local report
If Streets Around the World
Unite Hand in Hand
It Will Turn Into a Tremendous Power
BLANTYRE ORPHANAGE HOME
Period:9-12 July 2007
Area:Blantyre
Place:orphanage home
Supports made Rice x 200kg,Sugar x 10kg,Children’s clothes x 117,Cash x MWK15,000,(approx. US$100)for fuels, food, etc
It was our 3rd visit to this orphanage home since JAG Project made the first trip to Malawi. In Malawi, the number of orphans is rapidly increasing. The orphanage home is mostly run by donated funds, although recently, they weren’t able to provide food for children due to the rapid increase in number. Upon our visit this time, we donated 200kg of rice to be served to the children. The photo above is the children at the orphanage home with their lunch after a long period of days without. Plates with mountainous rice topped with tomato sauce & a boiled egg beside it, were distributed to all children. Their menu for lunch normally is a porridge with sugar.
For this visit, I also took 117 sets of children’s clothes with me. Out of 117, 17 of them have been donated by Tokuyama Baby in Japan. The donation from them was extremely thankful. Blantyre is in winter season at this time of the year, and it becomes extremely cold. So cold that I was freezing even with winter clothing. The orphanage home’s principal told us that for children here who only wore thin, worn-off clothes even in such coldness, our gift of new, warm clothes was a great, joyous surprise. She also told us it was a “Christmas”for them.
The photo left is a new orphanage home in the middle of construction, but nothing has progressed since our first visit in April 2006. A piece of brick costs MWK2 (approx. 2￠), and they need about 150,000 bricks in order to finish the construction. If the new orphanage home is completed, more children will be able to spend the daytime at the orphanage. We, JAG Project, plan to make further research on the new building, and provide support if necessary. We will report you again then.
CHEMBE
Period＝ 12-21 July 2007
Area＝ Chembe Village
Places= Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic orphanage home VCT (HIV blood test in Monkey Bay) etc.
For Children= MWK50×1000 (total MWK50,000)
For Adults= MWK150×495 (MWK74,250)
With new ward with beds constructed, proper medicare for HIV will also be possible starting next year. Clinic is also well- equipped for patients ihospital beds, this clinic should become one of the top clinic in Malawi. The fee to see their doctors which used to be MWK50 for both children & adults, they have now raised the cost for adults as stated above. Nevertheless, considering the fact that it costs MWK300 for people to travel from Chembe to Monkey Bay, the fees are still extremelySupports made
Supports made
Chembe Village: Free Transport Coupons (Monkey Bay ⇔ Chembe)
For Children= MWK150×150 (total MWK22,500)
For Adults= MWK300×335 (total MWK100,500)
These coupons have been thanked by a lot of villagers, some even told us that given the free transport coupons from our last visit, they have decided to get a proper medication for HIV. Others who hesitated to take blood tests because even if they are diagnosed as HIV positive, they won’t have the money to come back to the hospital to get medications anyways, have decided to take the test.
Over 1,500 Condoms
We have donated over 1,500 condoms to be given to the people for free after taking their VCT （HIV blood test）. They have told us that compared to the condoms available in Malawi which are very uncomfortable & the smell of rubber very strong, the condoms from Japan is comfortable & odorless, they would love to use it every day!
Stationery supply set x 80 sets; etc.The stationery set consists of notebook, pencils,pencil sharpener, ruler & stickers, children loved the Disney characters on them.
Comments
With Chembe, compared to the situation we saw upon our last visit in April 2006, the situation seems to have gotten slightly better. However, people’s lives are still very poor, and number of AIDS patients still very high. In the VCT blood test we’ve supported this time, the HIV rate has reduced to approximately 20% which is much lower than before, and there seemed to be much more awareness and change of attitude towards sex & the disease. The village also has a clinic(Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic) run by Irish NGO, and efforts by doctors & nurses of this clinic are contributing greatly to the betterment of the situation. We felt truly grateful of their existence and their activities for the villagers.
