Abbas Rest Orphans

 

Abbas Rest Orphans is a registered Scottish Charity, No. SC 033166. It started as a result of Peter & Kirsi Poole's trip to Malawi in 2000. They saw the poverty on a scale which is hard to imagine with children eating thrown away banana skins from the dust, mice being eaten for foodand clothing for many children merely rags.

On their return to Carsphairn, Scotland, many friends and acquaintances wanted to know more, and if possible to do something for the orphaned children. The plight of these children got people fired up all over the southwest of Scotland. Knitted jumpers and teddies started flooding in. Peter returned to Malawi in 2001 with suitcases full of clothes and toys for the children.

A feeding programme for 23 orphans in Chiringa was the first step, funded solely by donations from individuals in the Dumfries and Galloway area. This meant guaranteeing one simple meal a day for each of these 'Abbas Rest Orphans'. Now they had for the first time in their life, some toys to play with and to help take their thought off the sorrow of losing their mother and father.

But, further south Peter saw children even worse off than the original orphans. These ones in Muona southernmost part of Malawi were badly needing some feeding aid, so 22 new orphans were added to the programme.

An orphan centre was bought in Chiringa, southeast Malawi in October 2001 by money raised from coffee mornings, private donations and car boot sales. Some people wanted to support an individual orphan they had seen in the photos. So that's how the sponsorship scheme was started. By a sponsor giving a regular donation, however small a month, it made it possible to add to the quality of life for the orphan. ARO afternoon school started operating in the premises to help the orphans in their school work.

At this time the awareness of the failed crops and the lack of food  in Malawi was raised by the media. Peter and Kirsi started  talking about the orphans of Malawi in public meetings, such as guilds.

The ladies of Balmaclellan and Kells Guild raised money by organising a pancake lunch in 2002 for a second orphan centre. The Scottish people who are known for their generosity towards  their suffering fellowmen rose again to the challenge. The second orphan centre which was built in Muona and was completed in 2004 and has a ARO afternoon school on the premises.

In May 2002 Abbas Rest Orphans although still a very small organization became a registered Scottish charity. Peter & Kirsi feel that keeping the project small gives them an advantage over bigger charities, they can guarantee that every penny given to the charity gets there, as they have local managers distributing the food and clothes, and they travel regularly to Malawi then everything is accounted for and checked.

A third orphan centre was set up in the town of Ngabu in Southwest Malawi in 2004. this house also served the village of Beka with its 25 orphans. The centre in Ngabu is a home to 5 orphaned boys and is run by a manager. the 5 boys attend school in Ngabu.

ARO are registered with the Malawian government and have an excellent rapport with them, concerning the children and they recognise that the children are well looked after by ARO. They are pleased that the children are not kept in orphanages, but that ARO support the children and their guardians in their own communities and that we keep the children in their own culture and not try to change them to western ways.  The children who do stay in the centres are those with special needs or those who do not have a guardian to look after them and again they are cared for by local people employed by ARO.

In January 2006, ARO had 3 orphan centres and 7 sub-stations. The total number of children and babies being looked after by ARO was 230 at the beginning of 2006, with the number having increased steadily.

The Programme provides the children with a daily meal.  With the help from supporters in Scotland, England, Finland,America and Switzerland, ARO has also been able to provide the orphans with clothes, blankets, sleeping mats and uniforms.

Being Christians, Peter & Kirsi believe there is a bigger hand running this programme than theirs. The supporter network is growing steadily, people are keen to help and take part in this project. During Peter & Kirsi's recent trips to Malawi, they have seen the changed children, the happy faces, the colourful clothes and hope instead of hopelessness.

The team has been growing steadily. People with the same heart as Peter & Kirsi, who want to help the orphans in their plight.

Charlie a regular visitor to Malawi, is the projects manager and when in Malawi oversees the new projects. He has been involved in many different ones and is committed to the orphans. With Charlie being on the ground more regularly, so to speak, and visiting centres and sub-stations, he can see where we can be more effective for the children and guardians.

