Latest News

Community, Healthcare, Malawi

Construction of Midwife’s House at Ruarwe Clinic

Phunzira

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. 

Community, Donations, Education, Fundraising, Malawi, Nursery, Youth

Youth activities go from strength to strength

Phunzira

The Nursery continues to go from strength to strength, having initially reopened with just over 20 students, there are now over 35 registered and attending daily. NYM’s nursery continues to be praised by the local primary schools for assisting children to enter primary-level education with sound educational knowledge and solid foundations for learning. Nursery students receive a subsidised fortified maize porridge breakfast every day. Given the recent devaluation of the currency and increase in prices, this subsidised meal is a vital provision for the majority of these children. NYM has not increased the price of the nursery fees to cover this change, and is currently assuming that cost with the support of the grant money. As ever we remain grateful for any and all donations, which continue to support the projects ongoing at NYM.

Following a change of nursery teacher due to maternity leave, NYM’s former Youth Co-ordinator Ekhesha, known to many of our former volunteers and now a qualified teacher at Ruarwe Primary School, has commenced voluntary training with the new nursery teacher on all the activities previously run at NYM. This includes activities undertaken within nursery school as well as teaching around Youth Club, sports events, educational quizzes etc, all of which we aim to restart in the coming months. We are delighted to see Ekhesha thriving in his new post, and also coming back to support NYM in its ongoing projects! Yewo Chomene!

Community, Education, Malawi

Maintenance at Nyumba ya Masambiro

Phunzira

July saw extensive carpentry maintenance at Nyumba ya Masambiro including the replacement of all damaged and aged roofing timbers, which had first been installed in 2010 when the centre was built, as well as the replacement of any door frames and window shutters showing damage. This was followed in August by the replacement of any damaged or leaking iron roofing sheets. NYM has returned to being secure and water-tight, meaning the resources housed at the centre remain secure and undamaged for access for the whole community. 

August to October saw the repair of the foundation to NYM’s Library building. All books were removed and placed into secure storage, the shelving was removed (and some repaired and replaced as necessary) and the floor taken up to gain access to the foundation where it had become damaged by natural waterflow. Following the diversion of the waterflow and the repair to the foundation, the flooring was re-laid, the shelving returned and the books cleaned and returned ready for community members to come and borrow them or read on site as they wish. The staff anticipate the Library to be fully operational before the end of November 2023.

Community, Donations

Wedding bells raise funds for Malawi

Phunzira

Saturday 29th July 2023 marked the joyous occasion of the wedding of John (the father of Philippa, one of our Trustees) to his partner Annett. In lieu of wedding presents, they asked for donations towards two charities close to their hearts and Phunzira was lucky to be one of these charities. The donations made to Phunzira came in at just over £700, which is hugely generous!

On behalf of the entire Phunzira team and the communities we serve, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to John and Annett for thinking of Phunzira and to each one of the guests who generously contributed to our cause. Their support makes a real contribution to our current and future projects and means we can continue to make a positive impact in Ruarwe.

Once again, Tawonga Chomene for being a part of our journey and for sharing the love and joy of John and Annett’s special day with the community in Ruarwe!

Community, Donations, Healthcare

Medicines for clinics

Phunzira

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.

Education, Nursery, Youth

NYM nursery school returns

Phunzira

NYM has re-opened its nursery school after nearly 3 years of closure due to covid. A lady within the catchment area was employed to educate and guide the children, with the support of other NYM staff for cooking and cleaning. NYM’s nursery has been praised by the local primary schools for assisting children to enter primary-level education with sound educational knowledge and solid foundations for learning. The nursery re-opened on 13th March – it started with only 8 learners and grew to 25 learners by the end of April. As well as providing the young ones with daily nutrition (fortified maize porridge) and educational activities (alphabet, numbers, calendar…), the aim is to adopt a holistic approach to learning by providing workshops for children and parents on current issues such as nutrition, sanitation, protection of land and trees for future sustainability, dangers of overfishing in the lake, and plastic waste management. The aim is to start sensitising learners when they are young, so they can grow with a keen interest in their surrounding environment, as well as acquire useful knowledge and skills on how to protect and sustain it in the future for their individual and communal benefit.

Community, Education, Healthcare

Re-opening of NYM

Phunzira

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.

Community, Donations, Fundraising

Grant awarded to re-open community centre

Phunzira

Phunzira was lucky enough to receive a grant this month from The E and N Watson Charitable Trust, originally applied for over the summer by our Heath Coordinator Philippa Mander. The trust was originally established in 2014 and makes a number of grants to charitable organisations each year. Since covid hit in 2020, our charity has suffered financially and has struggled to recover without the assistance and goodwill donations of the volunteers usually passing through. We are extremely grateful to the trust for enabling our small charity to keep running and provide essential community services to some of the poorest people in the world. The extremely kind and sizeable donation will facilitate the re-opening of Phunzira’s community projects and volunteer programme in Malawi at the start of next year so WATCH THIS SPACE!

Donations, Healthcare, Malawi

Emergency cholera medicines

Phunzira

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.

Business, Education, Nursery, Volunteers

2022 NYM update

Phunzira

Despite the sad closures of NYM’s main activities at the community centre, in December 2022 some small parts were re-opened with great joy from the staff and surrounding communities. The library is running and being visited primarily by students to access during revision time due to its wide range of academic text books sourced in Malawi and UK. We are also happy to announce that the youth centre is currently being used by a children’s nursery, with free-of-charge access to the large room and recreational/ educational resources. In addition, donations are being sourced in order to provide medicines to the two nearby village clinics, where not even basic drugs such as paracetamol are available due to nationwide government shortages. The maize mill business has also received an injection of cash, allowing for essential maintenance work and the purchase of maize, to sell directly from the centre. All other activities in Ruarwe village still remain closed due to insufficient funds since the start of Covid – it has been a very challenging time and we are extremely grateful to our staff and supporters for keeping us alive over the last two years. We hope that by the end of this year the maize mill and its subsidiary businesses generate enough funds to re-open the weekly youth club and sporting events, at which point we will look towards starting up the volunteer programme again – it has been missed dearly in Ruarwe!