Nkhota Bay is the home of sixty-year-old L. Chimota, a physically challenged man whose legs became paralyzed when he was seven years of age. The illness that followed was unknown to him. The only thing he knew was that he would henceforth craw in the dust, or be carried by his relatives.

When he grew up he moved to Mzuzu City in search of some sort of opportunities.

“Unlike many physically challenged people who stand around near big shops in town waiting for a hand out, Chimota spends his days beside the buildings at the Shopping Center’s veranda sewing and patching-up people’s worn out clothes for his food and wages. Quite to the contrary, instead of waiting for help, he amazingly extends his hand to reach out to others who need help. He was just born a hard worker,” Yunusu Mataka explained about him. Mataka works at the Namikango Mission in Thondwe, and it was he who took the wheelchair on the long trip north in order to deliver it to Chimota.

Mataka continues his report, “In 2009 his wheelchair was broken beyond repair. This rendered the big man destitute. As the family’s breadwinner, Chimota experienced and was forced to spend some of the little money he could make daily to board a bus to and from work. Efforts to find assistance from organizations such as Malawi Against Polio (MAP) and MACOHA to obtain a wheelchair proved futile. They all had no wheelchair in stock to help him with. At MAP northern region headquarters, his request just piled up in a large group of requests. He was told MAP only had pieces of broken wheelchairs that could cost over MK30,000.00. That would be equal to $200.00 American dollars. He couldn’t raise that much. He gave up.”

However, that wasn’t the end of him. God opened another door through the Malawi Project Inc., in corroboration with the Free Wheelchair Mission. They jointly shipped a new wheelchair for the old man to use. When the wheelchair arrived at the Namikango Mission, one of the workers, knowing the predicament of Mr. L Chimoto ensured that he would benefit. He took the wheelchair for the long journey north just so the old man would be able to move, work and help his family.

As Chimota watched Yunusu Mataka leave that day for the return trip to Namikango, his life had witnessed God’s Hand opening another door for him and his future. He can now go to his business and make a little money for his family’s survival. He can go to the church and worship. He can once again go out and chat with his friends. As he smiles, Chimota has been assured of the caring Hand of God.

- Wilson Tembo and Richard Stephens

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…spending each hour of every day of your 4o year life confined to a remote African village.

…crawling through its dust wherever you

… lying at the same doorstep

Sitela Village, Malawi … it was a busy day with a tight schedule at the Namikango Mission in southern Malawi. A major increase in requests for wheelchairs has continued to pour in. Though responses to the requests are simple and straightforward the biggest problem is having enough funding to transport the chairs from the Mission to the needy. The physically challenged people in the remote areas cannot make it to the mission to get a wheelchair. It is hard to image, if you can walk easily, what it means for a physically challenged person to cover a ten-kilometer distance without help.

We followed a winding, steep, and narrow road that cuts through the two hills, Mitumbu to the east and Mingozi to the west. Before crossing a small bridge over Milombozi stream, we enter the village of Sandeni. It is under the jurisdiction of Traditional Authority Chitera-Chiladzulu district, and is located south west of Namikango. The village is situated in a fertile valley, where the villagers spend much of their time faming. The green cover of a sugar cane plantation, and vegetable gardens growing all along the small stream are evident. The village is approximately 10 kilometers south west of the Mission, but who can crawl 10 kilometers to get a much-needed wheelchair?

As we moved along the path and approached the village, a crowd was patiently waiting down the steep side of the hill. Little did we know that all of them were all physically challenged? They all have varied challenges, none can walk, and some have hearing-impairments and others cannot speak. My eyes sought out Mr. Charles Nkuzeni, 40. He was the man we had come to see. He was sitting directly opposite the place from where we were descending, Charles showed some confidence, and was probably sure he would get a much-needed wheelchair. He comes from Sitela Village of Traditional Authority Chitera in Chiladzulu District. If he wants to move, Charles has to crawl in the dust. His horizon, or the extent of his travels has only been a distance of 200 meters since he was born. The furthest he can go is the nearest hospital, and even then he must be picked on a neighbor’s bike to get medical attention. Otherwise he is locked up in this tiny village day in and day out all year round. On this day Charles would not be disappointed. He was at the top of the list.

As he sat on the wheelchair for the first time ever, he could say nothing except to show a simple smile that spoke louder than any word.

Life begins at forty, it is said. For Charles Nkuzeni, a new life may have now started. His horizon has been widened, since he will be able to interact with “friends”, be able to worship at the Church, and will be able to visit the market place. He will be able to visit the Clinic when need rises. With support from the Malawi Project in conjunction with the Free Wheelchair Mission through Namikango Mission-Malawi, Charles is a proud owner of a new wheelchair that will provide mobility.

As we left Charles, the excitement behind us was immeasurable and indescribable. The impact that a wheelchair can make to an individual can be witnessed with Charles.

