Searchlight Orphan Care’s 2009 Report
Issued by Pastor Duncan Nyozani
December 2009

Searchlight Orphan Care is a community care organization situated in the Phalombe District of southern Malawi, one of the lucky organizations in Africa whose projects have been funded by The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated. We are very proud of the support we have received from this small Australian charity that has greatly impacted on the lives of many people in Africa.

The AAFI has funded a range of projects for us…schools, orphanages (San Michel and Kambona House)..farmlands, shops, clinic, etc.

I am delighted to report on them.

BARBER SHOP AT MSEMA
Sometimes there are little things that look simple but they help the people in very wonderful ways. Msema is a village in a remote area where there is no electricity. A few years ago, AAFI helped us to start a barber shop in the village. We received associated materials in connection with the barber shop. We employed a young man to do this business in this village. He bought a car battery and other things.

Because Msema has no power, many people come to shave their heads and right now they are paying K50 . The place always is full of people , especially young people who come and meet at this centre. This small business is going on so well, that we are able to buy other small things needed for our orphans at our San Michel property that the AAFI bought and added to for us…items such as soaps, sugar, salt, tooth paste, etc. Our children at San Michel and our other orphanage, Malawi House, don’t pay for their haircutting.

We are getting a monthly profit of K15,000.We are able to maintain this for ourselves, in the future we are planning to open another big barber shop at Kambona. Not only do young people come to shave at this place but also they come to listen some music in the shop, and charge their phones. The business of charging phones is growing, a lot of people are coming to charge cell phones at the cost of K60 per cell phone.

MSEMA SHOPPING CENTRE
We also have another bigger shop at Msema …a general store where we sell many items … cooking oil, paraffin, soaps, sugar, salt, biscuits, etc. The construction and initial stocking of this shop was also funded by AAFI .
As there are few shops in this remote areas, this shop in Msema is a great blessing to many people. They no longer have to travel considerable distances to buy their groceries,or pay commissions to others… they just come to this place and do their shopping themselves.
This shop produces good profits between April and July when its customers sell their farm produce. But in December to March, the business is much lighter.
This shop has also a variety of drinks that most of the people like. It is a center where many people meet and spend some time together. Sometimes we get an average profit income of K30,000 per month which goes towards buying things needed for our locally built Mothers & Babies Health Centre, which was also built with AAFI funding

GROCERY SHOP & TAILORING SHOP AT KAMBONA

We have two other shops which the AAFI bought for us at Kambona, one that sells groceries and the other for tailoring. Both shops are very busy. We sell different types of groceries and the tailoring shop makes clothes . Fortunately, both shops have an electrical power supply, allowing us to sell popular cold drinks like Fanta, Coke, etc. We have a refrigerator and the shop is handily situated near our Australian Secondary School which we built with AAFI funding.

Many people come to the tailoring shop to get their clothing sewn at reasonable prices and it is also here where school uniforms are made for the students. Many profits from these shops go towards financing our various needs and some pays to feed our nursery children at Kambona. Many women and young people have been trained in tailoring at this shop.

There is also a payphone at this centre, which had been initially sited at Msema but we re-located it to Kambona because many students who clamoured for it. It is also a small business that is doing well at Kambona.

MOTHERS & BABIES HEALTH CENTRE

This project is a very big blessing to many women in the surrounding villages of Msema, Manyowa, Ngoma, Filisa, and Singano. There are many women who come once a week to learn different things regarding health issues.

This is not an income generating activity. It’s a social amenity and its work is co-ordinated by healthy community workers like Damsom and Phillip. A lot of women have benefited from this facility.. they learn how to care for their babies, how to bathe them, how to cook meals based on a well balanced diet in their homes. They learn more about hygiene, sanitation, etc.

We have discovered from visiting their homes that many women have greatly impoved their own domestic situations as a result of their attendance at the centre. Most of the people in remote areas are not educated, especially the women, but this clinic has taught them how to avoid diseases like cholera, HIV, etc. They do encourage one another. This is also another good development for the Msema village and its neighbours.

Two months ago, I was very much impressed when I visited the home of one of the women who attend the centre…she has very much upgraded her responses to the cleanliness of toilets and rubbish pits. She’s become a community role model as a result.

The facility, which also includes a crafts area, also provides an open room for meeting, an office, toilets , bathing rooms, and a community kitchen. The Ministry of Health in the Phalombe District now uses it as a vaccination centre and many women from distant villages come here to have their babies vaccinated. It is becoming so busy that we need to think about expanding it when funds are available.

We also need to obtain additional books dealing with health issues to augment our initial supplies. We thank you AAFI for funding and building this clinic, it has really blessed many people in the society. We have weighing scales, etc for children. All the people are desiring this place to have also a medical centre where people can come and receive medications.

