The Malawi Project, Inc.

    "It was well worth it." This was the conclusion after a group of 21 volunteers from Ambassadors for Children, including 13 students and 1 faculty member from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, endured the 20+hour air flight journey to Malawi. Everyone instantly fell in love with the people and the culture.
   
    During their two-week stay, this group of volunteers worked and spent time with the children at Mtendere Village. The group not only raised $6,500 for the Village, but also dedicated their time to turning one of the empty buildings into a beautiful and inspirational library. The children of Mtendere and the volunteers from Miami painted side-by-side, while other staff from Mtendere were hard at work building the bookshelves. 

    Over four hundred books, donated by the Miami University Chapter of Ambassadors for Children, are on the way to the library as part of a truck shipment of supplies.

    Marissa Hirsh, one of the Miami University Directors of the trip summed it up in this way, "This was an incredibly significant project for the volunteers to be a part of - a library represents the potential that exists when people are dedicated to education. And these volunteers are confident that this library will make a difference in the lives of all of the children of Mtendere Village for years to come."

    During the rest of their trip, the Miami University group engaged in educational activities with the children, visited rural schools and local communities, and were inspired by the kind hearts of the Malawian people. Ambassadors for Children volunteers and Miami University students plan on returning to Malawi for years to come!

    The problems appear to be too big for the average person to do anything to change or affect them. The reality is far from being true. One person can make a difference for one other person. Two can double the difference. Three can triple it. For one person receiving small amounts of aid from one other person it makes all the difference in the world.

    Eleanor Roosevelt is credit with having first said, "It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness." It was such a powerful statement Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, and who knows how many more people through the intervening years have repeated it in public speeches.

    Perhaps it is time to repeat it again in reference to the situation in Africa and around the world. "It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness."

    How can words ever describe the plight being faced by children like little Madalitso (Blessings) Batison in Malawi, Africa? No amount of words can begin to describe the uphill battle for survival in an all too unforgiving land where poverty and the lack of medical care, or social services makes it nearly impossible for a child with this kind of disability to survive.

    Thanks to those who are supporting the massive health care initiative of the Malawi Project supplies and assistance are being given to Blessings and others like her. Through supplies being channeled to the Kuthandiza Osayenda Disability Outreach there is hope for Blessings and others like her.

    Blessings comes from Sikata village in the Salima District of Malawi. The tribal authority is Kalonga. She is the forth born child in the family of two boys and two girls. Both parents are still alive. She was born without arms and legs.

     A thousand words can never describe the plight and struggle that lays ahead for little Madalitso, and equally a thousand words can never express the heartfelt appreciation for those who make her healthcare possible.