Heart of Mercy centre opening

Accomplish’s visitors were once again welcomed back to the ‘The Warm Heart of Africa’ at the end of June this year, where they witnessed the official opening of the new Heart of Mercy centre in Zomba as well as having the opportunity to teach qualified and student therapy staff in Blantyre.

There is a Malawian proverb that ‘when spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion’ and whilst links continue to develop between our projects in Malawi, therapy staff and local district organisations, in order to breakdown stigma and provide better care for children with disabilities, we certainly hope we are starting to make headway on the lion!

Our trustee and children’s physiotherapist, Julia Tseayo, was accompanied by 2 volunteers, Sarah Daniel, an adult neurological physiotherapist, and Annabel Smith, a student. The group spent two wonderful days at the University of Blantyre, having the opportunity to teach the physiotherapy students and OT students, from the first OT training course in Malawi, on the first day. The enthusiasm of these students for their profession and learning bodes well for the future of Malawi’s healthcare and long may it be nurtured.

We also held a training day for qualified therapy staff, run by our partner Fount for Nations, which brought therapists from across Southern Malawi to learn about the assessment and treatment of neurological patients and enable networking. Therapy staff in government hospitals are often thinly stretched and if working in private organisations, therapists may have little opportunity for peer supervision and sharing of ideas, so this was a really valued opportunity for all.

The team were privileged to be among the guests of honour at the opening ceremony for the new Heart of Mercy centre, just outside Zomba and Julia was invited to speak and cut the ribbon to declare it open, on behalf of Accomplish. One of the mothers of the Heart of Mercy children spoke emotionally that when God blessed them with disabled children, they didn’t know that God trusted them with these children for a reason and that they have learnt this from the Heart of Mercy, so they no longer feel ashamed.

The new centre has two large rooms for the children to use, as well as an office, storage room, toilets and a shower room, plus an external kitchen. The kitchen garden is already established and they will soon be harvesting vegetables to supplement the children’s meals, from this. During the visit the group were able to meet and give therapy advice to newer children into the Heart of Mercy project as well as help to run the first groups for the children and their parents to attend at the centre.

The children’s smiles during the activities told us all we needed to know about how beneficial having a place to come together and join in activities will be for the children and one of the boys has been asking almost daily to return as he no longer wants to stay at home, but wants to come and play again instead. In order to run the centre, the Heart of Mercy have taken on some new staff members, most of whom are from the families of children with disabilities, who are supported by the project, enabling these families to have more secure, regular income.

Whilst Malawi continues to struggle with extreme poverty, with the current fuel crisis and predicted El Nino this year likely to make food costs even more difficult for many of the families we support, the centre offers a beacon of hope, a heart if you will, for the Heart of Mercy, where children will be fed, cared for and helped to develop their skills and we look forward to seeing it develop on the coming months.