Christmas time

In a few days it is Christmas. The fourth time I’m going to celebrate Christmas in Malawi. Christmas away from all the traditions I know, away from my family in the Netherlands. God blessed me with a beautiful new family here in Malawi and I’m incredible thankful for everything He has given me.
This year celebrating Christmas seems to be more difficult than previous years. How can I enjoy a nice meal while I know so many children are starving? So many children who would be happy with just a cup of tea and a piece of bread. So many children who can only dream of receiving presents with Christmas. Grandmothers who are not eating so they can give the little amounts of food they have to their grandchildren.
At the moment Africare foundation is feeding more than 100 children. Most children call me ‘Mama’. I build up relationships with all mothers and grandmothers. They trust me and I trust them. So many families who are eating because Africare foundation is providing maize, soya, beans, Lactogen milk and more. The last few months I can’t remember a moment I had time to sit down and do nothing. We repaired more than 30 houses. We bought materials to make them water proof and strong enough to survive the strong winds during the raining season. We build 5 new houses for grandmothers who were living in small kitchens. We helped 25 families with seeds because they had nothing to plant. We bought 20 pieces of land to make sure these families will harvest enough to feed themselves next year. An additional 5 families are currently helped because they come and do washing at the
Africare house once a week. Every week we are distributing 50 tins of
Lactogen milk. Every month hundreds kilo’s of maize.
We paid for many children to receive treatment in the hospital mostly
because of Malaria.

There is still so much work to do but I would like to thank all sponsors so much to make this all possible. Without your help Africare foundation would have never been able to feed and help all these precious children and families. Our goal is to make all families sustainable again and we will keep fighting for this.


A blessed Christmas is not in presents but in HIS presence.

Love,Nicole



Planting season

After a lot of very warm days the raining season finally arrived. The hunger is so bad at the moment that most of my families have no food and no seeds to plant that is why I decided to use a part of the money given for the famine to use for seeds and manure. We want our families to be sustainable, if we not invest in seeds they will need food assistance again next year. The last two weeks I have been visiting family after family. With all of them I discussed what would be the best plan for their piece of land. Some pieces are more fertile as others so it is important to choose the right crop for the right piece of land. Most of the families only have a small land so I rented a lot of extra pieces to make sure they can feed their families themselves after harvest. In the heat of the sun we looked for available pieces, measured them and negotiated about the price. All families are going to plant maize, beans, soya and sorghum. The maize they use to make nsima. Beans are very nutritious which they use to eat with the nsima. The soya mixed with maize makes a healthy phala for children. The sorghum will be used to make tobwa (a local drink) which the women will sell at the market to generate some income.

I love spending time with my families in the villages but at the moment it is also very difficult. Currently they only eat once a day. Every day the women look for available work. The work which is available is hard and exhausting and most of the time done on an empty stomach. I provide maize but they still need to work to find money for vegetables to eat with the nsima. Meat, fish and egg are too expensive. The circumstances these families and children have to grow up in are unfair and difficult to understand. I always heard about famines in the world but it is hard to believe what it exactly is till you see it yourself. The last two weeks I have seen so many children crying for food. I found sick mothers and children in the villages which couldn’t go to the hospital because they have no money to pay the bill. I found grandmothers crying in their small huts because they know without help for her and her grandchildren they will not survive till next harvest.
So beside the seeds, I supplied more food, brought people to the hospital, bought materials to make their small huts water proof for the raining season and prayed with them. The only person who knows what will happen in the next few months is God and we must trust him how difficult that is sometimes.

