Making A Difference 
An estimated 400,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS in Malawi and the scale of need becomes apparent as soon as you arrive. The Pen Sulo district was completely without help until the Joshua Orphan Care Centre was established, who in turn approached us for help.

On this project £600 from each volunteer goes directly to the project, a proportion of which supports long term aims, such as each volunteer funding the complete secondary education of one Malawian student. This project allows you the unique opportunity to spend time living and working in the rural communities of Malawi.  This is a real project that makes a real difference to the children of Malawi, providing them with a chance for them to make a difference too.

To ensure a positive impact on this project, professional project managers and local workers will carefully direct the project, sourcing all food and materials locally, ensuring that all QUEST's environmental and ethical objectives are completed.

The Problem
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with 65% of the population living below the poverty line in 1998. It is estimated that up to seven million people, from a population of 12 million, may be on the edge of famine. It is a relatively small, land-locked country with few exploitable resources apart from land, which is at serious risk of degradation due to an increasing population and poor farming methods. Agriculture is the main source of income, combined with tobacco, sugar, tea and coffee.

The villages of Pen Sulo are in desperate need of community centres, to act as a meeting point, a base for health workers, a classroom for local children and as a 'canteen' to provide at least one substantial meal per day for the hundreds of local orphans and vulnerable children whose families are unable to support them. 

The Solution
Working together with local craftsmen and members of the local community the Malawi project focuses on building  these much needed community centres and classrooms.

Joshua has also recently purchased a piece of land and hopes to be able to complete a large secondary school, which will cater for many of the children from the surrounding communities, who currently cannot afford or manage the huge travelling distances to reach the other secondary school. As a volunteer on this expedition you will help to get this large project off the ground and over the period of a few years, will contribute towards the funds and labour to complete the entire secondary school - something that will be a challenging but extremely rewarding project to be a part of! Your financial donation will also help fund scholarships for local children to attend the school.

There will also be more opportunities to get involved with the community, such as working with the women's group and local school kids - helping with workshops on health and hygiene, HIV and environmental education - the options are endless!  Whilst having a break from cement mixing or waiting for the mud bricks to dry, you will also get the chance to spend time with the local Youth Group, supporting their efforts to raise awareness and help proivde solutions to the ever increasing impact of HIV on their community.

Partner History
Quest Overseas joined forces with the Malawian charity The Joshua Orphan Care Centre to help improve the lives of thousands of Malawian children.  The Joshua Orphan Care Centre is based just outside of Blantyre, in the Pen Sulo district.

Joshua was initially set up 4 years ago and aimed to help provide feeding stations and maize for the local HIV orphans. Originally the plans were to help 3 villages, although due to demand this has now expanded to 9. The Joshua Centre helps to fund the building of feeding stations in each of the villages and also provides maize meal to feed the orphans and vulnerable children, which can number over 100 in one village alone. Currently, these orphans rely on community support and help from relatives, which is an enormous burden on these already struggling families. 

Sylvia Avgerhinos is our project partner in Malawi. She became involved with Joshua when she happened to visit Pen Sulo to take books to a small school there. One of the teachers who was on the committee for Joshua, approached her and asked for assistance with fund raising. At that time she had not anticipated staying in Malawi for very long, but interest, enthusiasm and financial backing from friends, family and two charities in the U.K. made it possible. The feeding programme now includes approximately sixty children, under five, who come each day to be fed, receive some education and play games.
           
Gradually other villages in the vicinity have requested to become involved and asked for help with similar activities, so Joshua now has nine villages whom they help on a regular basis by supplying food, cooking equipment, seed for crops and fruit trees. Each centre has between 50 and 70 children that they feed.

As well as focusing on the younger children The Joshua Centre has tried to help older students by starting a small Secondary School, The Joshua Secondary School, in Malawi.  Secondary Education is for four years, and pupils are expected to pay fees and pay for their uniforms shoes and books. For very many families this is impossible and Joshua tries to help as many orphaned and impoverished children as they can to complete their schooling.  This is a great strain on their resources. Each child costs about fifteen pounds per term, and as almost half of Joshua's children receive partial or full bursaries, it's very difficult to sustain this.

What help is required?
Work includes rural construction- cement mixing, carrying rocks and sand, making mud bricks, carrying water. You will also get involved in educational work in local schools, organising local activity days for local schoolchildren and even helping with the Blantyre Youth Group's theatre productions.

Where?
The project is based in the south of Malawi, just outside the town of Blantyre in a district called Pen Sulo. Volunteers on this project will be living closely with local communities in a very rural environment.  Pen Sulo is classic Africa. The villages are mud walled huts with thatched roofs and the village hall is a mat under a wide spreading tree.