In rural areas of the southern African country of Malawi, there are many reasons why

a child may not go beyond elementary school. Poverty, hunger, distance, crocodiles.

Yep! More flooding due to climate change brings crocs close to the paths they walk to

go to school!

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And if you're a girl, there's early marriage: 46 percent of girls in Malawi are married

before they turn 18; 1 in 10 before the age of 15. 

 

NCP is working on all these things in one way or another, but since high school is

7 to 14 away and many of the families have trouble with school fees - especially as

climate change is making it hard for them to grow crops to sell for income - we came

up with A Girl and A Bike! We're doing this in collaboration with our partner Creative

Solutions for the Environment, a grassroots Malawian organization, whose director

Taona Makunje has recently joined the NCP Advisory Board. 

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NCP raised $30,000 to build two hostels for Malawian girls attending high school

30 and 50 miles from home. Here's the album!

 

A sturdy used bike costs $160, and we've sent funds for over 200 since 2019 - but "thousands" more girls would like one                says Taona. The girls' families are also poor enough that we send $40 for the first term's tuition to give them a "push" on their bike ride. Pitch in on a bicycle (a portion or the whole amount), add the tuition to bring it to $200, and a girl and her bike can roll on to school! (If the family can't pay the rest of the fees, our Give a Girl a Chance fund helps with that.) 

                            

And there's a ripple effect - younger girls are studying harder in hopes of getting a bike and a scholarship themselves, as this may be the only way they can go to high school! 

 

                                                 Make a donation yourself and/or have a fund-raiser at your school or congregation, sorority or                                                         scout troop. Donate whatever you can - anything helps! And as always, we send 100 percent of                                                           contributions to the programs.