OUR STORY
About Us
The history of Chifona Trust
Mission Statement
To seek God’s wisdom and guidance to train, equip and empower, the young, vulnerable and deaf students of this nation. With the aim of helping them to rise out of poverty.
Aims & Objectives
To reach out to the people with the love of Jesus Christ.
- By imparting an ethic for Christian living.
- By providing education, career guidance and various skills in a local setting, in accordance with government guidelines.
- By providing education, career guidance and various skills.
Chifona Trust was initially set up to help the deaf and hard of hearing community in the Southern region of Malawi. The founders, Les & Kathie Craske, had been supporting a number of secondary students with their school fees for a number of years as they see education as one of the keys to helping the youngsters achieve their goals and have some hope in life.
It was when they supported a student who was profoundly deaf that they realised that the education system was limiting these students and the resources were not always available in the government schools to assist them adequately. After they had done some research it showed that there were a number of students in their catchment area that were being affected and would benefit from a specific school for deaf.
At this point a small secondary school was formed and we taught seven students through to form 4.
Now at Chifona the main focus is an ‘Education Centre for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing’, focusing on those under 30 years of age.
In the past there has been training for the local villagers in agriculture using a method of conservation farming called ‘Farming God’s Way’. This method increases yield and once set up is easier to implement each year. Also the need for non-organic fertilizer is reduced as organic fertilizer is introduced. These trainings will resume on the current Chifona Trust site.
Health training is also an important aspect of our work, as we believe that some simple hygiene guidelines can help people to stay healthy and even save lives.
Continuing on the education theme, we also have a pre-school on site. This prepares the little ones for primary school. Then we have an after school programme for those children in their first year at primary school. Extra classes help them to get ahead in their large classes in primary school.
Chifona Trust is a Christian based organization but obviously our support reaches out to people of any or no faith. We are working with the chiefs and local authorities on our projects.
The Board of Trustees
Les & Kathie Craske
Les and Kathie moved to Malawi from the UK in 2011 and are the founders of Chifona Trust. Kathie is a retired nurse and has also worked in admin for many years. Les is a printer by profession but has gained many hats whilst being in Malawi!
Lorraine Chidzario
Lorraine is our secretary and is a Psychosocial Counselor by profession. She is Malawian and is a great asset to the team.
Juma Madula
Juma is also a Malawian and is a salesman and entrepreneur. He has a huge heart to help the vulnerable, especially the children and youth.
Solomon Banda
Solomon is a pastor at City Pentecostal Church in Blantyre. He also has the desire to see the youth and young adults mature into responsible adults.
Kirk Schexnider
Kirk resides in America but visits Malawi a few times each year. He is a Landscape Horticulturalist and loves to help where there is a need.
Luis Miguel Paulo
Miguel has his own business, Creative Revolution, and is a Communication Designer. With his skills he is able to advise us with media and design.
© Chifona Trust 2024 – TR/INC 8794 – NGORA registration NGO/L/21/023