APRIL 2026

Nicole's Column We are already here again 5 back in Malawi for months after we had been in the Netherlands for a long time for Teleza's open heart surgery. She's still not the same. She is traumatized from the period in the hospital, her energy level is low, is often ill and is therefore sometimes irritable. Teleza is currently in a group 3 but missed more than half the school year. In January she started half-day school and we slowly tried to build up to that. But it is difficult. She regularly has to stay home for a day to recover because she is so very tired. When she comes home from school she is irritated, tired and everything is too much. They had in early April 2 weeks of holiday, but unfortunately she was quite ill and ended up in hospital where she... 5 has been given antibiotics through the IV for days. Fortunately, she gets a lot of help at school and is able to do it despite missing so much, come along reasonably well. She gets daily 1 op 1 lessons to catch up and goes to a therapist who helps her process everything. Recovery is slow, but fortunately her heart seems to be doing well. While she was in the hospital, her oxygen level no longer dropped below 90% which used to always be the case for her. Her daily oxygen level is currently around 96% which is a big improvement over before. We are extremely grateful that she had this operation in the Netherlands and that her heart is now functioning better again. The recovery is difficult, but Teleza is a fighter and is doing her best. Teleza will always remain a concern, but we look forward to a quiet period without a hospital and without operations. Maria had a really hard time when Teleza and I were in the Netherlands, but fortunately she is doing a lot better now. She has made up a lot of ground at school in recent months and also visits a therapist every week who helps her process everything. She swims a lot and likes to hang out with her friends. Luckily we also have Diana. Diana is doing very well at school and in everything else. She has managed fine during my absence and enjoys her friends and sports. She currently does 5 x per week athletics and 1 x football per week. She no longer needs much extra help at school and she can keep up well with the average level. The secondary school here only has one level, comparable to pre-university education in the Netherlands, very nice of her! The renovation of the new house did not go well for a while, but fortunately things have improved again. They are currently hard at work again and hopefully it won't be too long before we can finally move. They are currently working on the garden, where large drainage pipes are being placed underground to drain the high groundwater level so that the grass is no longer soggy.. Work is now underway on the ceilings in the house, electricity and plumbing work. The other children in the house are doing well. We have had quite a few found babies brought to us since I returned to Malawi. Fortunately, there are currently more middle-class Malawian families looking to adopt healthy babies. As a result, they often just stay 2 months before they can be placed with a family. It is more difficult for children with health problems to be placed in a family due to poor care here. If these children have no biological family in Malawi, their only option is international adoption, but that is a long and difficult process. When I was in the Netherlands we had a baby in our house whose mother died during childbirth. The mother was 6 months pregnant when she drank a chemical potion to terminate the pregnancy. The mother gave birth to a living boy, but she herself died. The baby only weighed 1 kilo and was seriously ill when he came to us. He has 5 spent months in hospital before being allowed home. He is now 7 months and still has to be hospitalized every other week due to pneumonia or another infection. He is currently weighing 5 kilo, still too light but luckily he is gaining weight little by little. This little boy would do so much better if he could receive the care we have in the Netherlands. There are no incubators or other specialized care for premature babies here. It's a miracle he's still alive and hopefully he'll catch up little by little. Thank you to all the volunteers and all the sponsors and donors who make this work possible! Without your hard work it would be impossible to help the children here in Malawi. Thank you very much for this! We will be back in the Netherlands at the end of June and hope to see you again. Love, Nicole