CONSTRUCTION OF MWAYI ORPHAN CARE
This project aimed at completing the construction of Mwayi Orphan Care and preschool situated in Ndirande. The building of the Orphan Care started in 2007 but for lack of funds, the construction was stopped since 2010. Just some walls made of bricks and some structure above made of timber were raised in that place.
Before starting, in idea, we thought that what was remaining was to raise the rest of the walls, roofing, plastering, painting, paving the floor, fixing the windows, fixing the doors, and equipping with necessary facilities. And indeed, these are the major tasks but within each one there was a world, so much to think about, to buy and to fix.
We moved from Mzimba by the end of March, and we sit down with the director of DAPP NHQ Chilangoma, Iben, and the responsible for DI´s in Malawi, Cedric, for the project. They sympathize with our cause and they believed on us, even limited by time – just one month and half to finish the construction.
Green lights were given to us, and we didn’t take so long to prepare and organize all the project. We went to Mwayi Orphan Care with one core-group teacher from DAPP Chilangoma, Daliana, to discuss with Farao, the responsible for the orphanage, and other community members to say our intentions and align expectations.
On the next day, we met with George Kaphiri, a carpenter in charge of monitoring all the projects of construction from DAPP. With him we visited again the orphanage, like every day since then, to take measures, make the plan, study the place and start designing the project. From one place to another cross all over Blantyre, Chirimba, Chemuza, Ndirande, to get quotations of everything: from timbers, to transport, riversand, ridges, iron sheets, nails, tools like level and so on so forth.
By this time our emotions coming up. Frustration and sadness. Not seeing us as normal citizens but as people with money because of our skin color, they repeatedly tried to get advantage from us, increasing the price, sometimes more than 14 times higher than normal. If we didn’t have the support of Farao, this mission would be much harder.
Farao, as we suspected, was indeed a very honest man and had a golden heart. He was the soul of this project. From the beginning he never stopped, searching all the quotations, buying materials and tools, finding transports. He always kept the receipts, dispatches and balances. A trustful relation cemented day by day with us. With a positive spirit, Farao was eager to do always more and more. He monitored the warehouse, if the materials and tools were there, he ordered in time all items needed to procedure the construction. He was 100% present.
On 2nd April we started fundraising on social media: Facebook, among family and friends, and making public posts for other people to see, share and contribute if they believe that was worth. On that same day we signed the contract with the team of carpenters, represented by Laston, a person that used to work with George. Of course that the salaries and tasks needed to be discussed but after some hours, everything was agreed and decided that they should start on the next day.
Laston and his team that were a total of 5 people, had rack of tasks to be done:
Removing the timbers that were rotten of 5 years under the rains with no protection Putting the new timbers Applying Soliginamum, a product anti-termites Placing the iron sheets.
Unfortunately, this team of carpenters didn’t have the proper performance. We expected much more from their job. Tools were let outdoor, in risk of being stolen, instead of storing them. For many times, they were chilling.
By this time, we realized that so much money from the project were being used in transport. We could not afford it, we needed to find an option. So, here comes DAPP. Through meetings we agreed that instead of using their own transport, since it is always busy, they will help us by providing the amount needed for our daily transport.
In the early beginning, we thought that the community around the orphanage could give a hand by producing bricks like we used to see in Mzimba. There the villages were almost self-reliant, producing their own bricks to build houses, creating desks for the primary schools, planting crops for food, but here in Blantyre the reality was, in fact, different.
No space is found to cultivate so the only option is to buy in the market. Due to these circumstances, we decided to contact Mary’s Meals, an organization that runs the school feeding programs in almost all Malawi. They provide maize and soya porridge, enriched with vitamins and minerals, that is not only nutritious to all the children but especially healthy for children that are HIV positive. It works well with the ARV’s, the medication given every day.
It could make a huge difference, to have at least their support toward children HIV positive in the orphanage. After some hours talking in Mary´s Meals HQ, a visit to Mwayi Orphan Care was scheduled for the following week.
The next step, and crucial for the project, was to contract bricklayers. During two weeks it was agreed to finish the following tasks: Make ringbeams Replace damaged bricks Build piers and gables.
Again, this contract started with extra-high demand of salaries, which we needed to argue and reduce. We thought it would be a bad start but after all, these bricklayers, Glivin and Manzy were the best workers that we could have had. Without them, their exemplary and quick work, we couldn’t have arrived to this point of the construction.
When they finished their work, in less time than expected, we paid the salary (some amount of money were paid in advance reaching 10%). Some problems arose during this phase, but minor problems, easy to fix. However, Manzy, one of the brick layers, puzzled our plans. Three days without coming to the project, after the payment. No answers, no excuses. Later we discovered that he was drinking all those days, making impossible to resign a second contract. In fact, we have been noticing that alcohol affects in a severe way, the lives of Malawian People. Without conscience they use all money in spirit drinks, not thinking about the day of tomorrow.
When we had decided to give up on Manzy, was when he came. For one side we were very pleased with his work but for other side we were worried if we could trust him again. In the end, we gave him other opportunity and we sign with him, Glivin and a new bricklayer, Fraction. Each of them had one assistant. The proposal was to:
Beam filling Plastering inside and outside Broken bricks filling, flooring Replacing windows and doors Making steps for the doors.
By this time, the carpenters finished roofing, receiving their salary afterwards. We though that everything was working as planned, however, later we found that not only 6 iron sheets were not used, the calculations were wrong, and a small part of the roof was incomplete, water could pass through it. Right away, we called George to fix the problem and together with Laston and after 4 days they repaired the roof.
For the windows, doors and frames we counted with Godfrey, a carpenter that was living close to the orphanage. He finished it in one week. We are now considering if our budget will be enough to order DIY sofas and shelves made by pallets.
At the moment we are focus on the floor. It is already filled with broken bricks and it is just needed to apply cement mixed with red oxide to make it shinny and bordeaux. In two days, we will start to lime and paint the walls, both inside and outside.
In parallel, we tried to get some books for free. Books are the gateway to other dimension, a passage for new worlds never discovered. Reading is essential to develop new capacities when no other resources are available, as internet. So, we contacted African Library Project / DAPP to show our proposal and it didn’t take time to receive a feedback, which was positive.
The ultimate goal of this project aims to provide shelter and to be equipped with the necessary items to facilitate the abandoned children’ education in the school. The idea is that with better conditions, they can also have an increase in the number of abandoned children attending this Centre.