FOOTBALL & NETBALL TEAMS

This is another interesting activity that Searchlight Orphan Care is encouraging in the villages. The world knows well how the young people love these games.
We have four football and netball teams at Msema and Kambona. The Australian Primary School at Msema has both football and netball teams. The children are doing well in these sports, there are a lot of games they play against other schools. The football ground at Msema has benches that people use to sit down when watching the games, it is a big ground and very attractive.

The problem that we are facing there is lack of boots to play with. They are just using their bare feet when playing which is not good. To buy boots here in Malawi is expensive, in the first years we were lucky because AAFI sent donations to buy balls, kits, boots as start up. This encouraged a lot of children to keep on doing sports.

We also have very dedicated football and netball teams at the Australian Secondary School, these are very strong teams in the area. Many come to watch them and students are doing well in these sports. They are beating other teams, this is one of the ways our school is becoming well known in the Phalombe District. This is attracting other students from far away places to come and enrol at the school.

This year there was a football trophy and our secondary school team entered the finals. They received a prize.
The only problem we meet is that of lack of boots for players to play with. This needs a lot of money to buy.

The villages of Msema and Kambona are becoming famous because of these sports, the youth in Msema and Kambona are different from other youths from other places. In other places, many youths simply drink and waste their time in the absence of sporting facilities. ..a real contrast to the young people in the Msema and Kambona villages who train regularly and keep fit.
We at Searchlight Orphan Care try our best to see that there are enough balls for these 4 teams. Supporting these teams is very hard but we try our best to solve other needs like of footballs, kits, although we fail to buy the boots.

FARMLANDS
The SOC is lucky that it has many farmlands in different locations like Msema and Kambona. All of these big farmlands were purchased with donations from The Australian AIDS Fund Inc, a charity based in Melbourne, Australia. The AAFI has tried to support SOC in many different areas like education, sports, health, sanitation, orphan care.

The only problem we face on these farmlands is that rainfall has not been reliable in recent times .If the rains were more consistent, the SOC could soon become fully self reliant in its projects. If farming can go well with all these farmlands, we can get much income for the organisation . It is our prayer that these years God bring good rains.

This year, we had a good harvest although we weren’t able to afford all of the fertilizer we needed. Still, we were able to harvest hundreds of bags of maize that we are using to feed the orphans at San Michel and Malawi. We were able to sell some of it to repay some loans we took out.

We grow a lot of maize, sunflower, peas. This is one of the very profitable IGA (income generating activities) when we have good rains. We are able to feed the orphans because of these farmlands that we are operating. Right now we have cultivated all the farmlands ready for planting. The SOC members cooperate well, spending most of their time volunteering to work in the farmlands.
We are in the rainy season now and working very extra hard.

Our great need is get funding to drill a borehole in the Kambona farmland which would allow us to grow crops twice a year, and, in the dry season to produce green maize. In the dry season, green maize is bought at high prices which brings good income.
The other problem we face is the need to buy more fertilizers . It is also expensive to buy fertilizers in Malawi.

This year we have starting growing tomatoes which will give some income for the organisation. It’s been very successful; but we need to buy insecticides to protect them from disease.

3 TONNER LORRY

In earlier years, the AAFI also sent a large donation to allow us to buy a three tonner lorry to help us in our various projects. It has been a great blessing to have this lorry in our organisation. Before that, we were spending large sums of money hiring such vehicles…especially for our building projects.

When we got our own lorry,we made great savings. We’ve been using it to carry thousands of bricks and collect sand and other supplies and we were also able to rent it out on occasions for a good return. It was also invaluable at harvest time.
But now because it has worked for a long time it is now having problems. One of the problems of age and constant service.

MAIZE MILL & MAIZE SHELLER

The SOC has been doing well with its IGAs.(Income Generating Activities)
Most people shell and mill their own maize. Maize is the staple food in Malawi. Fortunately, with the help of the AAFI, we have built two such facilities and bought the machinery to offer shelling and milling facilities which have proved good income earners and a boon to the local people who now don’t have to travel considerable distances to buy those services elsewhere.

We make our profits in April, May, June, and July because that’s when time many people gather in their maize crops. Profits from these projects go directly buying orphans` needs at the orphanages. Some income is used to pay watchmen, and other workers.

The maize mill in Msema has cut travel for many people. Where once women struggled to carry 30 kilogram loads of maize to a distant mill now these facilities are within easy walking distance for them.

ORPHANAGES

Feeding the orphans and vulnerable children in our two mini orphanages …San Michel at Msema and Kambona House at Kambona is challenging .Many organisations are failing in this regard. Nowadays it is also very hard to raise funds for projects, but we are thankful that the AAFI bought and established the San Michel and Kambona facilities.
Because of the income we receive from our farming and our other income earning facilities, we are able to cope.

