Sparkle healthcare access to the community
SUNGENI is a 27 years old mother who lives in Thom Allan village, which is located around 20 minutes walk away from Sparkle. With no medical facility any nearer than 45 minutes walk away, and no transport to reach Zomba Central Hospital, she is one among thousands of people who are benefitting from Sparkle clinic. She has had to rely on our services for several illnesses which she has experienced over the last six months, which if she had left untreated, could have been life threatening. The arrival of our clinic in our community has helped saved many lives and given people access to healthcare who previously wouldn’t have been given the opportunity.
In the village of Sakata, in Zomba District, Malawi, sixteen women are bent over sewing machines, measuring, cutting, threading, and stitching. What they are creating is more than clothing. They are building futures. This is The Sparkle Foundation's tailoring skills training programme, one of the first initiatives to launch under Spark to Success, a powerful two year partnership with NAMA Women Advancement , a UAE-based organisation dedicated to advancing women's economic participation and building resilient communities worldwide.
Perth teacher Leith travelled to Malawi as a first-time volunteer with
The Sparkle Foundation and came home changed. Read her story.
For over ten years, The Payback Time Trust has supported The Sparkle Foundation, a relationship first led by Stuart Barcock’s late father, Peter, alongside his stepmother, Kathy, who were early believers in Sparkle’s vision. While Stuart had long been aware of and connected to Sparkle through this relationship, his involvement deepened significantly after becoming a Trustee in early 2023. Since then, his connection to the charity has been more direct and engaged, shaped through ongoing conversations, updates, and a growing understanding of our work. This year, that connection took on a different form. Stuart travelled to Malawi this past March to experience our work in person. Not as an observer from afar, but as someone stepping directly into the environments, communities, and programmes his family family had supported for so long. This is the story of Stuart's journey with purpose. What I Thought I Knew Having supported The Sparkle Foundation for more than a decade, the decision to visit Malawi felt both natural and necessary. From the perspective of The Payback Time Trust, it was important that one of us saw the work first-hand, to understand not only what is being delivered but how it comes together on the ground. Reports and conversations provide insight, but they inevitably leave gaps. Being there, physically present, offers a different level of clarity . There was also a personal dimension to the trip. The trust itself was founded by my [late] father and stepmother, who had been early supporters of The Sparkle Foundation and a strong believers in [founder] Sarah’s vision. Continuing that connection is something I take seriously, and this visit felt like an extension of that responsibility, as well as a way of honouring what they had helped to start.
