Orphan Care
With the increase of HIV/AIDS and other related diseases, the life expectancy in Malawi will decrease from 57 years of age to an estimated 37 by the year 2010. A very large portion of the deaths are leaving massive numbers of children as orphans. Some estimates indicate there are at least 2,000,000 orphans in this tiny nation of 11,000,000. One of every six persons in the country is under 5 years of age, and the village and social system of the country is strained past its ability to cope with the problem.
This massive number of orphans will disrupt the traditional village family network unless massive amounts of food and clothing can be supplied to them. If this care can be given, the villages, in most cases, will be able to house and raise their children. Without it the same problems will begin to plague Malawi that faces many emerging world nations; that of massive numbers of the homeless migrating to the cities where pockets of poverty and unrest ferment social and political unrest.
With the assistance of Napoleon Dzombe and a number of aid organizations in a number of countries, the Malawi Project has set out to infuse large amounts of clothing and food into the villages to assist with the growing number of orphans and other children in need. One of the major areas in the central region where aid is sent on a regular basis is to assist an estimated 10,000 orphans in and around the Mponela Trading Center, north of the capital. With the help of large shipments of clothing, and major food contributions from Nourish The Children, a recent day of distribution brought smiles to large numbers of children.
Mtendere Village is a child care program for orphans and children who can no longer be cared for in their villages.
