[Exciting music]
Malawi is in Southeast Africa. It has a
population of over 18 million and nearly
53% of its inhabitants live below
the poverty line.
Although primary education is both free
and compulsory many children leave
school at the age of 8 with more boys
than girls continuing their studies.
Rainbow Hope School is one of the
initiatives looking to improve the lives
of young people from disadvantaged
backgrounds. As secondary school
education is not free students must either 
privately fund themselves or find sponsors
Often these sponsors are
unreliable or difficult to manage
Joseph, one of the founders of Rainbow Hope, is
looking to streamline this system.
"We came up with an idea to build a school
whereby vulnerable children can come and learn.
We have children that are under bursary, we have children that are under special sponsorship
and then there are children who are self sponsorship. Those that are safe sponsorship and
those that are sponsored or on sponsorship 
programme they fund the operation cost of the school
this makes it sustainable and that
really answers our aspiration that we
should have a great education for all
children regardless of their background"
The Rainbow Hope school is missing a
vital part of its curriculum they don't
have a classroom that is dedicated to
science technology engineering and maths
nor the facilities to teach their
students computer skills that could
completely transform their career
opportunities. Joseph has been in touch
with Katy from the UK she's decided to
head up a team of 25 women who will
fundraise and helped build a STEM classroom at the school. Katy and the team are hoping
that the STEM classroom will help Rainbow Hope School achieve its goals in the community.
"Our desire is to provide a conducive 
environment for
learning one and not only environment
for learning but to mold the children or
the child to be a useful citizen. What we
have noticed is that most of our graduates
do not make it to invest not because
they haven't done well but because
private investors are expensive.
Now, most of them when they graduate from
a school like ours they will
still remain at home because they
haven't added anything to their
qualification so what we are thinking is
that if you can have additional part of
the school as a college where by we can be
providing courses then once they graduate they can 
now start securing a good employment"
The lab is one such
addition that will give the students
extra qualifications to give them the
choice of better and wider ranging careers.
Everything is ready, the funds have been
raised flights have been booked and
construction is about to begin but just
before it does the weather takes a turn for the worse
[Rumble of thunder]
Cyclone Adai dropped huge amounts of rain
as it smashed through Mozambique towards
Zimbabwe and Malawi. Relief agencies
say there may never have been a disaster
like this anywhere in the entire
southern hemisphere. Survivors recall
taking shelter with their kids when 
"we were in our house and then we heard
the mountain exploding the water started
flowing through the streets and we had
to run away", "I saw a woman being hit by
debris it's not safe for people walking
here the situation is very chaotic".
Malawi's government estimates almost
83,000 people have been forced 
from their homes.
As the storm passes the local team begin work onsite and although construction picks up later than
expected the impact of cyclone Idai
hasn't dampened their spirits
Back in the UK Katy and the team are making their way to the airport
"We are on our way to the airport at the moment, we're about to pick up Kelly who is
our other team leader. 
We've not seen her in nearly a year!"
The STEM Build Malawi project is made up
of women from all over the world some of
the women know each other from previous
projects but most of the team members
are meeting for the first time.
"I've got all the snacks!"
"How many snacks?"
"So many snacks!"
"They're not my snacks...
...but they are now!"
"Hi!"
The first leg of the journey sees the
team touchdown in South Africa they will
then board a connecting flight to
Blantyre, Malawi
"Hi guys, Jo Burg, STEM Build Malawi 
has made it to South Africa"
After a long journey the team finally
arrived in Malawi and head to their
hotel for a well-earned rest
but they can't relax for long.
Once everyone's arrived it's time 
for day one on-site.
Today is our first day on site. I'm just currently waiting for everyone to come to breakfast so we can then crack
on and get back to the school. We did a
visit to the school yesterday and when we
turned up the building looked
significantly
well progressed which is great for the
school and great for the programme so it's
time for a big breakfast this morning
get our energy levels up and try and enjoy the day.
with the local builders having started
work on the new classrooms this will be
the first time Katy and the team see
the progress made and the challenge that lies ahead.
"This is day one on site.  Just taking some photos for a before and after. We're about to get stuck in to it"
Malawi's working and safety laws differ to the practices that our team is used to so on this first day it is
paramount that they are made aware of how to keep themselves and others safe while onsite
but it's not just on site safety
that the team needs to worry about
a lot of the team have no prior on-site
experience and Malawi's a much hotter
climate than most of our team are used to.
"Today I've been doing some brick laying
and I've been doing carrying bricks with the
whole team, we've had like a little chain
going on so we can pass them between one another. 
