Dear Kudimba friends,
Finally we are able to share the most recent Kudimba news directly from the Malawian field, where we belong. This is how it is supposed to be and we are so relieved that life has almost returned to normality after two hectic years of the pandemic.
The project has done remarkably well in the absence of the overseas Trustees. The all-Malawian team has transformed the place into a true haven in the long time that we have not been able to visit. The place looks beautiful and the team operates like a well oiled machine now.
Also, the outreach services are now a well integrated part of Kudimba and they have proven their value in the community.
Another development of which we are proud is the creation of ‘Tiyanjane’. This is a parent support group which has been established at Kudimba, out of their own initiative. Every last Friday of the month parents are invited to Kudimba to come and share their experiences and support each other. Tiyanjane means ‘let’s come together’ in Chichewa.
The team and the children are all well, except for Alimah. She is currently admitted at a private hospital in Lilongwe, but even under those conditions our young friend is struggling to recover and we are making every effort to find appropriate answers to our medical questions.
Unfortunately our efforts are without much luck, most likely because the answers we are looking for are just not available in Malawi. It’s a challenging situation. Alimah’s difficult health situation has effectuated one extraordinary positive change in Kudimba.
In the first week of October we welcomed for the first time a medical team from a nearby clinic which came for an outreach visit to Kudimba. They will now visit monthly to see the children of the project, or any children from Lifuwu who have been referred to us with medical complications. The team keeps records of all these children, refers them to the best possible place for care in Malawi and they follow up on their situation.
It’s an enormous relief to be able to share this responsibility with a dedicated and knowledgeable team and we are grateful to one of our partner organisations, Starfish Malawi, to offer this service to us.
We are still preparing for our solar panel project, which will be realised in July and August 2021, with one year delay. We have now completed the stand for the solar panels, it is 35㎡ and as we wanted to optimise the space underneath we have made it into a store room, as well as a technical room for batteries and inverters and a brand new house for our chickens to reside. Talking about chickens, they are everywhere in Kudimba; behind every bush, in every corner, under every tree and in every basket we find chickens with their chicks. We even find eggs in the laundry baskets. The new and fenced accommodation for the chickens will be perfect. There is lots of shade from the trees and the chicks and chickens are safe and protected from predators.
There has been a little baby boom at Kudimba, we have four Kudimba babies at the moment: our staff members Caroline, Chifundo, Leke and Funny all have had a baby in the last six months, two boys and two girls. Doreen is Caroline’s sister and stays at Kudimba to look after baby Charles during working hours, occasionally she looks after Chifundo’s little girl at the same time, have a look at the beautiful photo in the attachment.
We have started tailoring courses at Kudimba on Saturday afternoons, any participant or staff member of Kudimba is welcome to join. We have two manual and one electric machine at our disposal. The teacher is really gifted and the response of the participants is exclusively positive.
Our two staff members Anthony and Bright are going to start a course in computer and electronics, they will do this together with Johny, our eldest participant who cannot hear or speak. Johny has a real interest in electronics and we think that he has a talent. Anthony and Bright will accompany him for the travel, translate the course into sign language for him and act as his tutors.
Often there is singing and dancing at Kudimba, the staff and the children really enjoy it. Any reason is good for a small party, sometimes they don’t even need a reason. The happy sounds attract the children of Lifuwu village who come to have a peek through the fence of our daycare centre, as you can see on the photo.
As usual, a very heartfelt thank you to all our old, our new and our loyal supporters. Kudimba would not be possible without you.
Greetings from the Kudimba team
More pictures, movies and stories about daily life in Kudimba can also be found on our Kudimba Facebook page: Kudimba Foundation