Update from Namalu

It was great to receive news of Namalu from the Open Arms team. Its clear from the report that their reintegration strategy is progressing well and there is much we can do to support Namalu.

Open Arms believes abandoned babies and children are more likely to thrive growing up in their home community. Once they have restored the health of the great many children brought to their clinics in Blantyre and Mangochi, Open Arms works with the community to bring the child home.

As a result, we have moved away from sponsoring children to funding the food for the Namalu community nursery - which currently supports well over 50 children. Over the years, our school has developed a strong connection with this village. Lunch and a bit of a sing-song with the village chief has become a highpoint of our school trip!  

Now that we know about the struggles the village is having with its water pump - the same one we thought we'd fixed two years ago - and their desire to create a community vegetable garden, we look forward to learning how we might support this during our visit in October.

Thanks to Open Arms for taking the time to update us - see extract below:

It was wonderful to spend time Open Arms' new re-integration officer, visiting families on the new Community-Based Care programme in Blantyre.  We were really impressed at how well the programme is run, and how Open Arms is supporting the families so they can care for their babies at home.  

Open Arms - Blantyre

We now have 40 babies being supported on this programme. They receive regular visits (at least once a month) and are provided with formula milk, likuni phala (if over 6 months), soap, Vaseline and other baby essentials. Those needing extra support receive a small cash transfer to help them with hospital transport and medicines. The team monitor their weight closely and provide extra advice as needed.  

They are now starting to work on helping families gain self-sufficiency and three families have been given banana suckers, to help them generate an income.  As the programme develops the team are aiming to get families self-sufficient by the time the child reaches 3 years old. Seeing the bond these carers have with their babies was truly heart-warming and left us in no doubt that this was the right direction for Open Arms, Blantyre. 

Mangochi Infant Home

Wonderful care continues at Mangochi Infant Home, which currently has 23 babies receiving care.  A couple of children are due to be reintegrated very soon.  We also had the opportunity to visit some of the young adults from the family houses, and Anthony is working on individual plans for each of them so we can support them into independence.

Namalu community care

On the day we visited Namalu there were no children in attendance due to a national holiday being declared for the laying to rest of the late Vice President of Malawi. However, this meant we were able to speak to their teacher and the school committee about their needs at the school.

Unfortunately, a couple of days before our visit, two of the toilet doors had been stolen, they presume for firewood. The committee is fairly new, and they all expressed concerns over security at the school, so they are going to work out a plan between them for someone sleeps on site overnight.  The toilets are still usable, and they felt until they have sorted out their security there was no point replacing the doors. 

Community garden

We also discussed ways for the school to become more self-sufficient and they are keen to look at ways they can grow their own produce so they can afford things like firewood and salt and maybe employ a security guard. The committee are going to call a meeting with the parents from the village to see if they can come together as a community and work towards this goal.  They may need some assistance with seeds and fertiliser in the future to help with this.

Water pump

We also looked at the water pump as I know you were keen to get this fixed for them.  When we were there, we met a technician from the village who works for a bore hole company in another area.  He has repaired the pump several times and he felt it could be repaired again but it would probably break again in a couple of months. Apparently, there is rubble/sediment deep down that is causing it to block.  

He felt it was better to create a new borehole around the side of the nursery.  It was felt there may be an opportunity to create a water tank as well, which could help provide flushing toilets and taps, as well as water for their crops which could eventually help create a kitchen garden for the school, aiding their self-sufficiency.  

Obviously, this would be a bigger project, but we could look at doing it over a 2-3 year period, starting this year.  We have asked the team to get some quotes and proposals drawn up, but in the meantime, we just wanted to run this idea by you, so you have time to consider this approach.   Apparently, they have two boreholes nearby, but it would really benefit them to have one at the school.

Call for early-years toys

They currently have 26 boys and 27 girls enrolled, and 7 children are due to move on to Primary school in September.  They are having an issue with ants eating the door frames and shelves in the storeroom. These will eventually need replacing. We also asked their teacher if she had any other needs, and she felt that she could do with some more early years toys, for those children who struggle to join in with the lessons.  We said we would let any visitors know as they may be able to bring some donations. 

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