God’s Blessings

Blessings is 2 years, 3 months old. His mother, Maria, brought him to the clinic because Blessings has pretty obvious and severe clubfeet. His feet have been turning in since birth. Maria had taken Blessings to the hospital and they put Plaster of Paris on Blessings feet for about 3 months. But it didn’t do much good. Now that they’ve come to the MACOHA (Malawi Council for the Handicapped – CBMI’s partner) clinic, Maria doesn’t know what to expect.

"I am in despair because my child isn’t able to go to school. I want him to get help so he can go to school."

Maria carries Blessings around most of the day on her hip.

"I don’t mind carrying him around. He’s my only son."

Maria has 4 daughters, all older than Blessings: 5, 7, 10 and 13. All her daughters go to school whenever they can.

"Sometimes they can’t go to school because they don’t have soap to clean their clothes. We also have to pay the volunteer teacher, and sometimes we don’t have enough money to pay."

The primary education in Malawi is free and accessible for all children, in theory. Sometimes, though, tuition isn’t the only issue. "Volunteer" teachers are used in areas where it’s too harsh or too remote for qualified teachers to come and live.

To make matters worse for Maria, her husband divorced her.

This is hardly an isolated case. Malawi is a polygamous country. Men don’t worry about having more than one wife. They don’t even try to hide it. Sometimes they’ll have a wife in the village and a wife in town. When the husband can’t afford both families, he’ll simply stop contributing to one. Sometimes a man will think his wife is too old. Divorce is common.

So how does Maria feed her five children? Maria is a farmer, but she doesn’t farm her own land. She farms neighbour’s land for money or food. She has problems buying the necessities for her family.

"When I have trouble feeding them, sometimes I have to wonder why I had these children."

When Maria is in the fields, she either brings Blessings with her, or she leaves him with one of her older daughters. "He is my only son, so when he cries, I leave the fields and go to him."

One of Blessings favorite things is dancing.

"I wish for my child to be a pastor, because, up to now, God is good to me. I want God to keep being good to me and my children. If he becomes an accountant...?"

"I hope that MACOHA can help Blessings and put his foot in the right position."

Blessings was scheduled for surgery at the orthopaedic clinic. CBMI will make sure he receives the restoritive surgery he needs.