Henri and Tieneke Zwarts are volunteers from Holland who have been working at the centre for some months now, helping the school children at MEC with their studies, assisting with educational programs, the orphanage, nursing and church activities. Here they report on some of their recent activities in Mwomboshi Settlement village:
In Mwomboshi Settlement Village we met Carolyn Phiri. Carolyn has a severe physical disability, which has meant that she has been bed-bound for around ten years now. All that time she has been in her hut.
We brought Carolyn into a specialized hospital for investigations and used donations to provide her with a special bed and a house with some special arrangements, so Carolyn is able to go outside again for the first time in 10 years! Besides that we have tried to empower her by making some small investments in knitting needles, crochet needles and wool. We also buy some of her products which we sell on a web shop in The Netherlands.
Pascal Mulenga has been suffering for ten years from a badly fractured arm, which is just hanging on a piece of skin. Pascal’s family is very poor and it is a heavy duty for him to take care of two disabled children. He has been to the hospital before, but was not able to pay for the surgery he needed to straighten his arm. This changed in April. Thanks to donations we were able to bring him to the hospital and after considering surgery, he choose to go for a specially made brace. Now, he is able to raise his arm again straight into the air!
In March 2013 we started Youth Alpha with the 16+ teenagers of the St. Nicholas Orphanage. The Youth Alpha course is about the basics of Christianity.