Raimo  from Finland runs the Finnish side of ARO, he looks after the Finnish sponsors and takes care of all donations from Finnish supporters. Raimo is enthusiastic where the orphans are concerned and he is an important link to our Finnish sponsors and those that donate to ARO in Finland.  He works in conjunction with our Scottish office and does the translation of our newsletters into  Finnish.

Jim Walsham saw the need of the orphans and helped initially in fund raising for ARO. Now he is our PO Box  man who deals with all the donations and replies to letters from sponsors and others. He is the first port of call for letters to ARO and he loves getting  letters from sponsors. He has built up a great friendship with sponsors and supporters.

Richard & Eleanor were involved with orphans in Tanzania before joining ARO. They had some knowledge of the plight of orphans in Africa. They were invited by Peter & Kirsi to visit ARO centres. Peter showed them the operation and they were very impressed with the structure of ARO and also the care of the orphans. They already knew Charlie from earlier days, but at that time did not realise the amount of commitment Charlie was putting into ARO. Richards idea was to train up the children into different skills so that they could earn a living on their own. Richard had a good knowledge of different skills which could be utilised for the orphans. Eleanor had a background in nursing. midwifery and other skills which could be used to help  the orphans and poor in Africa. Peter asked them to join the team of ARO and they readily agreed and as they would still have a foothold in Tanzania, it was a mutual benefit to both.

Since 2006 there has been increasing support for the orphans of South Malawi by ARO. There have been changes to some of the ARO work to make our operation more effective for the children and their guardians.

The Marion Smith House on the outskirts of Chiringa has which was  named as a result of a donation by...............and that is why it was called her name. It has been a great asset for ARO. it is where the sick children were housed and looked after by local women who worked for ARO

We have some orphan girls who are in boarding school to give them a chance of education, otherwise they would not have any options as they are girls. We feel it is our goal to have as many girls with a good education behind them which will create more opportunities for their future.

There are also training opportunities for older children, sewing, tailoring, carpentry,knitting and making pots and pans.we have experienced people training the children in the different skills.

Volunteers to Malawi are proving a great asset to ARO. They come from all walks of life some have skills, and some do not, the main thing is they all come to help the orphans. They all go away with  a different viewpoint than they arrived with, and are enthusiastic in doing more for the children and spreading the news of the plight of the orphans of Malawi.

2007 seen more improvements to the centres and the lives of the children, 59 more children were added to the programme of ARO.  2007 also seen a volunteer nurse and midwife from Scotland who proved her weight in gold for  the children and their mothers on the baby milk programme. She gave all the babies a health check and proceeded to teach the mothers the right kind of food for the growing child. In her spare time there she took all the children with HIV out for a picnic and half the kids in the neighbourhood joined them and climbed to river pools up a mountain. All had a great time. it was a special day for the children and the other kids who tagged along.

Another volunteer came and helped the staff in how to correspond to the sponsors with letter writing. She also proved a hit with the children.

More volunteers arrived throughout the year, bringing love to the children and staff alike.

At the end of the history will be an account of what ARO has achieved to the present day 2009

2008 started with Richard & Eleanor joining ARO, and with Eleanor becoming the liaison between orphans and UK sponsors. Jim took on the PO Box as a volunteer.

A fourth year medical student and her fiancee from Finland, spent a few months in Malawi with ARO children in Muona, Chiringa and Ngabu. The children were checked out and assessed for health issues. A detailed report was made up by the couple for all the children, which benefited ARO tremendously. Also they provided new photos of all the children which were passed on to grateful sponsors.

The latrine project pioneered by Charlie is making good progress. His idea was to have one latrine for every child on the programme. The latrine consisted of a toilet and a shower cubicle, as most do not have running water, it was still a great improvement for the children and is more hygienic. They can wash in cleaner water rather than the local stream, which is full of pollution. With the building of all the latrines, it will take a couple of years to be completed for all the children on the programme, but well worth it for their health.

