introduction

Kondanani has two orphanages, with a total of 105 children below the age of 7. A third village called "Madalo children's village" is in the process of being build. All the children are either affected or infected by the HIV/aids pandemic.

Kondanani Children's Village

At present there are three houses which are finished and occupied, 12 children in each house. The children are taken care of by a housemother and a nanny. We have ladies who do the washing and cleaning.
Each house has a name, "House of David" has 6 boys and 6 girls, and "Martha's Cabana" has 4 girls and 8 boys and "Angela's Cottage" with 3 girls and 9 boys. We have called these houses after people who have contributed a lot financially to Kondanani. House no 4 is close to finishing, the roof is on. This house will be called "Christina's Home". House no 5 has been build and we will move 10 children there from "Caring Hands Infant Home" in a few weeks time when we have the furniture for this new house. This house is called "Heinrich Hause". Both houses will take 12 children each.
We have to build an other 5 houses at Kondanani Children's Village; the plan is that each house will have 10 children, rather than 12. We have a decent size hall, which is used for the children to play in, for parties, for the golden oldies who come every Wednesday and Friday, and what ever else a hall is needed for. We have a central kitchen, which has an office and two pantries. There is a sewing room, where all the sewing for all departments of Kondanani is done. Anything we can make ourselves we make, from dresses to sheets to towels. The kitchen prepares three wholesome meals every day and snacks for 10.00 am and 3.00 pm. The children eat in their own homes as a family. Meals are properly researched to make sure that every physical need is met.

Kegels Nursery School

All 36 children are at school, there are three classrooms at present, and foundations have been laid for another 3 and an office for the principle. There are future plans for 5 more classrooms and an administration office; these will be building when finances are available.
The utility block is has been build. The storeroom is ready; the principle is using it as an office until her own is ready. The staff room is ready and all the furniture has been bought, it looks very nice and a good place to relax for the staff when it is possible. There are 6 toilets each for boys and girls, 3 washbasins each plus a staff toilet with a shower in each. It looks grand.
Personnel comes from the UK and USA. Malawian ladies are being trained, as there is no training in this country for nursery school teachers. Every effort is made to educate the children at a high standard. They are well stimulated and are very interested in school. They speak English very well and their development is quite remarkable. The education system we use is called the accelerated Christian education system; it allows the children to work at their own pace. If a child is very bright for example they could finish high school at 15.

Rory Alec Clinic

The clinic is fully operational but far to small. There are 12 children at present and of course that could be less at times but never more. It has a ward, sisters office, incubator room with three incubators, kitchen, bathroom, 2 toilets and a room where all the washing, apart from doing the washing, is attended too, like folding, drying etc.
Every baby admitted to Kondanani is first admitted to the clinic and not moved to "Caring Hands Infant Home" until the medical staff is fully satisfied that the child is medically sound and in good condition.
We have drawn up plans for the extension of the clinic, it will be more than double the size it is. The foundations are nearly completed. We have a donor for this extension project.
The clinic has a fully qualified nursing sister/ matron from Holland and a trained Malawian nursing sister; they are assisted by nannies who have been trained to care for little babies. Besides them there are cleaning and washing ladies.
60% of babies admitted are HIV positive. Every Thursday a Dutch doctor examines the children, this is done on a voluntary basis. We have in the clinic two children who are behind in development; we seek the advice of various specialists in order to give these children the best treatment possible. I am pleased to report that we are succeeding. This is just to give you some idée, as what can happen at times things are not always the same of course.
The children from "Kondanani Children's Village" go with the housemother to the clinic during consultation hours, medicines are prescribed and given to the housemother for the child. In cases of emergency medical treatment is given. The sister weighs and measures the children once every month. The clinic staffs are also responsible for "Caring Hands" as far as the medical part is concerned. For example they will go and examine the children on a regular basis, for example this coming Wednesday sister Chris and alike will check all the boys to make sure they will not have problems with reproduction in the future, if there problems they are taken to the surgical hour at the hospital and an operation arranged.
The clinic also makes sure that the children get all their injection for childhood diseases. They check the weight charts of the children, weighing is done by Caring Hands staff on a weekly basis.

Vegetable garden

We have our own vegetable garden and a full time gardener. Various vegetables are grown for the benefit of our children.

