Agness and Meble – Secondary Scholars, now at university
Rare Charity was born from Rare Tea Company, an independent business based on direct trade, purchasing quality loose leaf tea at a price set by the farmers.
Founder Henrietta Lovell saw the possibility to invest further – by donating a percentage of revenue directly back into those tea communities.
We currently work in tea communities in Malawi and Nepal.
Our tertiary educational scholarship programme enables individuals to become qualified professionals. Over half these scholarships will always be set aside for young women.
In 2020, we invested in girls at an earlier stage. After schools re-opened from closure due to COVID-19, we noticed that many girls had not returned. Reports agreed on a steep rise in child marriages. We invested in secondary scholarships to enable girls to choose education, to complete their secondary schooling and to fulfil their ambitions.
In Nepal, our focus is in years 11 and 12, where national funding for education ends, and drop outs rise dramatically, especially among girls in rural communities, where we target our support.
We know our programmes are working. Our focus is tight and direct. By working specifically in tea communities, we can see a concentrated positive impact as more of our scholars graduate and invest their skills as medics, teachers and business leaders.
Malawi has the world’s third lowest enrolment rate for university education, and the second lowest for women. Over 70% of its population lives below the International Poverty Line, on less than $2.15 per day. The majority of people live in rural areas, and so remain most vulnerable to food insecurity, low wages, insufficient medical care and poor sanitation. In the district where we work, just 0.2% of the population has attended university. Child marriage has been decreasing but remains very high, with 38% of young women nationally married before the age of 18.
We cannot change this situation, but we can equip the next generation of Malawians to change it.
Tom oversees all operations and programming. He leads on strategy, fundraising and growth.
Esnarth supports our operations in Malawi. Her role focuses on outreach programmes, scholar communication and due diligence.
Our running costs are largely met by Rare Tea Company, but we now seek urgent funds to expand our scholarship programme, and meet urgently growing needs.
