After years of closure due the COVID-19 and the subsequent maintenance and reopening phase, we are delighted to announce that Phunzira’s Volunteer Program has reopened for both Nyumba Ya Masambiro and Ruarwe Health Centre. Our first volunteer, Rachel, joined us in Malawi for three months from Mid July to Mid October. A qualified nurse from the USA, Rachel helped daily at Ruarwe Health Centre as well as getting stuck in with community health visits to the wider catchment area with the Health Surveillance Assistants from the clinic team and by running First Aid sessions with both the NYM staff and Clinic Staff.
Rachel was really valued by the whole team, community members as well as staff at Zulunkhuni River Lodge, where all volunteers stay during their placements in Ruarwe. Rachel, we thank you for your hard work, for getting stuck in with so much while you were here and your cheerful demeanour throughout your stay. We would love to see you back some time very soon! Yewo Chomene!
A nationwide shortage of medications remains a critical issue across Malawi. The most recent 44% devaluation of the currency will unfortunately only add to these pressures. At the plea of Ruarwe and Khondowe health centres, Phunzira provided funds in order to purchase necessary and life-saving medicines to stock the two clinics. Both clinics within the catchment area had run out of all antimalarials as well as antibiotics and antipyretics. The clinic in Usisya, 20Km south, which has helped out in the past, also had no stock.
Ruarwe clinic sees an average of 300 patients per month. In the last three months these numbers have risen unexpectedly and drastically. In August 2023 the clinic treated 800 patients, in September 2023 the clinic treated 1200 patients and in October 2023 the clinic treated 900 patients. Of these, a very large portion were malaria cases, which is a startlingly high rate at this time of year, before the peak malaria season begins in December/January. Government supply is not able to keep up with these patient numbers, and patients have been dying of treatable illness as a result.
Phunzira was able to purchase 710 doses of Antimalarials for a wide range of ages, as well as antibiotics and antipyretics whilst further government supply is awaited. While the donation of medications in this way is not sustainable in the long term future, we are extremely grateful to our donors to allow these short-term life-saving donations to take place and we wish that Malawi is able to stabilise her currency and continue to look after her population.
The largest project undertaken beyond the maintenance and reopening of Nyumba Ya Masambiro this year is the construction of a house for a Nurse-Midwife at Ruarwe Health Centre. This is a project which was requested by the community, Medical Assistant (Doctor) and Health Centre Management Committee. Having housing available is a pre-requisite for government recruitment into any available post. Ruarwe Health Centre sees dozens of deliveries every quarter and at present the Medical Assistant needs to attend all births, as he is the only qualified member of staff present at the clinic. This results in him being on call 24/7, 365 days a year. The Midwife’s House will allow that post to be recruited into with the next round of recruitment, taking all antenatal care, deliveries and post-natal care off the Medical Assistant’s hands and providing safer maternal care for the community.
Construction began with a large-scale shopping trip to buy all the necessary resources. The NYM staff and some community members then began hand-making the necessary bricks for the construction of the building. In a remote area like Ruarwe, there is no access to any power tools so the whole process is being completed by hand. These bricks were then carried up by hand to the construction site.
Following the construction of the bricks, the land allocated to the Midwife’s House next to the Health Centre had to be prepared. Ruarwe is surrounded by a ring of mountains and the clinic building is in the foothills of these mountains. As a result, the land for the house needed to be levelled out – again an arduous process involving digging into the mountainside and breaking rocks by hand.
Once levelling had commenced, the foundations could start to be laid – again as a result of the landscape, very high, sound foundations are required to ensure a level and stable base for the construction of the house. The build itself commenced at the end of November and the contractor (from the community) and Health Centre Management Committee aim for completion before the end of December.
During the years of NYM’s closure we have been fortunate enough to source funds via trustees for medical emergencies, such as the provision of sanitation units during the three years of covid. Since receiving a recent grant, NYM has assisted two clinics in the catchment area with life-saving medicines during a recent nationwide outbreak of cholera (which has fortunately subsided), as well as recent purchase of antibiotics due to a government shortage affecting clinics nationwide. There have been no antibiotics in either Ruarwe or Khondowe clinics for many months, resulting in unnecessary deaths due to simple illnesses that were otherwise treatable. Both clinics are now stocked for many months to come, by which time the usual government provision of medicines will have hopefully resumed.
Nyumba ya Masambiro’s free-of-charge community centre in Ruarwe village started opening its doors again to community members after over 3 years of closure due to covid. The centre, originally established in 2010, had also temporarily suspended all of its outreach and support programmes in the catchment area due to lack of funding. The consequences of this closure were sharply felt by the educational community, with pass rates at Ruarwe Primary School dropping from 85% to under 40% due to lack of support with school provisions. During this time, school dropout rates at primary and secondary level rose sharply due to underage pregnancies, which were far lower over the decade that NYM was open. This was primarily due to the regular youth activities (e.g. youth club, sports), provided free-of-charge at the centre, that served as a healthy distraction for children in a remote village with little to occupy their time. These issues were highlighted at NYM’s reopening ceremony on 29th April, attended by chiefs, village headmen, area and village development committees, and representatives of the health and educational institutions in the catchment area. The ceremony was a huge success, filled with speeches, dramas, dances, and demonstrations by NYM nursery children, as well as praise for the grant providers for facilitating the re-opening of the community centre and resumption of its outreach projects in the wider target area. The NYM staff are finally back at work and, although maintenance and construction works will be ongoing for the coming months, the primary focus is now on re-opening the library and youth projects, with the aim of reaching the same level of services provided before closure. Currently five members of staff have been employed during the day (and one night watchman), with the hope of providing further employment opportunities when the centre is fully open later in the year.
