Ambassador Eastham Touches Hearts of the Less Privileged

Peter Akimu from Ntandile, a high density poor suburb of the capital Lilongwe, lost his mother at the tender age of 2, leaving him and his brother with their father who abandoned them two years later.  Peter’s brother, the only source of solace, succumbed to AIDS the same year the father abandoned them rendering him a total destitute.  He had nowhere to go.  He could not go to school due to lack of resources and resorted to begging and picking from rubbish.  “That is when the Children of the Nations officials picked me up.  They offered me a home, food, education opportunity, and above all, they offered me a family”. Peter said. 

Peter was speaking at the Children of the Nations farm at Chitipi in Lilongwe district, during the launch of a poultry farm and a fish pond by the U.S Ambassador to Malawi Alan Eastham.  

Peter’s story is not very different from those of other 34 children that he shares a home with at the Children of the Nations (COTN) Orphan Care Centre in Lilongwe. 

Speaking at the function, board chairman for COTN Mr. Smile Namagonya praised the U.S. Government for supporting the institution’s poultry and fish farming projects through the Ambassador’s Self-Help Fund.  He said in addition to generating income for the institution, the projects will help to supplement nutrition and eradicate malnutrition among the children at the institution and the surrounding areas. 

He said the projects will also help to empower the children with modern agricultural skills that would make them more productive and self-reliant in future. 

Member of Parliament for the area, Ms Jean Sendeza commended the COTN for its efforts to reduce the sufferings of orphans in the area.  She said due to the prevailing HIV/AIDS scourge that has ravaged the country, the number of orphans that lack care was greatly increasing.  She expressed gratitude to the US Government for the assistance rendered to COTN which she said would improve children’s livelihood in the area. 

Ambassador Eastham said it was gratifying that the $2300 grant the institution obtained from the Ambassador’s Self Help Fund will make a difference in the lives of the less privileged children. 

He urged the institution to manage the projects with dedication to ensure sustainability. 

Children of the Nations, headquartered in Seattle, United States, is a faith-based organization that cares for over 2000 orphaned and destitute children in Malawi.  It manages two orphanages in Lilongwe and one in Kasungu District. 

In September 2006, the Ambassador’s Self-Help Fund granted $2300 to the Children of the Nations.  The institution used the grant to stock 1,050 day-old chicks (700 broilers and 350 layers) and construct a fish pond as well as stocking it with 2000 fingerings of Chambo(a local but popular tilapia species)