Malawi Mission - Mchuchu Village Orphan Care
Centre Project
..."The child, for the full and harmonious
development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family
environment, an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding."
UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child.
AIDS is ensuring that this is
not happening for a large number of children in Malawi. AIDS
is having a huge impact, claiming 10 lives every hour. One
in four HIV positive children die before the age of five and
14% of adults between 15 and 49 are living with HIV/AIDS.
Whilst in Africa Ramona visited the Mchuchu
Village to meet some of these orphans.
Seen below, left, Ramona with
the Orphan Care Team UCT hopes to support, in front of the
land donated for the Orphan Care Centre
The
government is losing many of its workers to AIDS. The health ministry
estimates that between 25 and 50 per cent of workers in urban areas
will die of AIDS. While the rates of infection are higher in urban
areas, the number of people infected is greater in the rural areas,
where 85 per cent of the population lives. There, HIV/AIDS is presenting
a daunting development challenge, diverting labour from farming
into care provision, increasing food insecurity and threatening
the survival of entire communities
Seen above Minister Francis Chalamanda the Ministry
of Gender, Child Welfare and Community services in Malawi.
More than 365,000 Malawians have died of AIDS since 1985, when the
virus was first diagnosed in this country of 10.6 million. Life
expectancy has plunged from 52 years in 1990 to about 39 in 2004
and dropping. The Joint UN Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) puts the adult
infection rate in Malawi at 16%. The majority
of deaths occur in the population's reproductive age group. (15
- 49) Children under 15 years living with
HIV now total over 70,000.
20% of households in Malawi are caring for orphans,
half of these are headed by females
Harmful effects experienced by children
and women as a result of AIDS
• Fragmented households
• Increased child labour
• Property dispossession
• Child headed households
• Elderly headed households, usually grandmother.
• Increase prostitution, child marriage and
pornography
• Increase in children in conflict with the
law
• Instituionalised children
Orphan Care Centers-
JAM 1:27 Religion that God our Father
accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and
widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted
by the world.
Community based Orphan
Care Centres (OCC) are urgently needed. They act
as a child development pre school institute(ECD), a health
care centre and a food distribution outlet during the week
for the orphans and vulnerable children in the community.
Each OCC should be backed by a pastor with a heart for the
youth and the centre seconds as a Christian youth centre on
Saturday and church on Sunday.
Land has been donated for the creation
of the first United Caribbean Trust Orphan Care Centre, seen
here behind some of the orphans that will use the centre. They
meet at the moment under the trees.
The staff have been identified
and the centre has been priced up to cost approximately US
$20,000.
The cost of feeding 20 children, one hot meal
for five days a week in an Orphan Care Centre is US
$100 per month
Goal for Integrated ECD:
To promote a comprehensive approach to ECD Programmes and practices
for children aged 0 - 8 years, to ensure fulfillment of children’s
rights for full development of their physical, emotional, social,
and cognitive potentials.
Objectives:
1. To build capacity of ECD implementers and institutions
2. To strengthen ECD network to improve coordination of the programmes
3. To improve the quality of ECD activities at all levels
4. To monitor and evaluate implementation of the ECD policy
5. To raise awareness on ECD programmes and activities
6. To provide quality care & support to children in difficult
circumstances
Until this orphan care center
project gets off the ground there is still a lot you can do
to help.
There are a variety of children on the data
base in need of Child Sponsorship,
and others will join that list following the Malawi trip.
UCT sponsored Ramona from the Restorations
Ministries to visit Malawi for up to 6 month to establish
the Child Sponsorship programme.
The cost of the child sponsorship is US
$30/month. Your child sponsorship helps provide clean water,
nutritious food, health care, AIDs prevention training, HIV/AIDS
counseling, educational opportunities, Spiritual nurture,and
general holistic support.
The
government is losing many of its workers to AIDS. The health ministry
estimates that between 25 and 50 per cent of workers in urban areas
will die of AIDS. While the rates of infection are higher in urban
areas, the number of people infected is greater in the rural areas,
where 85 per cent of the population lives. There, HIV/AIDS is presenting
a daunting development challenge, diverting labour from farming
into care provision, increasing food insecurity and threatening
the survival of entire communities 
