Huber Springs, Arkansas … After visiting Malawi for the first time in late 2022, Dan Brewer, a member of the Malawi Project’s board of directors and former Treasurer for the group, saw first-hand the depth of poverty suffered by the people of Malawi. As with almost all who travel to this little-known tiny country in sub-Saharan Africa no longer did the term “one of the poorest nations of earth” resonate only on paper, or in the lens of a camera’s image. It had become real, real people, real children, real elderly, all with one thing in common, their suffering. Children without school supplies, old people without the means to harvest enough food, and hospitals struggling to care for patients with almost no supplies with which to do the job.
For Dan, it will never be the same. Malawi is no longer faces on a computer screen. They are Chifundo, Chifunaro, and Chimwemwe. They are Madalitso and Tokosani. They are no longer just people who cannot walk, now they are Fatsoni, Kondwani, and Mphatso.
Even before returning to his home in Arkansas Dan started focusing on how he could help the people he had just met face to face. He observes,
“Even before I made my first trip to Malawi, I knew there was intense need. I had seen pictures, read news articles, and participated on the board for the Malawi Project for several years. Because of this participation I thought I knew what to expect. However, I don’t think anyone can fully understand what life in Malawi is like without fully living it every day. I was at a disadvantage because no matter how difficult life looked from my vantage point, I knew at the end of the day I was going back to my room, and at the end of the week I would travel back to the U.S. As I saw their struggle to survive, first-hand, I experienced a deepened appreciation for the people of Malawi.
From that first trip, and my time interacting with them, I realized I cannot fully experience their way of life, but I can do something to help them. For instance, I can some send some bars of soap, band-aids, pencils, or other simple everyday items so common to us. But the question comes, ‘Will such simple items make a difference?’ It sure will for the people who receive them! I realized if I do nothing, then nothing is going to change, not even a little. I completely believe if enough of us are willing to make what is a small sacrifice to us, we will indeed make a difference. I know my life will never be like theirs, but my hope is that, in some ways, through our support we can make their lives a little more like ours.”
The following list are his goals for support to Malawi in 2023. Your help is needed to help Dan reach his goals.
- Bars of soap ………… 2,500
- Pencils ………………… 100,000
- Writing Paper ……… 11,000 pads
- Band-aids ……………. 1,000 boxes
- Tylenol (Bottles) ….. 1,000 bottles
- Toothbrushes …….… 25,000
- Toothpaste ………….. 25,000 tubes
- Rubber Gloves ……… 500,000
- Burn Ointment …….. 5,000 tubes
- Communion Cups … 1,000,000
- Raisins …………………. 1,000 boxes
The items on Dan’s list can be sent to: Malawi Project, 2421 Golfside Drive, Lebanon, IN 46052. They in turn will be shipped to Malawi for distribution.
In the picture Dan addresses a crowd at Kayembe Village during a food and mobility distribution.