Dear Kudimba friends,
With the latest updates on our project, here is the autumn newsletter.
As is mostly the case these days, it has been a busy time at Kudimba, with lots of new developments and many local and overseas Kudimba friends coming to visit our project or volunteer their time over the past few months.
Most of the visitors didn’t come empty-handed. With the huge amount of second-hand items we received – and still had in store from previous donations – we were able to organise a special day where each and every Kudimba child was given a few new outfits and shoes. It was a lovely celebration and everyone was over the moon. As usual when we party, we had music and dance, snacks and juice, face paint and most of all many smiley faces.
The kids, and staff, enjoy the toys.
With the donated toys we have also finally managed to establish our ‘toy library’ in the new kitchen block. Most of the children (and adults) in Kudimba have never had the opportunity to play with toys; at home they have to make do with sticks, stones and discarded objects. This has its advantages, the kids in Malawi excel in creativity and have the ability to be content with small things. At Kudimba we usually consider TALULAR to be the appropriate and sustainable approach. TALULAR means Teaching And Learning Using Locally Available Resources.
This talent of children and people in Malawi, to find joy and have fun with almost nothing is impressive and makes us think about how people in the developed world are raised, often with an excess of toys, belongings and organised activities and many times with a limited awareness of this privilege.
However, when we see the enthusiasm of the children and the casual educational impact that playing with the new colourful toys has on their motor skills and general development, we are proud to have been able to create this modest toy library. The more opportunities these children with special needs have, the more experiences and the more exposure the better.
Kudimba’s staff member Patricia ensures that all the toys are looked after and returned in good condition at the end of the day and that the toy library stays clean and tidy.
The new kitchen building
The toy library is part of our beautiful new kitchen. This building is now operational and is used for the day to day running of Kudimba: for meal times, food preparation and storage of supplies.
To all the people and organisations who have contributed to this building: a great big thank you. It makes a massive difference and is a major improvement to the activities of our education centre.
Many of us at Kudimba, children as well as staff members, have had health problems in recent months. We have suffered greatly from the effects of the floods. The stagnant water has had severe consequences as it has significantly increased the presence of mosquitos and therefore the incidence of malaria. Although all Kudimba children and staff have been given mosquito nets as a precaution, it seems inevitable that we have to deal with many casualties. Fortunately, our team is now really proficient at early detection and malaria testing.
We would like to take this opportunity to praise our staff member Bright, who does a fantastic job of checking for signs and tirelessly testing symptomatic children and staff for malaria. If the malaria tests are positive, our other valuable Kudimba supporter and medical expert Rodney comes in as a flying doctor to prescribe and distribute appropriate treatment.
Bright and Rodney, it’s not an overstatement to say that you have literally been life savers over the past few months. A massive thank you for your commitment and for the ongoing care you provide to everyone in our project.
The distribution of medicines that we organise at Kudimba has an important outcome. Aside from providing malaria treatments to those affected, many participants and some staff members need anti-epileptics and other essential drugs.
Today in Malawi, numerous medicines and treatments are not available in government hospitals. For that reason Kudimba buys vital medication on the private market, which is unaffordable for an average local family. As a consequence the project’s medical costs per month are quite high, but the result of this service we provide is often life changing and a crucial part of providing support to the most vulnerable members of society.
Apart from dealing with the many cases of malaria and more illnesses, we have assisted financially and practically with other medical interventions: Mphatso finally had a successful and long awaited surgical intervention. Farida and Swaum had orthopaedic surgery and both of them have been in a cast for weeks. They should be able to walk independently and stably once the cast is removed and they start practicing. This progress will be rewarding for them as well as for Kudimba, as an organisation as it’s a very palpable and gratifying result of our work.
Debora
Mosy
We are really pleased that our project keeps growing. We have accepted two new candidates at Kudimba: Debora and Mosy. This brings the total number of registered candidates to 61.
Debora is a seven-year-old girl with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. She is charming, very active and cheeky. She felt at home at Kudimba from the first minute of her first day, and she can stand her ground when it comes to interacting with other children who have been part of the Kudimba household for a long time.
Mosy is also settling in well. He is a two year old adorable little boy who has speech and developmental problems after an illness followed by seizures. He looks happy and content at Kudimba.
A little walking tour to discover the surroundings.
Meanwhile the holidays are over and our older participant Gladson has returned to his boarding school, which is a secondary school for deaf teenagers. Rufina has also returned to her boarding school, what a pleasure it was to have her back at Kudimba for the past few months after a long time. Finally, our young Zainab, who is visually challenged, has just started boarding school at a specialised school for young children with visual impairments. We have already received encouraging reports that she loves being there.
This year Kudimba is again offering three students from Vives University in Belgium the opportunity to do an internship with the project. Lotte, Axelle and Leonie started in September and will be at the project for three months. We are delighted to have these three motivated young people joining us and look forward to following the outcome of their contribution to our project through their respective dissertations.
What is new this time is that they have their own mentor. Lotte (we now have two Lottes) has returned to Kudimba for the third time, first as a student, then as a volunteer and now as a mentor. Lotte is our most loyal Kudimba supporter and has become a true member of the Kudimba family.
The students are fortunate to be in Malawi at the height of the mango season, the country’s abundant and delicious treat. It also means that they are in the hottest part of the year, with temperatures rising every day and the rainy season coming soon. This will be a welcome and vital relief for the dry land, but we are also nervous about the situation with the lake. Will it flood again this time? No one knows. All we can do is wait and see. We’ve made some changes and built some protective measures around Kudimba in case it floods again, but in reality there’s not much we can do to really avoid the water should the lake inundate its shoreline again, it’s too much, too big, too powerful and too vast for our precautions to have any real effect.
The Sandulika pump house.
There are also some interesting developments at the new Sandulika site. Our follow-up project is taking shape.
We now have a borehole on site, which means we have plenty of fresh running water. This is obviously a gigantic first step. We are provisionally pumping water from our borehole with one of our old pumps, which we can reuse while we develop the land and make it more secure. Then we will put a brand new submersible solar pump with a bigger capacity in place.
Above the borehole we have built a pump house with a storage room attached, which can also be used as a temporary shelter for the night watchman.
The foundations for a bathroom with showers, toilets and a laundry area
There are also some interesting developments at the new Sandulika site. Our follow-up project is taking shape.
We now have a borehole on site, which means we have plenty of fresh running water. This is obviously a gigantic first step. We are provisionally pumping water from our borehole with one of our old pumps, which we can reuse while we develop the land and make it more secure. Then we will put a brand new submersible solar pump with a bigger capacity in place.
Above the borehole we have built a pump house with a storage room attached, which can also be used as a temporary shelter for the night watchman.
We are currently constructing the foundations for a bathroom with showers and toilets and a laundry area for the new project. We will soon have a septic tank and a very large stand with a double water tank.
Life in Kudimba has returned to normal after the floods, but we have no idea what the near future will bring, as explained above.
If Kudimba is inundated again, we hope to have a plan B ready in time at the new site, Sandulika. With the sanitation in place, all we really need to do is build a new shelter, which would be a fairly simple structure: a covered space with a floor where activities can take place, protected from the rain and the heat of the sun.
With this structure we can continue to offer our services without much interruption if we have to deal with the worst case scenario at Kudimba.
If Kudimba doesn’t flood, this space will remain a valuable and essential resource. The sheltered area will be used for the original Sandulika plans: income generation and educational activities for young adults with special needs.
Kudimba is still seeking to raise funds in order to create this sheltered space. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you are interested or have ideas for this new development.
We hope you enjoyed reading all the latest news from our project.
The Kudimba team