Establishing a Safe Place for Kids
Senga Bay, Malawi … In spite of having three of their five children still in college, and with both of them retired from the teaching profession Wadson D. Sumani and his wife Judith have converted much of their Senga Bay residence to a safe haven, technical training, primary school combination to assist children. Now in their 38th year of marriage, he has retired from teaching at the technical college in Senga Bay and she has completed a teaching job in the government school system, so they are now focused on volunteer work. With meager funding from her retirement package, as well as some funds from well-wishers and guests who stay at the Cool Running’s Guest House in Senga Bay, the couple have converted a portion of their home into a classroom, a workshop, a primary school in their back yard, and a safe haven for village children.
While Judith focuses on classroom teaching, Wadson has expressed his passion with a small number of hand tools, and the conversion of a large room into a training workshop. Here he trains young men to be professional woodworkers. His current class totals 12.
Visiting the workshop one quickly sees some amazing success stories. Wadson, by his very nature, is an optimistic person. He holds tightly to those successes to maintain his motivation, to press forward, when the lack of supplies, equipment seem they will weigh him down.
In the workshop it is easy to see his passion to shape the future of “his boys”. “Everything is changing,” he says, concerning the village where he and his wife have lived since 1981.
Wadson continues, “We must do things to keep these children busy. If we don’t they will be out there,” gesturing toward the village, “with their friends drinking and smoking chomba (marijuana) and getting in trouble”.
Wadson and Judith started this “safe house” in the mid-1980’s, and as roll-models this couple have gone a long way to change the lives of young people.
Wadson Needs:
- Drilling machine
- Angle Grinder
- Hand smoothing planers
- Claw hammers
- Set of screwdrivers
- Table Planer (surfacer/thinkness planer)
- Jog saw with accessories
- Hand crosscut saw
- Min Compressor and spray gun
- S Clamps
- F Clamps
If you can help purchase any of these tools, or, please send woodworking tools you have available to the Project, we will get them to Wadson in Malawi.
