The Malawi Project, Inc.

    Mzuzu … Each Sunday afternoon, when supplies are available, the Youth Group from the Mchengautuba Church of Christ in Mzuzu, Malawi go to the Mzuzu Central Hospital to give assistance. They carry out a program of service to the patients and those who come to care for them during their time in the hospital.

    Moster Kanyinji, minister with the local church explains part of the program, "We take things that are needed by the family who have come. Sometime they must be there for as much as two or three months in order to care for the patient while they are in the hospital. We take them food, firewood, salt, and other things. Sometimes we obtain a large number of tomatoes. We go to the hospital and give two tomatoes to each family for them to use when cooking for the patient. The guardians must do it all and they greatly appreciate our help."

Bible College Gives Assistance
    Recently the administrator of the Bible College in Mzuzu, Randy Judd, was able to give the young people food to take to the patients.

Malawi Project Moves to Provide Aid Supplies
    Future shipments of supplies through the Malawi Project, to the northern region of Malawi, will contain supplies that can be given to the patients and guardians by the Youth Hospital Program of this local congregation.

    The Youth Group at work in the hospital are pictured along with Moster Kanjinji, who is preparing a list of the things the group needs for their work with the hospital families and patients.

    
Blankets, Bed Sheets, Salt, Soap, Beds and Mattresses, Perfumes, Toothpaste, and Toothbrushes."

Fishermen Challenge the Waves
        Birds drift on strong winds, women and girls wash ragged old family clothes, and the wind makes it difficult to hold the camera steady in the face of the blustery weather. Fishermen challenge the waves in order to eat for another day, as the sleeves of my sweater drag the wind as I try to concentrate on the panorama that overwhelms my consciousness. It is difficult to take it all in, and literally impossible to record it through the lens of a camera. It is the struggle of life in the sub-Sahara. It never grows old to my inquiring eye, and continues to amaze my every time I watch the fishermen challenge the morning surf in order to provide for their families.

What is Life Like Here?
        Some from lands far away ask what life is like in this place? The answer is seen in mornings on the shores of Lake Malawi, deep in the soul of Africa. It is the never changing cycle for survival. It is the struggle to get a carved out log out through the surf without capsizing. It is the struggle to get the long boats out without losing their precious cargo of fishing nets, not to speak of the human cargo of men who go down to the sea in logs! It is the struggle of bobbing all day in high surfs so far out that land is not visible in any direction. It is surviving the hot African sun beating down on sun and wind-hardened faces day after day after day. It is days of returning with few fish in the nets and fewer meals on the family’s broken table. It is doing without. It is pain. It is struggle, and it is bare survival in its starkest form.

Possibility of Defeat
        But it is not only here where survival meets the possibility of defeat. It is not only on the shores of the big lake. It is seen in the aged grandmother walking down a dirt path carrying a long, large log on her head with which to build a fire for the orphan children of her deceased daughter. It is the tiny child unattended that wanders near the tarmac highway where the giant tobacco lorries lumber by at a high rate of speed. It is seen in the man who has been critically injured in an accident with a mini-bus where a dozen others lay dead strewn across the landscape awaiting transportation to some distant grave. It is seen in the wasting away of the AIDS victim who still has no one who will admit this disease even exists or to move close to care for him.

        For so many in other places this day begins with such hope, such promise. Success. Gain. Positive. Fulfilled dreams and opportunities. Smiles. Meals.

        But here near the big lake, on a continent that few understand, the wind continues to blow, the waves leap high, and the fishermen fight to hold on and continue to exist just one more day.

A Visit to KODO

    Salima, Malawi … It is late morning when we arrive at the Kuthandiza Osayenda Disability Outreach office in a dilapidated, old, rundown building on the east side of the Salima Trading Center. Outside, because there is not enough room inside, is a row of half a dozen women and men learning to sew and knit. Not only is there not space on the inside of the building to train these people to be self-supporting, there is not enough space to walk along the narrow veranda on the outside, and the machines extend all the way across the front of his portion of the building. It is quite apparent that George Chimpilo Banda, the Director of the center, has done his job too well, and there are far more people coming to get help with their disabilities than there is space for them.

    As we get out of the car a smiling George comes out of the office doorway and, in spite of his severe walking disability, walks to the car to greet us.

