Konda Ku Lifuwu

04.06.2014

Konda ku Lifuwu – Love to Lifuwu. That’s what the three of us, Ariane, Bettina and Fiona, have discovered so far during our volunteering time in the month of May. As trained nurses, Ariane and Bettina are supporting the Lifuwu Health Clinic during their 10 weeks stay in Malawi. A close cooperation with the medical assistant and the staff from the Health Centre provides the opportunity to make good progress in terms of raising the hygienic standard to a higher level. Fiona, who just finished school in Germany, is working at Kazembe Primary School, teaching Standard 6 in subjects such as English, Maths, and Social Studies.

 

Besides our daily work at the projects, we are in close contact with the inhabitants of the community of Lifuwu. Having an open eye and ear for their needs, we quickly developed ideas which could benefit the local populace. Enthusiastically, we started to make a list of projects that could easily be turned into action with little financial means. On top of our list was the treatment of the fungus, or ringworm, which many kids are infected with. The further purchase of medical utensils for the clinic also seemed of high importance to us. Apart from that, we observed a great need for eating materials in the Pre-School.

Having these plans in mind, the three of us started looking for a way to finance and implement these projects whilst being on-the-spot. We decided to start a fundraising program gathering donations in our hometowns to support our work here. In order to reach as many people as possible, we set up a Facebook-page,https://www.facebook.com/KondaKuLifuwu, which provides information about our projects, our plans and the progress we’re making. After being online for a week now, we can proudly declare a total of more than 300 Facebook-likes and already more than 1200 USD donated to the help2kids in favour to our projects.

Being astonished by the great appreciation of Konda ku Lifuwu, we eagerly started to transform our plans into reality. The first project, “Kill the Fungus”, has already been carried out – and proven to be a full success! After having bought a special anti-fungus cream and disinfectants, we advertised our project throughout the village. The week after, the project was ready to start. Every day, from 14:00 until 17:00, we made our way to the gathering point at the beach. From the second day on, the kids would already be waiting for us at the gates of the Guest House half an hour early, happy to help us carry our materials.

Concerning the treatment, we established a certain order of steps. First, the patients had to register with Bettina, who handed each of them a “Zipere Passport” (Ringworm Passport) in which their treatments were documented with a sticker each time they visited. With that, we were able to ensure that everyone understood the importance of receiving at least five treatments in order to cure the disease. Moreover, the kids loved the stickers and were eager to turn up in time every day. Once the patients received their stickers, they went to Ariane, who was responsible to disinfect the affected areas on the scalp. Last, Fiona applied the anti-fungus cream.  After the first very successful days of the fungus project, we decided to extend it to another four days in order to grant a full treatment to those who started their medication after the first day. Following eight days of intense work, we are more than happy to declare that about 220 kids and adults were treated and cured.

Additionally in May, we started with the third project of our list “Mission 2014”. With the slogan “Hygiene at Lifuwu Clinic” we made it our aim to raise the hygienic standard at the health clinic to a higher level. As a first step, we cleaned and painted the dressing room in order to cover old blood and other diverse dirt spots. Next, we plan to buy a new shelf for medical utensils, a sterilizer for the dressing room and mattresses, including sterile sheets, for the maternity ward.

Further planned projects are the purchase of new spoons and cooking utensils for the pre-school, as well as financing a new building for the Health Clinic, meant to isolate the TBC patients from the other patients. Summing up, we are thrilled by the good start of our fundraising project and are already looking forward to realize our further plans. With sadness, we observe our time here passing by way too quickly and we hope we are able to complete all of our plans while we are here. If you are interested in donating to help us accomplish our goals, you can go here. Just say you want your donation to go to Konda Ku Lifuwu.

Zikomo!

Ariane, Bettina, and Fiona

help2kids Volunteers