Campaign Story
In Dowa District, central Malawi, one in seven children is an orphan. There is no dedicated orphan care centre in the district, no safe place to sleep, and no community primary school within walking distance for most families. HDF Malawi is changing that — permanently — by building an orphanage, a 4-classroom primary school, a community kitchen, and a clean-water borehole on one site in Dowa. https://hdf-global.org/fundraise/
This is not emergency relief. It is construction that will stand for generations.
Meet Chisomo, age 10. Her mother died of a treatable illness in 2022. Her father left years earlier. She now lives with her elderly grandmother and two cousins in a single room. She has missed years of school because the nearest one is 6km away on a road that floods every rainy season. Chisomo is not short on intelligence or will — she is still building her foundation. That foundation is exactly what this campaign builds.
Why Dowa? Most NGOs concentrate in Lilongwe or Malawi's southern districts. Dowa, 40km northeast of the capital, is overlooked despite a 48.8% poverty rate, one of the country's highest child malaria rates (35.4%), and zero residential care facilities for orphaned children. The nearest one is over 60km away.
Your gift funds one of three fully-costed, independently fundable phases:
- Phase 1 — Site & Structure (C$90,000): Land registration, site prep, and structural framework to roof level. Ground breaks within 30 days of reaching this milestone.
- Phase 2 — Roof, Windows & Water (C$105,000): Roofing, windows, plastering, borehole drilling, and sanitation — the point at which the first children can move in.
- Phase 3 — Furnishing & Full Operation (C$90,000): Beds, kitchen equipment, school desks, and the first year of staff salaries and operating costs for a full intake of 60 children.
80% of every dollar goes directly to construction and program delivery — never to overhead. Every donor receives quarterly field reports with photos and financial accounting, and every gift above C$150 earns a permanent place on the recognition wall inside the finished building.
HDF Malawi has worked in Dowa and across Malawi since 2017, changing over 2,000 lives through education, vocational training, food security, and home rehabilitation programs. This orphanage and school is our next, and largest, commitment yet.
One gift. One decision. A permanent outcome in Dowa District that will still be standing — and still serving children — in 2060.
Call-to-Action Button Text Options
- Break Ground in Dowa
- Give Chisomo a Foundation
- Fund a School Desk — C$50
- Start My Monthly Gift
Suggested Giving-Level Descriptions
Amount |
What it funds (use as the tile subtext) |
C$25 / month |
= C$900 over 3 years — the equivalent of 18 school desks. Our most valuable gift type: predictable funding lets us schedule construction with confidence. |
C$50 |
One school desk — for the entire life of the school. |
C$150 |
One window & frame — installed for 30 years, and your name added to the recognition wall. |
C$500 |
One named bed & mattress in the dormitory — for the lifetime of the building. |
C$2,500 |
Sponsor a classroom — permanent plaque, co-branded reporting, biannual partnership update (contact us to arrange). info@hdf-global.org |
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HDF Malawi — Malawi NGO Registered (TRN-EAS93V) · BC Society Registered (S0085174) · CRA BN 719357030. Payments secured and encrypted via Stripe (PCI DSS Level 1). 100% of financial reports published publicly at hdf-global.org/transparency.