Students seek donations to help Malawi orphans

“Take Your Shirt Off for Malawi Week” seeks to gather donated clothing for orphans in Malawi".
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, organizers of “Take Your Shirt Off for Malawi Week” said. It is plagued by the African AIDS epidemic and is home to more than a million orphans, most of whom lost their parents to AIDS.

Students in the Global Learning Community decided to do something about it. “Take Your Shirt Off for Malawi Week” was a program created with a goal to obtain clothing for 15,000 orphans in the poverty stricken country.

Sydney Wheeler, a sophomore political science major, was the first to start working on the project.

“I started by myself in September,” Wheeler said. “Our professor went to Malawi and talked about the conditions there. We had a separate project about it for class and all of us wanted to do something more. Everyone liked the idea and our professor gave us the contact information to the orphanage.” Malawi has already been the recipient of aid from the university. Multiple projects have been conducted there by International Research and Development at WSU and former president V. Lane Rawlins visited Malawi in 2006.

“WSU has a large development in Malawi,” Director of Global Studies Andrew Appleton said. “We’re spending millions of dollars per year on projects there.” “Take Your Shirt Off for Malawi Week” has received a support from both the administration and the community.

Wheeler said Moscow Building Supply is donating boxes, the Spokane campus has asked how they can help and many other organizations have contacted the group of students to learn how they too can make a difference. Many students and faculty participated in a promotional video that was shown at half time of the Oregon State game at Martin Stadium.

“Lots of people took part in the video, including some of the deans,” Wheeler said. “Everybody has been really supportive.” The video can also be seen on the Facebook group.

For those interested in donating clothing, there are drop off points at all the residence halls and several other locations around campus. A complete list of locations is available on the website. All clothing is appreciated.

“These orphanages have people up to 18 years old so any size is good,” Appleton said. “New, old, big or small, any clothing is appreciated.”