September 2010. Pictured back row are the inaugural staff with the Manners family, Craig Manners, Jayni Manners and their sons Joshua, Caleb, Daniel, Benjamin (and Jonathan about 7 1/2 months a.c.), with the first children of the school. The school building is in the background. "I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High." (Psalm 9:1-2)
With grateful hearts we look back and give thanks to God, that fifteen years ago today, on the 6th of September 2010, the Orbus Nursery School was officially opened and started its first day of school!
After consultation with the local Chief, government, community and church leaders, the nursery school was built for orphaned and vulnerable children in the Ngumbe area, and started with five teachers, and approx. 44 children. By the end of the first week we had 66 children enrolled.
Having been blessed with A$70,000 donated to Orbus in Australia in late 2007, Orbus were able to buy a 15-acre parcel of land direct from the Malawian Housing Commission in 2008, in Daniel Village, Ngumbe on the northern outskirts of Blantyre, Malawi.
We then proceeded to build two beautiful buildings in 2009, which were fully completed, and with some planting of trees and plants to try to beatify the site a bit, just in time to have an official Orbus Centre opening in late July 2010.
In August 2010 my family and I set about employing some local teachers to add to the small staff already employed for the small-scale farm, security and building/site management.
We put together a local committee to oversee the Orbus Centre, set up one of the buildings with furniture, blackboards, and educational material painted on the walls.
The classroom was very well resourced with lots of amazing things gifted to Orbus by churches around Victoria and mostly from the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, sent over in two sea containers, which my family and I had the privilege of receiving earlier in 2010 and distributing over three memorable months around southern Malawi, mostly to villages and churches surrounding Blantyre, some further afield, and the villages near Orbus.
Many people were involved who helped with establishing the school and with the sending of the containers and the local distribution, and I am very thankful to God for them. There are too many to mention without leaving some out, so all I can say is, you know who you were and may God bless you for your selfless efforts in bringing this about.
The first day of the Nursery School, on the 6th of September 2010 was a special day, and needless to say a highlight of my family's time in Malawi over 2010-2012, as was the starting of the Orbus Primary School in September 2011, and then again in 2017 when we returned to help build, register, establish and start the Orbus Mission Secondary School which opened in September 2017.
A report I sent back to supporters in Australia 15 years ago, of this special occasion of the opening of the Orbus Nursery School, can be found HERE.
Thank you, God, for the privilege of being involved in starting something so beautiful. Thank you for the joy it was to be in Malawi, and for the blessing that it was to myself, my wife and our five sons and so many others in Malawi, Australia and visitors from other countries.
If you happen to have any photos from Orbus' early years we would appreciate if you could share them with me for publication on this website if you are willing. You can send them through to me at [email protected]
May God continue to bless the Orbus schools, change lives and save souls in this country known, for good reason, as the Warm Heart of Africa.
Thank you, King Jesus!
Craig Manners
6th September 2025
P.S I have also put up some progress photos of the Multi-Purpose Hall (Orbus CCAP church services, Orbus school dining hall with kitchen, assemblies) on our blog Notice Board on the Orbus website.
