Projects Malawi Multi-purpose Hall at Nkhoma
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Multi-purpose Hall at Nkhoma Print E-mail
Thursday, 03 July 2008 10:20
The Nkhoma orphan care project has 3,500 orphans in a number of centers spread across a 50 km radius in central Malawi. Word & Deed is working with the Nkhoma project committee to improve the care of the orphans which, given the numbers, is still in a very primitive form compared to the other orphan care projects in Malawi.

Here are some of the orphans.

One of the ways this is being done is the construction of a multi-purpose hall near to Nkhoma. The hall will provide much needed offices for the hard pressed orphan care workers, a large room for feeding and teaching the orphans, counceling rooms, a kitchen and more.

The Word & Deed Business Group of Central Alberta has adopted this project and pledged $50,000 towards its $74,000 budget with hopes of raising more. So far $43,500 has been collected for which we are very grateful. Once $59,000 is collected (80% of the budget) the project can move forward. The local people, in anticipation of the project moving forward, have voluntarily made thousands of bricks and have dug a trench for the foundation. Below are some pictures.



Here are (from left to right) Manuel Kamnkwani (Word & Deed Project Director in Malawi, Monica Bos, Lenelle Moerdyk(both on short term mission projects) and Rev. Chimutu (the chairman of the Nkhoma Orphan Care Project) visiting the building site.

The site for the building is a beautiful one.

Here is a picture of the trench that was dug by the local volunteers. They were dug some time ago and will not be cleared of undergrowth until the pouring of the footings begins for fear of distrubing the trench walls.

The men stack the bricks in such a way that they form their own kilns. They are being made 2km away from the building site and then carried there 10-15 at a time on their heads. The surface of the stack is plastered to hold in the heat. Then fires are built in the bottom cavities and the openings are nearly sealed. Next, a goat is slaughtered and an all-night vigil and celebration takes place. Once in na while they break from the festivities and tend the fires. In a day or two when the kiln cools, the plastering is stripped and well-fired bricks are revealed. (as reported by Scott VanDyken on a recent trip to Malawi).


Above are some of the orphan care givers. They take the orphans into their homes and are given extra seed and fertilizer to help feed the extra mouths.
 
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