The Nkhutu primary school block construction that began last summer with funding from the 2007 CVS Ball is now in its final stages. Sadly, previous estimates of completion were pushed back due to dramatic rises in the costs of fuel and materials but we are very happy to announce that the school is looking to be completed and handed over to the local community sometime around March 2009.

Temwa has recently appointed a new Programme Manager in Malawi. Tonderai Manoto took up the position at the start of December after an induction with UK Manager, Joanna Hook. Tonderai will be responsible for the overall running of Temwa in Malawi as well as being the driving force behind Temwa's expansion and future direction of our projects. All the staff in Malawi and UK are excited to have Tonderai as an integral part of the team. His fantastic array of skills and experience compliment Temwa's outlook and objectives perfectly and he has expressed how happy he is to have gained the position.

Temwa has recently secured funding from the T.J. Meyer Family Foundation for several HIV and AIDS projects, to be implemented during 2009. This includes providing mobile voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) clinics to a minimum of 200 individuals in 10 locations across Usisya over a period of ten months. Currently, approximately 11,000 people live over an hour's walk from the only VCT clinic in Usisya, with some people living up to nine hours away. Mobile VCT clinics are something Temwa has been asked to provide by communities in Usisya and we are happy to now be in a position to deliver.

Temwa is currently finalizing a proposal and seeking funding to produce and distribute an HIV and AIDS-awareness film throughout Malawi aimed at children of primary school age. In Malawi, there is just a one per cent prevalence rate of HIV in children in the age group 5 to 12 years, leading it to be described as the ‘window of hope’. If these children can be reached and taught how to protect themselves against HIV and AIDS before they reach puberty, the result could be a dramatic overall reduction in the prevalence of the disease, and even the containment of the epidemic.