawi. His work takes him daily to many villages, he is widely known and trusted and is able to identify children in particular need or whose parents would benefit the most from a Gumbi fund scholarship. Patrick has been with the project since the very start and can see the progress that has been made. “Everyone can see the difference between the children who are educated to secondary level and those who are not. They are more confident, they have choices, and they are optimistic”, he says. | |
| JAMES GOMANI is the first boy in the whole area to have got into university. He is now in his second year studying accountancy at the Catholic University of Malawi near Limbe. He writes: “Education was a far fetched dream for me but now it’s a reality. I was stranded on how to get good education, but the Gumbi Fund came to my rescue and now it`s an encouraging sign to all my fellow beneficiaries. I never thought of studying at university due to the absolute poverty of my parents but the fund broke this yoke of burden and now I am a different person in society”. |  | |
 | JOSEPHY JIMMY has qualified as a primary school teacher, working in schools near Lake Malawi. He writes: “Education is the key to life. Without it today you can only go a certain way and everything is difficult. With it everything can change. We have learned so much in Gumbi. We know that climate change is happening, people know that the rains can stop before the crops are mature so they must be prepared . They know they must think ahead and not cut down trees. And they know that they can do other things than be farmers or that farming can be profitable. Education has taught them to think differently. ”PICTURES BY AXEL FASSIO | |
 Missing data, see John Vidal.  Missing data, see John Vidal.  John Vidal with Kennedy in Gumbi, Malawi.  John Vidal in a meeting in the library of Gumbi, Malawi.  John Vidal in a meeting in the library of Mguwata, Malawi.  James Gomani | ||