To experience how much work farming really is I hired my own piece of land this year. Saturday morning 5 o’clock I went planting. (The land was already prepared). I asked some Malawians to help me and together with 3 friends from the Netherlands we planted 4 hours in the burning sun. I was exhausted and even have more respect for the people here now. We are waiting for the seeds to germinate and when the little plants are coming out of the ground it is time for weeding. I’m already looking forward to weed my 1 acre field!
Love,
Nicole

Katie's home village

Katie has been living with me since March 2015. As soon as she arrived at my house we started looking for her family. However that was not an easy task. We only had a phone number of her father’s family because they mistreated Katie for many years. They were refusing to give any contact of her mother’s family. Finally after five months and a lot of phone calls they gave me a phone number of an uncle of Katie. The uncle travelled to the village of the grandmother. After four long years Katie finally could speak to her grandmother again. The grandmother who raised her, loved her and cared for her before the family of her father took her away.
Katie’s grandmother is getting very old and every time Katie spoke to her she asked when she was coming to visit.

Last week it was mid-term break at school so I decided to bring her to her home village to visit her family. After a six hour drive we arrived in Mulanje, a city in the southern part of Malawi. Katie remembered the way to the village so it was not difficult to find.
As soon as we arrived in the village Katie’s aunties and friends came running towards her. They couldn’t believe she was finally back and looking great. Her grandmother was in church so we had to wait to see her.

We stayed in the village for four days and lived a real village life. Mulanje is very warm this time of the year so we slept outside on a thin grass mat. We woke up when the sun came up, went to the borehole to get water, made fires for preparing food, and went to sleep soon after the sun went down. We enjoyed the local food and many mangoes.
In the afternoon the grandmother arrived in the village and she didn’t leave Katie anymore for the next four days. She was so happy finally to see her granddaughter again.

Now Katie is a bit older she had the chance to ask some questions to her grandmother about her mother. Her mother died in the village after a very short illness and Katie was only three years old. In the morning she became sick and in the afternoon she died. The birthday of the mother of Katie was the day we arrived in her village, October 15^th.  Katie’s mother had done very well in school and finished secondary school. Only a small percentage of the Malawians manage to finish secondary school so Katie was very proud after discovering this. After school she worked four years as a clerk and managed to build a nice house in her village with the money she earned.

When Katie was younger she always liked to go to the river to swim with her friends so we went back to that same river and enjoyed a nice swim. We had many long talks with friends and family under the big mango trees in the village. Some of Katie’s friends already were married and had children, she was shocked about that and understands even more now how important school is.
Due to the floods last year in the southern part of Malawi there was no harvest. Katie’s family is struggling to find food and most children in the family are not going to school. Katie enjoyed seeing her family however it was difficult for her to see how much her family is struggling. Her twelve year old friends already have children and no future in front of them.
On the drive back home she told me she knows God loves her a lot. She went through a lot of abuse and difficult times but now she has a new mother and the chance to go to school.

 

Love,

 

Nicole



Katie and her aunts




Mount Mulange

Tea Plantations

A day at the pool

In Malawi it is summer now. The temperatures reach most days above 30 degrees. So yesterday I decided to take the girls for an outing to the swimming pool in Lilongwe.
Maria and Diana swam before but Fenilli (babysitter who lives with me) Tiwonge and Katie never had been to a swimming pool. I asked Rachel, a volunteer who works for PB+J, to join us to help me watching the girls.
In the beginning the bigger girls felt really shy as they are not used to walk around in swimming wear but after some encouragement they took out their clothes and went into the pool. They had the time of their lives! They played in the pool for more than 3 hours.
On the way home almost everybody fell asleep. It was a great day which they will always remember. Thank you God for this opportunity!

Love,
Nicole

Chinsisi Jonasi

Chinsisi Jonasi is one of the children in my sponsor program. The mother of Chinsinsi is an epileptic patient and is mentally unsound; she was raped and got pregnant. After birth the grandmother took over the care for the baby. The mother however was refusing to breastfeed and the grandmother was not able to afford the Lactogen baby milk. She was feeding the baby maize phala. Chinsinsi arrived in Nkhoma hospital in July 2015. She had severe malnutrition and was severely dehydrated. She stayed in the hospital for almost a month. After discharge Africare foundation started assisting the grandmother with Lactogen milk powder, likuni phala and other basic needs as soap, bottles and clothes. 

