Dear Bright Sparks supporters!
Happy New Year! We are delighted to be writing to you at this moment as we have reached our 20th anniversary,. Congratulations to all involved in Bright Sparks Trust.
At this celebratory milestone, Bright Sparks would like to thank a few people who go above and beyond volunteering for Bright Sparks Trust
Our Malawi Management Team and helpers - Patrick, Arnold, Boston, Hendrix, Deborah, Sellah who carry out school audits and distribute cash transfers and laptops
Our volunteers - Lavanya, Dave and the team at Do Tank who are building an incredible web platform for university students to apply and manage their scholarships (my.brightsparkstrust.com)
Our laptop donation partner - Mars, Inc. South Africa business who provided 17 high quality refurbished laptops and shipped them to Malawi
Our current and former trustees - Shannon, Ben, Steve
Most of all, we would like to thank you for your continued support and donations. Your financial support is the lifeblood of Bright Sparks Trust. Thanks to you, we are currently paying the school fees of 107 bright but needy students at school (52 of them girls), we are providing additional financial assistance in the form of cash transfers direct to the students (and we are able to raise those in line with spiraling inflation), and we are awarding Book Prizes and Laptops to our students that make it to prestigious universities, currently 50 students being supported.
We have come a long way from humble beginnings when we started with 8 students in 2004. It fills us with pride that several of those students now serve on our Malawi Management Team, volunteering their time and talents to pay forwards their scholarships. Something special is happening, we are building a community and the ripples are turning into waves. We will never forget the day that one of our students was in danger, and our community kicked in, students diving out of classes to race to assistance after we spread the alarm on our student communication channels, and others providing much needed safe refuge and care in the aftermath. We have always said that we are small but mighty and we feel that at times such as those.
As a fully volunteer run organization, and with a focus on impact and operational rigor in our on the ground progam, we know that communications is not one of our strong points. This is why we are particularly grateful for your loyalty, your support keeps coming without much in return. Those of you that have been supporting for a while will know that one of the few things we do is share our annual report, which we enclose in attachment. Now, in addition, in an effort to take another step forwards on this anniversary, we are also starting a newsletter initiative thanks you to our latest volunteer Lavanya. Attached you will find stories from our students as well as insights into the impact of our new laptops progam for university students.
So, happy anniversary to YOU, for you are part of this very small and very powerful community. Just imagine where we might find ourselves in another 20 years from now? In the meantime, wishing you and your families the very best for 2025.
Kind regards
Alastair
Founder and Trustee
Bright Sparks Trust