(1) “We had convened one of our field trips when a young man crawled over to where we were meeting and said to me, “I would have been at school now, but it is difficult for me because there is no one to carry me.’ He had come hoping to receive a wheelchair. We had given all of them to others.

(2) “Moments later another person arrived on the back of a barrowed bicycle hoping to receive a wheelchair.”

(3) “Yet another one arrived jumping on one leg, using a stick to steady himself. He had lost one leg when he was attacked by armed robbers.”

(4) “And finally came yet another man who had learned we had come to their village near Salima where our operations are based.”

Another trailer of wheelchairs is being prepared for shipment to Malawi. But in the meantime there are so many people watching in hopeful anticipation. Within the community of need they are still waiting.

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    Kasungu, Malawi … From all appearances the wheelchairs were up early and reached the site of the ceremony well ahead of the crowd. Of course, one has to realize that many in the crowd were slow getting around since nearly all of them live with severe handicaps that make rapid progress slow or impossible.

    George Banda, the Director of KODO had the wheelchairs assembled and ready when the 25 students and 5 older people with walking handicaps arrived at the school near Kasungu in the northern part of the central region of Malawi.

    Chankhanga Primary School, in the Kasungu District of Malawi, offers education to children with special needs. A spokesperson for the school reported, "Our children will now be able to attend classes daily which was not the case before because of mobility problems. Most of the time these children were absent from classes. Thank you to KODO for giving us these wheelchairs.”

    According to George Banda, “The ceremony was carried out on an area of open ground and witnessed by many who came to see what the Malawi Project has done to enable KODO to reach this far in helping these people. Thanks.”

    “As is the case with everything that is done to help the people of Malawi there are numbers of people behind the scenes who make it all possible,” reports Richard Stephens of the Malawi Project. “Free Wheelchair Mission, KODO, the Malawi Project, and a multitude of contributors make it all possible, but most are never seen. To so many people in Malawi they will never hear the names of their many benefactors, nor will they ever see them. They only know they are now in school, and they can make a different life for themselves because someone, someplace heard the call from Jesus to help those who are poor and suffering.”

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Cheats Death

Going Outside After 22 Years

    Ntcheu, Malawi … It made national news in one of the leading newspapers in the tiny African nation of Malawi. The front-page headline seemed to scream for attention, “Death Cheat – Bed Ridden for 22 years.” Farther inside a nearly full page leads off with the headline, “Ntcheu lady sees light after 22 years.” What is it that calls for such bold headlines, and such a touching story of hope and success? The story finds its origin in a working relationship between the Malawi Project, the Free Wheelchair Mission, and in this case, the Kuthandiza Osayenda Disability Outreach (KODO) operations in Salima, Malawi.

    The story began when a recent shipment of 550 all terrain wheelchairs were shipped to Malawi, thanks to supporters with the Free Wheelchair Mission and the Malawi Project. A portion of this shipment was earmarked for distribution through (KODO) in Salima, a support facility for the disabled that is helping bring various forms of mobility and independence to people who cannot get a start for themselves.

    Meanwhile in a village area far to the south of Salima in the Ntcheu District lived a woman who had been bed ridden for 22 years because of her disability and the fact that there was no one to take her outdoors. Twenty-two years locked in the invisible prison walls of a single, tiny bedroom. Twenty-two years of never seeing friends walking within just feet of the outside of your tiny hut. Twenty-two years of never watching a sunrise or sunset, or even breathing in the fresh air that drifted so very near to her confined dark hut.

    George Banda, the administrator of KODO writes, “In spite of her own disability Dorothy traveled 400 kilometers in order to pick up a wheelchair when they arrived in Salima, and return with it to the small village.”

     Now it is possible for her to greet friends as they pass the front door, sunrise and sunset have returned to being part of her life, and she can now see and feel the gentle breezes that wisp past her hut,. All of this is now reality because a number of people combined their resources to bring mobility into her life.

    One can no longer wonder why the newspaper headlines seemed to scream out such a wonderful, inspiring success story.

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    Salima, Malawi… Just east of the central portion of the Salima Trading Center in Malawi, Africa stands Kuthandiza Osayenda Disability Outreach, or KODO. It is a humanitarian organization that has been formed with the purpose and focus of helping those with physical disabilities. George Banda, a victim of a physical handicap that has plagued him since birth, operates the facility. Instead of succumbing to his problems George has worked to overcome them. He has not only provided for himself and his family, but has worked diligently to assist others with physical disabilities through the organization he founded for this purpose, KODO.

    Today KODO is training a number of Malawians with physical disabilities in various ways they can become self sufficient and self-supporting through the learning of trades that will provide them with an income.

