Sunday 18th July
Tea and Peanut Butter Sandwiches
The orphan situation is getting worse and worse. UN has estimated that at the end of the decade there will be 50 million orphans in Sub Saharan Africa. The present 12 million is already too big a number to comprehend and for us, outsides, there is a danger of numbness in these big numbers. But people in the villages are getting more and more desperate and new pre schools for orphans are popping up everywhere. New pre-schools, but no funds, no teaching materials, no food. Not even expertise often, just a feeling of desperation.
I visited one such village last week, my very first village in Malawi 3 years ago. Unhappiness was tangible. Forty-eight small children were sitting on the ground, spooning brown liquid from small bowls. What was this lunch they were having? Tea, plain tea. My heart sank and even their little songs and rhyme recites did not manage to lift my spirits. But after all, I wasn’t here for spirit lifting but to help them to get uplifted and start standing on their own feet. Communal garden is going to be established. Luckily I have seeds, brought all the way from England.
I was just planning to leave when my old friend Fenex was brought to greet me. He was the very first child I took into my lap here and for that reason has stayed in my mind. Last year he had extensive ringworm in his head and it took lots of time, energy and mycosine-cream to get that sorted out. When he reached his little hand to me this time, I was startled: it was round like a ball; infection has crept deep in from the cut between fingers. But we were very lucky: the clinic I took him performed minor operations and even gave 50% discount for orphans.
Tomorrow I will go to Nkolesya again. This time with 60 peanut butter sandwiches, seeds and other gardening gadgets, check how Fenex’s hand is heeling and hope to leave the place at least tiny bit happier than it was a week ago.