It is extremely hot but in general
I've been just quite enjoying it so you
just slightly forget about the heat a little bit"
"I think it was a bit of a shock first day of construction but just getting in to the flow of it now"
"Yeah, I think tired again, but once we get some more trowels we'll be good"
"This is for the benches for the science experiments and also for the sinks
We're working in the heat, we're all coming 
together and working well as a team
We've got the guys behind us bringing in bricks, 
when we've got a bit of downtime waiting
for more water we're finding other ways
to keep ourselves busy.
I think we've had a couple of challenges along the way but now we seem to be pulling together"
[Music]
After a productive first day on site the
team packs up and heads back to the hotel
but the physical strain seems to
have taken its toll on team leader Katy
"So we've just finished our 
first day on site
everyone did an amazing job just getting
stuck in and we did loads and loads of
bricklaying. Looking at what we need to
achieve by the end of tomorrow I am a
little bit concerned fingers crossed by the end of tomorrow we'll still be on track"
as the work picks up on day two the team are ready to get back on site and put their new skills to use.
[Music]
The team are from a variety of backgrounds and cultures from all over the world
spending this much time 
with each other means it's
important to get to know one other and
learn their personal connections to the cause.
"I've always been helping other
people go on volunteering expeditions
all over the world so it's always been at
the back of my mind so when this
opportunity came about I definitely
just went for it"
in 2013 that was my first visit to Malawi and that was
after I had helped raised some money to
build a Mary's meals feeding station
and me and one of my friends were really
keen to come out and see the feeding
station so we were 17 at the time when
we came out to Malawi that was my first
ever trip and it was just, it was just
amazing and from then I think I had the bug"
"I'm a transport engineer and on a daily basis I work with the lots of data processing lots of data
and also building the models on computer so 
when we build the models we test the
scheme so it made me realize to compare
how the transportation system is here
the roads and so there is a lot of work
to do there is very minimal
infrastructure it made me realize
Malawi does actually need a lot of
infrastructure to put in place before we do
any kind of work that involves modelling
at the close of the second day it's clear to see that what
the team is doing at the school is already 
starting to have an impact on the students
[Music and cheering]
"The second day we're getting some really good 
progress going now. We are all working
really really hard and a lot of the team
are taking early nights now to recharge
their energy ready for the next day. It's
really exciting to see so much progress
happening and the team is getting
involved wherever they can.
We actually went to St. Michaels Girls 
School earlier today
Gemma, Hannah, Katy and myself, and we did a 
careers talk which went really, really well
they received us with warmth and
happiness just like all Malawi welcomes
the experiences just made me really
appreciate just how little Rainbow Hope
have and just how much the classroom
that we're going to be providing them
will really benefit them so I'm signing
out now and I'm gonna go and get some
well-earned sleep and 
I'll see you again soon"
As the week goes on the team get stuck
into the build and are making good progress
but not without some personal
challenges.
"So far I've done so good
toilet wise but this morning 
I feel a bit funny so this
is what, day 3, so had to take one of these
because right now, this morning,
TMI, it was fireworks
so for the work we have for the rest of the day it's important I take one of these
I thought it's quite good to document
that I don't know why, but I did!"
"Obviously it's a huge change in diet coming here 
and nobody is quite prepared for the effect
that can have on the tummy
so we've got myself and Helen we're
two nurses on the trip and we're here 
to help support everyone
We've got plenty of pills and potions. It's important 
that we all know if anybody's got any
problems that we're all here to talk and
we're all here for each other we're a team
we've only known each other for a
little over a week but it's amazing how
living in each other's pockets for that
week can really bring everyone together"
"Here I'm actually laying bricks, helping
paint, put chairs and tables together
getting my hands dirty is 
definitely something I'm enjoying"
"My days in Malawi so far have been quite
hot, I feel very warm but I've enjoyed it.
It's such a beautiful country
and I've really enjoyed getting involved
on site it's a new experience but 
it's really exciting"
"Plastering inside the classroom. We
had a little demo earlier from the chap at the end
and now we're all having a go ourselves, 
basically trying to fill in
all these holes and then give it a good
buff and then fill them in again"
"It's a very interesting experience, definitely
haven't done it before so it's good to be
here learning from the locals,
seeing that we can hopefully do half as good a job"
"As the roof is going up today
the team has been working on the desks
and the chairs so they're being 
primed and painted
we're also doing general site tidy up so
actually there's a lot of stuff that's
outside the building that can be trip
hazards or it's just messy and in the way
for activities that we've got going on
later on the week so they're doing a lot
muck shifting at the moment really
putting some graft in which is amazing
especially in this heat they're doing a
really great job"
As well as working on the build a team have plenty of extracurricular activities to busy themselves with.
