Villages in Partnership

Fighting Poverty in Malawi

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Opening the Khanda Health Center – by Stephanie Graefe

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We asked some of our medical team participants to share their experiences of treating patients in Malawi and how the Khanda Health Center will impact the lives of this community. Stephanie Graefe, CPNP-AC, has attended multiple medical trips and shared her experiences along with long-awaited anticipation for the health center’s opening.

Stephanie Graefe, CPNP-AC and Medical Trip Participant, works alongside a Malawian clinician

I have been to Malawi five times now and have seen God working in incredible ways out at Khanda Village. My first trip to Malawi was in 2015 and I joined Lucy at our remote clinic in the village of Khanda. Soon after we started, the suffering and lack of medical resources available to the Khanda villagers was evident. Malaria was a huge problem there, as we suspected, but there were also numerous cases of scabies, diarrheal illnesses, and children suffering from developmental/physical deficits due to birth injury. As someone with a background in pediatrics, the impact on the children really struck a chord with me and I left that year hoping there was more we could do for them in the future.  

Over the years, some of the medical team leaders would toss around the idea of a health center, but it felt like some unattainable goal–there was no electricity or running water that far into the villages. Logically there was a lot that would have to fall into place to make this a reality.

In July 2022 I returned to Khanda for the first time since 2015, and we are about a year out from opening the long-awaited health center. During the outreach clinic, it struck me how many children with cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, and failure to thrive presented to the clinic. In one year these children will have access to physical and occupational therapy, mothers will have access to prenatal care and a clinic close by to deliver, and life-threatening infections will be managed before serious complications. One patient in particular that really stuck with me presented to the clinic on the back of a bicycle.

At 13 years old, Rabecca developed bacterial meningitis and did not receive treatment until her condition became very serious. As a result, she developed hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain), which was not treated until she was 15 years old, and in turn, she developed a number of physical deficits as a result of the brain damage.

Now 21, she is healthy and does not suffer from hydrocephalus, but she is left with clubbed feet, spastic legs that are hypertonic (stiff), and a limited ability to communicate. Her mobility is quite limited and she has to scoot around the house to get around. When Rabecca needs to travel a longer distance, her mother, who is probably no taller than 5’2″, lifts her onto the back of a bicycle and walks the bike for miles and miles. Rabecca is able to hold onto the bike and her mom just has to make sure she maintains the balance of the bike. Logistically it is very challenging for her mother to transport Rabecca and she is also putting herself at risk for numerous musculoskeletal injuries and long-term pain. This could eventually impact her ability to care for Rabecca and her ability to farm/provide for the family.

With the opening of the Khanda Health Center, patients like Rabecca will have access to physical therapy, occupational therapy, palliative care, and assistive devices for transport. Others who contract bacterial meningitis in the future will have access to life-saving antibiotics within a reasonable walking distance and will likely avoid the hydrocephalus and brain damage Rabecca has experienced. There are so many patients and stories I carry around with me from that trip. This dream, this unattainable goal of opening a medical clinic in Khanda–it’s happening, it’s really happening! I am so excited to see how God is working for the people of Malawi through the Khanda Health Center when I return to Malawi in 2024.

Cash Crops: Solar Irrigation Systems are Creating Opportunities

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Malawian farmer celebrating his onion cash crops.

For the first year, Malawian farmers in VIP’s partner villages are making significant profits. For those who are unaware of the seasonal split in Malawi, this is an unusual time for harvest. The rainy season ended back in March 2022 and they have not received rain since. However, these farmers are able to grow crops, even during the dry season because of the Solar Irrigation System put into place 3 years ago with the support of the VIP family. 

It takes time for people to learn and adapt new strategies. The first year after installation of the Solar Irrigation Systems, all farmers insisted on growing maize because that is their staple food and they wanted to supplement their household needs.

Malawian farmers harvesting their cash crops.

The second year, after VIP offered agribusiness training and exposure to farmers from other areas of the country, who grow cash crops, several of the farmers took a risk and grew tomatoes and watermelons. They made huge profits and their success convinced all the farmers to grow cash crops!

