Evening with partners - Entertainment, speaker Richard Walker

ORPHANAGE IN MALAWI

One of the club’s associate members, retired geography teacher Richard Walker, who lives in Sonning Common, returned to Henley Rotary Club on Tuesday evening last week to give his third talk at the periodical “fifth Tuesday” meeting at the Red Lion Hotel.

His subject on this occasion was the Home of Hope children’s mission at Mchinji in Malawi, near the Zambian border, where his wife and he had assisted as volunteers recently.

It had been founded in 1992 by the Reverend Thimothy Chapata, known universally as ‘Agogo’ or grandfather. He himself had been orphaned at 14 and, on the death of two of their own children, he and his wife had taken in their grandchildren.to care for and raise. He started the orphanage to assist other vulnerable and orphaned children to develop to their fullest potential.

Mr Walker gave some statistics about Malawi, formerly known as British Nyasaland, in which HIV/AIDs was the biggest killer and, of the 16 million or more population, there were 1,200,000 orphans,  53 per cent of the population being under 18. The country ranks 173^rd out of 188 in the HDI (Human Development Index). In addition it has had to cope with flooding in 2015 and a drought in 2016.

The orphanage, which is now looking after 550 children, provides shelter, food (they have created a farm and they pay the employees with the maize they grow), water, love (with devotions at 5.30am each morning) and education (with a school with a large range of ages, all the pupils of which wear uniforms).

Mr Walker listed developments for which they were always looking for funds, three of which were the solar trough project, enabling hot water to be accessed at the Home of Hope; the macadamia project which (in conjunction with the Neno Macadamia Trust) aimed to plant macadamia trees to provide food as well as improving conservation and reducing deforestation; and the sanitary pad project, providing hygiene kits and sewing training for the young women.

Explaining the culture of the country in which, if an individual was given money, he or she was obliged to use it first for his or her family, he emphasised that the aim was “trade not aid”,  and pointed out that for instance a water treadle pump  (for the solar trough project) would cost £80.

Will Busher proposed the vote of thanks.

Earlier Maurice Robins had reported that the recent charity bingo had raised £1,300 and thanked all those businesses and individuals who had donated prizes and those Rotarians who had assisted on the night.