Last month the mother of Chinsisi walk away from the house, since then nobody has been able to find her.

The grandmother separated her husband and has no house and no food. She was living with her three daughters and granddaughter in the kitchen of her brother. One of the daughters is pregnant. Recently the brother went to Mozambique to look for a job. She is living in the house of her brother now however the condition of the house is very poor. The family of Chinsisi is not the only family without food. This year there will be a lot of hunger. Last years harvest was very poor due to a lack of rain. There will be many families who will need food assistance. Most families finished there maize this month (September). They live day by day trying to find some food. The next harvest will only be April 2016.

 

Aricare foundation is assisting the family in many ways. We are funding a small but safe and dry house so the family has a place to stay. Also we are providing maize up to the next harvest season. We are paying the hospital fees for the pregnant daughter so she will safely deliver in the hospital and not at home. We are teaching the grandmother about farming God’s way and crop rotation so her harvest will improve next season.
One of the daughters is 16 years old; during a village visit I asked her why she is not in school. She could not really give me an answer. We counseled her and explained the advantages of schooling. After a long talk we managed to convince her to go back to school. We bought her 10 notebooks and 2 pencils.

Africare foundation is not just helping the babies admitted in the program. We look at the complete family. We counsel them, teach them and try to make them sustainable again.

 

 

Love,

 

Nicole

School year 2015-2016

On the 7^th of September the new school year started. Maria and Diana went to a local nursery school last year. Diana became three years old in May so this year she started reception class at Ebenezer. Ebenezer is a mission school located in Nkhoma. They teach in English and keep a maximum of 30 students per class. The level of teaching is much higher as the level of teaching at the government primary school and therefore I’m really thankful she got accepted. Maria only turns three years old in November so she is enjoying another year at the local nursery school. At the nursery school they play, dance and sing songs in the local language (Chichewa).

Katie and Tiwonge were both accepted at Ebenezer too! Katie started in grade 7 and Tiwonge started in grade 6. Katie is doing very well and is able to follow the lessons, I’m very proud of her as she did not go to school for the last two years. Before dropping out of school she went to the government primary school where the level is much lower. She has class from 7.30 to 12.30 in the morning. In the afternoon she follows extra classes to prepare for examination at the end of the school year. From 3 to 4 in the afternoon I’m helping her with her homework.
Tiwonge started in grade 6 however the level was too high for her. On Friday I had a talk with the head teacher and we agreed she will go back to grade 5. Also Tiwonge was learning before at the local government school, there were over 80 children in her class. I’m working hard together with Tiwonge to catch up.


Love,

Nicole

Chief ceremony

Last Saturday I was invited by Diana's family to join a chief ceremony. Every village in Malawi has a person who is responsible for solving social issues - the chief. Choosing a new chief involves a lot of traditional practices. The chief ceremony started Friday night, because of safety issues I decided to join them Saturday during day time. We arrived in the village in the morning and started preparing lunch. The whole village cooks and eats together which was nice to be part of. Soon I figured out Diana's oldest half - brother wasn't there. I asked the grandmother where he was and she told me very proudly he was getting his initiation in traditional practices. I'm not exactly sure what they did with him but initiation involves often making several cuts on the body and circumcision. It all happens in the bush without hygiene. This was a moment I realized again it is not always easy to live in and understand different cultures.

After finishing lunch we gathered together and the moment was there that they caught a new chief. They catch a chief because nobody wants to be the chief. All the men are sitting together and when one person gives a sign they all jump on the new chief, agreed upfront however he does not know. They carry the new chief to his home. The new chief fights and tries to get out of the arms of the people carrying him. I asked why nobody wants to be the chief. As chief you have to solve many social issues in the village so you make friends and enemies. The previous chief died soon after he was selected because somebody poisoned him.
After the chief was chosen the women run, dance and sing around the village. Diana joined them and this was absolutely her favorite part of the day. Diana loves dancing, as soon as she hears a beat she is dancing. Her family laughed and enjoyed her presence a lot.

