School mail from Malawi

As a result of the pandemic, we are still unable to visit our schools in Malawi. In the meantime, a telephone conference takes place every two weeks, in which we exchange ideas with the African partners of our projects. As the children – due to the pandemic – are not allowed to eat their maize porridge in schools, they receive small take-home portions to take home.

We wanted to know how the teachers and students are doing and how they are living under the conditions of the pandemic. So we wrote to them and are now happily surprised that we have received letters from all schools.


Here are some excerpts from the letters:


And this is what we wrote to the students and teachers:

Dear students,

from the Mlango group we are sending you warm greetings! What a pity that we haven’t been able to visit you in Malawi for almost 2 years, now! We enjoy to think back to the time we’ve spent together: You have always welcomed us so warmly with your songs and dances. Sometimes you demonstrated us a little play and at the end of our visits we played football together. That was always very nice!

Now we are asking ourselves how you are doing in Malawi and what you are doing during the Corona pandemic? We don’t know if you’re allowed to go to school at the moment, are you? Do you learn at home with your friends and help each other ? Do you pick up the Phala ration every week from the school and then cook it with your families? Are you all healthy, or did you have Corona? We have so many questions, and we are looking forward visiting you again! However, we do not know when this will be possible. In the meantime, we would be pleased if you could also write us a letter. Maybe the teachers can help you.

We too, are suffering from the corona pandemic. Students here in Germany are also not always allowed to go to school. Some learn at home with their parents. Many are sad that they are not allowed to visit their friends. They are not allowed to do sports in a group. When they come to school for a day, they always have to wear masks and have to keep distance from each other. We also hope that we will stay healthy, and that we will be able to meet again with our friends.

From the whole Mlango group we are sending warm greetings to you, your families and your teachers! We would be very happy to also receive a letter from you!

Your Mrs Franzen and Mrs Binder von Mlango