October 2021

Kia Ora everyone and welcome to Mphatikizo’s October update.

I hope everyone is well and coping in what they now call our new “normal,” in which I hope will not continue for much longer. On the ground in Malawi, we continue to be busy, both in our community and some of the outlining villages. Sometime ago Richard was contacted via the internet by a group of students from the Netherlands expressing a desire to help Mphatikizo. The group is called Ipso and they wished to donate raised funds to water projects and as a result Mphatikizo ended up with enough money to repair several boreholes in outlining villages. Below are photos (apologies for the quality) of the first two boreholes to be repaired. We are incredibly thankful for this groups donation and the positive impact for these two communities and their ability to access water again is immense. These funds are paying for repairs only to boreholes that under normal circumstances would have been repaired by other charities, but on the ground here in Malawi another side effect from covid is at present many of these organisations are no longer here. We estimate we should be able to repair at least another three to four boreholes depending on the severity of the repairs needed.

In our community, we continue to support/feed our kids within their home environments with school being closed but the kitchen still providing the meals for our kids. The routine is that children will come to collect their meals which are then taken to eat elsewhere. We have taken these measures due to covid and our responsibilities to maintain some level of social distancing. However this is Africa, many of the children simply remain at the orphanage eating their food there, Regina has received complaints from the kids that they miss school. On another positive note, we have received a huge donation of Luki Palor from the Joyce Banda foundation amounting to a whole truckload. This will be distributed to the outlining communities we support and in these times it is hugely welcomed and much needed.

Thank you to everyone for your continued love and support. In writing this update I realised that our support comes from many corners of the globe, in this one update funding for borehole repairs comes from the Netherlands, donated Luki Palor from Malawi/America, and our backbone supporters here in New Zealand both feeding and supporting our community in Malindima. At times like this that we see ourselves in today we should take some joy in the fact that so many people from all parts of the world care about those with nothing.

 Love and hugs, Smedley Family