When the sun goes down the ‘Chilombo’ are coming to the village. Chilombo are persons who cover themselves with leaves and material. They try to catch young girls. There are many stories going around what they do with the girls after they catch them. The grandmother informed me in this village they bring the girls back to the family and the family has to pay money. Unfortunately there are also stories going around that they rape the girls.

Love,
Nicole

Esinta Kalikokha

Esinta Kalikokha was born 28 September 2014. She has four siblings who are all much older as Esinta. The first born is 18 years old, the second born 16 years old, the third born 14 years old, and the fourth born 10 years old. Esinta is the fifth born and is currently 11 months old.
Beginning of August 2015 the mother of Esinta became sick. On the 26^th of August she got admitted at Nkhoma hospital. The mother of Esinta was HIV positive. Her condition got worse fast and on the third of September she died because of advanced HIV and tuberculosis. On the day the mother of Esinta (Gezina Kalikokha) died Esinta was also diagnosed with tuberculosis and admitted at Nkhoma hospital. The family left home for the funeral and Esinta stayed behind with me because there was nobody to care for her. Esinta’s grandmother died several years ago, there is an aunt however she is very old and will not manage to care for her.
Esinta is admitted in the hospital now for several days but still very sick. She has frequent fevers, diarrhea and vomiting. She has no appetite what makes feeding very difficult. Her HIV status is not known yet, we are waiting for the results which are expected to come back within the next two weeks.
The father is looking for someone to care for her, till he finds somebody Esinta will live in the Africare house.

The tuberculosis of Esinta was diagnosed in an early stage however she is very sick. She is weak and is sleeping most part of the day. Please keep Esinta in your prayers. 
Maria and Diana are very happy with their new sister. They help me with feeding, bathing and dressing. As soon as Esinta wakes up they come to tell me she is awake. If she is crying they grab my skirt and run to her bed. They are two proud big sisters!
The cost of sponsoring Esinta is 50 euro per month. Please consider making a donation and give Esinta a chance to live.
(Soon our website www.africarefondation.com will be online where you can find all children who need sponsorships)

Love,

Nicole

Nkhoma mountain

Last weekend we climbed Nkhoma Mountain. Katie, Tiwonge and Fenilli have been living in Nkhoma for several years but never visited the mountain. I arranged two babysitters to sleep at my house to watch the younger girls and booked a night for us in the mountain hut. Friday afternoon we left and climbed the mountain half way to the hut. The girls stopped every five minutes to enjoy the beautiful views. In the evening we cooked our meal and enjoyed some nice card games.

The next morning we continued our journey all the way to the top. The view was amazing and the girls did not wanted to leave.  
The younger girls always ask for a lot of attention and it was nice to spend some time with Katie and Tiwonge.
Katie didn’t pass her interviews for secondary school. She had a difficult time accepting she has to go back to primary school. This week both Katie and Tiwonge will have interviews for Ebenezer, a private primary school in Nkhoma. Please pray for them to do well during their interview so they will be accepted at Ebenezer.

Love,

Nicole

Diana back home!

Diana is living with me since March 2014. I agreed with the family and Social welfare services in Lilongwe she would stay with me till she got better and is strong enough to go back to her home village. As Diana was doing very well I started asking the grandmother several months ago when she wanted to take Diana back to the village. However the grandmother kept telling me she did not wanted Diana to come back to the village. The grandmother is old and has multiple orphans to take care for. The grandmother harvested a small amount of maize and is very poor. She doesn’t have enough to feed the other children so she decided it is better for Diana to live somewhere else.

Family connections are very strong in Malawi and last week something much unexpected happened. Someone in the family decided it was time for Diana to come back to the village. The grandmother walked to my house and told me she was coming to collect Diana to take her home. I was shocked, angry and sad all at the same time however respect the decisions of the family so packed a bag with clothes, soap, a blanket and some food. Diana is not the first child going to back to the village after living for a while with me however this time it was very difficult as I know the grandmother doesn’t want her back in the village. We packed all the stuff in the car and left to her village.
Saying goodbye was very difficult. As soon as Diana saw I was leaving she started crying. She kept calling me and told her grandmother she wanted to go home with her mama. I cried all the way back home.

