The Malawi Project, Inc.

    Mavuto Chifumbi lives in Makwani Village in the area of Traditional Tribal Authority Chief Mponela in the Dowa District of central Malawi, Africa. He is not sure about his age, but is probably in his early fifties.

    Mavuto was born with both legs, and was able to walk until 1972. On the dreadful morning of 18th April 1972, Mavuto was crossing the road at the Mponela Trading Centre. A speeding car was approaching from the north. Unfortunately for Mavuto as he was trying to cross the road he stumbled and fell to the ground on the highway. The driver could not stop and he ran over Mavuto’s legs. From this accident he lost the use of both of his legs. From that moment onward Mavuto was destined to crawl on the ground like some sort of pitiful animal.

    At home Mavuto has a wife and five children. Two girls and three boys must help their father everywhere he goes. But today Mavuto it is different for him after his trip to Blessings Hospital. He smiles as he says,

"Today is a relief day in my life. For the past world I have been crawling like this." Mavuto demonstrates by crawling towards the wheelchair. "I wish to inform the world that today I will stop crawling and will use this wheelchair. God is the only one who can understand my happiness that is inside me. I know it is very difficult for people to know, for they cannot see my happiness that is inside me. This wheelchair will support my family and me, I will now be able to move freely without someone taking me on his or her back when either going to Church or to the market. May God bless all the people that put their money together to get this wheelchair for me. I have a small business. I am a cobbler. I do fix people’s shoes, and I will use this wheelchair when going to the market to assist the people in my community."

    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.

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.

With the success of a number of humanitarian programs well underway at the Blessings Complex the decision was made in late 2006 to expand the distribution network of medical supplies and other humanitarian assistance into other parts of Malawi and even into neighboring nations in 2007. The Malawi Project Board of Directors felt that it was time to expand to other distribution networks as well as continuing to work through the Blessings Complex in the central region of Malawi.

Discussions were held in mid-2006 with the now deceased First Lady of Malawi and a decision was reached for the Malawi Project and World Emergency Relief to send at least two large 40-foot trailers filled with medical supplies and equipment to the Ethel Zvauya Mutharika Foundation in order to help to refurbish Bottom Hospital, the second largest medical facility in the capital city of Lilongwe. Early in 2007 the first shipment left the U.S. destined for the Hospital. In late June a second trailer followed the course of the first one in order to assist with much needed equipment and supplies for the hospital. In spite of the death of the First Lady the commitment will continue and the supplies will reach the hospital in her honor.

By mid-2007 first 40-foot trailer filled with medical supplies and school text books will be leaving Indiana destined for Blantyre, the second largest city in Malawi and will be distributed to hospitals in the southern region of Malawi.

Two other drop points are now being planned in Malawi as well as continued efforts being put forth to assist the Chewa people with distribution being planned in eastern Zambia in coming months.