The Dalitso Project
In 2007, the original Dalitso team travelled to rural Kambilonjo, a small trading centre on the Mozambique border. This area is incredibly poor despite having some of the most fertile land in Central Malawi.
The team visited this centre in the middle of the Malawian dry season when the weather is at its coldest. They visited Kambilonjo where our partner charity Aquaid Lifeline had begun caring for around 100 orphans. These poor kids all lived at home with guardians and were huddled together against the bitter cold wind, with just small thin pieces of material (chitenje) to wrap around themselves. The team were so moved by the poverty of the village with the mud huts and ox-carts that they returned the following week with a couple of hundred ski jackets that they had managed to purchase from an American charity that ships ski jackets to Africa! Who would have thought that they would have come in so handy-certainly not those of us on the team prior to that moment!
The team visited this centre in the middle of the Malawian dry season when the weather is at its coldest. They visited Kambilonjo where our partner charity Aquaid Lifeline had begun caring for around 100 orphans. These poor kids all lived at home with guardians and were huddled together against the bitter cold wind, with just small thin pieces of material (chitenje) to wrap around themselves. The team were so moved by the poverty of the village with the mud huts and ox-carts that they returned the following week with a couple of hundred ski jackets that they had managed to purchase from an American charity that ships ski jackets to Africa! Who would have thought that they would have come in so handy-certainly not those of us on the team prior to that moment!
But the team did not feel that just giving some jackets was enough. The village was in such poverty for a number of simple reasons. Firstly because it was so rural it had been passed by for any sort of development. This meant that at the time there was no electricity, running water and no access to basic healthcare. Most of the houses were mud huts with thatched roofs, with only the very odd mud hut which had a tin roof and 1 or 2 brick built buildings. Because of this, the local school had significant difficulty in retaining any qualified teachers and therefore the standard of education was incredibly poor, with many families not supporting the struggling teachers either as they could not see the value of education.
The lack of education meant that few people from the village were able to gain paid employment or better their families. This meant that almost everyone in the village were subsistence famers, who relied almost entirely on a good harvest in order to feed their families.
The lack of education meant that few people from the village were able to gain paid employment or better their families. This meant that almost everyone in the village were subsistence famers, who relied almost entirely on a good harvest in order to feed their families.
So the team decided to take action. The team purchased some further land and built a residence where some of the poorest orphans, who did not have anyone to look after them could live. We also took over the funding and running of this centre. This allowed us to buy some more land for growing food for our children. It also includes the development of the new Dochas Medical Centre, the building of the Mary Spink Skills Centre, the digging of new boreholes and the fitting of windows and extra maize storage. We have also sponsored many local children (who are not orphans but whose families are unable to provide school fees for them) through secondary school and university.
The daycare supports 150 children in the Kambilonjo area. The children all receive their breakfast on their way to the local primary school (which starts at 7.30am) and then after their lessons (which end about 12noon) they return to the centre for their lunch and some extra lessons. The nursery, in contrast, start with their breakfast at 8am and then have some lessons until lunchtime.
These kids are also then supported in their further studies if they do well enough to progress on to secondary or further education.
These kids are also then supported in their further studies if they do well enough to progress on to secondary or further education.
In 2017 our clinic (The Dochas Medical Clinic) finally fully opened, although it had been previously used for some minor health check ups prior to that.
It was built in response to the communities request for a healthcare facility as so many people struggled to afford the healthcare available to them, and with the nearest government hospital being around an hour and a half's drive from Kambilonjo it meant that many ill patients were dying en route.
It was built in response to the communities request for a healthcare facility as so many people struggled to afford the healthcare available to them, and with the nearest government hospital being around an hour and a half's drive from Kambilonjo it meant that many ill patients were dying en route.
In 2017 The Dalitso Project received a generous donation upon the passing of one of our most loyal supporters. In her memory, the team has decided to fill a gap which had been identified in our education set up. Whilst we provide lots of support in terms of academia we knew that not every child would be an academic, with that in mind we wanted to be able to give those children the skills and tools necessary to go on to earn a living for themselves and their families.
From this vision, the Mary Spink Skills Centre was born!
From this vision, the Mary Spink Skills Centre was born!