Wilson Isaac Tembo, Namikango Mission and Richard Stephens, Malawi Project

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Malawi Prison Services, Zomba, Malawi… The program started at 10 am, with the turning over of medical supplies, equipment, and wheelchairs to the Prison Service in Zomba. The Chief Commissioner for Malawi’s Prison System was in attendance at the function. It was the fifth donation of medical supplies from Namikango Mission with support from the Malawi Project to the prison, and it was carried on nationwide television.

One day earlier two board members from the Malawi Project, and two other church members from Indiana, visited the Zomba Central Maximum Prison. During the visit they came face to face with the need, and the problems faced by the Prison officials in trying to care for the prison population. The Medical Director for the Project made note, “Our eyes have been opened to the great need for assistance to the Prison System through our visit to this location.” Her comments came after seeing the conditions inside the prison, and the uncultivated field where there was no farm equipment with which to till the crops.

In recent years the Malawi Project has concentrated in supplying medical supplies to government hospitals, but little if any of these supplies reached the prison system. Members of the American team were surprised to see so many children behind the fenced in prison. They are the children of the inmates, and their home address is Zomba Prison. Unlike the inmates who have committed crimes that put them in this place, these children have done nothing to merit being locked inside these walls. They need basic education. The prison service provides some service to the children whose mothers are inmates, but these are not nearly enough. They need toys, books, pencils, clothes, food and love if they are to become fruitful citizens of the country. It was a timely donation that included toys, as well as medical supplies and wheelchairs.

In his remarks during the handing over ceremony, the Prisons Chief Commissioner, Mr. MacDonald Chaona, could not hide his excitement, as he could for see inmates’ lives being touched. “We experience a lot of problems in the prison, and our vision is to ensure that conditions are improved. Our experience tells us that some of our prisoners must be carried on the backs of others in order to even reach the prison hospital. The government is not able to provide each of the prisons with enough wheelchairs. With the donation of wheelchairs it means our prisoners will no longer be carried on someone’s back to and from the hospital when they are sick. Those who are physically challenged will using wheelchairs.”

According to prisons officials, Malawi has a total of thirty-two prisons, and each one has a health center where inmates have access to some degree of health care. Zomba Central Prison is the oldest, and largest, with a population of 2,000 inmates. Like any one else these prisoners need good health service, food, mobility, and love. Recognizing this need the Malawi Project, through the Namikango Mission, has donated thirty-two wheelchairs, assorted medical supplies, equipment and toys.

Namikango Missions’ Bisani Mphongolo said, “Our belief is that as a Church we have people in prison who are brothers and sisters. These people are inmates, but they are not outcasts. God loves them as He loves us. These supplies will help improve their living standards.”

Wilson Isaac Tembo and Richard Stephens

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Upon our arrival we watch as Agnes’ mother picks Agnes up on her back and labourly sits her in the wheelchair, in order to greet the guests. Agnes must weight at least 200 lbs. and her mother not over 100. Her mother explains to us that Agnes was born in 1992, and in time she was able to use her legs to walk, her mouth to a talk, and her hands just as anyone else. This was true for the first four years of her life. Then, unnoticeable, a hungry mosquito landed on the young girl’s innocent body. Little did Agnes, or her family know that she had been injected with malaria giving parasites, but it was even worse than that. It was soon determined that she had cerebral Malaria, the worst from of malaria. “From that time on she could not walk, or talk or handle anything with her hands,” her mother explained to Malawi Project’s Richard Stephens and his guests. Despite several attempts by the parents to help Agnes recover, all the efforts have lead to a fruitless destination. Because of a simple mosquito bite, Agnes’ life has gone though unspeakable pain and anguish. She spends her everyday at home – alone and lonely, from all of her friends.

Witnessing the suffering that Agnes’ mother experiences from early morning to late at night, as she tries to move Agnes from one place to another Brent Gourley, a visitor with the Malawi Project, could not hide his emotions when he saw the scene in front of him. His eyes were swimming in tears as he saw Agnes’s mother struggle to pick up Agnes, and how helpless Agnes was without the wheelchair.

“The time will come when Agnes will join all of us in heaven with able legs. She will be able to walk, and all of the pain will be gone. In the meantime God has given us an opportunity to help this girl,” Richard Stephens encouraged Agnes’s family members.

It is evident that by making mosquito nets and repellent available to children less than five years old could eliminate malaria in this third world country. In the meantime reports indicate that 40% of all people in Malawian healthcare facilities are suffering from malaria, the largest percentage being children under five years of age.

Short of ending the plagues of malaria, polio, and other diseases and accidents that bring us so many people with disabilities, the need for the wheelchairs will continue on a massive scale.

