Scottish Catholic Observer

PUPILS of St Margaret’s High School, Airdrie, have had the memories of their Malawi visit published as part of North Lanarkshire Council’s ‘Aiming Higher in Malawi’ project.

The diaries are titled Friendship, Family and Faith and are published by Capitol Solutions so that all monies raised can go directly to the school’s Malawi fund.

St Margaret’s has a history of supporting ventures and initiatives in Malawi, such as sponsoring an orphanage, partnering with a Malawian school, building the St Margaret’s women’s refuge and creating the Makhoza Catholic Women’s Co-operative.

“It was a real privilege to be part of the group,” headteacher Stephen Snee said. “The visit was everything that I expected and so much more. I met some of the most inspirational people from the planet and was with some of the most inspirational young people from Scotland.”

Pupil Carly Friel, who has been sponsoring a disabled child named Chikondi for five years, this year made her third visit to Malawi.

“After five years of sponsoring this young boy, I cannot put into words how grateful I am to have been given the opportunity to watch and help him grow up, gaining more and more confidence in himself each year I visit him,” she said. “As he is unable to speak and walk, I initially thought it would be challenging to build a relationship with him. But I was so wrong. I have seen him each year be more confident, begin to walk with minor assistance and seen how happy he now is and how happy his family is as a result of this,” Carly added. “This little boy has been a blessing in my life.”

Former pupil Lauren Strain said she was left ‘stunned’ and ‘genuinely heartbroken’ at the devastating circumstances some individuals were faced with. She had visited Mulanji Prison, where prisoners in the poorest of conditions were selected to be given soap and additional food.

“The men who sat in front of me, overwhelmed with a bar of soap each, were some of the poorest in the world and even then all of them could not be given extra nutrition; half a bag of sugar, an egg and two tiny

raw fish,” she said. “Despite this being my fourth trip to Malawi, in think it was in this moment I realised the severity of the poverty that existed.”

Yet despite the upsetting circumstances, she also took many positives from the trip. “It has shown me strength in it purest form, the value of love, compassion and faith in one another, and that in the most oppressive circumstances the community around you can truly be a guiding light,” she said.

Jim Logue, leader of North Lanarkshire Council, said: “The diaries provide a wonderful insight into some of the work being done in Malawi by the school, in particular through supporting the work of Sr Anna Tomassi who feeds pre-school children and leads a prison missionary.”

—This story ran in full in the December 23 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.