For over a month there has been a nationwide outbreak of cholera across Malawi. At the request of Ruarwe and Khondowe health centres, Phunzira has sourced funds in order to purchase necessary and life-saving medicines to stock the two clinics. The funds were collected by our Heath Coordinator Philippa during an on-site visit and purchased from a private seller in nearby city Mzuzu, due to poor availability of government stockpiles in all other local pharmacies. The outbreak is hitting worst in southern cities such as Blantyre, where population density is high and sanitation services are poor, however most parts of the country have now sadly felt the devastating and life-threatening consequences of the outbreak, which continues to grow for now.
A huge thank you to all our friends and supporters that have helped us to send COVID-19 emergency relief funds to Malawi of over £1,800 since our activities were suspended in March.
Donations are being used to purchase essential sanitation items during the pandemic such as soaps and face masks, in order to distribute swiftly and free-of-charge to the elderly and vulnerable at this difficult time. The local clinics have also suffered a sudden shortage of essential, basic medicines due to the prioritisation of Coronavirus supplies, so a range of drugs and equipment is being sent to assist at Ruarwe and Khondowe Clinics. In addition, all NYM programmes and activities have been suspended since March, including the maize mill microbusiness which was eventually closed in mid-April, so the staff from the community centre and its associated businesses are now able to access emergency relief funds to help feed their families.
A special thanks to our good friends in the Netherlands Marlieke Moors and Derek van Bakel (pictured below on Lake Malawi) – with the help of friends and family they managed to raise a whopping €800 for their Kingsday (Konigsdag) fundraiser in just a few days! A big thank you also to all our supporters that have managed to donate at this economically challenging time, and to the family and friends of the Nissims and the Manders for their continued generous contributions. YEWO!
While Nyumba ya Masambiro and Phunzira have had to put the majority of their activities on a complete hold during the global Coronavirus pandemic, we have made the decision, in conjunction with NYM, to keep the Maize Mill open with a new set of rules to implement strict social distancing and hygiene practices to protect both the customers and staff. Residents of Ruarwe, given its remote location, do not have access to any shops or market places for food. They grow their own, occasionally barter and trade, and rely heavily on government-subsidised maize for their daily nutrition. The Maize Mill is therefore essential for food security.
We are delighted that, since the opening of the Maize Mill, a steady flow of customers continues to come on a daily basis to mill their maize. To make sure that everyone remains as safe as possible, customers currently queue outside the milling house with minimum 1 meter distancing from person to person. As they approach the milling building they wash their hands with the soap and water provided for them. The miller and cashier each have a personal handwashing station within the milling house and they wash their hands between each customer interaction.
We are delighted that NYM is able to maintain the Maize Milling service safely at this time, and we will continue to monitor the situation in Malawi and will make changes where necessary.
Nyumba ya Masambiro and Ruarwe Clinic have just hosted volunteer Kate Probert for 5 weeks. A qualified nurse from New Zealand, with particular experience in youth healthcare, Kate got involved with many of the activities in Ruarwe including working at the clinic, assisting the clinic staff to set up the Youth Friendly Health Services program, repainting the children’s corner of the NYM library and much more. As Kate said of her time in Malawi:
“Volunteer and live in a beautiful jungle, right on the lake with not onlythe staff but the whole community that open their arms and welcome you in. It’s a no brainer.”
Kate, you really got stuck in in your time in Ruarwe and have made a real and lasting impact on the community here. Thank you so much for sharing your time, expertise and energy with us and we very much look forward to you coming and joining us again some time in the future. Tawonga Chomene!
In January, Ruarwe Clinic was delighted to receive the wonderful donation of a portable nebulisation unit. Nebulisers can administer saline, adrenaline, salbutamol and more to alleviate symptoms of respiratory conditions including asthma, chest infections and more. Respiratory conditions represent a large portion of conditions seen in Ruarwe and the surrounding areas due to a number of factors, a key one being the need to cook over open fires year round resulting in regular exposure to smoke inhalation.
Out-going Zulunkhuni River Lodge managers Anneke and Hartmut, who have contributed so much to this community in their time here, donated the nebuliser unit via Phunzira. We would like to extend a huge thank you to Anneke and Hartmut for this extremely generous donation, which is being used on a regular basis and is making a huge difference to the community in how staff at the centre can now treat respiratory emergencies. Yewo Chomene!
Phunzira 