Camfed International, the educational charity that was the subject of the FT's -Seasonal Appeal, is to start work this year in Malawi, its fifth African country, thanks to the generosity of readers, who have so far donated £1,330,325 ($2.6m, €1.78m) to our campaign.

British-based Camfed is dedicated to educating girls from poor backgrounds in Africa, and the FT's appeal has already raised enough money to put more than 4,400 girls through secondary education. The charity is now aiming to raise £1.5m by the end of January when the FT campaign ends - enough to put 5,000 girls through school.