‘Ex corde caritas’, the motto of George Watson’s College, invites us to challenge ourselves while caring for others and that’s exactly what the Watson’s Malawi Partnership is all about: building on the close ties we have with Malawi to help our students become caring, responsible global citizens.

We first visited Malawi in October 2012. A group of teachers, parents and friends from the school came up with the idea after noticing the number of connections we enjoy with Malawi and the potential for creating something really special for the people of Watsons and Malawi alike. Our thanks to midwife, Linda McDonald, founder of Malawi Underprivileged Mums; Olivia Giles, founder of 500 Miles; Gavin Parks, who has been running a similar programme at Stewarts Melville and GWC staff, Richard Travers and Sally Rae for driving the idea forward at this early stage.

Since then, the programme has evolved from a simple adventure organised every two years to a formal partnership. Launched in 2017, the Watson's Malawi Partnership has adopted the values espoused by the Scotland Malawi Partnership and is supported by an independent steering group with Sir Andrew Cubie as our patron.

The support we receive from the Watson's community has been invaluable in helping us raise funds for our various projects and make and recycle items that cannot be produced in Malawi. We are also grateful to the WMP parents' group that travels independently to Malawi most years to cement old relationships and forge new opportunities.