Sep 13

Namateni Banda, A Wheelchair Makes Her Useful

Wheelchairs, Medical, Be The Change

She Thought She Was Useless

    A forty-six-year old lady named Namateni Banda lives in a village called Kawamba Villege. She lives in the area of Traditional Tribal Authority Mponela in Dowa District. This is the first district or state north of the capital city of Lilongwe, Malawi, Central Africa.
    Namateni was able to walk until 1994 when she became very sick. Her legs were paralyzed and she was no longer able to get around except to crawl and her hands and knees.
    Her husband divorced her because she could not walk, and help with the many chores that were needed around their house. He left her with two children.
    Namateni came to Blessings to get a wheelchair sent for her by Free Wheelchair Mission and the Malawi Project. She asked that you be told.

"When my husband divorced me I thought I am a useless person, but today I have realized there are good people who care about me. You are heroes to me. May God bless you so that you can do the same for other people. I have been straggling to raise support for my children, but I am now sure this wheelchair will support my family, and not just me alone. I would like to inform you that because of you my children will now go to school and in my house I will have enough food and other needs."
 

Sep 09

Issah Malunga - Child Headed Household

About the Malawi Project, Be The Change

    He had gone to the rice paddies near Salima in order to find piecework, and was referred to Samatha Ludick at Cool Runnings, “because she will help you.” said the matron who advised him. “It’s a long walk and I hate to have to send you so far, but you can get help there.”

    When Issah Malunga reached Cool Runnings on the edge of the big lake the clean, neat little boy handed Samantha a letter of referral from a social welfare worker in Salima.

“Dear sir/Madam,

CHILD HEADED HOUSEHOLD

    The bearer of this letter is Issah Malunga, aged 15, from Liganga village. Traditional Authority Kambwiri. He is a double orphan child who takes care of his 3 brothers and 3 sisters. Both parents passed away and he happens to be a household head. He goes to Chimbalanga LEA School and in Standard (Grade) 8.

    The children lack physical, financial & educational support. They have nobody to support them and the youngest in the family is aged one. Hence I write to ask your good office to provide any kind of assistance to these vulnerable children. Thanks in advance.

Social Worker  ……………..
 For the District Social Welfare Officer"

    Who could say “no”? Obviously not Ludick who has a soft spot in her heart for the children of Malawi. Within two days she had received clothing and food and given it to Issah for him and his brothers and sisters. Additionally she had obtained books, paper and pencil and plans to get him back in school.
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Sep 07

Mouse Salesman - Holi Phiri

MalawiCulture, About the Malawi Project, Economy of Malawi, People of Malawi, About Malawi

A Cultural Experience - Mouse on a Stick

      It is a solitary spot 15 kilometers north of the city center of Lilongwe. A white Isuzu Trooper races north from the capital and darts past the small boy standing dangerously close to the edge of the tarmac road. It is the 9thBoy selling Mice on a Stick vehicle that has sped by the empty stretch of road in the past hour. A short distance beyond the boy the Isuzu signals a left hand turn and begins to slow for the turn off that will take it to the international airport.

    The occupants of the vehicle, like those of the previous 9 had paid scant attention to the boy or to the food he was offering for sale. Holi lowers his split bamboo poles that sandwich in the fried mice and looks longingly toward the south for the next potential customer.

      The boy, Holi Phiri is sure he is 13 years old. He comes from the Kulamula Village in the Lumbadzi area. The tribal chief over his village is T. A. Chitukla.

His Only Education Is Holding A Hoe

    When an interview is arranged between Holi and an Azungu (white person) a translator is needed since he is one of the hundreds of thousands of village children who will never see the inside of an educational classroom. As Mama Cecelia Kadazamira describes it, “The only education most of the village children have is how to hold the handle of a hoe for working in the garden.”

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Sep 04

2007 Award To Samatha Ludick

People of Malawi, Be The Change

     Each year a humanitarian award is giving by the Malawi Project to a woman in Malawi who is considered important to the people in ways that go beyond the average. The award, a hand made quilt is symbolic of the caregiver who helps fill the needs of others who are in need. This is the 9th year of the award. This year the Malawi Project Humanitarian Quilt Award goes to Samatha Ludwick the owner of the Cool Runnings lake resort in Senga Bay. Samatha has been instrumental in creating a number of projects that merit her inclusion in the awards category. These include the creation of a small “parts” business among village children to help them learn to be creative and to earn money. In this venture she has worked with the children of Mtendere Village to make car parts for the small wire galimotos constructed at Mtendere for sale to western visitors.   She has also started a recycling venture for three villages to gather scrap plastic that blemishes the landscape. It is sold to raise funds for further development projects. In one recent 6-week period the children gathered and sold 3 tons of scrap. Another of her efforts has been to help the Kuthandiza Osayenda Disability Outreach Center in Salima. A portion of her work has been to establish links between the center and contributors in order to bring the needed resources to the handicapped people in the area. 

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Sep 02

Direct Shipments to Blantyre Begin

Malawi Healthcare

Rehabilitation Hospital in Blantyre Will Begin Receiving Shipments

    Plans for 2007 called for the expansion of medical supply distributions to a number of new sites in Malawi besides those already destined for  Blessings Hospital in Lumbadzi.

    In March and July two shipments were sent directly to Bottom Hospital in the capital city of Lilongwe. These shipments are part of a Project program to work with the Ethel Mutharika Foundation in order to assist in the revitalization of the hospital constructed in 1939 by the British.

    In July the first 40-foot trailer of medical and orthopedic supplies left Indiana on the way to the Kachere Rehabilitation Center on Chipatala Ave in Blantyre, Malawi. According to Richard Stephens, Director for the Malawi Project,

    "The vision of the Malawi Project is being realized as new sites are set up around the nation and the people of Malawi take responsibility for their own future. It is not the intention of the Malawi Project to own, govern or manage the programs of assistance that are given to the nation of Malawi. It is the focus of the project to make available the aid for the people of Malawi to manage and oversee within their national and cultural experience, and to give the aid how and where it is most needed in their country."

    In the meantime the Eastside Church of Christ in Colorado Springs, CO and the Montrose Church of Christ in Montrose, CO teamed up to  with  Project C.U.R.E  to ship a 40-foot trailer to Blessings Hospital in Lumbadzi for distribution of supplies in the central region of the nation.  The container recently arrived and is being distributed to hospitals and clinics throughout Malawi.

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