• Ndalapa Primary School

  • Ndalapa Primary School

Major donation by young influencer team from Germany creates prospects for children

The access road to Ndalapa Primary School cannot really be described as a road; visitors cannot get here without off-road tyres. But the adventurous approach is worth it, an imposing mountain panorama and lots of greenery frame the school grounds. At first glance: Beautiful.

The second glance, however, reveals dilapidated, ramshackle buildings, collapsed roofs and a great need for help. Not a suitable place to guarantee a solid education. The 750 children’s eyes shine when the good news is delivered: Help is on the way. 

With a large donation of 70,000 Euros from Arazhul GmbH and another 40,000 Euros from the Christian Liebig Foundation’s own funds, the Ndalapa Primary School now has prospects.

  • Country:

    Malawi

  • Place:

    Ndalapa, about 60 km north of Blantyre, about 20 km off the main road.

  • Project duration:

    2022

  • Status:

    750 pupils are taught in 2 shifts in dilapidated classrooms. A teachers’ house, dining hall and sports field are available.

  • Goals:

    Renovate the existing buildings and construct 4 classrooms, 3 teachers’ houses, an office building and 2 toilet blocks.

The situation: two-shift operation and poor building structure

There is space for a football field – and plenty of land for school buildings

The 426 pupils and 327 students of Ndalapa Primary School currently have to be taught in two shifts. There aren’t enough classrooms, some of which no longer have a roof after the devastating tropical storm “Ana” at the end of January 2022.

Teaching here is therefore not only under difficult circumstances and shortened – it is dangerous. The school currently has two double classrooms, a teacher’s house, a dining hall and a sports field.

Our Goal: Expansion and Renovation of Ndalapa Primary School

More rooms and accommodation for the teaching staff are needed in order to be able to provide effective teaching that offers all children access to education at the same time. This is because the primary school is very remote, about 60 kilometres north of the town of Blantyre and almost 20 kilometres along bumpy dirt roads off the main road.

Thanks to the generous donation we received at the end of 2021 and further investments from general donations to our association, our trusted contractor Nick Gaunt was able to begin the expansion and renovation of Ndalapa Primary School in June 2022. Plans include two double classrooms (equivalent to four classrooms), three teacher houses, an office building and two toilet blocks with four latrines.

The construction work is progressing quickly and efficiently. We plan to hand over the shiny new school to the community as early as October 2022.

After one month: Work on the new buildings is progressing rapidly.

The donors: young influencers with 2.2 million followers

This school will soon shine in new splendour and with more buildings – thanks to donations from Germany.

Some young people from Germany who wanted to make a difference are behind the donation sum of 70,000 Euros: One of them is Tim Nießner from Haan near Düsseldorf, who wrote two bestsellers as a pupil.

He founded the non-profit organisation “LetsBuildASchool e.V.” in autumn 2021 to raise money for the construction of educational institutions in structurally disadvantaged countries in cooperation with influencers. Since he and his team do not yet have any experience in building schools in Africa, the Christian Liebig Stiftung e.V. has taken the lead in building the schools, as a partner organisation.

With its fundraising concept, the organisation is pursuing new avenues and using the reach of influential people from the digital world of YouTube and Instagram: over 10,000 international influencers are on his list. He wants to contact them all one by one and win them over to his fundraising campaign.

Do something good and share success.

With good results: One of them was Roman Fink, YouTuber with 2.2 million followers and founder of the company Arazhul GmbH. He agreed – and donated 60,000 Euros from his Christmas sales to build a primary school. “We wanted to do something good and share our success by passing on our profits,” says Roman Fink. “We would also like to contribute additional basic equipment for the children like backpacks and pencils when we can hopefully travel to Malawi in autumn for the new opening.” His partner Lars Pohl contributed another 10,000 Euros from his company.

And yes, they did make it to Malawi! Interested parties can watch an entertaining video review of the school’s opening and all the background on the genesis of the idea on Arazhul’s YouTube channel.

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Handwork: A little insight into our construction site at Ndalapa Primary School. Sound on!

Tim Nießner was able to do more than convince these two generous donors to get involved. Numerous other individual donors have contributed to the “LetsBuildASchool” campaign. The large number of general donations directly to our association are a sign of the success of his wonderful initiative.

Creative connection: German digital native meets Malawian art scene

The Ndalapa school and its educational staff are very young, professional and open to new ideas. One organisation, for example, offers workshops on “creative arts” and self-defence, and the obligatory sports field is well used. This mentality fits very well with the idea that Roman Fink’s team would like to implement: The school is to be given a colourful coat of paint, which pupils and teachers can help do, and a different Arazhul character is to be painted in each classroom by two Malawian artists.

Beatrice von Keyserlingk, CLS board member, is delighted: “Many Malawians have a deep appreciation for art. The chance to have a special school is just great.”

Colourful: Eve Chisambiro and Mada Ziwaoh will be the creative force in designing the buildings.

Impressions from the construction phase and the opening ceremony