In 2002, mother of four Robyn Casey, from Ocean Grove, visited Kande Beach on the shores of Lake Malawi, Africa.
Robyn was immediately confronted and challenged by the poverty and societal conditions that were impacting the local people but at the same time was amazed by their warmth and resilience in spite of these conditions.
Mphatso Children’s Foundation came from Robyn’s awareness that children in this district were often going for up to three days at a time without a proper meal. Initially Robyn began a small nursery school in Mkuonda Village to ensure that the primary school aged children in the village received a nutritious meal each day and a pre-school education. From this small start in 2004 Mphatso has grown and now feeds and educates over 1000 children a day through 12 nursery schools, and is now spread along a 40km stretch of Lake Malawi.
Following the success of Mphatso’s car-boot sale in October 2016 where $4000 was raised, it is now planned to become an annual event.
The sale will be held at the Wave Uniting Church on Saturday 3 March from 8.30am to 1.30pm. Cost is $20 per site.
Mphatso now employs over 60 local staff in Malawi and runs numerous programs alongside the nursery schools including a baby feeding program supporting up to 30 of the most at risk infants and a HIV women’s support group providing hope and a purpose. Mphatso also provides limited emergency care and transport and supports the local soccer and netball teams.
Mphatso is funded purely by donations of which 100% goes directly to the work of the foundation at Kande Beach.
For more details contact Liz Pounder at liz.pounder@hotmail.com or 0467-969 544.
For more information on the Mphatso Children’s Foundation go to www.mphatso.org.
