Caroline’s Report

My Stay In Malawi

This trip was the first time I have been to Africa and the welcome you get is unforgettable. When I arrived at the children’s home and was met by four young people with big smiles, it melted my heart. We take for granted our everyday needs, example we get up and turn the tap on and fill our kettles up and switch the kettle on and wait for the boil. If it is still dark we switch a simple light on. We can turn our ovens on to cook. We then go to our bathrooms and have a shower or bath and get ready to go to work.

Just for one moment imagine that you get up extra early as you need to get water from the well, you then have to boil it in a big pot on top of a small round make shift of coals. There is no electricity and no bathroom to shower. You have to boil more water to wash from a big plastic tub. There is no fridge to keep food fresh; you have no kitchen to put your belongings in. And you slept on a hard floor with one blanket. Alice and I spent a week living with the children and we cooked the same as them and washed the same as them. We even had candles for light in the evening: 

IT PUT LIFE IN A MORE POSTIVE NATURE FOR ME:

With the help and generous donations for these children Alice and I were able to bring just a little help with some simple solutions. They received new school equipment, clothes, bedding. We managed to buy beds and mattresses, kitchen equipment to store dry food, clean the home up and help them to be careful with regards to cooking the food and storing food properly so they do not get ill through contamination. These children have hopes and dreams just like us all; one would like to be a doctor, another journalist, and another to join the army.

I believe with our help these children could be in these occupations, they need to be in boarding school so that they can fulfil their dreams. We would like to build them a home with practical equipment which we take for granted. The place they are staying in is falling down around them, there are no outside walls to one part of the property and every wall is damp and crumbling.

My dream is to see this happen and to return to Malawi and hopefully fulfil some more hopes and dreams for young children in this very poor country. I certainly do not moan about silly things anymore and try and put a positive note on my day to day life.