Guest cottages

We have two fully self contained cottages on the premises, in addition to that a double bedroom with bathroom for guests, with a separate entrance from the main house.

Madalo project (Madalo means "blessing")

A property was bought recently consisting of 22 hectares. On it stands a huge old colonial house with 10 bedrooms. The condition of the house is not good at present but renovations have started. We will turn it into a beautiful school for the 12 children who will start primary school very soon and many more to follow. The whole building has been reroofed.
For security reason a fence has been erected. Within this fence, phase 1 of Madalo Village will be build for children of 6 to 11 years of age.
As already mentioned the school will be renovated, and houses will be building for the children. The building of the first house is in progress and the foundations are finished. The children will move, with their housemother and nanny from "Kondanani Children's Village". We envisage that there will be 200 children at Madalo Village in the future.
A borehole is being has been drilled for the water supply of the houses and for irrigation for our farming. Livestock will be bought like cows, chickens and pigs, (of which we have 20 already at the village) we have bought two cows and will collect them as soon as the barn is ready the end of June 2005.
There is a plantation of 1200 banana trees. This project will become an income-generating project.
There is a sizeable dam on the property full of fish for our use.
Part of the land which is elevated above the level of the dam, will be used to build a conference centre as an income generating project. There will be 3 conference rooms the plans have not been finalised yet. A 1/4 of the funds have been raised. The view is exquisite with the dam and the palm trees surrounding it. Beautiful gardens will be laid and there is a hectare of indigenous forest next to it.
I see phase two, which is only 5 years away, with a high school, trade school whatever is needed for the education of the children. Homes for them will be building; this will cater for the 12 to 18 years of age. Higher education such as university will be also on these premises with residences for the students and half way houses till the children then grown up's, get married.

Caring Hands Infant Home

This is where the little ones go to from the clinic and are there until the age of three. At present there are 58 children, 60 is the limit. This home is situated on a hill and boosts an amazing view, it is very large and comfortable, and it has a garden of 0.5 hectare. A little paradise for the children. The house was donated by press trust, which is a Malawian donor organisation.
A nanny cares for each five children. The nannies rotate, they are three days on day duty, three days on night duty and three days off, this requires three teams of nannies. They are taught on how to love and care for the little ones. In their last year at Caring Hands they have play school for which we have trained one of the nannies. There is a matron and her deputy. Ladies employed to do just that do the washing and cleaning. We have cooks in the kitchen who cook three wholesome meals a day and the children get their snacks at 10 am and 3 pm.
There are no plans to expand Caring Hands. There is no need for that as long as we can take the children to the village at the right age, this has been the bottleneck but with the building works at the village we should be able to catch up. The Caring Hands house has two flats; both are at times rented out on a short time basis and bringing in finances for Kondanani.

Golden age club (widows over 65)

These are the golden oldies that through no fault of their own are often down and out due to the fact that, their children who should be their old age pension have died of aids. These old ladies have ended up with many orphans who are their grandchildren. They often have no means to care for them and now after having worked for years to bring up their own children, are left to bring up their grand children. 240 of the widows come twice a week; they get breakfast, and lunch and in between have sewing, bible, knitting and literacy classes.
2 hectare has been allocated for an old age home and a hospital for them. Hopefully with the right funding we will get started within the next two years. This project can be expanded and more staff is needed in order to meet the need.

Finally

Kondanani runs like a well-oiled machine. We are registered under the laws of Malawi as a non-governmental organisation, registered and a paid up member of Congoma, which is the umbrella body for NGO's. Membership is a legal requirement. We work according to the laws of the republic of Malawi, in every area of the work. We work with each member of staff according to the labour laws of Malawi. We make sure that we never find ourselves on the wrong side of the law. We have stock control of each house, pantries and storeroom for equipment and tools, plus follow up every month. We have a proper accounting system to ensure that it is simple to give account of the finances. We have full documentation of the children from the day they arrived until today. Including birth certificates. All medical records are up to date for each child. Each one of our staff has job descriptions.
Above all this, we seek to bring our children to a saving knowledge of the lord Jesus Christ, to give them a happy and secure childhood in spite of the fact that they are orphans and to please him, our heavenly father in all we do. We seek his guidance and inspiration for the years ahead, for he blesses the works of his hands.


Prepared by Annie Chikhwaza
Executive director.