Scottish Catholic Observer

A PARISHIONER from St Paul the Apostle’s Church, Shettleston, is to set off on a month-long trip to Malawi to teach in a Mary’s Meals primary school.

Lorraine Izzett, a teacher at St Rose of Lima Primary School and leader of the Learning for Science in Glasgow project for the past two years, will lend her skills to Lipunga Primary as part of the Scottish charity Malawi Leaders of Learning (MLOL), a group built on successful relationships made by the Holyrood Learning Community and aiming to improve education in both Glasgow and Malawi.

Leaving in October, Ms Izzett (right) has been tirelessly fundraising, with a goal of £3,000, and is doing a sponsored triathlon on August 27-28.

“The aim of this trip is to create lasting changes within the schools that will lead to more children having the education and skills they need to access opportunities in the future to improve their lives,” she said.

“Links will also be established between the children of Glasgow’s schools and those in Malawi with them developing an increased understanding and mutual respect through working on the same projects.”

She told the SCO why she wants to help change the lives of children in Malawi and support those tasked with educating them.

“I’ve been involved with supporting Mary’s Meals for a number of years through collecting backpacks, but when a colleague went to Malawi last year I was inspired to take on a different role, so now I’ll be involved on the education side of things.”

During her four-week stay, Ms Izzett will begin the school day at 7:30am, helping teachers in Lipunga Primary classes of up to 150 pupils—a relatively small size for Malawian schools—to find different teaching strategies, made difficult by the school’s lack of basic resources.

After the school day ends at 2pm with pupils receiving their Mary’s Meals school meal, Ms Izzett will continue to give training to teachers and help with the creation of a school library.

“Overall there are nine of us in the team, which includes school teachers, nursery teachers and one headteacher. We’ve got together once a month since January, so there has been a lot of preparation for our arrival.

“We hope we will be able to support the pupils and staff there, and in turn that we can learn from them. Next year teachers from Malawi will come to Scotland, so we hope we can go on learning and sharing.

“It’s also important that pupils in Scotland can learn alongside those in Malawi. They can learn about Malawi, and engage alongside children there. We don’t see it as separate efforts.”

Mary’s Meals works to provide 800,000 daily meals to Malawian children, particularly at the moment as the country is experiencing a period of famine.

While teachers are enthusiastic and dedicated to their jobs, the resources and opportunities are poor, with only 42 per cent of children completing primary education, a figure that is even lower for girls. Many are illiterate and cannot access opportunities to break the cycle of poverty.

MLOL, set up in 2011 to improve education in Malawi, also successfully contributes to learning and teaching in Glasgow schools. It was recently awarded more than £200,000 by the Scottish Government.

To help Ms Izzett, visit: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lorraine-izzett-1

—This story ran in full in the August 26 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.