The Malawi Project, Inc.

    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.

    On the morning of 5th February 2008, I got to my clinic only to find a Mr. and Mrs. Milanzi, waiting for me next to the entrance to the clinic. The woman looked dehydrated and in great pain. As I helped the poor woman into the clinic, I felt the heat emanating from her   body and the pathetic look of her face. I could tell without getting into all the routines that this was another malaria case. The disease has killed more people than those who have succumbed to HIV.

Temperature Reaches 104

 Mrs. Milanzi had lost a lot of fluids through vomiting. She had been vomiting since midnight, the husband told me. I placed a thermometer, which registered a temperature of 104 degrees F.

 I admitted the patient to our observation room. We opened an intravenous line and started administering fluids while waiting for a laboratory confirmation of malaria. The results indicated she should be classified as a P. Falciparum 3+, the most serious form of malaria.  We continued with intravenous quinine administration.

    The patient required more observation time than we could afford. We wish she had remained within our premises for an additional observation time.  Unfortunately our facilities are limited and could only keep her until knock off time.

    At  1700, we had to send Mrs. Milanzi home, though not fully recovered.  However, we had done the best we could in getting her out of the danger zone and kept our fingers crossed that her condition should not suddenly change for the worse.

    Malaria can be worse especially when all the necessary undertakings have not been adequately done. The vomiting and episodes of diarrhea often leave a patient very dehydrated. Temperature spikes leading to convulsions sometimes complicate the situation.

    A medical attendant is usually caught up in a dilemma of whether to send a patient home or observe him or her until one has fully recovered and walk home without any support. That is an ideal set up. Nevertheless, we are working towards there and one day we will be comfortable to keep patients, like Mrs. Milanzi, at our premises until they are fully recovered.

    Above everything, we need to point out that we had the confidence of handling this case because of the availability of some medical consumables we benefited from Malawi Project. 

    There are many people who share the same joy today because of a helping hand from the Malawi Project. We wish the Lord’s blessings over the Malawi Project Team.

    Early on Sunday morning we learned some of the staff had made a rushed trip to the lakeside side, historic community of Nkhotokoto north and east of us. The trading center is located over a hundred miles away from Lumbadzi. It seemed there was a family of twelve children who were in a severe situation after the death of both of their parents. Someone had called Mtendere to come quickly. All day we waited for the return to learn the status of the children.

    That night the car arrived at Blessing, and inside were three children, three of the twelve. Three who were in the worst condition. It was believed the others would be able to survive for the time being on their own. But it was the youngest that was nearest death. Little Jannet. Only a little over a year old Jannet was down to a weight of only 7 kilograms (Could that actually mean she weighted less than 2 lbs?). The medical people decided it was too late for Jannet. She would not survive the night. The other two children were taken to one of the houses at Mtendere and Jannet over was given to the care of the medical staff. We went to bed that night convinced that with the morning sun we would be making preparations for a funeral. It seems so unfair. A tiny baby. There was nothing she had done to cause this. Her mother had died when we she just a few months old and her father had died just one week later. No matter how hard they tried the older children could not find enough food for the family.

    The sun arose around 5:40 AM and we were up and on the way down to the hospital to find out the status of the baby’s condition. To our complete surprise Jannet was still alive. She had survived the night. What a fighter. During that day and the days to come the staff from Mtendere and the hospital gave Jannet special attention. She not only survived but started to improve. In a single week she reached a weight of 8.5 kilograms. In three weeks she was up to 10.5. Although it was some time before Jannet would respond to anyone within a few months she would smile and seek the attention of some of the staff members at the compound. Soon Jannet became the center of attention and the other children often competed with who was going to care for Jannet.

    Today Jannet continues to make progress at her home at Mtendere. Two of her siblings are still residents of the village and all three are proving to be a great asset to the community. The little girl who was expected to be dead by morning is alive and well and is now nearing 5 years of age.

 Pictures

The first picture is of Jannet in tne early weeks after her arrival at Mtendere. The second picture is of her nearly two years after her arrival.

    A recent visit by a dentist and an eye doctor to the Clinic at the Gate seems to have inspired at least one of the children toward a future profession in the medical field.
   Both doctors gave basic examinations in their respective fields but one little boy decided the eye care field was the direction he wanted to go. So, he went back to his village area and gathered up small strands of cast off wire. From them he expertly crafted his first pair of glasses.

    One has to wonder if there is an eye doctor somewhere close by interested in hiring this young man to assist him. Bt then perhaps not! It seems he forgot the glass in the frames!

    On a more serious note it is a simple reality that most children in Malawi will never see or wear a pair of eye glasses or have an eye exam no matter how bad their eye sight becomes. Malawi is one of the poorest nations in the world.

    For more pictures on the Clinic at the Gate click here.

A Single Exception Caught the Attention of George Banda

The road from Lilongwe north to Kasunga is a good tarmac road. In fact it is the main road north through the tiny nation of Malawi, and the only one that is paved the entire length of the nation. Thus it carries most of the heavy truck traffic and most of the bus and walking traffic that can be seen in the northern half of the nation. This means it is not unusual to see perhaps hundreds of people walking along the roadside as one travels this major highway. It was not unusual to see many people walking along the edges of the roadway on that Tuesday in February as I traveled north from the capital. I was on the way to Kasungu District to deliver a number of wheelchairs from our offices at the Kuthadiza Disability Outreach Program offices in Salima. As always I saw old and young, people in oxcarts, others on bicycles, and always I saw many children going to school or playing along the way.

    On this day I was attracted to a small group of children near Madisi as my eyes stopped on a small boy pushing a dirty wheelchair. I pulled to the side of the road to talk to the children. I learned that the boy’s name is Fatsani Zawanje, and he is 8 years old. I learned that he was pushing the wheelchairs because one of the wheels was flat. He lived nearby so I went to talk with his mother since he was not in school, yet the school was only 2 km away. We then took the wheelchair for repairs.

    I am pleased to report the boy is now back in school at the Maranatha PVT Primary School nearby. The parents of the boy are very poor farmers. I encouraged them to follow the example my mother followed by taking me to school every day. It will now be easier for them to take young Fatsoni to school as he again has a wheelchair to help to get him to school and back.

    As I drove away from seeing Fatsoni’s smile I was reminded of Zachaus in the Bible. Along the roadside he gained great benefits from meeting the Messiah. Today along the roadside young Fatsoni has gained from a traveler who could stop and help him.
                                                                                                                                                                                                               By George Banda

*    Editors Note: The wheelchair that George Banda stopped to repair had actually been one of 1,100 wheelchairs that had been delivered and distributed to Malawi in 2006 in a cooperative program between the Free Wheelchair Mission and the Malawi Project.