Iris Aitchison

I went out to Lilongwe in March 2010, as part of the Scotland-Malawi Partnership Quality Strand. On my return, I led a team of staff and students within Forth Valley College to fund raise and we funded 4 girls' education: one of these girls went on to study the Advanced Microsoft Examination (one of only 8 people in the whole of Malawi to gain this qualification). Her industry placement was also funded by us. In addition, we sent clothes, stationery items, footballs and football strips for Chisoma Orphanage in Lilongwe. Never feeling that we were doing enough to make a real difference, I sought the Principal's approval to work towards Fairtrade Status: this was achieved in March 2011 (reapproved March 2013). Forth Valley College was the first, and still the only college in Scotland, to hold Fairtrade Status.,,Going forward, I want to tap into our Scottish FE colleges to follow in the footsteps of Forth Valley College and to do this, I need to be as knowledgeable as possible, and to share my expertise, firstly, of Fairtrade (and Fair Trade) and secondly, to familiarize myself with activities which are happening throughout Scotland via Scotland/Malawi. Forth Valley College hosted a visit by John Kondowe, Principal of Namitete College in 2010, when several of the Malawian Principals visited Scotland. We tentatively set up a twinning-arrangement but unfortunately the arrangement was never really formalized, and in fact John Kondowe has since moved on to another college in Malawi. ,