A FORRES Academy teacher has been made a fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.
Home Economics teacher, Liz Stewart is founder of the Friends of Luchenza Action Group (FLAG) project, which has established links between and orphanage and school in Malawi.
she originally received a Fellowship Bursary to go to Malawi, and established the Forres Action Group soon afterwards. She has returned to the country several times with students and teachers, where they have been attempting to help improve the lot of a community out there.
She is planning to return to Malawi again this summer with Forres students to continue with social, eduational and health project work.
However, she swapped her mosquito net for her best suit last week after she was invited along to Westminster in London to receive her fellowship award.
She was presented with her medallion by Baroness Tanni Grey–Thompson, Paralympic gold medal winner and fellow of the trust.
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust was established shortly after Sir Winston’s death in 1965 and its aim is to promote greater understanding between peoples.
Past award winners include nurses, teachers, artists, scientists, engineers, farmers, conservationists, carers, craft workers, artisans, members of the emergency services, sportsmen and women and young people.
Liz’s fellowship was awarded for her ongoing work in developing vocational education in southern Malawi with the orphans of FOMO (Friends of Mulanje orphans) and Luchenza Community Secondary School.
She started the FLAG group in 2010, by taking a group of 17 young people and staff from Forres Academy and Mallaig High to work with the orphans of Southern Malawi and to develop their skills.
The Flag group now links over 7,000 young people from the three communities, in Scotland and Malawi.
The 2012 task force leaves for Malawi on June 27 and will be working with their partners to develop education in social subjects. In addition woodwork training will be started and it is hoped that the training will culminate in the production of furniture for the mission hospital in Mulanje.
Liz will be developing the existing sewing project and catering projects started in 2010 through providing more training. The sewing groups will be developing a business making Hospital scrubs and ethnic clothing for sale to tourists in Malawi.
Ms Stewart is also hoping that the ‘Happy Chutney’ which was produced using local ingredients in Malawai and re-produced for sale in Forres, using apples, can be produced to make cash for the community once again, and in Forres to raise cash locally for the group.
