Our names are Craig and Sarah Dowell, and we are the project managers of Sunshine Day Care Centre in Mzuzu, Malawi. We are a husband and wife team based in Melbourne, Australia. In partnership with our Malawian family, the Vinkhumbos we having been developing Sunshine Day Care Centre since 2011. Malawi is situated in South-East Africa and is amongst the top 5 poorest countries in the world. More t
han 90% of the population live on less than $2 a day. Malawian families live a simple life based around farming in small villages with little opportunity to break out of the poverty cycle. Sunshine was set up to provide a safe, stimulating and fun learning environment for children aged 1 to 5 years. Children are cared for, play, learn English and are given breakfast and lunch (usually their only meals for the day). This in turns gives their parents a chance to find work or farm and earn an income for their families. Today, Sunshine cares for more than 70 preschoolers. The centre is supported in part by parent's small day care fees and also fundraising events held in the Frankston community. Recent fundraising support has enabled some exciting plans to be put in place for Sunshine's future. Our new centre is still currently under construction, however we are very close to completion.This new centre will contain 3 rooms separating the children by age and ability, and an indoor kitchen to facilitate providing the children's meals. Looking forward we are striving to empower Sunshine to become sustainable. We will accomplish this by growing our own maize for the children to eat. Reducing the running costs and enabling Sunshine to become independent.