The aim is to learn
about the culture and what impact
projects like STEM Build Malawi can have
on the community here.
"the team today, we're going to visit the Open Arms orphanage material shop and buy some
materials that go to a good cause. 
We'll give you an update later"
"it was really nice actually to go to that environment cause we were able to donate a lot of items
one of our team members in particular,
she's done a lot of knitting
in her community, teddies and jumpers and
hats. We also had a team member that was
from our last trip who donated loads of
items that we were able to
bring out and gift to the orphanage and
it was really interesting to actually
learn about the orphanage and the fact
that they take children between
the age of nought and three and then they
actually try and reintegrate them into
their communities so that they're still
able to kind of grow up amongst
relatives and learn about their local cultures and that was actually really quite fascinating to hear.
It was actually a really nice setting like it
was quite sad seeing obviously the
children but they all seemed very happy
it was nice to be able to go in and kind
of be a part of that and be able to give
back to those particularly
young people and I think what
Open Arms are doing is actually very
valid and although perhaps some of us
experience those harder
feelings you can kind of see they're
actually providing something really
valuable to the community"
[Music]
While the team are out in Malawi they
will not just be helping with the
physical build but are also running STEM
workshops at Rainbow Hope school this is
a great opportunity for the students to
learn from the international team and
gives them a good foundation for 
their work in the lab
"Today we've got a few things going on there's a workshop going on in one of the classrooms there
with some of the girls, we've got some painting of 
desks and chairs, a group over here
working on interior and then later on
I'm gonna do a first aid workshop as well"
"It was a STEM build workshop so we gave them different roles so one of them was an
engineer one of them was a project
manager one of them was a builder and it
was to explain to them the different
stages of going from design to
construction in a project and it's been
incredible I've been really shocked at
how passionate they are, they're
really really keen to learn and that's
something I wasn't necessarily expecting
and they're really competitive
they're smart there cheeky, some of them
are trying to cheat by going to the
toilet and you know it was a lot of fun
and I really loved working with them and
I think if they had the opportunities
people in developed countries had they'd
achieved a lot"
"Today was my STEM
workshop and the title is
'Harnessing Electricity for Communications'. This is essentially showing kids how to make an
analogue Telegraph which is one of the
earliest forms of communication that
uses electricity. The idea is that
they build it themselves it's not a
competition who builds the finest thing,
it's about understanding what they're
doing step-by-step and I think they're very
excited about it especially when they
were testing the first part of the task
which is making sure that their circuit
works when the LED lit up the genuine
excitement and it was really nice that
they understood the theory. One kid today
was like oh I'm rubbish at this
she said 'I'm dumb'. I was like you
you're not dumb, in engineering
engineering is about trying and a lot of
times inventors like Samuel Moss
he tried several times before he arrived
at the Telegraph that worked
It's the idea to keep trying and when
you fail to learn from what went wrong
in that situation and so in her
particular case she wasn't dumb, the LED
wasn't working and I told her you see
you just insulted yourself for no reason
and knocked your confidence a bit by
saying you're dumb when it had
completely nothing to do with you it was
a component that wasn't working"
"I've spoken to a few of the students just in
passing saying hi asking them about what
they're doing in school and one question
I've been asking them is what would you
like to do, what are your plans
once you finish school and a lot of
them want to go to college and become
 accountants or have careers and
when I asked them about do they
have a path to actually get to that they
don't necessarily... it's not clear to
them what they could do and I think
having more access to Think Pads and
computers and that will up skill them to
actually get to where they want to go so
it's another stepping stone"
"It was a unique opportunity for the kids to
also see different types of
engineers and even though we do
different things the idea of paying
attention in science is that you get an
idea of the various principles and then
you could choose whatever discipline you
wanted to later. The workshops gave us an
opportunity to work with the kids one on
one and the teachers as well really get
in there and share what we know and it's
a quick way of sharing your passion
whether it's in the UK or here in Malawi
and when kids are able to engage
practically in science, technology, engineering  and
maths it makes it more real, it makes it
easier to understand"
At the end of week one the team are pleased with their progress. Although still running behind schedule
they've used what extra time they could
to make the rest of the build as quick as possible
"We are just coming up to the
end of our last week on site, we're not coming
back to the site now till Monday morning.