Wilson Isaac Tembo & Richard Stephens

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Guardians Rush to be First

A quiet, overcast morning greeted the morning at the Namikango Maternity Hospital in Thondwe, as a light wind seemed to drift aimlessly with no purpose. People began to gather near the old guardian shelters veranda. Most of the people were there in order to care for a patient in the maternity clinic. Some came just to cheer their loved ones, or to bring food for the expectant mothers. Numbers of children accompanied them.

The Director, Bisani Mphongolo, accompanied by the Contractor, entered the new structure. Inside are fourteen fireplaces with steel rods to support cooking pots. Electrical lights and black painted stands are the final touch.

The guardians watched as the men moved to officially carry out the handing-over ceremony. They posed for the symbolic handshake outside the A-frrame structure. It marked the end of a long construction journey.

As word went out that the kitchen could be used, excited guardians rushed in search of firewood, matches, water and pots, each wanting to be the first to use the new kitchen. The situation could be more fitly called a competition. Each wanted to make a name as “the first woman to use the new Namikango Mission Clinic’s kitchen.” This wasn’t surprising. Every person wished to be associated with the best.

If it were a competition, Rashida M’baluku would have been declared the winnner. She quickly started a fire, and got her small pot ready. Rashida hails from Rifa Village of Tribal Authority Mulambe in Zomba District. She had been at the clinic for the past two weeks preparing food for her younger sister who is expecting a baby.

After using the old kitchen on several occasions, Rashida described the new kitchen as the best. “We’ll not be waiting for one another now.” The old kitchen only had six cooking stations. With fourteen fireplaces the new kitchen

will be able to accommodate all of the guardians at the same time. This will make a difference at peak times when the guardian shelter is filled with people taking care of their relatives in the clinic.

The woman pointed out additional advantages of the kitchen, contrasting it with the old. “When it’s raining, the rain splashes were making their way to the fire place. When it is hot in summer, coupled with the fire heat, it was unbearable.” The new kitchen definitely improves the living standards of both expectant mothers and their caretakers. The levels of hygiene will certainly improve following the strategic positioning of the kitchen that allows little or no dust to blow inside. There will be no waiting for them to cook, and the new kitchen has added beauty to the clinic’s face.

-Wilson Isaac Tembo

(The Malawi Project is proud to have the opportunity to provide the funding for the construction of the kitchen at Namikango.)

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In a good year, the harvesting season for maize starts in April, and it moves slowly north where planting season started later in the year. It is a happy time as it marks the transition from a time of major food shortage to a time of plenty. Malnutrition levels drop drastically. It is, however,  a time when many farmers face difficulty in transporting their produce from the fields to their homes. Farms are normally far from the village. Few farmers own ox-carts, or bicycles, and they must carry the grain on their heads.

In recent weeks the harvest has started. Namikango Mission is in the process of bringing in its harvest of maize. Unlike previous years, when the transportation of grain was a challenge, this year thanks to the Malawi Project and its timely and valuable donation of the Basic Utility Vehicle, the grain is being easily moved from field to warehouse.

The BUV is a multipurpose vehicle that can be used, not only for grain transportation, but also for expectant mothers to be transported to the nearby maternity clinic. In a country where much of the population lives on less that a dollar a day, acquisition of an ox-cart or bicycle is unachievable. This leads to countless challenges in transportation. When one visits Malawi for the first time one is likely to see thousands of people walking on foot, both in rural and urban areas.

The BUV has proven to work exceptionally well where road conditions are not good, and it can also play a role in bridging the communication gap in rural areas. It is a country where 80% of the population lives in extremely remote areas, and in adverse poverty. The major mode of transportation is walking for long distances. The availability of basic utility vehicles can transform people’s lives for the better.

The BUV, one of three units delivered by the Malawi Project, and the manufacturer, is drastically reducing total expenditures for the mission in terms of time, and provision of service that would be delayed with its absence. Maternal related deaths that arise due to delays in getting medical attention from the clinic are likely to be reduced in villages around the medical facility because of the availability of this vehicle.

- Wilson Isaac Tembo

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Imagine…

…cutting wood for the fire to prepare breakfast, then having to carry it for 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile on your head back to your home.

…walking far up the mountain to cultivate your family farm plot, while carrying a baby on your back and a heavy hoe over your shoulder.

…walking to the market, four miles away, then having to carry all of your purchases all the way home on your head.

…working in the field to cultivate, weed, and raise a bushel of tomatoes, then traveling 40 miles to the nearest market to sell your produce.

…walking deep into a ravine to obtain water, then having to carry it in a leaking bucket on your head all the way back home.

…having a bumper crop from your small family farm plot for the first time in ten years, only to find you can’t get it to market.

…being ready to deliver your first baby, only to find you have to walk 8 miles to get down from your mountain village because no car or ambulance can reach you.

