Malawi
Construction of Schools and Educational Facilities (since 2022)
Malawi is one of the few stable countries on the African continent. However, many people here still struggle to meet their basic needs. Improving education is one of the major challenges facing the country. Many educational institutions are overcrowded, causing children to struggle with their lessons and eventually drop out of school. Furthermore, since March 2022, Malawi has been experiencing its largest cholera epidemic to date, which has claimed more than a thousand lives.
For our first project, beginning in December 2022, we partnered with the Swiss organization “Zikomo Foundation” to build a preschool in a small village near the capital city of Lilongwe. Early childhood education aims to facilitate children’s transition into regular school life. Our partner operates the facility, which was completed in August. As a second project, we expanded an elementary school by four classrooms in 2023.
In 2024, we built an elementary school in the Neno District in southern Malawi, which opened in the summer of the same year. Here we used “Soil Stabilized Bricks” for the first time, self-pressed bricks made from clay and a small amount of cement. In the fall, we started our fourth project in the southwest of the country, in the town of Kalanga. We are building a secondary school here. Expected completion in summer 2025.
New Educational Perspectives with New School
In Malawi, we have begun construction of a secondary school. When completed, it will give 360 children the opportunity to attend more than just primary school.
Building with Soil Stabilized Blocks
In our projects in Malawi and Sierra Leone, we continuously face the same challenge: How can we construct durable and functional buildings in the most environmentally friendly way possible? The answer led us to a construction technique that combines traditional mud building methods with contemporary processing technology: Soil Stabilized Blocks (SSB).
Third school built in Malawi
In the Neno district of Malawi, off the beaten track, lies the village of Eleven Village. Here, we Green Helmets have realized a new project together with the local community: the construction of the Namwawa Junior Primary School.