This year, 100% of the farmers grew cash crops such as watermelons, tomatoes and onions. The profits enable them not only to purchase supplemental maize and other household needs but to make asset investments; investing in livestock that will multiply and be sold in the future, purchasing bicycles that will be used for bike taxis and water pumps to use on fields near a stream, these farmers are investing in their futures. The Solar Irrigation Systems that the VIP family helped to fund are creating opportunities for our brothers and sisters in Malawi! Our most recent Friendship Team had the blessing of participating in the harvest and loading the truck to go to market.

Friendship Team helping to harvest and load the cash crops to go to market.
Children eating harvested watermelons.

Deirdre Ryan: A Symbol of Gratitude

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Deirdre Ryan has been a VIP volunteer for over a decade including attending a trip to Malawi in 2011. Her years of volunteering have been spent serving on numerous committees, helping to organize events, and writing Thank You letters. Whether you know Deirdre personally or not, many of you have received one of her renowned Thank You letters. For years VIP staff have heard praise from recipients of her letters raving about how touched they were to receive a personal, handwritten Thank You note. If you have ever been the recipient of one of her letters then you know how truly touching each one is. She puts thought into personalizing every note to highlight how important each recipient is to VIP.

Deirdre Ryan is volunteering at VIP's 2022 Water Walk.
Deirdre volunteering at VIP’s 2022 Water Walk.

What is just as touching as her letters, is the story behind how she became a volunteer Thank You writer. Deidre writes all of her Thank You letters at a desk that was once her father’s and was built by her grandfather. After her father passed away in 2003, she had the desk shipped from England to the U.S. When asked about her father Deirdre said “My Father was a great person, a soldier who fought in France and Germany throughout the Second World War and liberated Bergen Belsen concentration camp, he loved God and his fellow mankind”.

Deirdre’s father’s desk that she writes VIP Thank You notes at.

With her fondness for her father in mind, she decided the desk would be a perfect place to keep all of her VIP Thank You items. She expressed that her father would be so happy to know his desk was being used in such a meaningful way. 

Deirdre’s process for writing Thank You notes is heartwarming. She first sits at her father’s desk and prays before she starts her writing. She admitted that she never writes more than seven letters a day. This way each letter keeps its personal touch. She has also kept a template of every Thank you note that she’s written at the desk.

The desk will always be a reminder of her father, but it also symbolizes the meaningful relationships that are made, and the lives that are touched with the help of volunteers like Deirdre. A desk that keeps her connected with her father, has helped her connect with and touch so many lives among our VIP family. To the VIP family, Deidre and her Thank You letters have become a symbol of gratitude. She represents how every person’s contributions are helping to build God’s kingdom among our brothers and sisters in Malawi as long as we have never-ending hope.

God’s Timing in the Villages – By Liz Heinzel-Nelson

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The land cruiser bounced over the dusty roads, jostling Violet and me as we drove into the hazy morning sky covering the villages. We picked up Heswick, an orphan who was identified by our Malawian staff members as vulnerable, to take him to the clinic to have his wound redressed. The clinic asked us to bring more wound care supplies since they were out. 

The nurse who regularly dresses Heswick’s wound gently stripped off the old bandages and carefully washed the wound. There were some granules around the edge of the wound and I asked what they were. “That’s sugar,” the nurse informed me. “We like to use honey because honey keeps the scar tissue from hardening, but we don’t have honey so we use sugar.” Not certain that sugar is a good substitute but “I have honey. I just bought honey from the VIP Beekeepers’ Cooperative. Would you like to use my honey?” Vi ran to the car and brought in the unopened bottle of golden salve. Who knew? Yet another wonder of honey.

The wound is healing, the bandage is changed. We were right on time for my meeting with the VIP staff. We all got into the land cruiser when Vi came around and poked her head in my window. “Amayi, they want to see you inside.” I followed Vi into the maternity ward. There was a mother trying to get her 2-week-old to nurse but the infant child lay in her mother’s arms struggling to breathe. The nurse asked if we would rush the mom and baby to Zomba Central Hospital since this kind of case is beyond their capabilities. 

I wove over and around unavoidable bumps along the dusty roads, occasionally hearing a groan from the back as we hit a big one. We arrived at the hospital and escorted them to the entrance where a nurse took them to the infant’s ward. As we jumped back into the Land Cruiser to head to the meeting, now an hour late, I asked Vi, if we had not been there that morning, what would have happened to that baby? She quietly answered, that’s when death comes. Everyone understands here when you arrive late. Things happen in Malawi.