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.