Malawi

P.O. Box 31321
Lilongwe 3, plot Area 9/350, Malawi
265-1-926722

Sylvia Namakhwa, Program Director
sylvia.namakhwa@gmail.com

Events
Volunteering
People on SFK
Partners/Sponsors

Student Count

2006	120
2007	873
2008	1840

Current term student count: 647

Graduation Ceremony

A graduation ceremony starts with small booths

Juvenile offenders learn the power of sharing

Demonstrating the power of sharing

Past Events

SFK Graduation

Event type: Other event
Date: May 26, 2009
Location: Youth Prosperity and AIDS Combatting Organization
Contact: Chimwemwe Masina , chims.lungu@yahoo.co.uk

Graduations are an important event, done after completion on Level 3. All kids in SFK Malawi go through all levels of SFK.

For volunteering information, contact Sellah Chunga, 265-99287230, sellahnduwa@yahoo.co.uk

Level 3 Volunteer Orientation

Volunteer type: Volunteer Orientation
Date: April 6, 2009

juveniles in malawi

SFK students/inmates at Kachere Juvenile Prison

Officer

Officer Thom

Gideon, age 14, Mbyanzi Prison, Malawi

“We are in prison because we need to change. SFK lessons help us change so we can bring this understanding to the outside and have a future. Thank you for caring. The lessons should not stop with us. They should also start with the children who are not in prison.

Testimonial from Government Ministry member

“As a Government Ministry we accept SFK as a program for children. We want it to be a permanent program for children at our institutions. We are in the process of building a similar institution [to Mpemba Reformatory] for girls who are in conflict with the law and we feel with a program like this one, they can also benefit.” Mr. Chisale, Assistant Deputy Director for Child Development responsible for Institutions

Testimonial from a teacher

"SFK has helped to simplify our work, we are now better counselors. We have learned through SFK how to listen attentively to children. We have been able to look at every individual child’s problem and assist them accordingly. The relationship between kids and staff members has greatly improved. We can trust the children with our phones if they want to make calls to their relatives. Thanks for giving us the program. It was a timely assistance and we still need it because new kids will be coming." Teacher from Mpemba Juvenile Reformatory Centre

Testimonial from head principal

“…These lessons have changed us so much in terms of our behaviours and [I] am talking about both kids and staff members. We have changed in the way we think, we are now wiser. There were a lot of reactive behaviors among children sometimes we had doubts that things could become better. But when SFK came all that changed.” Mr. Zhoya, Head Principal of Mpemba Juvenile Reformatory Centre

Testimonial from juvenile officer

Officer Thom, one of the head caretakers at Kachere Prison expressed that SFK is very much in line with the Malawi Prison Services' mission statement of rehabilitating offenders. He stated that since the introduction of SFK programming there has been a reduction in fights among inmates. When one prisoner is out of line, the others are quick to caution and advise their fellow inmate to change their behavior. According to Officer Thom,“There is so much tolerance now”.

Testimonial from Kachere Juvenile Prison

A big graduation ceremony took place at Kachere Jevenile Prison on Thursday July 16th for 70 juvenile offenders who completed all three levels of SFK programming. Students wrote and performed their own songs, poems, dances, booth presentations, and personal speeches. The occasion was graced by Mr Kennedy Nkhoma a Commanding Officer who is the Central Region Prison Officer. He spoke to the children about the power of change, that it is an internal struggle, and a gradual process. He stated: "There are a lot of things that you kids can do other than stealing and killing. Most of the things you do are preventable through exercising patience. The people who encouraged you to do those things are free and having fun, while you dropped out of school.

Duke University

SFK Malawi focuses on the spiritual empowerment of vulnerable children through psycho-educational activities addressing problem solving, cause-and-effect reasoning, life skills and decision-making, coping skills for responding to adversity and stress, social competence, personal autonomy and purpose, and promotion of resiliency. Headed by Dr. Robert Murphy, Duke University and the Centre for Child and Family Health (a university consortium involving Duke University, North Carolina Central University, and the University of NorthCarolina) will be conducting a 2 year research study evaluating the efficacy of SFK programming in Malawi to produce positive outcomes among orphans and vulnerable children participating in the Raising Malawi Orphan Care Initiative

Raising Malawi

Since 2006, Raising Malawi has been dedicated to bringing an end to the extreme poverty and hardship endured by Malawi's two million orphan and vulnerable children. Co-founded by Madonna and Michael Berg, Raising Malawi directly serves hundreds of thousands of children and caregivers in the areas of Health, Education, Nutrition, Water & Sanitation, Economic Sustainability, Psychosocial Support, and Child Advocacy.

The Malawi Prison Services

The Malawi Prison Services is a Malawi Government Institution and operates under the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security. Its mission is to house, detain and rehabilitate prisoners committed to prisons. The formation of the Prison Department in Malawi dates back to 1920 when Malawi was a British Protectorate. Currently the Malawi Prison Services has 5 divisions; operations, farms, prison clinic, prison training school and General Administration.Due to poverty and declining social values, there is a rise in crime rate which has also seen an increase in number of inmates exceeding their capacity by sometimes 200%. Their desire is to reduce the number of inmates in the prison cells as well as ensuring a safe prison environment for rehabilitation and reformation.