Dear Seibo Supporters, Malawi faces a few tough months ahead. The most vulnerable rely on a good harvest to come and the kindness of strangers. It's 'lean season' in Malawi. Food is scarce and many have lost work due to the pandemic. Our team in Malawi regularly share stories of lives on the brink of disaster. Stories of parents with young children having to ration food on a daily basis, or going without.
Your donations have a direct impact- the provision of food packs means families can serve breakfast. We continue to distribute emergency food to families of young children. The need is great. Most children have not attended school for a year. With schools gradually reopening we at Seibo must still wait for permission to prepare a meal on school premises. In the meantime we continue to use your donations to provide life-saving food take-home food packs.
Seibo is reliant on the kindness of its donors to make a difference and as humbling and privileged as that position may be the next few months will require your help more than ever. Please donate HERE– your donation can be the difference. What follows is a summary of our main activities in the last three months. It's not comparable to anytime in our short 5-year history. The children of Malawi are reliant on the kindness of strangers and we in turn rely on you. If you can help please do!
Food Donation to Mzimba District Hospital
In January all 498 in-patients at Mzimba District Hospital received a 5kg food package from Seibo's donors. An additional 225 x 5kg packs were donated to the Hospital to assist with the provision of a breakfast meal -click HERE for details. One of the patients included 7-year old Mellonisa who was recently struck by lightning near her home and paralyzed on admission to hospital. Her condition has since improved and we are delighted to share a short VIDEO of Mellonisa and her family. Thank you for assisting with her recovery.
Donations of USD 114,049 sent to Malawi in December thanks to our donors in Japan, the UK & Bulgaria
70,000kgs+ of Emergency Food distributed in Northern Malawi in January
Weight & Growth Monitoring in January identified signs of malnutrition in nursery-age children that requires further intervention
Nursery-Age Kids
Cases of malnutrition are on the rise. In Malawi we carried out height & weight monitoring to assess the health status of 1,312 children under the age of 5 registered at Seibo nurseries.
Of concern were the number of children who showed signs of being severely underweight and in some cases severe wasting. Our team in Malawi have already taken steps to improve the situation but our work relies on your kindness.
The story of Elizabeth's granny (whose parents left to find work in South Africa) is typical of many families stories;
“Most of the times we eat once or twice a day. Thank you very much for the flour this is a big relief for me as Eliza will be having breakfast. God bless you.”
For more stories click HERE. The months ahead will be some of the most challenging Malawi has ever faced and we will need your support more than ever.
