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SPECIAL FEATURES!
Table of Contents
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These stories and pictures of orphans near Nkhoma were all collected by Dr. Reynier
TerHaar, the Chief Medical Officer at Nkhoma Hospital.
Story 1
| Shareck, James with two other nieces lives with their grandmother. Their
father has passed away last year with diarroea and vomiting and their mother a month ago
with the same simptomsThe future will show if the two kids are also infected. The photo
taken in front of their house that they now live in. The house of their parents
they had to leave and they now have to live in this house approximately 4 by 6 meters.
with their grandmother. Instead of receiving a pension, the grandmother has to work very
hard to keep herself and the little ones going. |
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At the time of the visit she was working in the garden and collecting
firewood to cook food for that evening. Thanks to the fertilizer that was handed out there
is a better harvest and hopefully no hunger at the end of the year. They recently received
clothing via the project and that is very use full during our present winter. |
Story 2
| The same afternoon I visited a nearby village where I met Alex
Kazinkambani and his niece Charity ChapondeThe father of Alex has passed away ,and there
was no schoolfees for Alex. After the house has fallen in, there was not enough funds to
build it up again. Now grandmother with 3 small girls lives in the house seen on photo.
Mother only got to half way through primary school and now has to work in her own
garden and in the garden of others to keep the pot cooking. |
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If you talk to some of the young people, you realize how many of them have
no vision for the future. They also do not want to go to school for what difference does
it make. Fortunately Alex was interested and the orphan project could help him with
secondary education. His brother that you also see on the photographs is not interested
and works day in day out in the
garden. |
Story 3
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With my next visit, I see a mother lying next to her house. When I came closer, I
could see the skin lesions on her neck and I know what that means. It is this new disease
we have in Malawi these days. Her husband has passed away 3 years agoafter a few months of
coughing. Edwin Chigombe(15) has chronic backache and stomach pain,but looks fine
otherwise. I am wondering if it could be tension as a
result of the circumstances at home. His schoolwork is suffering as a result of it as he
has not been to school for the last 5 months. Money is not the reason as he is still busy
with Primary school that is free in MalawiTheir mother is not healthy. How long will it be
before Edwin will have to look after his two sisters? |
Story 4
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I found Blessings Chiseka (10) next to the road selling
small cakes that his guardian has prepared. His parents have passed away and this is the
way they are generating a little income. His aunt that looks after him also sells
sugarcane and firewood to fill all the mouths with something to eat. |
| With them lives 6 other children but not one from the
mother!! Three of the six children, excluding Blessings, still have a father. He has
married again and went to live in another village His first wife died when their house
collapsed. He occasionally comes to see his children and support them very little. This is
unfortunately a common happening around Nkhoma and in other parts of Malawi |
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