Heart of Mercy
The Heart of Mercy project is like a large family, caring for disabled children and their parents or guardians, usually grandparents. It is based in poor villages surrounding the picturesque southern Malawian town of Zomba. Battling with abject poverty and a hostile social atmosphere which rejects their children, families feel ignored and isolated.
Accomplish pays for the parents and guardians to meet together regularly so they can support each other as they face huge difficulties. Therapists and other health specialists attend these meetings to give expert advice, so parents are better able to care for their children, as well as discovering they are not alone.
Accomplish also supports a thriving goat project. This generates income to help families with the extra costs of supporting disabled children. The goats belong to the children, which increases their social standing within their villages.
As caring for children who are often incontinent is challenging, Accomplish provides soap to each family. Some children have also received a mattress.
Accomplish pays for workers who visit each child at least once a month to assess development, provide advice and support. The value of these visits cannot be overestimated. Accomplish provided PPE to enable these visits and meetings to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accomplish has also supplied wheelchairs, support chairs and stands.
In 2022, sign language training was initiated, which enabled deaf children to communicate with their families and with other children for the first time, bringing so much joy. One deaf child now has her dreams come true with a place at a special school.
Local schools are being visit by the Heart of Mercy Team to encourage them to provide for disabled children; this is a difficult task but we are pleased now seven of the children are attending local village schools.
Recent expansion of the project now includes 90 children.
To augment support meetings for the entire group, some of the villages have started their own monthly meetings. The project is growing in confidence and standing locally.
