Tag: trauma

Chikumbusko Kawonga needs help

Chikumbusko is desperate for our help. Will you read her story and support her? http://www.changinglivesmalawi.com

Sarah’s blog 29/04/24

It’s been a really busy week again, here and at Bright Futures Campus. I’m going to retell the story of Chikumbusko. This is for three reasons;

  1. To highlight her story and reach out for help for her.
  2. To help our supporters understand what life is like for the children and young people we support. There are many children who have suffered many traumatic events in their lives like Chikumbusko has which is why they all need our help.
  3. To try to get some support for her foster family. They are living in extreme poverty but have welcomed Chikumbusko back with open arms. We must try to support them with some food and basic items to ensure they can look after her properly.

When we first met Chikumbusko, she was on her own, dirty, cold and hungry. Her grandad, whom she lived with, was very ill and had gone to hospital. Suddenly, she was all alone. Her grandad never came back from hospital as he passed away. Chikumbusko, was also suffering from malaria.

Thankfully, Levison found a family to take her in, took her to the health centre and got medicine for her, and we matched her with a sponsor after doing an appeal. Things started to improve for Chikumbusko as she was cared for by the grandmother of another sponsored young person.

However, a few months ago, Chikumbusko and a group of her friends (not sponsored young people) ran away. Their idea was they were going to town to find jobs. Unfortunately for them, like many children who run away, life didn’t work out as easily as they thought.

As soon as Levison found out she had run away, he was making phone calls to different people in town asking them to look out for her. He went looking for her and so much time was spent following potential trails. Sadly, for a long time, he was unsuccessful. There was a rumour that these girls had been trafficked to Tanzania. Thankfully, this wasn’t true. But they had been sleeping rough on the streets. The police arrested the whole group and put them in cells overnight to keep them safe one night. The girls were given a good talking to and told to go home but, sadly they didn’t.

Eventually, Levison did find Chikumbusko and helped her get to a distant relative’s house where she has spent the last few weeks coming to terms with some of the trauma that she has suffered. This was only ever going to be a temporary arrangement but we didn’t know if Chikumbusko would every return. On Friday, she came back to the family who had been looking after her. They were pleased to see her and have agreed she can stay with them. We probably won’t ever know what exactly has happened to her when she and her friends were away but we are glad she is back. No doubt, there have been more traumatic experiences to add to those she’s already suffered.

In the meantime, I had been keeping her sponsor informed when I could, however their personal situation has since changed and they had to make the decision to stop their sponsorship of her, they still sponsor another of our young people and we are greatful for their support. Whilst we could argue that Chikumbusko had chosen to run away and therefore gave up her sponsorship, we are hoping that she can be given a second chance as she is such a vulnerable young person, having suffered so much loss and grief as well as malnutrition and loneliness. There are times in her life where she must have been so frightened.

This shows how much each child who uses the feeding programme is cared about. Despite being so busy, Levison tries his best to ensure they are safe. However, we need so much more help and so many more sponsors for all the hundreds of very vulnerable children in the far north of Malawi.

Will you help us give Chikumbusko a second chance please? We need to match her with a sponsor to ensure that there is a food parcel going into that home each month to help supplement what that family already have, which isn’t much at all. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

It’s £25 to sponsor a young person. Whilst they are at primary school they receive a monthly food parcel. They also receive clothes and soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste etc when available. When they get to secondary school they get free education and a free nutritious school lunch each day instead of their food parcel at home. You can be a sponsor on your own or split the cost with a friend or a group of you could sponsor a child. Please will you help Chikumbusko. There are hundreds like her needing support but, today, let’s find a sponsor for her. Please contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Chikumbusko when we first met her. She was alone, suffering from malaria as well as malnutrition. She was living with her grandad but he went to hospital and she never saw him again. She had no one.
After matching her with a sponsor, Levison found her a family to foster her.
Chikumbusko looking well and happier in her new home.
Chikumbusko is back with her foster family but needs our help

Eliza’s children

Sarah’s blog 09/02/23

I’m feeling really sad looking at these photos I am going to share with you today. You might remember that recently Eliza, one of the lovely hardworking volunteers, sadly died after having an asthma attack. Eliza had been volunteering since Levison started feeding the children and had understood the importance of his vision for improving the lives of the most vulnerable. She also understood it wasn’t going to happen without volunteers. Eliza worked tirelessly, cooking for and serving 500+ children, cooking for the nursery children and, more recently, for the students at Bright Futures Secondary School. She is missed very much by everyone.

I said I would try to find sponsors for her children. Her husband is a peasant farmer, working very hard for not much return. They had four children. Unfortunately, the eldest two have gone to live with relatives quite far away as their dad couldn’t support them all. So these older children have not only lost their mum, they are now separated from their dad too and their two youngest siblings. Who knows when they will all see each other again. Life is so hard.

The two youngest children are still living with their dad. The girl, Chifundo, who is 13, has had to start doing the chores her mum would have done, including looking after Junior, 8 years old, while their dad is working long hours. Chifundo will have to cook and do the washing. What will she cook? They don’t have much. They need food. They need soap to wash the clothes. They need some new clothes. And they need some blankets. You can see the mat, in one of the photos, where they sleep sharing a dirty old blanket.

