Austin, Texas … When a visitor enters a Malawi school, especially those schools in rural trading centers and village areas, they will almost always be struck by the lack of desks, teaching supplies, chalkboards, pencils and paper, chairs, and library and textbooks. The question is immediately asked, “How can children possibly learn without supplies?” The answer, “It is hard to learn when there are not enough textbooks for even the teachers, let alone the students.”
This story of struggle and difficulty was related to a group of church elders and wives in Austin, Texas in November 2011. The group was from the Western Hills Church of Christ, a small congregation southwest of Austin. Listening closely to the presentation was a teenager by the name of Brielle.
Shortly after the presentation she wrote to ask if school textbooks could be sent to Malawi. Brielle was encouraged to gather as many textbooks as possible.
Austin School System Offers Thousands of Books
In her effort to procure textbooks Brielle made contact with the Austin Independent School District, and they indicated they had 600 – 750 used textbooks they could donate. However, several weeks later, AISD indicated, there was a local warehouse that contained a large number of textbooks that could be donated to the Malawi School System. In fact, there were 30,000 textbooks available. She accepted the donation and a member of the Western Hills Church made warehouse space available until the end of April so the books could be stored prior to shipment.
The Western Hills church, working closely with Brielle, her family, and the Malawi Project, accepted the challenge to raise $38,000.00 for shipping two forty-foot and one twenty-foot trailer needed for all of the books. With a congregational membership of only about 125 members, and a budget that was already strained, the challenge looked daunting. However, in less than six (6) weeks an all out effort brought the needed results. The entire amount was raised in time to ship the books on the prearranged schedule.
Meanwhile the Namikango Mission in Thondwe, where the Malawi Project has a warehouse distribution site, was alerted about the shipment, and made contact with the Malawi Customs Service who assured them the books could enter the country customs free. The books recently arrived safely at the warehouse, and distribution has begun.