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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Family Caregivers at Malawi Hospital Cook for Patients

An Emergency in Africa

It was 11:30 PM when the telephone rang, Suzi picked up the receiver and after a lengthy conversation hung up and explained the call.

“It was a call from the Vice President of Malawi. She expressed her regrets that she had to call so late, but with us leaving for the states in the morning it was important that she communicate with us before our departure.” Suzi went on to explain the “emergency”, as I thought back over our time with the Honorable Joyce Banda, the Vice President.

We had known the week before, after showing the VP the new V-Tractor, that she had gone north for a four or five day fact-finding tour of the hospitals. She especially wanted to see the conditions women were facing when they went to the hospitals to deliver their children. Months before Malawi had put into effect a campaign to encourage the village women to travel to the hospitals in order to deliver. It was hoped this would impact the high mortality rate among deliveries in the rural, village areas. What the Vice-President found was not what she wanted to see, and it was the reason for the emergency call.

In Malawi there are reported to be less than 100 Malawi doctors and no more than 3,000 nurses for a population of 13,000,000 people. Hospitals run critically short of supplies, and are often unprepared for women coming to deliver.   It is not unusual to see birthing areas filled with women who must bring their own plastic trash bags in order to have something to deliver on.  There are no cooking facilities in most hospitals, and not enough shelter for the caregivers to get inside from inclement weather. Thus, all around the grounds of most hospitals are large numbers of people, “camping out” in order to care for the patients.

With the recent campaign to persuade more women to come to the hospital to deliver the problem has been compounded. What the Vice-President found on her trip north was facility after facility overrun with pregnant mothers soon to deliver and caregivers everywhere. The hospitals cannot get everyone inside the overcrowded buildings, and they are sleeping all over the grounds outside. The rains have started and all over Malawi pregnant women and family members are laying on the ground in the wet, muddy conditions.

She needs help from us and she needs it quickly. These women are facing hardships they have done nothing to deserve.  ( See Additional Photos)

In the time since we arrived in the states, we find our nation trying to cope with the crisis in Haiti, and our own economy. Meanwhile it is raining nearly every day with heavy monsoon rains, and there are women laying on the wet ground, praying for someone to help them. And the Vice President is also looking for someone, somewhere who will help the women of Malawi.

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