Because we are behind schedule we've been
trying to save time where we can so the
team has been doing a lot of the
interior decoration work and working on
the benches and the desks which we were
going to do at the end of the programme
and we've also managed to get a little
bit of plastering done but also catch up on
some of the plumbing and the electrics
which I can show you very quickly. See here 
we've had the sockets installed
we've started on a little bit of the plastering already, also in the other classroom we've managed to
get some of the drainage in as well just to try and catch up with a bit of time at the end of the programme"
There is little the team can do now
until the roof is on so with fingers
crossed they hand the work over to the
professionals hoping that by Monday
morning they can continue the build in
time for the deadline on Wednesday
"I am absolutely ecstatic with the way that
this trip is going so far and the way
that the team has come together the way
that the build is shaping up to be such
a fantastic classroom and as the weekend
moves on I am really looking forward to
the start of next week to really get
stuck into more of the internal fit-out
and to bring it all together in the
final week of the build so I'm actually
going to get some well-earned sleep now
because it's been a somewhat exhausting
week and I can't wait to start another
week very very soon"
Over the weekend the team get some well-earned rest and experience what fun activities Malawi
has to offer
"What are we doing on the boat trip?"
"We're going to jump from a rock
We're going to do some snorkelling, see some fishies!
and
what else are we going to do?
sunset!"
[Music]
"Whoa!"
"STEM Build Malawi!"
"Hi guys, it's Hannah Shenton here"
[Laughter]
Hi guys, it's Hannah here reporting from STEM Build Malawi diaries. Our week is drawing to a
close and it has been absolutely fab.
Today we were off-site we had a bit of
downtime, half of the team went and did a
hike and the rest stayed and had a bit
more of a leisurely morning, did a
spot of shopping in the local village
got some lovely crafts and then this
afternoon we all joined for lunch
and then we went out on a boat and we
did some snorkeling some rock jumping
the rock jumping is something I did not
take part in, the snorkeling was really
fun had a wee beer as well it was
really nice for the whole team to come
together and have some chill-out time"
"So we haven't been on site today
I've been getting feedback from the site team 
saying the roofs gone on which is great
just waiting on updates now tomorrow on
the plastering to make sure you know
we've tried to claw back that time for
Monday to start painting with the team
so fingers crossed fingers crossed it
will be fine but still for me a worry as
a team leader to consider for what's
gonna happen on Monday whether we have a
back-up plan in mind"
The time for rest and relaxation 
is over as the Sun rises
on the start of the final week the team
has a lot of work ahead of them but only
three days to finish the project will
they be able to pull it off?
"The roofs gone on as you can see
which is great and looks brilliant but
on the inside it still needs a lot of work
happening to it. We're probably at least
most of the day behind at the moment
with only three days left on site it's a
little bit stressful. To be honest I'm
not sure if all the team recognize how
far behind we are yet I'm trying to keep
a cool head and just take everything in
my stride as we go and just manage how
people are, what tasks people are working
on and things like that.
This morning some of the team
have gone on one of their
extracurricular activities, we didn't
want to stop that because that's part of
the experience of being here too.
I'm feeling a bit nervous but at the same
time I'm quietly confident I reckon
we'll get it done, I've got a lot
faith in the team, our local team as well
they're working hard. What they've
done is they've all moved into one side
of the building so we can crack on with
the other so we've got that really good
rhythm when working with each other now but I might not sleep as well as tonight as I have been"
[Music]
As the first day of week two comes to an
end the team leaders are concerned about
the progress the builders have made
in the classroom
"I've been out it's just for a couple of hours doing a session with half of the team come back to site
and very minimal amount has been
progressed all afternoon.
Our team have been asked to vacate
this classroom whilst they work in it
which they haven't started to do which
means we could have been doing a bit
more, tidying off these
edges and a bit more tidying up.
The team next door meant to be finished at 
one o'clock it's now nearly five
and they've still not finished the
plastering as they committed to.
So some of the teams in there have finished and 
they're on their platforms doing the top
sections and there's just been a battle
to get them to move their platforms from
that classroom into this classroom just
ready raring to go for tomorrow morning
so they can just crack on. Commitment
from them they'll be finished in here
with their plastering at 12:00 which
means that when we come back from lunch
a lot of it will be dry so we can just
crack on with the painting but I'm
worried because they keep slipping 
and slipping and slipping that's not
going to be the case and then we're
gonna be painting Wednesday morning
and Wednesday is our last day here so we
wanted to hand over a completed
classroom and now we're going to see if
the team are happy to do longer days
so come in earlier and we're already
finishing a little bit late the sun's
going down already so we've just got a
big push tomorrow really. We hand over
the classroom Wednesday evening so we
have very few days and we're at the end of
Monday now so really we have one big
full day to get this complete"
it is the penultimate day on site and
the battle with the builders continues
however it is also becoming clear that
there is another big issue that the team
faces and it may bring the entire
construction to a halt.