Although we have good success with the children we sometimes experience sadness. The fragile life of the children in Malawi can surface regularly. Although ARO provide medical care for the children and the children are checked out for problems to their health, we experience death of children. Those that ARO staff have come to know and love  pass away through illness. But because of medical volunteers and ARO commitment to the health of the children, death is becoming rarer for ARO orphans. Good food and regular screening make a big difference.  2008 saw the death of a very popular boy who was doing so well in ARO. He died in the arms of the centre manager on the way to the hospital. His death affected staff and children alike, they were given time off to grieve the loss of their little brother who had left an empty space in their lives.

The new Marion Smith house was completed in Chiringa centre. It has eight bedrooms, library, sick-bay, office and storeroom. This housed 20 orphans, those in need of special care and those who have no one to look after them.

The furniture for the bedrooms were made by our own orphan boys on the carpentry course in Chiringa. They were proud and felt good contributing to the new  house.

Three student volunteers from Britain, visited in the summer of 2008 where they enjoyed their stay immensely, getting stuck in helping ARO. Not only did they play and teach the children & staff, they also helped to complete a new home for an ARO orphan and their guardian (the old one had collapsed with the rains) they rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty by making a mud floor and mud walls of the home.

The goat project is increasing gradually. Goats and chickens are given to the orphans in the villages where they get extra nutrition from eggs and goat milk. when new goat kids are born, they are given to other children. It has made a great difference to the health of the children.

79 latrines were completed for the children with more under construction

2009 saw more increase in ARO in buildings, projects and children.

More goats and chickens purchased and handed out to orphans and guardians to help with nutrition for the child.

Christopher the manager at Ngabu, decided to emigrate to South Africa, so the centre at Ngabu had to close and the children catered for in other ARO centres. The two sub-stations of Beka and Khockhwa are still being catered for by ARO with William traveling to the sub-stations regularly. HIV testing was carried out with only a few more cases being identified, which is a good sign. Charlie stayed in Malawi until April.

Peter arrived in Malawi in January. He and Charlie toured the centres to see what improvements were needed. He had a good time with the children and staff who were happy to see him again. They put on a show for him with drama and music. A garage workshop was organised for the Chiringa centre, among other things. Peter handed out goats to the guardians and the children. His time was well spent and it was a busy few weeks for him, sorting out staff contracts and providing new budgets.

Richard arrived in Chiringa in early May to oversee the buying of Maize for the centres and sub-stations. He visited all the centres and sub-stations supplying blankets, sleeping mats, educational supplies, clothes and school uniforms. This was made possible through two large donations given to ARO. the children thought it was Xmas again. He took photos and measurements of all the children in ARO for sponsors.  He was based in Chiringa. He started a motor mechanics course with Aubrey translating and showing the boys what to do. Aubrey proved a good instructor so Richard handed over the job to him with confidence. and concentrated on other things. Richard enjoyed his busy 3 months in Malawi. and was well satisfied by what was achieved there.

Charlie returned to Malawi in November 2009 to oversee new and existing projects. Charlie is scheduled to stay there until September 2010 at least. He started work straight away and by the end of the year he had already achieved a lot.

 

Abbas Rest Orphans in the present day

Two main centres.Nine sub-stations. milk program. Toddler porridge program. Feeding of all Abbas Orphans on Program. Skill training- sewing, tailoring, knitting, carpentry,  and vehicle mechanics.Education in state schools and also Abbas own school classes in centres and sub-stations.Toilet and shower facilities in centres. Latrine building in villages consisting of toilet and shower cubicle.Goat and chicken program. Providing clothes, blankets, sleeping mats and educational supplies for all children. Repairing and rebuilding as necessary guardian homes. Providing medical care for all children.    Special needs dormitory in Chiringa. Employing local staff, managers, matrons, teachers, skill instructors, cooks, cleaning staff, children workers, manual labourers and office staff. Sports facilities and playground equipment in centres. Sports equipment and toys supplied. 100 latrines built using local builders

March 2010 saw a new sub station Chitawo added to the Abbas program and it caters for 13 children.

If you are interested in more information please contact....   Richard Willis

email-  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

or- Abbas Rest Orphans, PO Box 26330. Ayr, Scotland  KA7 9BG

We will happily help in any way we can in answering any questions you may have.