Support Us
In order to continue our work with Beehive we rely on the generosity of individuals and groups, who support us in a variety of ways; from ‘buying’ a brick for one of our new buildings or an upcycled product from the Cycle of Good; to donating unwanted items that can be put to good use; to volunteering in either Malawi or the UK. The support we have received to date has allowed us to create many fantastic opportunities for the people of Chilomoni as well as a campus that raises local aspirations. We are excited by what is to come and value the ongoing help of those who make what we do possible. If you are inspired by what we do and would like to support us, here are a number of ways you can do just that!
'Give-a-Brick'
You can support us by giving a brick! The Beehive campus is constructed from our very own hydraform blocks. They are compressed earth blocks that do not require burning, making them far more sustainable than traditional Malawian bricks, which require trees to be cut down to fire them. Using hydraform blocks therefore helps save local trees, which is vitally important in a country that is suffering the effects of deforestation. The hydraform blocks can be made from on site soil, creating a highly affordable, sustainable building material, removing the need to transport materials. They are interlocking blocks that require no mortar, significantly reducing the amount of cement used in their construction. These blocks have been used across the Beehive campus and will be used in all future builds. We are currently designing new premises for our Cycle of Good enterprise and need approximately 60,000 bricks to build it, at 30p a brick. Any bricks you give will go towards building these highly anticipated workshops that will enable us to double the Cycle of Good team in Malawi, creating more jobs and enabling us to produce more upcycled goods for sale. Any additional brick donations will go towards building our new JPII IT College building, once the Cycle of Good building is complete.
To find out more about the new Cycle of Good building please follow the link here.
Buy a Cycle of Good product
The Cycle of Good is one of Beehive’s key enterprises who works directly with Krizevac to sell their upcycled products to the UK market. All products are made from recyced materials, such as bike inner tubes and coffee sacks, allowing us to utilise these free resources and stop them from ending up in landfill. Not only does this help us reduce our carbon footprint, but it helps create long term sustainable employment in Malawi. You can purchase recycled bags, wallets, baskets, belts and much more from our Cycle of Good website.
The Cycle of Good website is also home to our Elephant bikes, which are high quality, refurbished, former British postal bikes. We have a ‘buy one, give one’ scheme, where we send a bike to Malawi for every bike sold in the UK. Owning a bike in Malawi can be transformational, as few people have their own means of transport. All surplus trading profits from the Cycle of Good goes towards supporting the vulnerable in Chilomoni at the Mother Teresa Outreach Centre.
A number of Beehive’s enterprises rely on us sending out key items from the UK in one of our quarterly containers. These items are expensive if brought in Malawi, so we minimise costs and reduce our environmental impact by repurposing unwanted UK goods. The items we are looking for are outlined below. If you have any items to donate please send them to Krizevac Project, Atlas Works, Paragon Road, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, ST3 1NR. We are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. It’s best to phone ahead so we are expecting you – our number is 01543 888494. Please note we only collect items that support education or enterprise growth in Malawi. We don’t accept any donations of clothes, toys, household items or IT equipment. We are unable to offer a collection service.
If you are a school, nursery or business, please think of us when you are upgrading your libraries, stocks of learning resources, IT equipment or furnishings. We are always keen to improve the quality of the School, IT Academy, Children’s Centre and offices at Beehive.
ITEMS WE ARE LOOKING FOR.
BICYCLES – We look for any sized bike in working order, although the odd bit of rust or broken brake is fine. They will be sent to Malawi, where a team will renovate them and sell them through the Beebike shop.
BOOKS – We take any book, although we are particularly keen to get children’s picture books. We supply a number of local Malawian organisations, as well as local schools and the Mother Teresa Nursery. Most books go to Beebooks, where they are sold onto local people.
SEWING MACHINES – We look for working, electric or hand sewing machines, as well as overlockers. They all go to the tailoring school at Beehive. At the end of the diploma course the trainees get to buy a machine for a very low cost, which helps them set up their own business.
Do you have the skills and time to offer Krizevac Project? If so, why not consider volunteering with us in Malawi! Volunteering can be a joyful, positive, adventurous opportunity and none of the work we do would be possible without the input of expert volunteers. We only recruit international volunteers where we are unable to fill the vacancy locally; we do not aim to take away Malawian jobs. In fact, our volunteers work to build up the capacity of their Malawian colleagues, through mentoring, support, training and skill sharing. Since 2008 over 120 volunteers have supported us. These include Architects, Structural Engineers, Civil Engineers, Teacher Trainers, Early Years’ Trainers, IT Trainers / Engineers, Solar Engineers, Web Developers, Production Managers and Business Management Trainers. If you are degree qualified, with industry experience in any of these sectors, we would be very pleased to hear from you!
Our volunteers spend a minimum of six months in Malawi. We operate safe recruitment policies and all applicants must be available for a face to face interview in our UK office in Stoke-on-Trent. Following a successful interview, all volunteers will need to supply references and complete a DBS check. In addition to professional experience, we ask that our volunteers:
HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE: Krizevac encourages volunteers to be enthusiastic about whatever work needs to be done, at any time.
BE FLEXIBLE: Volunteers need to be prepared to adjust to Malawi as needed, in the areas of working, living, traveling and dietary issues, as well as interacting with the host organisation.
HAVE THE NECESSARY PHYSICAL CAPABILITIES: No matter how great volunteer intentions, their body may not be willing to accommodate the task at hand or to adapt to life overseas. Volunteers must be sure they are able to perform duties that compliment a given project’s objectives.
Unless otherwise stated Krizevac Project covers the following expenses: flights, visas, insurance, accommodation and board for the duration of the placement. For more details or if you are keen to apply
It may not be as warm and sunny as Malawi, but we have plenty going on here in Staffordshire if you would like to get involved. Please give us a call if you have a morning or two spare each week, we would love to hear from you! We are looking for people who can help us out in the following roles:
ELEPHANT BIKE ASSISTANTS – Our Elephant bikes that we sell at the Cycle of Good, are one of our main income generators. We need keen bike enthusiasts to come and help renovate our former British Postal Bikes and turn them into gleaming machines for sale here in the UK. Bike mechanics are especially welcome, but don’t worry if that’s not you. If you are organised, fairly handy with a spanner and have a passion for bikes, then this role is for you. Our qualified bike mechanics will find you a role sorting through spares, helping with bike building or generally keeping us organised!
CONTAINER PACKERS – We send regular 40ft shipping containers to Malawi with all the donated bikes, books and sewing machines etc that we have received. It takes us two days to load by hand. If you’re physically fit, able to lift large quantities of equipment and have a couple of days a month spare, we would be grateful for your help.
PEDAL REMOVERS – Before we ship each bike we have to make it as small as possible. This means at least 300 bikes per month have to have their pedals taken off, the handle bars turned and the front wheel removed. If you are handy with a spanner and can offer at least two days per month to help us please get in touch.
BOOK SORTERS – We don’t keep count of each and every book that we send to Malawi, but a rough guess is that we’ve sent over 2 million so far. The books are donated by schools, churches, libraries and the general public. People struggle to find good lidded boxes (like the banana boxes you can get from supermarkets) so the books arrive here in carrier bags, suitcases and falling apart boxes. Each book needs to be repacked into strong small packages so they fit between the bikes in the container and don’t take up extra space. If you prefer working indoors and have an interest in books, then this role is for you! We need our book volunteers to be able to lift fairly heavy boxes and if you can offer us two or more days a month that would be ideal.
