Dear friends,
It’s done: A week ago we had a graduation ceremony with 28 graduates, plus five who had left earlier in the year but now attended this celebration. So it was packed with about 100 guests in our school auditorium. For us teachers it was particularly satisfying that most of the students left with good grades and that we also had hard-working female students to whom we were able to pay considerable sums of money, the proceeds from their vegetable production. In this respect we are unique as a school because we give the students the opportunity to support themselves by growing vegetables. We paid the 28 graduates the equivalent of around €3,000, of which the “star student” got about half.
Luyando Siachibuye had produced a little more than 10 tons of vegetables in two years, paid her school fees of about 650 €, fed herself and now went home with about 1500 €. With this result, she is even better than Desire Msiska, last year’s top student from Malawi. All students have for about 12000 vegetables in the first 11 months of 2022 sold, a super result!
Something special about this year’s graduation ceremony was that we were able to say goodbye to 18 students after one year. They were sent to us by the Response Network. This is an organization that looks for young people who probably have the potential with a little encouragement to make great strides in becoming self-employed. This organization paid the school fees, the young women can keep the money from the vegetable production. At the beginning of the year I was a bit skeptical that this would work. But now I can report that 14 of the young women learned very well and were able to go home with money from their vegetables.
It is not so easy for teachers and trainers to measure the success of our work. But this year we and our students can look forward to a successful year, hoping that a lot has stuck in their heads. We are now on vacation until January 3rd. During this time, the classroom should be set up for computer lessons. There is a lot to do in agriculture now. The fields have to be tilled and new calves are born almost every day. This is a great time too. By Christmas we hope to have more than 100 calves. Thanks to all friends who have supported us in many ways this year.
We wish everyone a good end of the year.
Best regards
Your Klaus and Christiane Müller