Doreen Boxwell

1st February 1946 – 25th January 2021

, Doreen Boxwell
Doreen Boxwell and her late husband Peter were loyal supporters of Mechanics for Africa.   Doreen’s children, Michael and Susie have expressed this wish:
 
“Instead of flowers, we would appreciate donations to Mechanics for Africa, a charity that both Mum and Dad supported over recent years. Last year, Susie joined the board of trustees. With Dad’s business in the motor industry, and their Christian faith, you will realise why the work of MfA struck a chord with Mum and Dad.”
 
All of us at Mechanics for Africa are grateful for the generosity of Doreen and Peter and offer our condolences to Michael, Susie, the wider families and Doreen’s friends.
 
Thank you so much for considering making a donation to Mechanics for Africa. We are a training college for motor mechanics based in Zambia, one of the world’s poorest countries where over 60% of the population live in what the World Bank describes as extreme poverty.  We currently have 95 students attending our two-year vocational training course which we offer along with life-skills and opportunities to lear about and develop Christian faith.

Click the button below to make a donation to MfA.

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About mechanics for africa

Transforming lives since 2002

We focus on the individual. Our committed staff work hard with each and every student to see lives transformed.

We were established as a college in 2002 by visionaries Charlie and Sharonne Watt, with the support of Milford Baptist Church in the UK. Charlie and Sharonne ran the college until leaving in 2014 when Charlie took a senior role in Zambia’s mining industry. Jason and Claire Stonier led the college from 2014 to 2018 and are now back in the UK.  Harry Weld-Forester is the current CEO and Sarah Weld-Forester is the Academic Manager. Milford Baptist Church continues to be the major support link between the UK and Zambia.

, Doreen Boxwell
, Doreen Boxwell

Workshop

Since its foundations the college has grown to include a training workshop and a fully operational commercial workshop employing full-time mechanics. Our students study for an Automotive Mechanics Course with  TEVETA and have incredible opportunities to work in our live environment and gain valuable experience of fixing a wide range of vehicles. In addition, all our second years undergo an industrial attachment with one of our local partner companies, gaining further real life experience which will help them to find employment beyond Mechanics for Africa.

Our vision is not only to see people gaining new skills: much more than that, our vision is to see our students grow in strength of character, being known as ambassadors of integrity, trustworthy in everything they do.

 

Our focus

Our main subject is Motor Vehicle Mechanics, but we also teach a variety of other valuable Life Skills, including computing, agriculture, first aid, nutrition, and health and hygiene. 

We focus on mentoring individuals, and through those individuals we hope to impact the wider families and communities of Zambia as our students graduate from MfA as men and women of good character and great potential.

, Doreen Boxwell
, Doreen Boxwell

We are a Christian college, although you don't have to be a Christian to apply, and we always talk about Mechanics for Africa as being like a family. Our students soon find out why this is: they are not just faces in a classroom, they are the very reason we exist. 

We do what we do because we take Christ seriously when he says "The first and greatest commandment is this: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The second greatest is this: love others as you love yourself..." (Matthew chapter 22).

Throughout the two year course, we give our students opportunities to explore Christianity and to build the strong foundations of ethics, hard work, and discipline characteristic of the Christian faith.