Sewing Machines for Training
    As we walk into the building we observe a row of new treadle sewing machines donated to the center by a group in Scotland. George explains how the handicapped will be trained on these machines. After their training each will receive a machine to take back to his or her home village. They will open a small tailoring business. The center will supply them with the cloth materials and yarn and they will make and sell clothing. The only cost to them will be to pay the center what it pays for the materials after they sell the things they have made. George adds that there will be no interest charged to the people for this service.

    Next we look into the storeroom where the supplies from the two forty-foot trailers sent to him were stored. Clean down to the concrete floor. George starts relating story after story of people that were helped by the supplies. Along the wall hang large sheets covered with pictures of the people who have come to the center to receive materials. At the back of the building George shows us a tiny room where some of the women sleep when they come for training from distant villages and cannot return home each night.

Proud of the New Location
    Next he excitedly gets us into the car to drive about 10-kilometers east of Salima to proudly show us a sizeable plot of land given to KODO by the tribal chief on which they plan to build a large facility where the handicapped can live and work to develop self reliance skills. Near one side is a man made reservoir where water is being stored and used during the dry season for growing the agricultural products for those who come to KODO.

    As our time with George nears an end he encourages us to “watch out for the scoundrels”. It is wise council but this is a story for another time and entry to the web site. We wave goodbye to George and to a large number of children who have run out to the field to see the car and what the azungu are doing. We are off to the next distribution site and to see the results of the work being done by the Project’s contributors.

    Pictures is Suzi Stephens, the Medical Director for the Malawi Project and a group of handicapped workers who have just made a black seater for her.

From Kingdom to Protectorate and Beyond

  A recent gathering in northern Malawi brought together all of the Paramount Chiefs of all of the major tribes in the country, as well as the current President of Malawi for the first time in history. The Angoni were dressed in tribal traditional wear, and it was the largest gathering in the past 100 years. The occasion was to celebrate the time 100 years ago when the Mzimba Kingdom signed a peace treaty with England and became part of the "East African Protectorate" later to be Nyasaland then under independence Malawi. The signing of the treaty was partly responsible for keeping Germany from cutting off the British during World War I. The ceremony was deemed "From Kingdom to Protectorate and Beyond." The big meeting took place about 66 miles back in the bush country away from the main road at the ancestral home of the Angoni people at Hora Mountain in northern Malawi.

Chief Asks that Bill Be Paid

    During the ceremony Chief Mimbelwa II reminded the government of the fact that in 1902 the British were unable to pay their workers. The Chief loaned them the money to make payroll but the British have yet to pay the money back to them. He requested the funds be returned to them with interest. The President of Malawi advised them he would pass their request on to the British authorities.

Celebrating the Old and the New

    According to Randy Judd, an American missionary who attended the celebration and did the photography for this story, "The celebration was a contrast between the old Malawi and the new. The Angoni chiefs and their "Inkosi ya Makosi" were dressed in skins along with all the male dancers. The president was dressed in a business suit. The big chief was sheltered in a small grass house until the festivities started, President Bingu was at a near by school. The chief came to the parade stand on foot being surrounded by about 400 men and women in traditional dress. The president came in a motorcade and had about 500 men and women in tee shirts; he also had about 10 guys carrying pictures of him. The chiefs came the night before in order to be on time; while the president came by helicopter to avoid the bad road."

"When I was in Halifax I learned they had, in one hospital, 30 physical therapists. I was very surprised to realize they had more therapists in this one hospital than we have in our entire country."

    We were talking with the administrator at Kachere Orthopedic Hospital, Malawi’s only orthopedic hospital. Sitting at the conference table in the facility in Blantyre he picked up his pen, thought for a minute and listed the number of therapists in the country.

    "There are 2 in Queens in Blantyre, but they are from Norway and leaving in November. Zomba has 2. At the Malawi Against Disabilities facility in Lilongwe there are 2 of them, and 1 in the government hospital. There are 3 teaching in Blantyre, but none in Mzuzu. Among the private ones there are three in Lilongwe. I think this is all we have in the country," he said.

    This was our second time to visit the hospital in less than a year and again we marveled at the work the staff is doing with a limited amount of resources. However, we have seen some improvement in the past year, and a second shipment of equipment and supplies has just arrived from the Malawi Project in America. It will help, and help is all that is needed today.