‘We are so very grateful to everyone who donated to Fr Jock’s 40^th Anniversary Ordination Appeal.  Half of the money will be going to the STEKA home and half to STEKAskills. These donations will have a huge impact for our small charities and the people they support in Malawi.  STEKAskills is using its share to ensure we weather the terrible inflation experienced in Malawi so we can make your women’s hostel the best it can be. We are excited that the St John’s and Mary Magdelene funded hostel will be ready in October and you can see here what a beautiful building it will be. This photograph is of is a girls’ hostel built for the Carlo Acutis Catholic High School, part of the Beehive Centre for Social Enterprise Blantyre, Malawi, which has given us their plans free of charge to enable us to build a similar hostel.  We have a close relationship with Beehive, with many shared values and are currently running a dialogue project for girls at their school.  

We are very proud to be using environmentally friendly Hydraform blocks. These are interlocking compressed earth blocks created by hydraulically pressing a mix of local soil, water, and cement (usually about 10%). Because they fit together like puzzle pieces, they completely eliminate the need for mortar and are much more environmentally friendly than more traditional building methods. I will be in Malawi from September 3^rd and will update everybody then on how plans are progressing.  

In the meantime, if anyone has an old smartphone they could donate, these really are lifechanging for members of STEKA out there – enabling them to access the internet using the satellite link the charity established last year.’