FAQs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Who can join
this Group?
A. Anyone who attended St Andrew's School in
Blantyre Nyasaland, (now Malawi) as a pupil or a Staff member. Our
period of 'Focus' is "The Federal Period", (1953-1964), but limited
coverage is given to other periods also. Other interested parties are
also welcome.
Q. How do I join and what does it cost?
A. You can join-up by completing the Registration
Form on the REGISTER
page on this Website. There is no membership fees or costs in joining,
or remaining a member, of the Group. However at the insistence of the
members there is a voluntary "Donation" scheme to help support the
running cost of the Site and the Newsletter.
Details of this appear in each Newsletter.
Q. What does the group do?
A. We track down and make contact with all Ex-Saints
throughout the World. Once found we register their information in a
Data Base that is available to all other Saints. We maintain contact
with all the members through the Monthly free Journal. We
also arrange and set-up 'Get-Togthers' and Reunions in various centers
throughout the World. In addition we continue to research the History
of the School and Country etc, collect items, photographs and stories
and, from time-to-time, produce Booklets, CDs etc containg this
information. We also publish all stories etc in the monthly Journal.
Q. What does the Journal
contain and can I submit articles and pictures?
A. The monthly Journal
publishes "Sign-Ins" and the life-stories received from the Saints. It
covers such items as 'Sick Reports', 'In Memoriam', (where we report
on, and remember, those who are no longer with us), 'Birthday Book',
'Comments', 'Stories' and 'Photographs'. Also information on, and from,
Saints Reunions wherever they take place. There are also sections on
'Malawi News', 'News from the Schools', 'Memory Corner',
'Reproductions' from the Original SAHS Magazines and other
Publications, as well as news and memories from all the Saints,
including Pre- and Post-Federal Saints.
We also investigate and Research the History of the School and the
Country.
Any member of the Group is welcome to send in any articles,
general eMail, photographs or whatever to the Editor for inclusion -
and in fact is encouraged to do this. NOTE
- Anything sent into the Editor is considered "usable material" for the
Newsletter unless you state that it "is NOT for
publication!"
Q. How often is the Journal
published and how is it distributed and in what format?
A. The Journal is published each month on
the 15th and it goes out electronically via the Internet. The standard
format that it is distributed in is a Zipped ISO Standard PDF format.
To be able to read this format you need to have installed on your
computer an 'Un-Zip' program and a free PDF Reader. The
standard, (and recommended), PDF Reader used by us is "FoxIt"
which is available from www.foxit.com.
Other PDF Readers are
available on the Net for Windows. (Mac and Linux machines have a PDF
Reader installed by default.)
Many of you may have the alternative Adobe PDF Rreader already
on your computers, which is also suitable. If not it is readily
available on many program CDs these days or can be downloaded from www.adobe.com This however is a very large program and
is not as fast as Foxit.
To Install - Run the ZIP
file, or the EXE file, you download from the Net, or got on a CD, and
this will install the PDF program on your computer. From then on you
can just Double Click on any PDF file that you receive and it will
automatically start the Reader program and open the file for you.
Alternatively Right Click on the file that you receive and select
'Save' to save the file to your Hard Drive. Then you can start the PDF
Reader from the 'Start Button', under 'Programs', and once running
select 'File Open' to select your saved file.
From August 2008 our distribution system changed and we no longer
"Attach" the Journal to an eMail. Instead a
"Notification Letter" is sent out and it contains a "Hotlink" that when
clicked will download the Journal directly from the WebSite
Server. The downloaded file is in "Zipped" format and if your computer
is set-up correctly it will automatically start your ZIP Program and
you will have to select a location to Save the file after which it will
start-up in your PDF Reader as normal.
If any member has a problem with this in any way please contact the
Editor.
Q. I know an ex-Saint who dosen't have a
computer, can they still get the Journal?
A. Yes! For those that do
not have their own computer or Internet connection at home or work,
printed copies are available, (in Black & White only), and these
can be posted by "SnailMail". The recipient must however supply SAEs
and stamps, monetary payment or IRCs to cover the cost of the postage.
There are also several Saints in different parts of the World who
support local Saints without Internet connections, or computers, by
sending, or delivering, copies of the Journal to them. Contact the Editor
for more info on this.
Q. I'm planning a trip
to 'Country X' - Can I get information of all the Saints living there?
A. Yes - just send
details to the Editor in an eMail and a printout, (in RTF
format), will be sent back to you of all contacts in that Country or
City. The only "rule" with this is that you have to send in a
report of your trip, (with photos), for the Journal!!
Q. I would like to
write directly to my old School Mate/"Flame" can I get their contact
information?
A.
Yes - Just send in the names of the people you would like to contact to
the Editor and all the contact information will be sent to you by
return.
Q.
Is my information safe with the Group?
A. Yes! As safe as it can be! NONE
of the personal information will be sold, passed on or used for ANY
other reason other than for the Journal and
personal eMails and will only be given to other Saints, who
request it, on a one-to-one basis!! So if you are interested in tracing
an old friend or "flame" you can eMail the Editor and, if the
info is in the Data Base it will be supplied to you directly in a
personal eMail. If we don't have the details as yet, we will
"flag" your request and once we get the contact information it
will be passed along to you.
IMPORTANT - We strongly advise that
all your computers be protected with up-to-date Anti-virus and Firewall
software and that you do a monthly scan for Malware etc.
