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."

    A sudden, emergency trip to the lakeshore trading center of Nkhotokota resulted in three children from a family of 12 coming to Mtendere for care. The father and mother had both died, and her older sister had to get a job in order to attempt to care for the family. It fell to young Stella Banda to care for the others who were younger than herself, all 10 of them! She was only 8 years old at the time.

    The rushed trip on that July day had taken place as a result of a request from the tribal authority in the area. They had become aware of the plight of the children who were destitute and living alone. Representatives from Mtendere picked up the three children who seemed to be in the worst condition of the 12 at the time. Stella and her sisters, Elana and Jannet came to Mtendere to live.

    Today Stella is becoming both a beautiful, as well as a successful child as she progresses in her school studies and dreams of one day becoming a nurse.

    Pictures show Stella shortly after her arrival at Blessings, the enjoying meal with American guests several months later.

    The children of Mtendere Village are supported through contributions to the 100-X Missions Group in Montgomery, Alabama. For further information about assisting children at Mtendere contact http://100xmissions.org/

 

    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.