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."















He had gone to the rice paddies near Salima in order to find piecework, and was referred to
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.
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