"So last night before I left site I
spoke to the site foreman and we agreed
that all of the platforms that the
plasterers have been using will be taken
out of this classroom and then re-erected in 
the science classroom. When I
turned up this morning at 7:00 some of
the platforms had been taken down but
then just lay down in pieces in the
other classroom so they hadn't been put
up. There was still work remaining to be
done in that classroom which they still
haven't finished now. We also found out
yesterday we had to pay for some
additional items and last night we were
made aware it was about 1,200 pounds
equivalent which we probably could have
been able to manage with. The final
figure now has come in at two and a half
thousand pounds which is obviously a
significant increase, percentage wise it's
quite considerable amount from our original
budget as well. What we've managed to do
from this morning is have enough money
to start the wiring which means 
that by tomorrow we'll have
lights and electricity to the building
so we can set up the laptops with the key
pods. What we're missing at the moment
is the funding for this specific science
taps, basins and the fit out of the
cupboards underneath them it's just a
shame really that we're here now we've
not really shared all the information
yet with the team because we want to
keep the morale high to have a really
good last full day on site and it will
just, you know, worry people or things
like that unnecessarily"
"Some of the
main problems we faced is that we don't
have someone on site from the local team
who is a central construction manager
a person really driving the programme
forwards so we have had to come in
fairly late in the day and really
enforce some of those deadlines that we
have with the programme because currently 
without Katy and myself really driving
home that things need to be finished by
tomorrow it is maybe a little bit more
laid-back than we would be used to on
construction projects back in the UK.
We are behind on the program currently and
with less than 24 hours to go
for me it's becoming quite a big concern"
"it's really important for us as team
leaders to kind of ensure the team
manage to keep going we are experiencing
some fatigue amongst the team there is
illness in parts and I think that's
partly due to obviously combination of
drugs and different food and bits and
pieces so we're having to be quite
aware of that and the heat but I think
as long as we're ensuring our team takes
lots of breaks, keeps hydrated, we're
gonna make this a long afternoon but
good rest and recovery tonight and
hoping to come back in tomorrow morning
and produce a final project"
As time ticks down 
the teams morale is sinking
when they realize just how much
work is ahead of them
Thankfully they managed to enlist some helpers to give
the final push that they needed
"This afternoon momentum has changed. This morning I felt a bit down, a bit touch-and-go
but the schools really got behind the
team. Classes have finished early today
some of the students have come in
they've helped us been washing off the
floor getting all the dust out and
they've been really going for it which
has been really really super helpful and
just brought that energy of the team
right up. We've been painting, well, we
got the lime on, we've been painting and
actually we've really finished that one
classroom which this morning didn't seem
like it was going to happen so it's
really really brought the energy back up
and everyone's feeling a lot more
positive again which is really
great because we still need that energy
to finish in the morning so actually
we're going to end the day on a high I
think which will be amazing for
the team, and getting through our last day 
tomorrow ready to hand it over in the afternoon"
It's the final day on the project and
after the boost of confidence from the
students the team are raring to go 
for the last day on site
"This is everything that the team has been working towards for the past ten months so it's a really
exciting day and we can't wait to hand
over a finished classroom"
The deadline approaches and after a few
finishing touches the team are ready to
present the completed classroom
[Cheering]
After 10 months of planning 
and 14 days on site
the team can see their hard work 
come to fruition
It's time for the team to leave. The
project has clearly had a massive impact
on both students and the women involved.
With tearful eyes they say goodbye to
their new friends and reflect 
on their experience.
"It's a very great opportunity now 
that the school is having everything
otherwise we were short 
with this type of building here.
We are very grateful and we 
as teachers, our work now will be super.
I just want to thank the team and
all other well-wishers who have donated
this room which will make our work
easier and this room benefits the whole
village, community and whole Malawi"
[traditional singing]
[Clapping]
[light music]
It's been seven months since Katy and
the team left Rainbow Hope School
The classrooms are up and running and students now have access to new science and IT equipment.
This has opened up a number of learning opportunities for the students especially the young women as
they are now able to get hands-on with
experiments in the STEM lab
"For us to have a facility like this one
it's a major achievement, one, specially for
the girl child. Most of the girls
don't like sciences but now because we
have the equipment we have seen most of
the girls like doing the subject.
It was inspiring to see young ladies coming 
to build a facility that we have.
Local people were wondering if they could 
make it, but they did, even women
even girls can achieve as long as they
have that energy and the stamina.
We have seen that even our girls here have been inspired, they are also interested in working hard.
They're interested in science subjects as well
 as working hard with their hands"
The classrooms are already 
having a positive impact on the
community and are changing the way these
young people learn science, technology
engineering and maths
[inspiring music]