African JAG’s free hospital coupons & transport coupons to Monkey Bay Hospital & Mangochi Hospital also seemed to offer opportunities to the people in the village, we heard a lot of them telling us that they are finally able to go to the hospital and receive proper HIV medications. We also witnessed a lot of patients we met upon our previous visits who were in bad conditions are now walking on their own, some of them even got themselves jobs! A joyous surprise for all of us.
In our future activities in this village, since Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic will be able to give HIVmedications from 2008, we plan to concentrate on distribution of free clinic coupons, support independencetrainings for HIV patients (i.e. gardening in purpose of growing crops to feed themselves),spreading HIV awareness & knowledge, and nutrition advisory.
MSAKA
Period＝ 13-21 July 2007
Area＝ Msaka Village
Unsanitary environment & graveyard located at the center of the village.
RESEARCH
Oral Research＝ 16 people
Food Supply Set＝ Rice x 1.5kg, Sugar x 1kg,
Cooking oil x 1 bottle,
Salt x ２５０g
Transportation Support＝ MWK1,000
We made our first visit to Msaka, a village 12km away from Chembe. Just 12km away and this village doesn’t have a lodging, no hospital, no orphanage home. Sanitation is very bad, a lot of the houses don’t have a bathroom, and diseases such as Cholera & Malaria severely break out in this village every year. They have no means of telecommunication access, no phone line of course, and cell phones turn un-accessible in this village. No system to handle any emergency situation. The whole village is extremely poor, the possibility of this village’s self-betterment would be very small. Currently,2-3 villagers are deceased by unknown reason/disease per week. (The chief of the village told us that based on the conditions that deceased have suffered, a lot of them must havedied from AIDS.) We made oral research to 16 people, and they all said they cannot go to the hospital even if they are diagnosed as HIV positive because they don’t have the money for transportation to reach the hospital.
URGENT CARRY OUT OF VCT (HIV BLOOD TEST)
As we spoke to one of the staffs doing the VCT in Chembe about the situation of Msaka & made a request to carry out VCT there, he spoke to his boss, and got back to me that they could do it immediately if we become the sponsor for the VCT in Msaka. This is something that Malawi government should do, but since there was no time to waste & to wait for the reply from the government, we decided to be the sponsor and carry out the VCT for 3 days in Msaka. The total cost for 3-day VCT was MWK20,000 (approx. US$150), the testing kit provided by the government was used for all villagers. The hospital in Monkey Bay & the VCT staffs made a great quick move in this, we applied for the VCT in Msaka on Friday, and VCT begun from Sunday, 2 days after our application. In wish for as many people as possible to take this opportunity to take the blood test, we immediately traveled again to Msaka, and went around the village announcing & encouraging everyone to take the VCT. Due to our travel schedule, we were only able to attend the first day of VCT, but as a result, total of 184 people took the VCT in 3 days, and 48 people were diagnosed as HIV positive (equivalent to 26%). Although this rate is thought to be only a part of it, the actual rate is expected to be even higher. This is because a lot of fishermen, which is said to have the highest positivity of being HIV positive, refused to take VCT (in Msaka, 20-25% of village’s total population are living on fishery).We have immediately reported the VCT result to Dr. Mary Shawa at Department of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS of Malawi’s Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) whom we met upon our first visit to Malawi in April 2006, along with thorough explanation of the current situation of the village, and requested for government’s support for Msaka. Dr. Mary Shawa promised us to give government support to the village, but it is hard to imagine the situation to be bettered in a snap, thus we decided to distribute free coupons for transportations between Msaka & the hospital in Money Bay to the villagers.
FREE TRANSPORTATION COUPONS
There are no clinic or NGOs from overseas in Msaka, so the coupons are basically handled/administered by the representatives of the village. The Chief of the village, a volunteer staff, and healthcare manager will be checking each of the patients, and give out coupons to those who really are in need.The patient is to give the coupon to the driver of the transport. The transport driver is to take the patient to the hospital & back, and take the coupon to the Chief and receive the cash. This will be the first trial for JAG Project to have the local people in Malawi to handle the urgent support money. Mr. Furukawa, a volunteer working in Chembe & have been supporting our activities, have offered us his help to check the situation once in a while for the time being. Hopefully, this free coupon system works in Msaka…
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