Your donations have purchased a new trailer for our Mobile Outreach Clinic! Read our latest blog as our Mobile Outreach Clinic (MOC) team shares how the new trailer will be of great help to the team’s daily operations.
The Orant Journal
2020 was a tough year for everyone. As the year wraps up, we reflect on Orant’s successes and challenges.
When people get sick, the most common advice is, “drink lots of water.” The second most common advice, especially during a pandemic, is “wash your hands.” But what about those who don’t have access to clean water? What do they do, especially now?
Orant strives to make clean water and sanitation services available for everyone in the Dowa District of Central Malawi.
In addition to drilling 14 new wells in 2020 and delivering water to over 5,395 people, Orant:
- Repaired 89 boreholes
- Built 1 girls’ latrine at a primary school
- Trained 14 community Water Point Committees in community based management of water points
To combat the coronavirus pandemic, Orant’s Water Program:
- installed handwashing stations in public centers
- delivered information to village chiefs, schools, and churches
- supplied 50 chiefs with buckets, cleaning chemicals, and sanitation instructions
School started late in Malawi this year due to Covid-19. To protect students and teachers, Orant supplied schools with face masks. Our corporate and individual donors gifted 97 students in Malawi tuition and school supplies. 93 sponsored students are girls.
One of our Education Program’s greatest challenges is keeping girl students in school. Household responsibilities and family expectations pull them away from the classroom. Many young girls hope that marriage or childbearing will lift them out of poverty. 4 of our sponsored students this year dropped out due to pregnancy. To avoid scenarios like this as much as possible, we regularly visit our students on site. We stay in touch with them after graduation.
Orant runs a static health clinic on campus in Kasese and a Mobile Outreach Clinic that travels daily to see patients in hard-to-reach rural areas. Due to Covid-19, we suspended operations of our Mobile Outreach Clinic from April to August. We have since resumed modified operations. Our clinicians distribute face masks to patients, spread information about Covid-19, and encourage social distancing practices.
The 2020 malaria season was bad this year. Luckily, it was mostly over by the time Covid-19 arrived. Around 70% of the 28,000 patients treated between January and April were for malaria. In total this year, Orant treated 53,533 patients. The breakdown per month was as follows:
Orant’s operations area is rural and agrarian. Most families maintain subsistence farms. Our Ag Programs aim to transform farming for survival into farming for business. We sponsor and manage 14 irrigation clubs and run one demonstration farm plot. Our FEM for Women Program provides local women entrepreneurs with microloans.
This year, we provided $30,000 in microloans to local farmers and entrepreneurs. We helped dozens of local farmers establish mobile bank accounts. All loans from BOMFA and our FEM for Women Program were paid back in full.
2020 was challenging, but Malawians are resilient. We are grateful for the generosity of our donors. We are grateful for the hard work, passion, and tenacity of our staff. Whatever happens in 2021, we will be ready to make positive changes. Together.
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The Orant Journal
Apply today for jobs with our Mobile Outreach Clinic in Dowa, Malawi!
Next in our series on the culture of Malawi, learn about the many languages spoken in Malawi.
Learn how to make this favorite Malawian dish, Mpiru Otendera. One of Malawi’s most popular recipes, Mpiru Otendera (mustard greens with peanut flour) is a nutritious and filling recipe that goes well with many meals.
Meet Jonathan Chikaonda, our sponsored student who got the highest points in his Malawi School Certificate Examinations (MSCE). Read our latest blog to learn more about Jonathan’s journey.
We are excited to have trained the Chika Water Point Committee (WPC) as a way of ensuring sustainability. Read our latest blog to learn more about WPCs and the role they play.
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For the first time in the school’s 26-year history, Ngala Community Day Secondary School has a laboratory with lab supplies and chemicals. Read this week’s blog post to feel the excitement Ngala students and teachers share due to this development!
We are excited to tell you about the new borehole our WASH program has drilled in Chika Village, T/A Njombwa in Kasungu. Read our latest blog to learn more about how this new borehole will change the lives of people in Chika Village.
In rural Malawi, pregnant women face many challenges including lack of access to prenatal care, poor nutrition, and lack of safe spaces to deliver their babies. Orant is working to change that with the renovation of our maternity ward. Read about it in this week’s blog.