M.E.L.T. is comprised of a group of education and business professionals with a passion for young children and the doors that can be opened for those children through literacy. It is our mission to equip the children in the Northern Region of Malawi, Africa with up to date, culturally appropriate early literacy materials and readers. The readers we publish are about Malawi village daily life, science and culture, and basic health concepts. We will continue teacher training in the twenty schools that we serve so the teachers can get top results when using these materials.
The Malawi Early Literacy Team is overjoyed to announce our return to Malawi on August 3, 2022, almost three years to the date of our last visit. M.E.L.T. has accomplished a lot during this time: building the first library of its kind in the Northern region of Malawi, publishing & shipping six new titles for the library (3,000 books), designing & publishing the Simple Words Kits and the vocabulary wall charts for the 20 primary schools in our program.
A four-member team, Andy Burns, Rev. Dr. Andrew Long, Carol Stevens, and Heather White will have a rigorous itinerary. A few high points include meeting with Malawian dignitaries, the grand opening library ceremony, a book inventory & processing new books, school visits, teacher trainings, visits to our two satellite libraries located in remote villages, meetings with teachers for their input as we develop new materials and taking hundreds of photographs for upcoming books.
This trip has the added challenges of stretching our resources due to overwhelming price increases. As always, we will find needs and projects once on the ground in Malawi. Please consider a donation to this trip. No amount is too small. Our projects have included building classroom benches & storage cabinets, teaching easels, and boxes of chalk (an important tool in Malawi).
We began our programs in 2015 and we have held fast to our goals. The devastating fire in 2019 and the global pandemic have only served to strengthen our commitment to the teachers and children we serve! We thank you all for your continued support!
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Between 2008 and 2014, five short term trips in Northern Malawi focused on training primary teachers to teach early reading. Although the Malawian teachers were grateful and enthusiastic learners, the trainers were dismayed by the severe lack of curriculum materials and early reading books.
A three-person team (Margot McGorman, Mike Miller, Heather White) traveled to Malawi in April 2015 to meet with government education officials and Malawian teachers who had participated in the training program. This visit confirmed the ongoing need for early literacy readers, teacher training, and supplemental classroom literacy materials.
The M.E.L.T. Committee was formed December of 2015 to continue these early literacy efforts in Malawi. M.E.L.T. has commited to a literacy project in the Northern Region of Malawi which:
MELT is an Ecumenical Mission Project of the Watertown First Presbyterian Church.
Meet Our Team
M.E.L.T. provides the teachers and students of Northern Malawi with four key services: early literacy publications, teacher training, teachers' edition manuals, and a mobile library that transports the materials to the classrooms.
MELT is committed to providing culturally appropriate early readers. These readers will be about Malawian children for Malawian children. Research shows that when children are learning to read, they are more successful when the pictures are familiar to them. In a country where most homes do not have electricity, a picture depicting 'V is for vacuum' is useless. The book collection will include readers written about Malawi village daily life, Malawi science and culture, and important basic health and safety concepts.
The MELT program includes ongoing early literacy training for primary teachers in northern Malawi. All teachers will receive an alphabet literacy kit and classroom training in the best practices with these materials. We will continue to provide teacher training as we publish additional early literacy materials. This will ensure that children receive high quality instruction as they learn to read.
We will provide instruction manuals for teachers to use after each training workshop. These manuals will include detailed examples of the best practices for the early readers, ABC Fluency Kit, and other early literacy materials.
Our purchase of the Land Cruiser allows the MELT Field Director to transport materials to and from teachers in rural schools. Most of our village schools are located in the bush, over very rough terrain, making access quite difficult. The Book Mobile allows these remote schools to share a large pool of early literacy materials to teach young children how to read.
You can help us provide these vital services in a number of ways: donate funds, sponsor a book, ask us to speak at a meeting or function, and spread the word.
