Habitat for Humanity Malawi (HFHM) has handed over eight houses to Henwood Foundation for orphans and vulnerable children at Traditional Authority (TA) Maliri in the rural Lilongwe.
Through a three year project in 2012 HFHM in partnership with Henhood Foundation are constructing houses in a bid to improve the living condition and resilience of 96 orphans and vulnerable children in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu with founding from Nak Natritative and Hetzner Online in Germany worthy 134, 499 Euro.
Speaking after handing over the houses to Henhood Foundation beneficiaries on Monday, June 2015, Amos Kalawe, HFHM National Director expressed gratitude for the work done with quality houses built for the vulnerable children and orphans saying their life won’t be the same.
“There are over one million vulnerable children due to HIV and AIDS and other diseases in the country. We found that one of their greatest needs is more decent permanent shelters as we believe that provision of houses is one way of breaking the cycle of poverty.
“Our work among the OVC is consistence with Malawi government’s HIV and AIDS impact mitigation plans which strengthen the provision of comprehensive support to other vulnerable children and other groups as this task is enormous and requires concerted efforts including partnerships hence collaboration with Henwood Foundation to transform lives.
“We would like therefore to appeal to the donor community and corporate Malawi to give deliberate attention to HI/AIDS impact mitigation through provision of shelter to OVCs who don’t have homes or living in poor conditions”, urges Kalawe.
There was a sigh of relief from a 14 year old- Lucia Razaro of Msokoneza Village in T.A Maliri in the rural Lilongwe after receiving one of the houses saying will have where to lay her head together with siblings as having a better housing was a life dream.
“This is a dream coming true to have our own house which we have been lacking since 2008 after the death of my father then later a mother. What we want now is some financial support to start running a family business aiming to sustain the living”, appeals Lucia.
Later, the Maravi Post caught up with Charles Ndandula, The District Apostle for New Apostolic Church representing Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe who graced the ceremony said the church through Henhood Foundation was responding to the needs of vulnerable children hence the support.
“God always wants us to share the little we have with unprivileged children, orphans and widows as they do not have where to rely on. We are happy that as church we are contributing to that to improve their living standards. Therefore, we still need more support from all groups of people for this noble course”, said Apostle Ndandula…
Habitat for Humanity Malawi (HFHM) which was established in 1986, is a non-profit Christian housing organization affiliated to Habitat for Humanity International headquartered in Atlanta, USA aimed at provision of shelter in eliminating poverty and improving the lives of orphans and vulnerable groups in the country.
Since, 2009, the organization has rescued over 1,120 vulnerable families especially child-headed families with 300 houses in Salima, Mulanje, Mzimba, Lilongwe, Blantyre and Chinkhwawa as the current report reveals that about 78% of families in Malawi live in substandard housing.
HFHM’s interventions programs including improved housing and trainings on malaria and HIV prevention , entrepreneurships and vocation skills, property and inheritance through funding from tithe donations and corporate partners such as SOS Children’s Village Malawi, Sitho Group of Companies, Michelle Ren Cole of USA, FDH Bank, Henwood Foundation, Opportunity Bank of Malawi among others.
