Shropshire Magazine

At Wrekin College Orphan House, Malaw, all the orphans who live in the existing building built in 2005

Kirsty Marston journeys to Africa to see the life-affirming results of some dedicated Shropshire fundraising

A healthy, smiling two-year-old boy ran out of Wrekin Orphan House, Mtunthama in Malawi, in his blue dungarees and hat.

We were told his name was Issac. It meant nothing to me at the time, but to others on the trip he illustrated why their dedicated fundraising drive continued. He was just one life they had saved by building Wrekin Orphan House.

Jim and Sally Mostyn from Wrekin College, organisers of the trip, looked in disbelief, tears welling up, as the boisterous youngster ran around. He was the little boy they had told themselves they would not ask about.

He was one of the first orphans to move into the orphan house when it was built in 2005. And he was the baby boy they had left behind fearing he would not live to see his first birthday.

But the amazing care from volunteers Florence and Boyson had ensured he would live – he was fed, watered and had a bed to sleep in – all paid for by Wrekin College. These are little things we take for granted every day but little things which make a life-saving difference to the people of Malawi.

I then realised this trip would be heartbreaking but very rewarding. A true life-changing experience, as I had been told.

I broke down for the first time as the orphans, aged from three months to 16 years old, gathered in the new extension of the orphan house. It was the second phase, which was built after Wrekin College raised more than £15,000 since the start of the year.

Proudly standing in rows, the children filled the room with the tune of their favourite song, “We’re So Happy Today”, and their beaming smiles. They really were the happiest children I have met – but I lost it; it was too much.

I looked at their tiny faces as I thought how each one had lost both parents, or had a mother or father who didn’t want them or a family who couldn’t afford to feed them. Yet they were unbelievably happy.

Kirsty Marston with three-month-old Rejoyce

Then I realised, I couldn’t let them see me crying at the back of the room – if they were happy, I certainly didn’t have anything to be sad about.

This expedition was emotionally and physically exhausting, as we faced new heartbreaking stories every day.

Tiny babies in the nutrition centre were on the brink of death when their mothers arrived at the clinic, but were saved by the nutrition programme run by Plymouth-based Medic Malawi. People were told they had Aids at St Andrew’s Hospital, also built by Medic Malawi – yet they were given life sentences as easily as we would be told we had the flu. They knew they would not get to see their children grow up and we knew their children would at some stage probably need the help of Wrekin Orphan House.

Difference

We were there to make a difference – and already the difference Wrekin College had made over the last two years was evident.

After the first emotional visit, we returned the following day to start the work. The challenge was to transform the new part of the orphan house into a livable home, so up to 40 more orphans could be given a roof over their heads. It would also divide the house, giving the boys and girls a corridor of bedrooms each. But still it would be at least two to a bed. Sadly the demand is greater than the room – and the money – available.

Within days the lime-washed walls were covered with the Malawians favourite colour scheme – white and Bermuda blue paint – while the play/communal room boasted brightly coloured rainbows, animals, numbers, and stencils.

The room reflected the atmosphere of the orphan house – bright and happy; a place where they could forget about the real world and their troubles.

Teacher Ruth Jones with two-year-old orphan Elizabeth

Amazement

I often watched in amazement as all the orphans sat under the grass roof of the cooking area as the meals were prepared over a small fire. By the end of our trip, thanks to the expertise of a volunteer builder from Southampton, they were looking forward to moving into a brick-built kitchen; a room which would withstand the rainy season and give the volunteers a real place to cook.

But before a meal was prepared they had to think where the ingredients were coming from, how the next bag of maize (costing £3 to last a month) would be paid for, and whether they had any crops left.

After days of digging the dry, hard soil of their small ‘field’, the ground was ready for our planned irrigation system. Made simply of a wooden frame, two plastic buckets and a special hosepipe, their crops would be watered, despite the sun shining for months on end.

All they needed to do was fill each bucket twice a day and the water would drip through the tiny holes and down to the root, hopefully giving healthy, green crops. That’s another life-saving job which, without Wrekin College, they would neither have been able to afford nor have the knowledge to construct. Simple, yet so rewarding.

We left the new extension boasting six brightly coloured bedrooms with shelving, a communal room, an irrigation garden, a kitchen, a playground and walls varnished internally and externally to protect them from the rainy season. And as the work was completed job by job, day by day, the stories behind the orphans’ short lives were told.

The youngest orphan, three-month-old Rejoyce (also the most photographed baby in Malawi following our arrival), stole everyone’s heart. She is yet another child who would not be here today without the existence of Wrekin Orphan House.

Her mother Joyce died shortly after giving birth to her, and at just a day old her desperate father walked to Wrekin Orphan House for help. Sadly, that particular day they had no milk formula left and he had to be turned away. Since that day, they have vowed never to turn anyone away again.

Survived

Two days later, after the starving baby miraculously survived without food, her grandmother returned pleading for help. The baby had been passed to her but even she could not cope.

Florence took the tiny baby in. Named Rejoyce by the orphan house staff, she is happy and healthy and has got a caring ‘family’ of mothers, fathers and many brothers and sisters around her.

Since returning I have tried to explain to family and friends how little they have got in Mtunthama, but it is simply impossible without seeing it at first hand. To see a dozen children have to fight for one boiled egg is heartbreaking, but to see the lucky boy or girl then shell it and hand out a tiny piece the size of a penny to each child is a humbling experience.

Our expedition motto was “sharing and learning” and it could not have been more appropriate.

As we walked away from the orphan house for the last time, I looked back as the prominent building stood surrounded by the little boys and girls. Yes we made a difference – a massive difference – to their lives, and it took just three weeks out of my life. But those three weeks have had one of the biggest impacts. The images we saw and people we met will stay with me forever.

The fundraising drive continues and, as more people see the difference that staff and students from Wrekin College are making, the more money can be raised. But every penny raised and spent in Mtunthama is really saving lives – lives of very special people.

• Anybody who would like to sponsor a child to go to school for just £45 a year at Wrekin Orphan House, or make a donation to Medic Malawi, through which the orphan house has been built, should visit www.medicmalawi.org

Some of the orphans with blankets donated by teacher Ruth Jones