The Story of Chilindaukwe Community

For people living in the community of Chilindaukwe, life holds many challenges. Many of the men in the community have gone to South Africa in search of employment. Some don’t return to their families, and those who do have little to show for their efforts. With the hope of earning even a small profit so they can feed their families, people rely on finding odd jobs in the community. With little income for food, obtaining the money required for school fees is an almost impossible task, leaving children to either stay at home or roam freely in the community. Compounding these already immense challenges are the lack of a local clinic and the strong presence of alcohol in the community. 

50 CHILDREN CURRENTLY SUPPORTED

6 CARE WORKERS COORDINATED BY Lumeyo

BASIC SERVICES STARTED IN 2023

26 KM FROM THE DEDZA LOCAL OFFICE

In early 2022, Royie Nazombe (African Leader, Malawi) visited Chilindaukwe on behalf of his own church in Mngwere. Though it was a personal visit, Royie saw a number of children simply roaming the community with nothing to do, which was a clear display of their vulnerability. After visiting a few times with the local Hands at Work team in Dedza, they knew that it was the right place to start serving in. When going into any new community, Hands at Work leaders meet with the local community leaders and seek out those people who have already been caring for the vulnerable. We call them the Man of Peace and the Mother Theresa. With the blessing of the community leaders to start serving, local church leaders were invited for a church mobilisation session, where again the mission and vision of Hands at Work was shared.

Out of this church mobilisation, church leaders identified men and women from their respective churches who could become the Care Workers. At this point, the Dedza team started to visit these Care Workers in their homes. In May 2023, the Dedza team facilitated a Foundations Trainings for the community and church leaders and the Care Workers, sharing the heart of Hands at Work and what it means to serve the most vulnerable. After identifying 50 of the most vulnerable children, the Chilindaukwe CBO began officially serving the children in June 2023.

Meet Yona

Ten-year-old Yona’s* mother sadly passed away when she was very young. Yona currently stays with her older sister who has a child of her own. The family relies on finding piecework, but this often means there is not enough food.

Whilst doing Holy Home Visits to other families, Care Worker Stella found Yona and immediately recognised her vulnerability. After sharing Yona’s story with the other Care Workers, Yona was invited to join the Care Point in 2023. Stella has built a great relationship of trust with Yona and shares that she has seen a positive change in Yona since she joined.

Yona enjoys being at the Care Point, where she can embrace being a child and play with the other children. She is currently in grade 5 at school and wants to be a doctor when she grows up.

The local Hands at Work team in Dedza currently supports six Community Based Organisations, which exist to care for the most vulnerable in their communities. The office provides training, networking, and encouragement to those Community Based Organisations like Mpata. It also gives administrative support, including helping with funding proposals, monitoring and evaluation, bookkeeping and reporting to donors. 

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