By Chisomo Phiri
Rays of Hope, in partnership with TotalEnergies through the VIA Project, on Wednesday awarded Ndirande-Matope Primary School a prize of K5 million for creating the best poster in the third phase of the VIA’s road safety poster competition.
The ceremony took place at the Malawi Sun Hotel in Blantyre.
In an interview with journalists, VIA Project Coordinator Promise Mjima emphasized the significance of road safety, stating that Rays of Hope’s primary focus is ensuring learners’ safety while traveling to and from school.
He highlighted that the project began in 2023 and stressed that road safety is closely tied to visibility.
Mjima explained that the prize will enable Matope Primary School to add visible elements to promote safety, such as painting school infrastructure.
On his part, Ndirande-Matope Primary School’s Project Patron, Grecian Elias, attributed their success to focusing on safety measures rather than depicting accidents.
“We emphasized safety measures in our poster.We decided to draw something concerning safety, so that it should not be focusing much on accidents, but rather the other way around,” he said.
TotalEnergies Marketing Malawi Limited’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Sekaninge Kaliati, pledged continued support for road safety initiatives.
“This is a very important initiative for us, as we focus on corporate social responsibility, and one of our key areas is safety, specifically road safety,” she said.
Five primary schools participated in the competition, with Bangwe, Chilomoni, Mankhetha, and Chitawira receiving certificates, badges, and a trophy as consolation prizes.
