February 2009

OTHER NEWS

Healthcare
Over the past year, we have had a steady stream of healthcare volunteers who have been helping out in various capacities at Kachere Health Centre. There have been a number of nurses who have carried out valuable First Aid training courses with members of the local communities in addition to helping at Kachere Health Centre and assisting with the different clinics. We were very fortunate to have two doctors volunteering with us in 2008. Dr Ruth, who was at Mwaya Beach for six weeks, and Dr Marc, who volunteered with RIPPLE Africa for six months. He really helped to develop systems at Kachere, and he assisted at the hospital at Chintheche on one day a week. He also worked with Fletcher, our Healthcare Coordinator, to develop a better induction programme for future healthcare volunteers.

Kachere Health Centre has been completely redecorated courtesy of Tania and Ali, two nurses who volunteered with RIPPLE Africa in 2008, as it was in a very shabby state. The incinerator has had a wall built around it to stop people, especially children, from being exposed to contaminated dressings, needles, etc. In addition, some bicycle ambulances have been constructed and are now working in the local area.

We did have plans to build a new community clinic at Matete and, towards the end of 2008, five of the local chiefs had made the bricks for this building. Unfortunately, however, with the recession and the weak pound, we have had to put this project on hold as we cannot afford to start it. However, we still have every intention to build the clinic in the near future. Traditional bricks are moulded from mud and dried in the sun. The dried bricks are then built into a kiln with openings underneath. The kiln is covered with mud and fires are lit in the openings, and the bricks are burnt for 24 hours. Although this method uses a lot of timber, it is a method by which the local communities can contribute to the project by giving their time and labour for free.

Frank, Our Senior Builder, Has Died
For some time now, Frank, our senior builder, has been getting weaker and thinner, and we weren’t quite sure what was wrong with him. At the beginning of our visit in May 2008, Frank came to see us one morning but, as we were very busy, we had a quick chat with him and said we’d come to see the building project at Lowani Beach later on in the week. Two days later, Frank’s wife Mary came to Mwaya Beach to ask us if we could take him to Chintheche hospital as he had come home after work that evening complaining that he was feeling very weak. We took him to the hospital, where the nurse assured us that he had low blood sugar, and she said they would keep him overnight. Sadly, he died in hospital three days later. In accordance with Malawi tradition, he was buried the following day — it was a very moving funeral. We’re sure that all of our volunteers will remember his happy, smiling face and his white cap with blue stripes.

Mary and her family have been coping very well, and RIPPLE Africa has assisted her with building a new house within the community. We are very pleased that she has decided to stay on with RIPPLE Africa as a nursery school teacher at Kachere.

Sense From Mike Restaurant
Ruben, who works for RIPPLE Africa and who is a bit of an entrepreneur, opened a restaurant in May 2008. It is called Sense from Mike Restaurant after Mike, a volunteer who suggested to him that it would be a good money-making opportunity to open a restaurant in Matete. The volunteers and Geoff and Liz were invited to the opening evening, and we were treated to some wonderful food. The restaurant has proved popular with volunteers and passing trade since then, and it is a credit to Ruben and his wives that they find enough time to run it because they are always busy working on one thing or another!

Johnny Durex and News of the Other Cats at Mwaya
As past volunteers will remember, there have been varying numbers of kittens and cats resident at Mwaya Beach. Among these, Johnny Durex was a big favourite with volunteers who were at Mwaya at the end of 2007 and during 2008. His story is as follows:

In mid October 2007, we found a very young kitten, with its eyes still closed, abandoned in our garage, and Geoff had to rescue it from a cobra that was just a few metres away. Sadly, its brother had already died. So now we had this young kitten and didn’t know how to look after it. Fortunately, one volunteer, Nicky, had experience of raising very young kittens, and there was also a doctor, Dr Zee, volunteering for RIPPLE Africa who was able to give medical advice. It was decided to feed the little kitten with powdered milk through a Swiss condom initially, although a baby’s bottle was purchased soon afterwards! The kitten survived and was christened Johnny Durex. While he was small, each of the volunteers took it in turn to nurse Johnny — he even went to Ngala Beach Lodge with everyone for pizza night! Consequently, he became a firm favourite with everyone, and was very friendly and cuddly. Unfortunately, however, not every story has a happy ending, and we’re very sad to report that Johnny went missing in late November 2008. Volunteers will remember that he had a liking for snakes, and we presume he was bitten by one but we’re not sure.

However, Tilly has had some more litters of kittens, some of which have been kept at Mwaya, but none of them will replace Johnny. Alie has had to be rehomed because she was attacking Tilly and her kittens, and she is now catching mice for Force in Chintheche!

Volunteers Just Love Coming Back to Mwaya!
It’s really wonderful for us to know that many RIPPLE Africa volunteers love their experience at Mwaya so much that they want to return, and there have been a record number of returning volunteers this year. They have either stayed for a few weeks at Mwaya or have just popped in for a few days. On our last visit at the end of 2008, there were six returning volunteers, and it was great to see them all. In fact, one of the returning volunteers, Megan Canning, who visited with her husband, Ryan, on their honeymoon, is now going to be working with RIPPLE Africa in a fundraising and administrative capacity.

You may have seen that Ali Gaskell, who volunteered at the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, joined RIPPLE Africa full-time as UK Project Manager. She has since decided that she wants to pursue a teaching career, but she is continuing to work part-time for RIPPLE Africa and is in charge of the volunteer programme.

At the beginning of 2008, we had a number of volunteers who felt they were not given enough direction as to which activities they could become involved with, so we decided to take on Morton as the Volunteer Projects Manager. He was originally employed by RIPPLE Africa as a trainee teacher at Mwaya Primary School teaching maths, and he was also doing the charity’s accounts. He’s very intelligent, has very good people skills, and is a keen member of our team. We’re pleased to say that he has really improved the induction programme for new volunteers, and they are being given the choice of having a more structured programme or to have the freedom to choose what they want to become involved with. Inevitably, we do find that most volunteers take quite a long time to settle in, and this is largely because living in a rural part of Africa is so completely different to our lives in the West. But certainly, once people are settled in, they don’t generally want to leave, and it’s been lovely to see returning volunteers welcomed back by people like Martha and Gedess who give them a big hug when they arrive.

A Bit About the Recession and Our Wonderful Donors
Geoff went out to Africa with his son, Neil, in September 2008, and while he was away lost in the bush in Tanzania the recession really took hold. When Liz came out in mid October, the news was dreadful. We decided that our best course of action was to make immediate cuts. We have always run the charity very close to the wind and, as you will have seen from all the projects that we’re involved with, virtually all of our income is spent on these in Malawi. Because of this, we had almost no reserves to speak of. Geoff had meetings with Force, Joey and Morton about how our costs could be cut. At this stage in Malawi, there was really no evidence of the mayhem that was taking place around the rest of the world, and the Malawians found it difficult to understand the problems. We decided to put on hold the building work at Kapanda, but to finish off the buildings which had been started, and then to lay off all of the staff. Geoff spoke to them all, giving them one months’ notice but, unfortunately, the Labour Office became involved, and it all became rather difficult. Because of the additional costs of redundancy, we had to lay off more staff than we originally planned. This has now been done and roughly 80 of our original 160 staff have now been laid off. This hasn’t been easy to do because there is no other employer in the area, but it is important that RIPPLE Africa is able to continue its work.