A Few Firsts for Goods for Good

This week was an exciting week for Goods for Good as we embarked on a few firsts for the organization. To date we have sent our shipments by air to Malawi because of the many logistical difficulties of using sea freight to deliver goods to land-locked Malawi. After lots of work we’ve found a way and this week the first seaborne goods shipment set sail from the US.
The shipment will take a bit longer (early November we hope!) but will be a much more cost effective way to transport goods. We’re really excited for this new phase and believe it will allow us to expand our programming even further.

The other firsts are what’s inside this shipment. During our first few months here we’ve rolled out a few “pilot” school supplies distributions to St. Mathias, the local school where we are teaching. This current shipment includes thousands of pens and pads for other schools in the area around Chezi. With the help of the sisters at St. Mary’s, this school supplies distribution will provide pens for the coming school year for thousands of children in our area. In addition to the school supplies, this shipment includes clothing for Tiyambe Nawo, a Community Based Organization (CBO) we’ve mentioned in prior entries. Tiyambe Nawo is an excellently run grass-roots organization caring for Orphans and Vulnerable Children and we’re incredibly thrilled to formally begin our partnership by distributing clothes to the children under their care. Finally, this shipment will include our annual clothing shipment to St. Mary’s, where we get to see every day the positive impact it has on the children living around us.

Our final note regards another new Goods for Good partner. Sunday morning we distributed over 100 LeapFrog books and pencils to a Catholic Relief Services (CRS) program in Lilongwe. This CRS program is an orphan education and feeding program, providing periodic classes and daily meals to over 100 children of all ages. We were happy to be able to provide materials to this program and hope we can expand this partnership in the future.