During the entire school year, money is raised for the "Chipala" school, a school in a slum in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. The country of Malawi, also known as the "Warm Heart of Africa", is one of the ten poorest countries in the world.

The Chipala school has no fewer than 8500 students, 75 teachers and 22 classrooms. The average class size varies from 100 to 350 students. Most children are taught in the open air in very dusty or muddy conditions. Educational resources are practically not available. The aim of Philips van Horne (Junior and senior High School in Weert) is to raise  €18,000 for the construction of two classrooms.

In the context of the 50th anniversary of the school, numerous cultural activities were organized during the 2018-2019 school year. From six lectures, a mini-symposium, a Christmas market and a large exhibition to four concerts.

Central to this anniversary year of the Philips van Horne was the education project in Malawi. The school has a long tradition of providing assistance to the Third World. For more than 30 years, the "Philips" has been supporting educational projects proposed by former students.
 

The campaigns for the Chipala school this year consisted of: donations by participants in the MTB tour of TWC Weert, the sponsorship of gymnastics teacher Bert van Dijk around the Marathon in Tokyo, a packaging campaign of Jumbo Heerschap, the sale of Lp's during Vinyl Listen Spot in Theater de Huiskamer and the proceeds from the large jubilee lottery during the walking and cycling event 'De Bloem Van Weert'. The 270 (main) prizes for this lottery were made available free of charge by the Weerter middle class.

The amount of  € 20,451.24 has been rounded up by the school management to € 22,500. To top it off, the anniversary committee received a very generous donation of no less than   € 10,000 from a (Malawi) foundation from the Weert region last week. This foundation was impressed by the needs of the Chipala school and decided to spontaneously support the Philips van Horne campaign.

During the traditional closing meeting with the entire staff and former staff on Friday, 5 July, the final amount was announced for the anniversary promotion of the Philips van Horne.

On behalf of the jubilee commission "50 years Philips van Horne", Bert van Dijk and Jan Leenders handed Thérèse Huijbregts a check for € 32,500. Thérèse Huijbregts, inhabitant of Weert, has been visiting Malawi for more than ten years and coordinates various small-scale projects in this country, one of the poorest in the world.

Last week, during the school holidays in Malawi, construction workers started the construction of three blocks of two classrooms. There are also workspaces for the teachers between the six classrooms. The supervision of the construction is among others in the hands of former inhabitant of Weert Jos Kuppens, director of the Center for Social Concern in Lilongwe.

As is known by now, the jubilee promotion of 50-year-old Philips van Horne raised a total of   € 52,355 for the Chipala school. Thanks to all sorts of actions, donations, an extra gift from the "Philips" and a contribution of € 17,000 euros from the development organization Wilde Ganzen, the original target amount of € 18,000 has almost tripled.

(source: Weert de Gekste)