So, who will help them? Who could help support these two children whose world has been turned upside down. They’ve lost their lovely mum and their two older siblings. They need our help. It costs £25 to sponsor a child each month. They receive a food parcel each month, clothes, a blanket, welfare checks and medicine if they need it. Please will you help? You can sponsor as an individual or two friends can share the cost or your club or business could sponsor a child. Please email me if you’d like to help Chifundo or Junior contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thanks for reading and thanks to all our sponsors who are making a big difference to each child, Sarah x

Having a sponsor – making a difference – Changing Lives Malawi

Very sad news from Ibuluma – Changing Lives Malawi

Please will someone sponsor Brighton Ng’ambi? Please give him a chance?

Sarah’s blog 6/6/22

Brighton needs someone to take a chance on him…to change his life. How many traumatic experiences has he had in his young life? I don’t know. This is what I do know;

  1. Brighton is an orphan. Both his parents have died.
  2. Relatives are supposed to be looking after him but he is fending for himself a lot of the time.
  3. Brighton is malnourished and hungry. He told Levison that some days he eats once. Other days he has nothing and has to try and find some fruit to eat in bushes.
  4. Brighton is in his first year at primary school. How can he even concentrate at all and learn anything when he will be so tired and hungry?
  5. Brighton will be cold at night time. Does he sleep properly as he’s cold and hungry?
  6. He was dirty and dressed in rags. He had head lice. Thankfully, he was able to have a shower and given nice, clean clothes and shoes before having a nutritious lunch.

We want this little boy to be matched with a sponsor to allow him to have ‘extras’ that aren’t really extra things at all….they are essentials. Brighton needs more clothes, he needs a blanket, he needs a monthly food parcel and to be encouraged to come to the feeding programme each week. He needs someone to keep an eye on him and nurture him. Levison and his team can do all this but having a sponsor will help Brighton to feel better quicker. Being matched with a sponsor will let him know that he is important, that people care about him. Levison is a trained councillor so he can spend time with Brighton helping him. Brighton needs a team of people around him to ensure that he begins to thrive. Can you be that person? Or can you and a friend split the monthly cost of £25 to support Brighton?

Brighton is a little boy who has found himself in awful circumstances, through absolutely no fault of his own. He needs our help. Can you join Brighton’s team? Can you help this little boy? Can you help him to have something to smile about? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com thanks for reading, Sarah x

Charity, a volunteer, helped Brighton to get rid of the lice in his hair
Brighton came to receive help. He had a shower and was given clean clothes and shoes. Then he had a nutritious lunch.
Brighton is a little boy in need of a sponsor. Can you join Brighton's team to help him feel loved and cared for?
Brighton received help at The Foundation. Now he desperately needs your help – will you sponsor him?

A little boy in need of your help – Brighton Ng’ambi

Sarah’s blog 5/6/22

Levison has visitors every day. People in need who are looking for work or food or clothes. He can’t always help but if he can help then he will. Everyone is welcome at The Foundation. Levison and his team always try their best.

Little Brighton Ng’ambi turned up this morning. He doesn’t usually come to The Foundation. He was clearly traumatised, malnourished, wearing rags, dirty and with lice in his hair. He has been orphaned and is living with relatives. Either they aren’t financially able to look after him or he is just being left to fend for himself. He has told Levison that some days he eats once a day…other times he just has to look in bushes to see if he can find any fruit to eat.

Levison will go to talk to the people he is living with to see whether it’s best for Brighton to stay there or if Levison should find a kindly person in the village to foster him.

Brighton was taken to have a shower by one of the volunteers, Charity Banda, to have the lice and dirt washed from his hair. (They will shave his hair for him another day). Brighton was then given new clothes that had been donated and Levison took him to the library, where it was quiet, so he could eat his lunch. He told Levison that he didn’t expect all this.

This little boy’s story has touched my heart. There are many, many more children like Brighton who need our help, who need your help. We work hard to improve the lives of the hundreds of orphaned and vulnerable children whom The Foundation helps. This is our passion. To change lives. To bring hope. To give these children the gift of education. A chance to reach their potential.

Will you help Brighton? Please? He needs a sponsor to be a helping hand. It’s only £25 per month to sponsor a child. That will mean he has a monthly food parcel wherever he is living, and a blanket and new clothes. Individuals can be a sponsor. Families can sponsor. Two friends can share the cost of sponsoring a child. Or even a club or business can sponsor a child…it’s only 85p per day to change a life. Can you help Brighton today? Can you change his life? Thank you for reading, Sarah x contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Brighton Ng’ambi is an orphan living with relatives and fending for himself

Brighton sometimes eats once a day…other days he has to look in bushes for a bit of fruit
Brighton was traumatised, hungry, dirty and with head lice in his hair

Brighton had a shower and was given new clothes and shoes
Brighton couldn’t believe he was given a lovely lunch…some days he goes without food….other days he just eats once.

One of the volunteers, Charity Banda, helps Brighton to get rid of the lice in his hair.