After a night without much sleep I tried to call Diana’s uncle to ask if she stopped crying. The uncle however stayed in town this week to try to earn some money. I was very worried about Diana but the only thing I could do now was praying for her.
A few hours later my phone rang, Diana’s grandmother borrowed a phone to call me. Diana did not sleep; she did not stop crying since the moment I left. The only thing she said is that she wanted her mama.
After seeing how attached Diana is to me the family decided that they wanted Diana to stay with me. Diana was very sick when she arrived in the hospital in March 2014, without my assistance she would not be alive anymore today and they felt it was not fair to her to bring her back to the village. They asked me to officially adopt Diana.

I love all my girls and they love me. When I couldn’t sleep because I was worried about Diana they sat next to me. They told me if our mama can’t sleep we will not sleep. When I had to cry because I was missing Diana they cried. They told me if our mama is not happy we are not happy.

I thank God every day for the beautiful family he gave me.


Love,
Nicole

Katie's story

My name is Katie Mwamadi, I was born in 2002. My grandmother told me that my father died before I was born, also my mother died when I was three years old.

I stayed with my grandmother for 2 years. Then the sister of my mother came to pick me to go to her house. I started primary school, first she was good to me but after one year she started beating me. Also she did not give me food especially lunch but she always gave her daughter food three times a day, shopping nice clothes but for me nothing.
One day I came from school and I asked about food, she said forget about food. Then I made the decision to go back to my grandmother so I started walking for 6 hours. I found my grandmother coming from the garden, then she asked me why I was there so I explained to her what was happening. My grandfather said; Thank you God to protect this child.
After four years my aunt came to pick me because my grandmother is poor. So I continue going to school. After one term my aunt was transferred from Dedza to Nkhoma for work. She left me at Dedza without food or money. The landlord shouted at me because my aunt did not pay rent, he wanted to take all my clothes. After one week my aunt came to pick me but she was beating me a lot.
I wrote examination for primary school and I passed. After I started secondary school, the first term I was learning only for one week than I stopped because my aunt did not pay school fees. Than I asked my aunt about school fees and she said she has no money for fees for me. But she gave money to her own child for school fees. After a while she went to the village and left me in Nkhoma for two weeks without food or money. She only took her own children. When she came back she told me she was transferred again for her job from Nkhoma to Blantyre now. She left me again and took her children to Blantrye. She left me without anything.
But now my life is good because Nicole pick me to her house, everything is ok also for school.

family life

Often people ask me why I’m in Malawi doing volunteer work. Why do I spend all my time, energy and money on caring and helping the vulnerable children in Malawi? The answer is easy; I feel God want me here, doing this work.
The job is everything except easy.  I have to divide my attention between many children and moments of rest are very limited. But the love, joy and energy I receive back from them is unlimited. I don’t regret changing my life however definitely miss things like chatting with friends, going out for dinner, visiting the movie theater. It is almost 3 years ago I have been in the Netherlands and would love to come for a visit but Malawi is my home now.

Mwayi is finally discharged from the hospital after a stay of almost 7 weeks. I’m very happy we are all back home and able to have a ‘normal’ family live again. Mwayi is doing very well and gaining and growing a lot. After a few days in my house the grandmother decided to take him home. My hart filled with joy after hearing she is going to take care for him because I know there is nobody else who will do better. I will support the grandmother financially so Mwayi will be receiving all basics needs.

