Since 2006, WAM has been committed to reducing preventable deaths and suffering in rural communities.
Recognizing the alignment in our missions, AHA and WAM formed a strategic partnership a few years ago, maximizing resources and sharing expertise. The result has been incredibly impactful with more patients, students, and communities being served in a more coordinated way.
Here’s an introduction to one of WAM’s programs, led by Blessings, a teacher in Kabudula’s catchment area:
Girls’ Empowerment & a U.S. Embassy Grants Opportunity for Kabudula Schools
One of WAM’s programs is to provide scholarships for local students to attend secondary school or college. In 2021 alone, WAM supported 50 Kabudula high school students and two prior graduates who had gone onto college. The scholarship program is coordinated by a teacher at the local high school, Blessings, who also independently developed a girls’ empowerment program. Blessings works closely with our Global Health Fellow, Angela, who manages health access and community programs for both AHA and WAM.
Today, Blessings and Angela attended a virtual proposal development workshop offered by the U.S. Embassy for those invited to submit a proposal to the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) in 2022.
Blessings takes notes during her January 24, 2022 virtual workshop that will prepare her to submit a proposal to the U.S. Embassy’s 2022 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund.
Blessings was invited to apply to this Fund based on her status as an alumnus of the Pan African Youth Leadership Program (PAYLP), which she attended in 2019 with the support of WAM and PeaceCorps. Through PAYLP, Blessings traveled from Malawi to the U.S. to attend leadership skills and project management trainings. Upon her return to Malawi, she was awarded a small grant to construct a new girls’ friendly toilet at Kabudula Community Day Secondary School. Based on her successful completion of that project, Blessings is now eligible to apply for a larger funding opportunity through the AEIF for 2022.
Blessings stands in front of the girls’ friendly toilet she installed at Kabudula Community Day Secondary School with funding from PAYLP.
AEIF’s supported project themes include not only empowering women and girls, which is in line with Blessings’ previous work, but also education, economic development, and youth empowerment. Blessings is currently exploring project ideas in the areas of vocational training and youth entrepreneurship for small businesses such as tailoring. She currently leads a pad project for girls’ empowerment in which girls learn to make reusable sanitary pads from cloth to decrease girls’ absenteeism in secondary school. Since starting both programs, Blessings has transfered to another school, Kasiya, which is luckily still in Kabudula’s catchment area. Blessings plans to bring both programs to Kasiya while continuing to oversee the programs at Kabudula secondary school.
You can learn more by visiting WAM’s website: www.worldalteringmedicine.org.