The Malawi Project, Inc.

    Salima, Malawi … On the road to Senga Bay, Malawi the observer will quickly see the recently constructed lake or large holding pond for rainwater that is located northeast of the Salima Trading Center. The purpose of the lake is to collect water during the rainy season in order to have irrigation capabilities during the 5 months when not a drop of rain falls from the sky. The program is the result of the work of the Kuthandiza Osayenda Disability Outreach (KODO) in order to help the handicapped of Malawi.

    In a recent update on the progress of the program Mr. George Chimpiko Banda, the Director of KODO, reports, "We have dug a 20 by 40m Dam. This Dam is to be used for irrigation. You can see it in the photograph. We hope to harvest enough rainwater this season for our irrigation farming. Maize harvested from this area will be distributed free to the disabled members .We plan to build a Vocational Skills Training Centre for the Disabled as soon as funds are available."

    Two trailers filled with medical, educational and supplies for the handicapped have just arrived at KODO from the Malawi Project in order to assist the handicapped. A third trailer, this one with 550 wheelchairs, is expected to ship to KODO later in the year. 

    Those early morning hours will remain unforgettable in Mackson’s life. As always he went to play in the neighborhood with the other children. But this day would not be like other days and unfortunately he was caught up in an accident when a pot of boiling water tipped over his back and splashed onto his left upper back. The burns were severe. Burns such as this take the lives of many children in Malawi as they fall around the cooking pots that stand unguarded around most of the houses. At four years of age little Mackson Kapeni would not have known the full extent of the danger until it was too late.

    Immediately someone called for the mother and she rushed the boy to a nearby health center where he was evaluated, but they did not have any supplies with which to assist him. He was then transferred to Bwaila Hospital - (Formerly called Bottom Hospital). This is a major medical center in the capital, but as with most hospitals in Malawi they are often short of supplies. On this day it was as it is so often and there was very little that could be done at this center due to lack of medicines.

    The mother was directed to the Sacred Promise Clinic where we had medicines because of supplies given to us by the Malawi Project. We quickly attended to the burns and were able to send him home. He continues to return on an out patient basis.

    Mavuto Chifumbi lives in Makwani Village in the area of Traditional Tribal Authority Chief Mponela in the Dowa District of central Malawi, Africa. He is not sure about his age, but is probably in his early fifties.

    Mavuto was born with both legs, and was able to walk until 1972. On the dreadful morning of 18th April 1972, Mavuto was crossing the road at the Mponela Trading Centre. A speeding car was approaching from the north. Unfortunately for Mavuto as he was trying to cross the road he stumbled and fell to the ground on the highway. The driver could not stop and he ran over Mavuto’s legs. From this accident he lost the use of both of his legs. From that moment onward Mavuto was destined to crawl on the ground like some sort of pitiful animal.

    At home Mavuto has a wife and five children. Two girls and three boys must help their father everywhere he goes. But today Mavuto it is different for him after his trip to Blessings Hospital. He smiles as he says,

"Today is a relief day in my life. For the past world I have been crawling like this." Mavuto demonstrates by crawling towards the wheelchair. "I wish to inform the world that today I will stop crawling and will use this wheelchair. God is the only one who can understand my happiness that is inside me. I know it is very difficult for people to know, for they cannot see my happiness that is inside me. This wheelchair will support my family and me, I will now be able to move freely without someone taking me on his or her back when either going to Church or to the market. May God bless all the people that put their money together to get this wheelchair for me. I have a small business. I am a cobbler. I do fix people’s shoes, and I will use this wheelchair when going to the market to assist the people in my community."

    A sudden, emergency trip to the lakeshore trading center of Nkhotokota resulted in three children from a family of 12 coming to Mtendere for care. The father and mother had both died, and her older sister had to get a job in order to attempt to care for the family. It fell to young Stella Banda to care for the others who were younger than herself, all 10 of them! She was only 8 years old at the time.

    The rushed trip on that July day had taken place as a result of a request from the tribal authority in the area. They had become aware of the plight of the children who were destitute and living alone. Representatives from Mtendere picked up the three children who seemed to be in the worst condition of the 12 at the time. Stella and her sisters, Elana and Jannet came to Mtendere to live.

    Today Stella is becoming both a beautiful, as well as a successful child as she progresses in her school studies and dreams of one day becoming a nurse.

    Pictures show Stella shortly after her arrival at Blessings, the enjoying meal with American guests several months later.

    The children of Mtendere Village are supported through contributions to the 100-X Missions Group in Montgomery, Alabama. For further information about assisting children at Mtendere contact http://100xmissions.org/