 Now Mwayi left there are six girls living with me in the house again. As the school year is ending we are busy making plans for the next year. Katie finished primary school but unfortunately never passed her standard 8 exams. Currently she is not going to school because her aunt did not have money to send her to school. Since she is living in my house she is following English class, three times a week. She really wants to go to secondary school so I decided to let her go for interviews for a boarding school in Lilongwe. The decision wasn’t easy because I have seen her growing and maturing living with her new family, but I want her to become independent and the only way to achieve that is good education. Her interviews will be beginning of August. Good secondary schools are very expensive in Malawi therefore I’m looking for a sponsor for her. If you know anybody who is willing and able to pay for her school fees please let me know!
Tiwonge is going to write standard 6 exams at the local primary school next month. Also she is following English class and we hope she will pass the interviews for Ebenezer school so she can continue her primary school education at a higher level.
Tryness and Diana both celebrated their 3^rd birthday in May so they will start primary school in September. Both are accepted at Ebenezer.
Maria will turn 3 years in November so she has to wait another year before she can go to the primary school. She will enjoy the nursery school for another year.


Love,
Nicole

 



Mwayi; a baby brother

On the 22nd of April 2015 a good friend went into labour. At 7 o'clock in the evening she walked to the hospital to deliver her child. After examination they decided to do caesarian section. At 11 o'clock a beautiful baby boy was born but the mother passed away while giving live to her son, leaving her husband and 4 year old daughter.

The family asked me to assist them taking care for the baby boy called Mwayi (meaning Lucky). As I knew the mother well I did not doubt and took the baby into the Africare house. Mwayi was born with a birth weight of 3300 grams. The delivery process was difficult and very stressful what caused that Mwayi is struggling a lot.
I’m typing this story while we are in the hospital. Mwayi has been here since he was a few days old. He received a lot of antibiotics however keeps being sick. The doctors are not sure what is causing the infections. His current weight is 2900 grams.
 

For the last two weeks we worked out a schedule so I can spend some time with everybody. I sleep with Mwayi in the hospital during the night. At 6 in the morning I go home to wake up the girls and prepare them for school. At 8 I go back to the hospital with Mwayi to see the doctor and to receive medication. From 4 to 7 in the afternoon I take him home so I can prepare dinner and we can all eat together. After putting the girls in bed I go back to the hospital to spend the night and receive more medication.
The schedule is as exhausting as it sound. I’m very tired and can’t remember the last day I had a proper night rest.

Little babies in Africa are so fragile and with the limited resources there is only 1 thing left to do; praying. Many people pray for Mwayi everyday and I would like to ask you to do the same.

Love,

Nicole

A star in heaven

On the 9th of December Malita Jasten delivered tiplets at Nkhoma hospital. This was her 6th pregnancy which means she had a total of 9 children now. The triplets were born pre-term and with a very low birth weight. Malita stayed almost 2 months in the Kangaroe care room but requested to go home after as she also had to care for her other 6 children. Unfortunately she was discharged without follow up appointment and without additional support.

A month after discharged we managed to find the mother and babies in the village to see how they were doing. A conclusion was quickly made; she couldn’t take care for all children herself. Her husband left her so she has to take care for the children and to make sure everyone in the family has enough to eat.
We agreed with her to come to the hospital frequently so we could support her. I started providing maize, likuni phala, blankets, clothes and money for transport. Now there was more food available we were hoping her breast milk would increase however reality was different.

On Tuesday April 14^th we agreed with the mother to take the smallest baby into the africare house. Trinity is the third born of the triplets and was born with a birth weight of 994 grams. She was suffering from severe malaria, severe anemia, severe pneumonia and severe malnutrition. I moved with Trinity into the hospital and prayed for her. After a few days she started recovering from the malaria and anemia however the doctor found out she also was in heart failure. The combination of all diseases was too much for her and on the 23^rd of April 2015 at 11pm Trinity died.

I stayed with Trinity for almost 10 days. I cared for her and loved her as much as I love my other daughters. I slept with her in the hospital and watched her day and night. The pain and cold I felt while she was dying is something I cannot explain. When Trinity died she took a piece of me with her. I will never forget her and always love her. I know she is in a safe place right now but the pain I feel is difficult.
Today she was buried in her home village.

Forever in my heart, a star in heaven.