Abbas Rest Orphans

I first visited Africa [Kenya] in 1986 with a youth group, but didn’t  return to Africa via  Malawi until 2003 when I felt that I had arrived home!  I find the Malawians so warm hearted and friendly & thank God that He keeps taking me back there

Harry is our new Muona manager. He comes to us with a good reputation i the community. He is weel liked andrespected.  He comes with fresh ideas for the running of the Abbas Muona centre. since his role as manager started, he has been mentored by Charlie. In the 8 months that Harry has been with us the atmosphere at the Muona centre has greatly improved. the hildren and staff alike are more happier. The staff including our Gladys, who has taken over the role of Matron to the children are working together for the good of the children. Harry is helping the children to come to terms with having no parents, He is proving to be a great asset to the work of ARO.

I first became aware of ARO in January 2002 at a Malawian evening in Carsphairn. Many issues touched my heart that night, the staggering poverty the need and the bland food we tasted. Since then my involvement with ARO has gradually increased and i am currently the `PO Box Boy`  I thank all the many friends and supporters for their generosity and faithfulness.

Founders of ARO, They first went to Malawi in 2000, and saw the poverty, children in rags, eating whatever was thrown on the ground and eating mice. they returned and told their story of the conditions in Malawi. Peter returned in 2001 with clothes and toys. 23 orphans were put onto a feeding program funded by donations, They then spent a year in Malawi with their children and added more orphans to the ARO feeding program (see History of ARO) and they say, The rest is history. ARO now supports 300 children.

Raimo is a retired headteacher from Lappeenranta, Finland. He joined ARO in 2002 as the Finland Manager. when asked why he joined ARO his words were " What else could i do? I have followed the beginnings of Abbas Rest Orphans from the start as my daughter Kirsi is a co-founder of the charity. I saw God moving powerfully to help the orphaned children in Malawi, so I wanted to be His ` hands ' here in Finland. My most demanding task is translating and editing the Finnish ARO Newsletter. I feel guided in this work, it is rewarding seeing the children from desperately poor beginnings growing into healthy and skillful teenagers."

Our first trip to  Africa was Tanzania in 2006. We went on a mission team and we saw the poor communities and many orphans.  We came back and started fund raising and went back to Tanzania in 2007 and 2008. In 2007 we were invited by Abbas Rest to visit their centres and see the work being done, we were both impressed with the way ARO was being run. We were asked to join ARO In January 2008 and as a result we have become the main contacts in Britain and will be heavily involved with the Malawian side by visiting the centres and starting new projects  We still intend to open a centre in Tanzania when the right conditions are available.