In Loving Memory of Chikondi Matitiyo.

October 1986 - December 2010

It is with a heavy heart that I share the tragic news of Chikondi Matitiyo’s sudden death on Dec 7th, 2010.  Chikondi (a Chichewa word meaning love) was one of the youngest girls in the group of 24 students that Memory and I originally taught while volunteer teaching in Malawi in 2000.  Chikondi was a sweet, loving girl with a contagious laugh, a beautiful smile and an eager curious mind.  

 

Christie and Chikondi

Chikondi finished Form 1 at the ERGO school where Memory and I first met her.  I found a sponsor for her, Glenys Berry (my former vice-principal from the Oliver School Nellie McClung Program), who then paid for her to complete her secondary schooling at Phwezi Girls Secondary School in northern Malawi.  In 2003, Chikondi succeeded in passing her M.S.C.E. (Malawian Secondary Certificate of Education), an achievement that no one else in her village has ever matched.  Still under sponsorship from Glenys, Chikondi completed a two year diploma in Business Studies and the Phwezi Women’s Training Center.  She was then  given a micro-credit loan and opened her own nursery school at the Kalenga Trading Center, just a short walk from her village.  Her income supported her mother and cousins for many years, paying tuition for many of her younger cousins, nieces and nephews. 

During the drought in 2005, Chikondi helped Memory in distributing maize and seeds to over 1500 people purchased from money raised through my friends, teaching colleagues, sponsors and students.
More recently, Chikondi had succeeded in securing a position as Burser and Secretary at the Chamama Day Community Secondary School, a position that she enjoyed very much.  

Chikondi was the only one in her village earning an income and without her, her mother is absolutely destitute.  I would like to be able to provide Chikondi’s mother with a small donation of $300 to be used during this period of grief to help her cover Chikondi’s funeral expenses and ease her most pressing and immediate financial needs.  If you would like to contribute to this fund, please contribute by either sending your cheque, made payable to the ‘Sooke Rotary Community Organization’, to:

Atsikana Pa Ulendo (Girls on the Move) Malawi Education Foundation
650 Pearson College Dr.
Victoria, BC    V9C 4H7

Goodbye Chikondi.
You have made us all proud and you will be missed terribly.
Christie.

APU's first graduation celebration date has been set!

Memory has just informed me that the Atsikana Pa Ulendo (Girls On The Move) Secondary School in Malawi graduation celebration will take place on Saturday June 25th.

This will be the greatest celebration so far in the lives of our 80 graduates.  For village girls to achieve a full secondary school education is very rare, particularly for girls in the rural areas, many of whom are orphans living in poverty. Memory and I can barely believe that our first 80 girls have come so far and that APU, as a school, has achieved so much in such a short period of time.  I will be celebrating this graduation along with Memory, the girls and their families and can’t wait to see them once again.  The last time I met with these girls was in March 2008, just before being diagnosed with breast cancer.  Now, just over two years later, I am cancer free and able to travel to see their smiling, happy, healthy faces once again as they mark the incredible achievement of finishing four years of secondary schooling.  

Preparations for this event, which will be attended by all 320 girls, people from their villages, the 19 chiefs responsible for donating the land, and over 1000 special guests (including the local MP and his wife who are the guardians of one of our APU girls), include the hiring of photographers and videographers, dances and songs by the girls and their parents, a concert by our APU Choir ‘Young Women We’, and a dance attended by all teachers and board members and their spouses as well as our Form 4 girls and their parents; there will also be a candle lighting ceremony and speeches by the girls, teachers, Memory and myself.

Sponsors from Canada are encouraged to attend this celebration and can contact me for help with travel arrangements and preparation.
 
Christie Johnson
Co-founder and Executive Director
Atsikana Pa Ulendo (Girls on the Move) Malawi Education Foundation
650 Pearson College Dr.
Victoria, BC    V9C 4H7

Presentations pay off - and the news media takes heed

Several publications have carried the story of APU Malawi. Here are a couple of links:
Vernon Morning Star

BC LOCAL NEWS


Champions of Change article

Christie has set up a Face Book page too.

CBC PODCAST - Christie interviewed

Check this link to listen to an interview with Christie about APU Malawi on the CBC's All Points West radio show.

Alberta and British ColumbiaTour - Christie and Memory cover thousands of kms telling the story of the Malawi Girls' School

Memory will be returning home to Malawi on Friday (December 3) after a successful and inspiring presentation tour she and Christie have almost completed. Unfortunately seven of the Vancouver Island Rotary Club presentations had to be cancelled because of bad weather and poor driving conditions, but plans are underway to reschedule these clubs later in the year. There are still a few presentations to be made - Harbourside (Victoria), Sooke, Sidney and Victoria. An excellent article on the school's history and progress appeared last week in the Peninsula News - you can read it at this link. The article covers how Christie's inspirational volunteer work resulted in her being nominated on CBC’s Champions of Change. She made the final cut of 50 - more than 1000 were nominated. Last Tuesday evening at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney, Christie and Memory presented the story of the school's outstanding success in Brick by Brick. As well as being an informational talk, it was a fundraiser for educational sponsorships and a new science lab and cafeteria.