When Fr. Philip Mbeta was enrolled at Illinois Benedictine University, studying for his PhD, he served as an associate pastor at St. Mary Immaculate parish in Plainfield, IL, where he met Fr. Dennis Spies. The two became close friends and maintained their friendship when Fr. Philip returned to put his degree to work as a professor at the Catholic University of Malawi.
Fr. Philip had a vision of building a high school in Likwakwanda Village on the grounds of the St. Joseph’s Centre to provide an opportunity for kids who – due to a lack of capacity in government-sponsored schools – would otherwise not attend high school. With the help of Fr. Dennis and other friends they raised enough money to start the Harris High School which is named after Fr. Phillip’s father, Harris Mbeta. Warm Heart Ministries, a registered 501(c)(3) established by John and Chris Spesia to support education in Malawi, assisted in the effort by providing a solar powered water tank to provide clean drinking water and water necessary to run the showers and bathrooms at Harris High School, which houses the students while school is in session. The school opened its doors to its first class of freshmen in 2021, and two more classes of students have since been added. For every four students who pay tuition at the Harris High School, a full scholarship is awarded to one student from the local villages who would otherwise not be able to afford it.
Warm Heart Ministries funded a teacher exchange program and sent a 30-year veteran high school teacher from the U.S.A. to live and work at the Harris High School for a semester. John and Mary Spesia also visited the Harris High School and got a glimpse of the impressive operation, which after only a few years in operation ranked the third highest rated high school in the Thyolo region of Malawi. You can learn more about the Harris High School in this short video clip.
