By Moses Nyirenda
Lilongwe, Mana: The Rotary Club of Bwaila-Lilongwe President, Dr. Richard Dilawo, has said the club is committed to supporting tertiary needy students in the country with tuition fees among other things, in order for them to complete their education.
He made the remarks at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) Bunda campus when his rotary club handed over cheques to education authorities from; (LUANAR), Nkhoma University (NKHUNI) and Malawi College of Health Sciences to support some needy students in their respective tertiary institutions.
Dilawo said that as rotary club their move is to help address the challenges which needy tertiary students face in the country.
“The initiative of supporting needy students was started by our past president, Kingsley Mulewa in 2018, he had the vision to help the needy students and after he did one donation, everybody in the rotary club supported his idea.
“Now the program is our tradition, most of the needy students struggle to pay their school fees as well as to buy food, therefore with our support we want to assist in addressing the challenges which these needy students face,” Dilawo said.
He added that, as a club they are looking forward to keep on supporting the needy tertiary students in the country.
“in our time when we were at college the government used to pay everything for us, for example when we pay tuition fees we were getting back the fees as book allowance, we were receiving food and free accommodation, life was not that tough.
“But this time around students are supposed to do everything on their own and we have seen that the hardship in the colleges is growing more and more, hence it is our commitment as a club to keep on supporting tertiary students especially those who are needy,” he said.
With the recent support which was pinched from Rotary Club of Bwaila-Lilongwe’s ‘NdiphunzileFund’, the rotary club handed over K1 million cheque to LUANAR, K300 thousand cheque to NKHUNI and K700 thousand cheque to Malawi College of Health Sciences.
In her remarks, Administrative Officer for LUANAR responsible for academics, Olive Mahuka appreciated Rotary Club of Bwaila-Lilongwe for its support.
“At LUANAR we have lost two students who committed suicide due to issues in relation to education support, on the same about three students also attempted to commit suicide because of the same issue.
“For this reason I would like to thank the Rotary Club of Bwaila-Lilongwe for the gesture they have done, it will make a difference in the lives of the needy students at our institution,” Mahuka explained.
One of the LUANAR students pursuing Bachelors in Environmental Sciences, Leonard Banda said that he was excited with the support which Rotary Club of Bwaila-Lilongwe rendered at his university.
He urged the club to reach out more tertiary institutions in the country with similar support saying that it would help more needy students to complete education.
