The objects of 'The Friends' are: 

1. to help prevent and relieve poverty in northern Malawi, particularly in the Engcongolweni area; particularly, but not exclusively, by targeting the health and education sectors;
2. to support community projects and organisations in Engcongolweni;
3. to develop and foster links between the communities and organisations of Dalgety Bay and Engcongolweni and to encourage learning about each other's countries, heritage and cultures. 

 How it all began...

In July 2008, a group of people from Dalgety Parish Church and Donibristle Primary School, Dalgety Bay visited the rural village area of Engcongolweni in northern Malawi.

This visit arose out of a long-standing relationship which an elder at Dalgety Parish Church had with the church and school in Engcongolweni, through his position as Chief Executive of a medical missionary organisation. This organisation had assisted Engcongolweni Primary School but had come to the conclusion that development could only properly be carried out with a school-to-school link. It was through this contact that Donibristle Primary School, in Dalgety Bay, became involved and, ultimately, entered a partnership with Engcongolweni Primary School.

Following on from this, it became apparent that since both primary school and church were adjacent to each other and both were owned by the Central Church of Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) that it made sense to develop a church-to-church link between Dalgety and Engcongolweni. This partnership was agreed in the summer of 2008.

Having church-to-church and school-to-school links in place the next logical step was to develop a community-to-community link and discussions were started with Dalgety Bay and Hillend Community Council to seek their encouragement and support. These discussions were successful and at a public meeting in late 2008 it was agreed to form a new organisation - the “Dalgety Bay Friends of Engcongolweni”.