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Hello everyone, We are now living again 6 weeks in our new house in Lilongwe and we are doing very well. We have a new team of nannies who are very good with the children. The nannies are reliable and hard working. They work well together and come to work every day with enthusiasm. Importantly, they seem genuinely interested in caring for our orphans and not just doing it for the money. The nannies are currently undergoing a 5-day youth care training. In this training they learn all about how they can take better care of the children in our home and much more. I am extremely grateful and happy that we found these nannies because it is so much more fun to do this work with a good team around you. The new nannies with people from youth care In addition, it is a great relief to no longer be bothered by the Synod of Nkhoma. All my energy and time went, at some point, looking out for them and fighting out all the issues instead of running the project. Over the years I have built up a very good relationship with youth care and am grateful that I can now work with them without the Synod intervening every time with impossible and unfair rules.. Living in Lilongwe comes with many benefits as well 1 one of these is that the children can now go to a much better school. We have 6 children are enrolled in a good private school and they work hard to catch up. When the children come from the villages, they have often never been to school because of the poor circumstances from which they come. They did go to a school in Nkhoma, but the level there is extremely low. It was always difficult for them to catch up and therefore school was not really their favourite. Now they go to school every day with a big smile on their face. We are with 13 children moved to Lilongwe and youth care soon called if we could take in additional children. The first was Hope, a boy of about 7 months old. Hope had been abandoned. Not left somewhere in good conditions, but buried in a cemetery under the sand. Fortunately, he was found in time. Hope has now 2 hospital admissions due to severe pneumonia and still has problems with his lungs, but it's getting better. Shortly afterwards we were called again. He were 2 sisters abandoned by their mother in a lodge. The mother is a sex worker and left. The girls had been brought to the police by neighbors and were already staying 2 days at the police station. It was clear that the mother was not coming back and that they had to be housed somewhere. Together with youth care, I picked them up from the police station. Idah 7 Jaar oud en Tamandani 1,5 year old. It was especially difficult for Idah in the beginning because she did not really understand why her mother just left her behind. And how do you explain that?? Because I don't understand it either. Idah soon decided that living with us was much better than living with her mother, where she had to take care of her sister. Baby Maya A few days later we were called again. A mother had given birth in a hospital in Lilongwe and walked away without her baby after giving birth. She left no information about where she came from or who she was. The baby was placed in our home and we named her Maya. And then there was Yerico. He is 4 years old and abandoned by his mother who is also a sex worker. He was temporarily placed in a center for street children because there was no room for him in an orphanage. However, the center was not a good place for him, especially because he also has medical problems. Yerico has also joined us. And so we had the end of April 18 children in the house. Fortunately, there will be soon 2 adoptions. Youth care has found families in America for Esther and William. The families are currently in Malawi and the children are with them to bond. Fortunately, Teleza is doing well. Less news is that she broke her leg by jumping from a jungle gym. Fortunately, the fracture is not very serious and the doctors think so 3 weeks of plaster is enough to allow the fracture to heal. We will come to the Netherlands in July because then she will have her annual check-up in Leiden. Greetings Nicole.