    In a recent shipment of 550 wheelchairs, that included a number designated for distribution through KODO, the assembly of the chairs were carried out by those with physical handicaps themselves, again reflecting a pattern of Malawians doing what they can do for themselves and the Malawi Project assisting in areas they cannot achieve without outside assistance.

    Pictured are George Banda, President of KODO, some of the workers working inside the facility near Salima, and workers with disabilities, putting together new wheelchairs for others with disabilities.

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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.

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    When Yasin met George he found a home. It was not a place where he could receive, but a place where he could give. Since he was from the Kapira Village in the Salima District, Yasin was able to begin assisting George to assist others with disabilities. He has been there ever since, teaching, assisting, encouraging.

    The old adage is true: "I complained that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet." It is pretty hard to complain after you have watched George and Yasin  helping the disabled. It appears they no longer realize that they both also suffer from disabilities that would make others grow discouraged and quit.

    Yasin is seen in the left of this picture showing a young woman how to repair a bicycle rim.

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She Goes Everywhere in the Wheelbarrow

    Where ever they go she goes in the wheelbarrow. When they go to the trading center, she goes in the wheelbarrow. When they go to church, she goes in the wheelbarrow. When they walk along the road, she goes in the wheelbarrow.

    The girl in the wheelbarrow is 19-year-old Agnes Kumbuyo. She is from the Kauluka Village, Mdunga Area, Tribal Authority T. A. Wimbe, in the Kasungu District of north-central Malawi, Central Africa.

    At the age of 5 little Agnes contracted malaria, and from this common, but deadly, disease she contracted this disability. She is the third child in the family, and she is not in school since there has been no mobility aids up to now. No way to get her around. Hence her family had no choice except to put her in the family wheelbarrow.

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KODO Distribution Goes Both North and South

    Because of the recent influx of supplies from the supporters of the Malawi Project the work of the Kuthandiza Osayenda Disability Outreach  (KODO) has been able to expand into parts of Malawi that were only dreamed of just a few months ago. The following gives a partial report of distribution from two recent shipments of supplies to KODO in Salima.

 Aid Programs Touch Zomba
     The Songani Orphan Care facility in Zomba District made repeated calls to KODO asking for help. Nothing could be done. Then after shipments of needed supplies started coming in from the Malawi Project in America it was possible to extend assistance. Mr. George Chimpiko, from KODO, made a trip to Zomba to look in on the assistance being given to the orphans. Seeing orphans being taught life skills he was impressed with the programs being given to the 500 orphans who live at the facility. In the pictures below are shown Chifundo Musa, an orphan who has lost both parents, yet is still involved in trying to help her two siblings to survive. Also shown are a number of the residents of the orphanage going through to find shirts and pants that will fit them.
 

Expand Out Over Salima District
    They came from all over the Salima District, even the blind, deaf, albinos and any other kind of disability known to man. Even the elderly and the orphans were present as KODO organized the ceremony that included the District Commissioner who came to oversee the distribution of the much-needed supplies to those in need. By the end of the day over 400 families had benefited from the assistance that had come from America.

Blantyre Resource Center Receives Supplies
    Continuing with the distribution program KODO workers arrive in Blantyre, in the southern district of Malawi. Here local news reporters, school officials, school children and parents of children with disabilities greeted them. In this school is a resource center for children from all walks of life who have disabilities, and the need for supplies was acute. By the end of the day the land around the school had taken on a new look at supplies were offloaded for the school.

 Working to Solve Their Own Problems
    Field visits to sites being helped with supplies from KODO are found to be working to solve their own problems. Training in life skills is critical and is proving to be a success in a large number of cases with the programs at KODO. Whether it is digging the KODO truck out of the mud or spending time in a classroom the students are learning how to cope with life and its challenges.
 

Kasungu and Nkhotakota Districts Receive Aid
    Reaching Kasungu two districts north of the capital, and then expanding east to the Nkhotakota District, families received sewing machines along with other supplies to assist them. With the sewing machines handicapped families are able to provide themselves with a living and not be a burden to other family members or to the village in which they live.

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            They came that day from all corners of Salima District in eastern Malawi. It was not only a big day for those with mobility problems, but it was a big day for the blind, albinos, the deaf, the dumb and any other disability known to man kind, including even the elderly and the orphans who were present to receive from Kuthandiza Osayenda Disability Outreach (KODO) the various items the Malawi Project and its supporters had recently sent to Malawi. After the shipment arrived KODO organized the ceremony, which was presided over by the District Commissioner, in order to give the much-needed humanitarian aid to these most needy citizens in the district. The items, which ranged from beddings, clothes, shoes, wheelchairs, crutches, walking sticks, frames, shower seats, toilet-seats, vegetable soup, and kitchen items, were freely donated to these people. It was a joyful day to see happy people receiving things some of them have never used before in their lives.

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    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. 

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