Clothes for Orphans

Salima is a small town about a two hour drive from Lilongwe – located quite near Lake Malawi. Nearby is a small village which has a day care program for a group of local orphans, as well as their young peers.

Unlike a daycare in the west, there are no toys, furniture, kitchen facilities, bathroom facilities – the daycare is basically a large brick building, with two small rooms for storage, and a large woven mat for the kids to sit on.

Over a hundred kids - 129 or so:

A group of women from the community originally had an idea to help the orphans, many of whom have lost parents to AIDS, by running a half day program, which seems to include a meal. The Malawi government discourages orphanages, as there is no funding – rather, they try to keep children with extended family members, particularly grandparents. The school is staffed entirely by local volunteers. Linda is one of the people who has been working with them, to teach them techniques, such as how to stimulate the kids, and create simple learning aids like alphabet charts.

In the summer, a group from the US came and helped enclose the building with a tin roof. They also left a plastic container full of teaching supplies and some money to buy clothes for the orphans.

On Tuesday, Linda and I drove to the village, to distribute the clothes.

As we arrived, we were met by a large group of women and school-aged kids. The women were singing an African song, and many came up and shook my hand. We were then ushered inside the large, brick building - I was surprised to see that it was completely full of small kids, all sitting quietly. Some began to cry when they saw us. There were old chairs setup at the front for us to sit on. I felt like an honoured dignitary in a strange land.

They had prepared a short program - we began with a prayer, and then some of the teachers began centering out certain children, to get them to demonstrate their learning. A few recited the alphabet, then a couple said the months of the year in English. Then they all sang some songs. You could tell the ones that they really liked, because they sang with gusto and the whole room filled with their voices. One of the songs was about a fish that got eaten by their cat or something. They sure loved that song!

I videotaped some of the recitation and the singing, but it's kind of big to post here.

We gave each child a lollipop - considering they ended up staying inside, sitting on the mat, for several hours, while we distributed clothes and ate lunch, I'm sure they were happy to get a treat. (They also had some sema while we ate in one of the homes.)

We handed out a shirt and pants to each boy, first.

It felt like an endless procession of children, some had decent clothes, others were wearing threadbare and stained, ripped clothes. Although I am thousands of miles from North America, all the clothes seem to originate from there - lots of the clothes that were purchased in Lilongwe had Value Village tags! And of course there were several Western brands in the piles, like Gap, Lands End, and lots of cartoon designs from Disney. It seems strange to handout such things to children who likely have never have seen a TV or a movie.

When we first arrived, some of the children started to cry - we were told they were afraid of us. I think this boy was still a little nervous.

After lunch, we handed out clothes for the girls. By this time, we had acquired more helpers, a group of women, probably the mothers of some of the non-orphaned kids. It was harder to find appropriate clothes for the girls, as they have to wear dresses or skirts which come down past their knees. And pants are discouraged, although we did end up giving some to the girls.

These girls are wearing some smocks which the American work team had sent - they are made out of pillow cases. I thought the girls looked pretty cute in these!

As the time progressed, the scene became increasingly chaotic as we seemed to have more adults than kids. Luckily, the day care volunteers had prepared a list with the names of all the children, so they were able to ensure that each child received a donation.

We also had a bunch of new, white T-shirts, with black lettering from a Vacation Bible School somewhere. We started giving those to the volunteer teachers, and they became a hot item. I was disturbed when I handed one to a slightly older scruffy-looking boy who had somehow squeezed himself inside the room where we were handing clothes out. The moment I gave it to him, a slim, well-dressed young woman plucked it from his hands and crammed it under her shirt.

A few minutes later, I found one more of the shirts, handed it to the boy somewhat surreptitiously, and watched as he slipped away, fast. Hopefully he was able to hold onto his prize.

We had clothes leftover at the end - infant sized, and some which were larger, and would be given to older orphans.

It is strange to be surrounded by such poverty and to be handing out clothes which are such a small thing, and yet so appreciated here. It felt like our visit was a big deal for the village - we drew quite a crowd, especially older kids. I took some photos of them, and showed them - they thought it was hilarious! I guess they don't get to see themselves in pictures too often. I also took a quick video of them, which was also a huge hit.

And then we left.