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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On the way to Blantyre we saw the most  unbelievable site off to the right. A new office building is under construction, and a combination of flimsy “sticks and poles” seems to be clinging to the outer walls of the structure. A closer examination indicates the “sticks and poles” are actually the scaffolding used by the construction workers while building the structure. Brent Gourley, a recent visitor from Indiana asked, “How in the world does this flimsy structure hold itself up, let alone allow the workmen to move easily along its framework?”

This same type of construction scene is also seen with a much smaller two-story home on the north side of the city. In fact this method of construction is so common that Malawians do not even take notice. How in the world does this remain standing?   Here are a few views of the construction method followed by a closeup view that answers the question – “how does this building remain standing?”:

Scaffolding Around Large Malawi Residence

Side view of Scaffolding

The answer! One of the poles goes right through the wall and sticks into the inside room. This is what is holding the scaffolding in place. It is actually cemented through the wall. It is that way all the way around the building. When the construction is complete, and it is time to “take down” the scaffolding, the pieces cemented through the wall are simply cut off, and the part through the wall is covered over. No one will ever know there are pieces of wood buried in the outer wall of the house that were once part of the scaffolding used to construct the building.

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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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Malawi Vice President Visits Indiana

Indianapolis, Indiana … During a recent trip to the United States the Right Honorable Joyce Banda, the Vice President of the nation of Malawi, made a trip to Indiana to express her gratitude for the work the Malawi Project has accomplished in her nation in recent years. During her time in Indiana she met with a group of businesswomen who have been able to create successful ventures in the Indianapolis area. Sharon O’Donoghue, the Executive Director of the Business Ownership Initiative, organized this meeting.

In late afternoon Dick and Suzi Stephens, founders of the Malawi Project, hosted a reception for the Vice President at their home on the Indianapolis north side. Over 200 people were in attendance during the four-hour reception. The guest list included people from Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Tennessee, Michigan and Indiana.

In the evening the Vice-President was hosted by church elders and members of the Board of Directors for MIBI, the newest program in Malawi by the Indianapolis group. The new MIBI campus, now over 200 acres in size, will house an international leadership training school, pre-school and secondary school, agricultural training facility, and a medical facility.

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“I quickly put on a pair of rubber gloves and ran to the gate,” reports Samantha Ludick of the Clinic at the Gate, and the Cool Runnings Resort in Senga Bay. “The very sound of his voice indicated it was serious.”

“When I reached the gate I met a young woman named Hawa Admini. She showed me her arm, and started to explain what had happened. It seems that three weeks earlier she was sleeping fine, except for her dream. When she awoke she felt like she had a mountain on her arm. She discovered a lump on her arm. She did nothing for a time thinking it was just the dream, but the lump kept getting bigger and bigger. She had no money to go to the hospital. Finally a neighbor told her to come to the Clinic at the Gate.”

“When I saw the wound I knew I needed to take her to the Salima District Hosptial. I clearned the wound, and gave her a strong painkiller. At the hospital we were faced with the question, ‘Would they have the supplies to care for her?’ I quickly learned they did not. Only if I could source the needed supplies could they help her. I made a list from the doctor of the things he would need.”

“Back at the Clinic at the Gate I gathered up supplies given to me by the Malawi Project, and made some calls to find other needed supplies I did not have. Before long I was able to go back to the hospital with the supplies, much to the delight of the doctor. He noted how hard it is to help people when you do not have the medical supplies to do the job.”

Ludick concludes, “We are so very appreciative of all who help get the supplies to us that are helping people like Hawa.”

To assist us in providing medical supplies to the Clinic at the Gate and others like it, please click here to   contact us.

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Cooking ~ 98% of the population has no electricity with which to cook. There is no other means available than to use wood or charcoal, both of which require the cutting of trees.

Brick Making ~ In order to make bricks for building construction large amounts of wood is used to fire the brick making kilns.

Shifting Cultivation ~ As land is exhausted from farming, virgin forest is being cleared for new farmland. This deforestation is having drastic effects on the environment.

Building ~ With an ever increasing population, the need for lumber for housing continues to grow.

Tobacco Drying ~ One of the major exports of Malawi is tobacco, and 1 acre of tobacco requires up to 3 acres of woodland to cure the tobacco.

Exports ~ Malawi has a critical need to export in order to help offset the high import costs of goods and services. Wood is a commodity badly needed in other parts of the world, and it brings good prices on the world market.

“The problems that lead to the excess cutting of trees is not an easy one to resolve,” reports Richard Stephens of the Malawi Project. “We find many of the solutions are beyond our ability to solve in the short term. However we can affect the problem by planting thousands of trees. This goes along with the goal of creating incentive programs, instead of creating welfare, from the needed things we send to Malawi. Instead of just giving shoes to everyone along the way we have, on more than one occasion, distributed shoes through incentive programs where the Malawi government has supplied the seedlings, the people in the villages plant the trees, and the Malawi Project donates the shoes as the incentive to do the planting.”

“This past year,” Stephens continues, “we worked with Project C.U.R.E. of Centennial, Colorado to send 7,920 pair of brand new shoes, still in their original boxes, to Malawi. The Dzidalire Group in the Dedza District worked with the villagers to plant the trees and then receive a new pair of shoes for their labor. The result was the planting of nearly a quarter of a million trees. It is a win, win program for everyone.”

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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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