The Mwanjati Village School Trust was founded in 2007 and run by four trustees Carol Mtitimila (a former parent), her nephew Anthony (who chairs the charity), David Owen (another of our former parents) and Miss McGann, our former headteacher. The original aim of the charity was to raise funds to build a school in Anthony’s home village and to employ a small team of teachers. The school opened in September 2007 and another classroom was added in 2009.

One aspect of the parents' roles involves organising the monthly cake stalls that take place on the last Thursday of the month at the end of the school day, with any surplus cakes being sold to children at playtime on Friday morning.  The proceeds are used to pay the salaries of the three teachers who work in the school in Mwanjati. Anthony Mtitimila recently brought news of the completion of the latest building project.  A team of builders working alongside the villagers, have added a further three classrooms. This means that we were able to appoint another teacher in the very near future (bringing the total number of teaching staff to four).  Further information about the work of the charity and some up-to-date photos are available below.  The monthly cake stall held after school will continue to raise the funds needed to help pay the teachers’ salaries. Children at Twiss Green are also collecting loose change in Mwanjati money boxes (for which they receive a certificate) which all adds up to help raise even more for the school, teachers and children. 

Every year we hold a special assembly (Covid permitting) when we all learn about the work of the charity and all children and their parents, who are new to our school, visit Mwanjati Corner - a very special Wishing Well built by some of our parents - on the Infant Playground: they throw a coin in the well and make a wish for the children in Mwanjati. 

This is an opportunity for parents to learn about the history and work of the trust, and listen to some African songs sung by the children. At the end of the assembly the new children visit Mwanjati Corner near the Infant playground with their parents, and have the opportunity to throw some coins in the wishing well and make a wish for the children in Mwanjati. To raise more money for the school, many of our children have also chosen to donate their own pocket money. We thank them for being so kind and generous. This money goes some way to providing funding for the extra teacher recruited to work at the newly-extended school. 

Each new child will be issued with a MVST money box in which they’re encouraged to save ‘pennies for Mwanjati’. Once the box is full it should be returned to school and the children are presented with a special certificate in assembly.

The school in Mwanjati, which was established almost entirely with funding provided by everyone at Twiss Green has gone from strength to strength. Ten years down the line the government has taken over the running of the school, the number of pupils on roll has increased to 506 and there are 9 teachers who are all paid by the Local Authority. The headteacher, Mr Henry Awazi, has written to us outlining the challenges the school is now facing, they are:

At the beginning of the project the villagers made brick from clay which is in plentiful supply and we provided the money to buy additional building materials. This is something that the trustees would like to repeat in order to provide extra classrooms. We have also collected sports kit that the children of Twiss Green have grown out of.

If you would like to donate on a regular basis, or as a one-off donation, it would be most welcome. 

For more information or to donate, please click on this link to access the website at http://www.mvst.co.uk/