Member, Mary Erskine School: Row Lake Malawi Challenge
11 January 2022
We are thrilled to share this guest post with you from SMP member Zainab, student at The Mary Erskine School!
"On Friday 3rd December, students and teachers from The Mary Erskine School took part in Malawow Club’s ‘Row Lake Malawi’ fundraiser in support of our partner school, The Edinburgh Girls High School in Northern Malawi. Many consider Lake Malawi to be the heart of the country, so we took on the challenge of collectively rowing, on machines, the 580km distance across the width of the beautiful lake… and we added a twist!
The four teams also competed against each other to see who could row the furthest distance, fully costumed according to their team theme. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing the teachers’ team in their fantastic 80’s outfits, the S4 team in their stunning array of headwear, and, to help us get into the festive season, the Rowing Reindeers. The winners of the ‘best dressed’ title was Team Pitbull with all seven members donning bald caps and facial hair. Each team stayed positive, pulling through though they were tired and sore, as well as bringing energy and friendly competition to the fundraising event.
The event featured many added extras, ranging from a Pitbull inspired rave, to the Christmas team having fun games for others to play, such as ‘how many sweets in the jar’, aiding to the contributions. The tuck shop was run by members of Malawow Club and was the main source of donations, raking in an amazing sum of £500, just in the space of one lunchtime. As enjoyable as the whole event was for everyone taking part it was more importantly a huge success. Our aim was to raise £500 to buy a TV monitor for EGHS so that students can watch educational videos and thankfully we are now able to purchase this for the girls. However, we managed to surpass the distance of the lake and our donation goal. In total, Malawow Club raised a whooping £900 for the cause through the help of the sponsors of each rower. We could not be more thankful for all the hard work put in from everyone taking part but especially Miss Flockhart and Mrs Love for organizing the successful event. We look forward to raising even more money for the Chesney Trust in the new year and helping our friends across the globe."
