Would You Like to Help Build 
the new Malakia Clinic 
in Lilongwe, Malawi?

 

January 27, 2000

Since the fall of 1996 we have been helping Gladstone and Alice Chonde and their work with a private clinic in impoverished Malawi.  Our assistance has been sent in the form of sending medicine, a container of food and medical supplies. and preparing to help with an optical/medical mission later this year.

We would like for you to review the help that we have provided to these fine people living in one of the world's most needy areas by looking at the history of reports over the past three years by clicking here.

One critical need for the Chonde's is to expand the clinic to include a birthing center.  It is a very doable project that can be done by the Chonde's with our help. We estimate the cost of this addition to the pictured clinic on the left  to be about $20,000. 

LifeNets plans to raise the money through appeals for donations and applying for matching grants.  As of January 27th, when we are launching this drive, we have $2,000 in the fund.  We will give regular reports on this Web site about the progress of our fund-raising. We have a few who have pledged to help meet our goals.

Here are some of the specifications that Gladstone Chonde sent me:


Malakia clinic infrastructure:

Current:


Reception area at Malakia Clinic 

One block consisting of

Proposed extensions:

   

Below is what I had previously written about the Chonde's who are doing an amazing work

June 6, 1997

Malakia Clinic in Lilongwe, Malawi is managed by Numeri Gladstone Abisai (N.G.A.) Chonde. His wife Alice is a state registered nurse at this clinic besides being a certified midwife. Malawi is one of Africa's poorest and most overcrowded countries and conditions are deteriorating.

The clinic is very small and the only workers are Gladstone Chonde, wife Alice, a receptionist and a watchman. In the five years they have been in operation they have treated over 130,000 people. They often treat 150 people per day. As the rainy season approaches and the mosquitoes multiply malaria cases increase; so do the patients.


 Gladstone Chonde consulting
young patient at clinic

The diseases they commonly deal with:

One does not have to be in Africa very long to learn about the AIDS epidemic that is sweeping through and killing men and women from approximately age 18 through the mid-forties. In the capital city of Harare in Zimbabwe some 120 people are buried every day. Seventy percent are from some manifestation of AIDS. 

In talking with Alice Chonde she tells us that she has lost a brother and sister to AIDS. One of the rising new problems for Africa, which needs no new problems, is the proliferation of AIDS orphans. The Chondes help support the orphaned children of her brother and sister and another relative.

They need many common drugs. Gladstone tells me that they often run out of common medicines and patients end up dying from pneumonia and diarrhea.

These are unnecessary deaths that could be prevented if ample medicine was available.

Many are turning to witch doctors who are particularly promising a cure for AIDS.

The Medical Council of Malawi oversees their work and the District Medical Office comes to check on them regularly.

The Chonde's would like to help many more people and CAN with your help! We would like to ship commonly used drugs that are in very short supply.


Gladstone and Alice Chonde with Vic Kubik -- 
taken in the Bvumba Mountains in eastern Zimbabwe

As soon as my wife and I return from Africa we are going to start a new project to provide the Malakia (named after the book of Malachi in the Bible) Clinic with life-sustaining help. If you would like to join in our efforts to save lives in Malawi please let me know by clicking here and writing to me.

The Chonde's address is:

N.G.A. Chonde
Malakia (Pvt) Clinic
P.O. Box 30705
Lilongwe 3
Malawi
Africa

Click here for list of essential drugs commonly used