RIPPLE Africa

RIPPLE Africa is a UK registered charity working to improve local education, healthcare, and the environment in northern Malawi. Our activity is based around the rural village of Mwaya in the Nkhata Bay District along Malawi’s lake shore, and we operate on a grassroots level and provide opportunities for thousands of people. Our activity includes running and assisting eight nursery schools, four primary schools, one secondary school, a secondary school bursary scheme, a community library, two community health clinics, fuel-efficient wood stoves, tree-planting and fruit tree projects, forest conservation, and more. As a charity, RIPPLE Africa is very special because of our unique set up. Our charity founders work full time for free, and we have just one paid member of staff in the UK, which means we have very low administration costs and are able to employ over 100 people in Malawi. We adopt a philosophy of providing a hand up, not a hand out, and work with communities on a grass-roots level to make a difference in our area.

RIPPLE Africa also runs a volunteering programme in Malawi, which is at the heart of our charity. Volunteers work as teaching assistants, volunteer nurses and doctors, and environmental project assistants. RIPPLE Africa volunteers are typically enthusiastic, hard-working, self-motivated and proactive people who are able to work under their own initiative. Our volunteers are loved and appreciated in the community, and although they work independently as volunteers, they work in partnership with local people, including children, community figures, local trained teachers and nurses, and RIPPLE Africa staff. Our volunteers come from all over the world and live together in chalet accommodation at Mwaya Beach.