The idea started as a dream for a small 30 bed-ward in Blessings Hospital for AIDS orphans, but soon it grew into the idea of having a group of village houses for both the sick and the well. Napoleon Dzombe concluded, “We cannot have a home only for the sick. No one will come. And if it is only for the sick and dying who is going to grow up and take over the work at Blessings when we are gone?” It was an idea with too much momentum to be ignored. Construction on Mtendere Village (Mtendere means “a place of peace”) started in February 2004. The village would encompass a large area nestled in the Dowa Valley just below the hill where Blessings Hospital and the Madilitso Vita Meal Food Plant were located. The idea continued to grow in the minds of Napoleon and the Malawi Project team with various ideas and plans placed on the table for consideration. Then in 2004 with the arrival of John Blanchard of the 100X Group in Montgomery, Alabama, and members of the first mission team from the Landmark Church of Christ in Montgomery, the momentum increased. These groups make the funding available for the dream to become reality and by the end of the year a total of 24 houses were under roof with the first of them nearing completion. By February 2005, just three months after the opening of the Madalitso Vita Meal Plant the Grand Opening took place for the first house in the quiet valley. It was called Mphatso House or “Gift House” so named by the children who made it home. It name reflected their feelings about these houses being such a great gift. One boy would later relate, “I moved from a village and into a mansion.” For the first time most of the children had a real bed and bedroom of their own. They would now receive heath care and the opportunity to go to school. Nearly 3,000 people attended the ceremony marking the beginning of Mtendere and nearly 2,000 of these were orphan children from the area around Lumbadzi.

 

            At the same time the first houses of Mtendere were being finished the team from 100X and the Landmark Church shipped a large cafeteria and multipurpose metal building from the states for construction in the center of the Village. Named the Chris Blanchard Multi-Purpose Building the structure would serve as a gathering place for the children as the village continued to grow ever larger.

 

            Shortly after the opening of the first house came house # 2, the Joy House, followed quickly by the Freedom House. Each carried its Chichewa name as well as its English title. For the first time large numbers of children were faced with the opportunity to grow up and become engineers, nurses, doctors, and even airline pilots. The latter was reinforced each day as international flights rose from the airport across the road from Blessings and the giant silver birds arched high over the houses of Mtendere.

 

            The children of Mtendere soon made an impact on the neighboring Lumbadzi school system and a large percentage quickly reached grade levels that reflected their high degree of enthusiasm at having an opportunity to gain an education. Incentive programs brought excitement as the children made quilts and blankets for use in the hospital and to sell to the American teams who visited. Others helped to form the tiny wire cars called galimotos and these too became a hot commodity as souvenirs for those who wanted to show their friends back home the creativeness of the children at Mtendere. The Crackin Egg Business rounded out the entenour spirit of the children who sought ways to lighten the load of any visitor who wished to invest a few Kwacha or Dollars in their future.

 

            Field trips for the children of Mtendere were unlike anything they could ever have imagined while they were still in the villages of the central region of Malawi. Trips to the airport gave them the opportunity to watch the planes land and take off, as well as to have the opportunity to greet incoming visitors. Many of them experienced field days that took them into the capital for the first time, as well as the opportunity to see and play in Lake Malawi for those who excelled in their school grades. Some of the highest scoring children even experienced the opportunity to travel to the Liwonde Game Park in southern Malawi with a visiting Landmark team and see wild animals alive and up close for the first time.

 

            In early 2007 a total of over 125 children called Mtendere home. They lived in eight houses that for many were like “living in mansions.”