Our Director in the UK
On Thursday 26th June we went to the airport to pick up Mr Kafumbi Njewa, our Malawian Director. He had a very busy two weeks…
On Friday 27th June we had our Malawi evening which was a great success, raising over £600 but more importantly, welcoming Kafumbi to the UK and giving people here a chance to meet him
On Sunday 29th June The Landirani Trust ran the service at St Matthew’s Church in Surbiton. The service was lovely and gave an insight into why The Landirani Trust was set up and also gave Kafumbi a chance to talk about what he is most passionate about, the orphans.
The following week Kafumbi was taken to local schools to do assemblies (sometimes 3 assemblies a day) to meet the children and explain why we were doing the BIGFOOT Guinness World Record attempt
On Friday 4th July we did the Guinness Book of Records attempt. The whole day was very vibrant and had a really good atmosphere. The final BIGFOOT was made up of over 5000 footprints. Please look at the news page for more pictures and information about the BIGFOOT
Then the following day we had a big event at the pavilion in Canbury Gardens: “Drums for Chimbuzi” It was a brilliant party with lots of drumming, dancing and beautiful food. We also drew our big Raffle and auctioned some pictures. Gaynor Cook and Nicky Hobhouse had some of their amazing pictures from recent trips to Malawi hanging for people to see. Over £1300 was raised which was amazing. All money raised will be going toward putting in eco toilets (chimbuzi) the premiss of which is the waste is used as compost so they can grow rich foods.
On Sunday 6th Kafumbi talked passionately about the orphans again, this time to the congregation of St George’s in Tolworth.
For his final few days before flying back to Malawi Kafumbi was involved in interviewing for the new project manager, seeing volunteers from past trips and we even let him have a little break to relax. It was amazing having Kafumbi here in the UK - he has met so many people and re-ignited the passion and interest in helping the orphans in Malawi. Seeing him talking to the kids in the schools is inspirational and likewise, when talking to adults his commitment to helping the children of the warm heart of Africa is infallible.Here is Kafumbi Njewa’s account of his trip:
MY VISIT TO LANDIRANI TRUST, UK; By Kafumbi NjewaIt all started on arrival at London Heathrow airport on June 26th 2008. Heather and Pip were there to welcome Kafumbi Njewa, Director of Landirani Trust in Malawi and drove him to 31 Upper Brighton Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6QX
The purpose of the visit was for the: *Supporters of The Landirani Trust, UK meet with Kafumbi and have the opportunity to talk to him about the problems faced by orphans in Malawi *To participate in the Guinness Book of Records attempt of the largest footprint made from children’s footprints *Reforestation Programme *Drums for Chimbudzi (toilets) *Attend church services at St Matthews and St Georges Church of England churches
The main activities during the visit were fundraising, holding of assemblies in schools and meeting people at various functions. Among the schools which Kafumbi held assemblies, were Tolworth Girls Secondary School, Christ Church and Our Lady Immaculate Primary schools, and Long Ditton, King Athelstan, St Matthews, Coombe Infants, Tolworth Infants, Maple Infants and Alexandra Infant Schools.
Kafumbi, met with hundreds of school children and supporters of Landirani to drum up awareness to them on the problems facing the orphans in Malawi. He explained to them that The Landirani Trust supports well over 3,000 orphans in Malawi. Most of these poor children have lost their parents due to HIV/AIDS or other related diseases such as malaria, TB, diarrhoea and cholera. The orphans do not have food, clothes, shelter, medical facilities, clean water, good latrines (toilets) and education. If they can manage to go to school they are in rags and with no writing materials.
During the fund raising and awareness functions, Kafumbi told the supporters that funds raised during his visit will go a long way to improve the lives of orphans. The trust is meanwhile looking into the reforestation programme, because they have been cutting down trees for firewood, building materials and to make way to open new crops.
In his awareness campaign, Kafumbi pointed out that Landirani is working to improve the lives of orphans by building schools, providing clean toilets and wells, clothing, school equipment and secondary school sponsorship and setting up maize fields, fruit orchards and vegetable gardens.
During the visit, Kafumbi also drummed up the church fraternity and made them aware of the difficult times and situations the children are facing in Malawi. Kafumbi, who was on a two week visit to Surbiton, was satisfied by the way people received the news of the orphans. He appealed to them to love and pray for the orphans Malawi.