NURSERY SCHOOL

The SOC has been for a long time helping educate little children. We have two centres… one at Kambona and one at Msema. There are over 90 kids at these centres. We have four teachers teaching and caring for them. We give them breakfast, this project is going on well. These children when they reach Grade 1, are proving to be very bright.

TREE PLANTING
This is also one of the projects that SOC is doing in the community. We are able to have two places where we have planted many trees. At Msema, near San Michel, the trees are now big and we are planning to plant more this year.

We also have many trees at the Australian Secondary School at Kambona , which we planted three years. They are doing well. We will also plant more trees….gums…. this year. These trees provide good windbreaks.

Recently, three people were killed in a strong earthquake that struck Malawi, leaving hundreds of people homeless. It affected the northern region of Malawi, especially the district called Karonga. We have never have that strong earthquake as this.

On the same day, her in our district of Phalombe there was a very heavy wind that blew for 2 hours. It was very dangerous, forcing many to shelter in their homes. The winds destroyed many houses and unroofed houses and schools. Three of my neighbours were made homeless after their houses were damaged and roofs taken off. Two of our church members are also in distress with nowhere to sleep. But our house, our schools, our orphan homes were not affected. I think it is because of the trees we have planted around these buildings helped protect them. These trees control the winds.

ORCHARD
We have a small orchard at Kambona, where we have various fruit trees such as mango, pawpaws, mpoza, oranges, quavas, etc. This year we were able to feed the orphans with the fruit which is very nutritious. We are also trying to plant as many fruit trees as possible.

AUSTRALIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL AT MSEMA

This is one of the greatest developments in Msema, a village which, previously, had been all but abandoned for many years. While we were aware of developments in distant places, no one dreamed that Msema one day would have the good school it has today. Those who left Msema years ago have been amazed at the transformations here.
Children were to obliged in the earlier years to walk to faraway places to attend school, facing the dangers of crossing deep streams with poor bridges.
But today…as the bible said… we are singing another song. A very wonderful school was built in this remote village, funded by AAFI and AusAID- Australia.
There are some six hundred children enrolled at this school. The school is going on well, the teachers are happy with this school. They are living in good houses, etc.
Last year the government also added 2 teachers. In the past, the children were discouraged from attending schools due to the distances involved but today there is a great change in the community.

The teachers are also very serious in their work, they are trying their best to promote this school. I also thank my school committee that is active, they are doing a very good work. When they see a problem they solve.

The school has not yet reached Grade 8 due to other problems that need to be solved before having Grade 8. It is still of Grade 1 to 7. For us to make it be of Grade 8 which is a full primary school, we need to build a secure room to keep exams papers,. We also need to buy a lot of new and expensive text books.
This school is of great value to the community, and it will produce leaders of tomorrow. Those students finishing this school will then be enrolled at the Australian Secondary School at Kambona.

AUSTRALIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL AT KAMBONA

This is the greatest development in the community. The school is located at the Kambona village and was built by funding from the Australian AIDS Fund Inc. It was a very expensive project because of the many amenities and facilities that were incorporated within it.
Other advantages are that it has an electricity supply connected which are powering our desktop computers. There are very active football and netball teams. It is built to a very high standard. We are very proud of this secondary school. There are also other features such as a library and a science facility .
The school has 11 teachers, some are housed onsite while others are renting within the village. It is catering for 300 students, 50 students …mostly orphans are spared from paying fees.

This is our major IGA for our organisation, we depend on this project to run our small projects in the community. We do get an income over K300,000 per term, but because we still are in need of more desks, computer repairs, stationaries, lab materials, renovations, there is a lot to be done. This project still promises that in the near future, it will produce good income for the organisation.

Most recently the education inspection team from Lilongwe visited the school as part of a national inspection survey…demanding an onsite water bore and the engagement of 3 more qualified teachers. The school has tap water but in dry seasons like this, our tap water dries up.

I hired a drilling company which to drilled a borehole to a the depth of 40 metres, finding a lot of water. It’s been capped until I can obtain further funds to complete the job.

***The Australian AIDS Fund has since come to our rescue in this regard and now we can look forward not only to the school’s re-opening but also the piping of constant water to various areas including our orchard, our new girls boarding facility and even our Kambona mini orphanage.

The Boarding facility was a new project that was funded by AAFI just a few months ago and it is a fine addition…it will attract many girls and beat the problems of absenteeism which is denying many teenagers a full secondary education.

I hope you enjoy this 2009 report.
Wishing you a merry Christmas and New Year !

Duncan Nyozani
[Director]
Searchlight Orphan Care - Malawi