Ntalimaja Village, Malawi … As you look at 17-year-old Frolence Sadck it is hard to imagine a mother or sister trying to carry this girl on their back as they move from place to place, but it is a sad fact, and it is true all over Malawi. It is a picture you see far too often and there are a number of these scenes in this one tiny village area west of Zomba.
Erik Tryggestad, from the Christian Chronicle newspaper, Wilson Tembo, the manager of the warehouse operations at the Namikango Mission, and I had traveled to this remote village in southern Malawi to observe the distribution of a number of wheelchairs. These were made possible through the efforts of the Malawi Project, and the Free Wheelchair Mission in Southern California. What we found on our arrival was impressive and surprising. Wilson Tembo picks up the narrative.
“To reach Ntalimaja Village we had to make the unavoidable passage through the bush. Up and down we bounced along on the pothole filled, dirt road. When we reached the village we were met by representatives of the organization is Mawa ndi anthu otisamala organization, (It’s name means the children are the future leaders who will care for us).”
“Founded in 2001, the organization was born mainly to care for and support children and other vulnerable people in their homes. Luwis Gama, the organization’s director greeted us upon our arrival, along with a number of village women, men and children (beneficiaries) who were to benefit from the wheelchairs we brought for them. The organization is a grass roots program that reaches into 14 villages, and is on record having served a total of 300 orphans, 55 elderly people and 34 physically challenged people since it’s inception. Luwis also noted that 12 orphaned children are getting free Secondary education through the center, and 43 families that are caring for the orphaned children have been provided with female goats to act as financial source.”
“In addressing the audience, Richard Stephens of the Malawi Project said, ‘On behalf of the Malawi Project, I am extremely pleased with the spirit that the people in this village have; the heart of helping yourselves and I would like to see the Project continuing to work with you’. Stephens further noted there are so many people in the villages just waiting for the government to come and help them, but, surprisingly, the people of this village have jointly come together to help themselves.”