Kawale Orphan Care

At our devotional time this morning, our discussion focused on the importance of our souls being fed, being engaged in things that feed our inner soul.

Today we met Pastor Kelvin and the Rufai Nachamba, the Director of the Board of Kawale Orphan Care. In the 2hrs we spent with them our souls sure gained a lot of weight and our hearts were full to the bursting point. While we were not met with the typical dancing, singing and jubilation of a village of women, the warmth expressed by these two leaders blessed us greatly.

Kawale Orphan Care focuses on caring for vulnerable children in their communities. There are 27 churches with 62 community leaders that have joined together in this effort. KOC has 18 volunteers in their downtown Lilongwe location, and 7 out of their Area 44 location. It is these volunteers that are responsible for going into the community (Home Based Care workers) to support people with HIV/AIDS and in the process become aware of the vulnerable. The city of Lilongwe is divided up into several different areas. Kawale, as mentioned, is located in the centre of the city and much of it is a slum. Area 44 is about a 15-20 min. drive away (much of it again quite slowly due to the condition of the roads). KOC is a much smaller organization than Somebody Cares and has only one organization funding it (Visionledd/WOW). They used to have a major contributor from Malawi but they went bankrupt a few years ago. As a result of that and political changes resulting in a cut of funding, their projects are now on hold. In spite of this, they continue to use the buildings as is and plan for the future. Once they have completed the building of their main centre, they hope to build a barn on a 3.5 hectare piece of land they own just outside the city. They are currently using this land to grow their own maize and other vegetables but hope to raise hogs, cattle and chickens in order to be more self sufficient.

They gave us a tour of their Area 44 project which is currently being run as a primary school with a feeding program but the intention was for this to be a vocational school for orphaned children who graduated to learn vocational skills that would allow them to obtain employment. We found it quite interesting to learn that they run this partly as a private school (thus charging fees to those families that can afford it) but provide free education to the orphans. The reason behind this is that they want to integrate these kids and avoid the school being labeled in a negative way as only being for orphans. While in Malawi, we have also learned that they have 3 categories of orphans: those with only one parent, those without any parent, and child headed homes. So, we hear terms like "single orphan" or "double orphan".

A few things impressed and blessed us in this short meeting with these two leaders. One, they had their mission statement and objectives on large posters on the walls. Two, Pastor Kelvin and Mr. Nachamba are very passionate about their ministry and have a real vision for the future. Three, they gave us a printed schedule for tomorrow's activities. Four, they requested that we be punctual as they had much they wished to discuss with us. Five, they requested if we had any specific information or topics that we would like to talk about tomorrow. It became quite obvious that they had put much effort into planning our visit.

In our discussions along the way, we again heard that to visit them, see and experience what they are doing is more important than sending money. Yes, they need funds but we were told that they feel it is very important for people who partner with them, to come and see if the funds that being donated are being used appropriately.

At the beginning of our meeting with them today, Lydia was blessed beyond belief to meet Wisdom, one of the orphans she met on her previous trip that holds a special place in her heart. She will tell you more about this in her blog tomorrow but I've posted a picture of the two of them that I hope will make it into this blog!

We continually process the things that we are experiencing, wondering what God is telling us, wondering where He is leading us. Our time with Kawale was short today, but again we are inspired. We have much to ponder...

Debbie