Many of you have been a huge help providing the funds for the purchase of the M.E.L.T. Land Cruiser. However, our expenses don't stop there. Building and publishing our early literacy library, creating and printing the teacher manuals & sound cards, and maintaining the Land Cruiser will be regular expenses we incur. Our mission trips to distribute new materials and hold teacher workshops will also require regular fundraising. Any amount you are able to contribute will help us to continue providing our services to the children and teachers of Northern Malawi. Make checks payable to MELT. If you would like to specify how your donations will be used, write memo line: general funds, mobile library, publications, mission trips, or teacher resources, or selecting from a dropdown menu when donating online below. Checks can be sent to: MELT c/o H. White, 424 Paddock Street, Watertown, NY 13601.
Donations
By sponsoring one of our books, you will provide the funds necessary to print and distribute the book. The book you sponsor will be dedicated to you or a person of your choice.
Our goal is to publish and deliver six new books by mid-2019. Help us reach our goal. Use the link below to see the books that are written and designed, and just need to be published and shipped.
Sponsor a Book
The Malawi Early Literacy Team is excited to announce our Outreach Opportunity. We would love to come and speak to your organization, church, or family gathering about our work in the Northern Region of Malawi, Africa! We have: a PowerPoint presentation, tri-folds, and samples of the materials we are using in Malawi. Please consider scheduling a visit from a team member and learn how you can help the young children of Malawi achieve literacy!
Contact Us
Let your friends, family and co-workers know about the cause that is taking action to fortify early literacy in Northern Malawi: the Malawi Early Literacy Team. Spread the word about our mission to create and distribute much-needed litereacy supplies to the children and teachers of the remote regions of Northern Malawi. Whether you share information verbally, on paper via one of our flyers or trifolds or via social media, spreading the word about M.E.L.T. will help us garner the support necessary to carry out our goals!
We're on Facebook1/18/2020
We're excited to share good news about our Re-build, Re-print Capital campaign (library build and book reprints) and our 2020 Simple Words Kit. Click or tap "Read More" to find out how we're doing.
Read More7/6/2019
Please follow this link to read our July Statement regarding the destruction of our Mzuzu library. We are determined to rebuild, reprint, and focus on what remains. We are thankful for all of the support we continue to receive.
Read More6/30/2019
The Malawi Early Literacy Team recently returned from the 2019 trip to Malawi, Africa. It was a unique trip including a first-time traveler, Peyton Hnyla along with: Heather White, Patricia Constable, and Carol Stevens.
Read More1/24/2019
We're proud to announce a grant from Rotary International that allows us to publish 10 new early-reader MELT titles. Now we're raising funds that will allow us to get these books to Malawi.
Read More3/2/2018
This has been a particularly difficult rainy season in Malawi. Many roads to rural villages have been impassable. The MELT1 Land Cruiser makes its way over bridges and along muddy paths.
Read More11/13/2017
Click the link below to watch our 2017 MELT video! We welcome you to like and share the video via social media. Every like, share, watch helps spread our message! The video runs approximately thirteen minutes long.
Read More06/03/2017
The Scherbring family decided that they'd like to have a lemonade stand during their yard sale. The family graciously chose to donate all the lemonade stand's earnings to M.E.L.T.
Read More04/11/2017
It is with great sorrow that we share with you the news of Mike Miller's passing. Mike Miller was a founding member of M.E.L.T. and a member of the 2015 Mission Trip.
Read More02/07/2017
Does your group or organization look for meaningful projects and causes to get behind and promote? Contact us before your next meeting to schedule a speech and discussion.
Read MoreWe would love to hear from you. Use one of the forms of contact listed here to ask questions, join the conversation, voice your concerns, or book us to speak to your group or organization.
Thanks for keeping in touch!
MELT is an Ecumenical Mission Project of the Watertown First Presbyterian Church.
403 Washington St.
Watertown, NY 13601
info@m-e-l-t.org
Phone: 315.782.1750
Fax: 315.782.2360
fb.me/malawiearlyliteracy
@malawiearlyliteracyteam
Make checks payable to:
MELT
Checks mailed to:
MELT c/o H. White
424 Paddock Street
Watertown, NY 13601
*If you would like to specify how your donations will be used, write memo line: general funds, mobile library, publications, mission trips, or teacher resources.
Donations
© Malawi Early Literacy Team. All Rights Reserved. Thank you for your support.
MELT is an Ecumenical Mission Project of the Watertown First Presbyterian Church.