These are just a few of the daily chores that must be sustained by Malawi men and women in order to survive another day. These are also some of the reasons the Malawi Project is focusing on getting basic utility vehicles into the country.

The BUV is built in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is the creation of Will Austin. It is part of his mission to help people in third world countries be able to transport people and commodities over long, hard, dangerous, and exhausting distances. The organization is the Institute for Affordable Transportation. The Malawi Project has purchased and shipped three of these vehicles. Two are in the central region of the county, and a third arrived in November at the Namikango Maternity Hospital in the southern part of the nation. More of these units are needed if life is to improve.

Pictured are the three units, one transporting people, another employed to move food, and the third is engaged in moving heavy logs. Pictures thanks to Richard Stephens, Mark Thiesen and Wilson Tembo. To learn more about the BUV go to: www.drivebuv.org

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Looking Beyond the Cane's End

Her name is Kusala, and if you are at the Namikango Mission you may see her. Every morning she goes with her mother to the market. She is a grade 2 pupil at Msamba Primary School, a school located less than 5 kilometers from the mission. Her family earns a living selling sugarcane, and during school holidays she joins her mother in carrying the cane to the roadside market and selling it. With six members in the family, Kusala’s mom earns about $4.00 a day. This means each family member lives on 66 cents a day. When asked how she feels carrying the cane on her head, Kusala says, “my family has no choice; we must eat, having clothing, and it totally depends on selling the cane. I don’t enjoy carrying them on my head, they are very heavy.” This business earns her a pen, a pencil, exercise books and soap.

Wants to be a nurse

Carrying sugar cane for 10 kilometers is not simple for a seven-year-old. However, she tries to look beyond the end of the cane’s length. “I want to be a nurse, so I work hard at school,” she explains with excitement. Her life, and future demands a lot on her if she is going to become a nurse. Malawi is the home  to many children like Kasala whose lives are subjected to adverse poverty due to the loss of parents who die of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.

Growing up in a Yao tribe in southern Malawi, Kusala has a mountain to climb if she is to realize her dream. Many cultural practices lead to girls such as Kusala becoming sexually active long before marriage, and this can easily lead to HIV/AIDS, or other problems that will bring about the loss of any promise of a productive future. For her to realize her dream of being a nurse Kusala will have to look well beyond the end of the cane.

Reported by Wilson Tembo,

Namikango Medical Warehouse Manager

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Desire to be Doctors

“Of all the things that happened on our most recent trip to Malawi there is one moment when three lives crossed paths that I won’t easily forget,” recalls Richard (Dick) Stephens of the Malawi Project. “It was the day two boys stopped to talk while on their way to school on the outskirts of Thondwe. It was around 7:30 in the morning, and I met them on a path that intersects with the Namikango Maternity Hospital on one side and the Zomba road on the other. They were excited to talk with a visitor, and immediately stopped when they realized I would take time to talk with them.”

“As is often the case they wanted to know about me, about where I had come from, and what I was doing in Malawi. I briefly explained about the Malawi Project, and its various programs, and that I had come from America. This brought into focus a long explanation about what it is like in America. There is a deep sense of longing in this part of Africa to know about America. They look up to the ‘Europeans’ as they refer to all of us with European decent, and almost without exception all want to visit or live in America. They see it as the goal out of the poverty in which they find themselves mired.”

“I turned the attention to them and what they are doing and plan to do.”

“We are in school,”the one closest to me explained, “and we want to become doctors.”

“I complimented their goal, and after a few minutes of conversation it was time for them to leave. I watched them walk away down the path. In a nation with 13 million people, with a reported total of less than 100 Malawi doctors, I cannot imagine a nobler goal. But too, I know they will face critical threats to their health and survival if they go into the medical profession. They will have far too few protective measures to shield themselves from the diseases they are trying to treat. Too, they will feel the frustration with having unbelievable shortages of even the most basic medical supplies. As if that is not enough they won’t get paid very much, and there will be little chance of a foreseeable change in that status. As they walked on down the path I felt an urgency to get on with our mission. They didn’t ask for anything. They were on the way to do it themselves.”

“It would seem the least we can do by the time these two boys become doctors is to give the country the resources to change their destitute medical situation. I hope so, for the sake of these two boys, and 13 million other people.

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In the past four years the Project has shipped over $30,000,000.00 in medical supplies, equipment and medicine to Malawi each year. These supplies have been focused primarily on the government hospital system that is seriously short of medical support from the cash starved government medical system. Government rural hospitals, along with district and central hospitals, are often out or nearly out of supplies only partially through the month. Additional supply shipments are often not scheduled to arrive at these facilities for several more days. A major medical supply distribution has been established at the Namikango Maternity Hospital and Mission in the southern portion of Malawi.

The same supply short situation exists in most African nations, and the Malawi Project is reviewing options for assistance programs in a number of other African nations, including the west African nation of Sierra Leone.

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