2014 - A Year of Celebration
2014 marked the 20th Anniversary for the Embangweni School for the Hard of Hearing. Since it began in 1994, the school had grown from 10 students to the 2014 level of 198 students and faculty of 15. Each year the school has several students admitted to secondary school; many of them have completed 2 or more years and one has gone on to complete teacher training as well as a university degree in Special Needs Education.
It seemed appropriate to celebrate all these achievements and on October 3, 2014 the school held an anniversary celebration. The two men credited with having the dream of such a school and making it come true were there, making the day extra-special. Mr. M.B. Hara and the Rev. Lloyd Tembo spoke about the need for education and especially for education of special needs students, including the deaf. They reminded those in attendance that, until the Embangweni School for Hard of Hearing was begun, deaf students had to travel to the Blantyre area to receive education. This distance prevented many from going to school. The school at Embangweni, and its sister schools now begun at Karonga and Bandawe, have made it easier for learners in the north to receive an education.
Also attending the 20th anniversary celebration were former teachers and students. Of course, Mr. M.B. Hara served as a volunteer teacher when the school first opened. Former teacher and interim head teacher Mr. C.K. Mondwe attended and apparently greatly enjoyed chatting with his former students! Mr. Mondwe was then the head teacher at the Karonga School for the Deaf. Mr. Maclon Zungu, formerly teaching at the school and then working at the Mzuzu Resource Center for special needs also attended. Mr. E.G. Mtonga, the first head teacher and now working in Zomba developing teaching materials for special needs students, was unable to attend. Three former students were able to attend: Fanny Singini, Frank Gondwe and Penjani Vinkhumbo.
Tom & Jocelyn Logan of Marion Medical Mission, who provided funds for the first buildings and teacher houses sent a letter of congratulation but were unable to attend. In their place, members of the MMM shallow wells team came and enjoyed the day.
There were 3 additional “red letter days” for the school during October and early November, 2014.
On October 16 the National Bank of Malawi sent most of its staff to present a donation to the Vocational Education department. The donation included cash, new sewing machines, fabric and yarn for the Tailoring program plus many tools and 100 wood planks for the Woodshop program. The Bank makes a donation of this type to a school each year and learned about Embangweni partly from the web site. They also brought representatives of the media (MBC and Voice of Livingstonia), which increases the school’s visibility!
October 23 was the day to launch the Worldreader electronic reader program. Thanks to donors in the Estes Park, Colorado area, 50 electronic readers were purchased and downloaded with 100 books each. Mr. Jolia Mahemane was named Project Manager and trained the teachers as well as students in classes 3 through 9. Woodshop instructor Mr. Mzondi Longwe built a storage unit for the readers which enables them to be kept secure when not in use and also makes it easy to keep them charged.
At the Launch event, The Right Rev. Dr. T.P.K. Nyasulu, CCAP Education Secretary, formally handed over the e-readers to the school and presented certificates of training completion to the teachers. A Certificate of Participation was presented to the school as well. Invited guests, including area headmen and heads of institutions as well as some parents and the media, were treated to demonstrations of the new e-readers by students in class 3 and in class 9. Everyone was suitably impressed! The program is so successful that students in classes 1 and 2 are also being trained and “e-reader” time is now in the official timetable.
On November 8, the school received a donation of 140 mattresses from a CCAP Men’s Guild in Lilongwe. These were badly needed and much appreciated and also show that awareness of the school and its success is spreading beyond the immediate area.
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