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Supporting the development of eye eye-care in northern Malawi, mainly through partner mission hospitals. We provide resources, expertise and fund local training. The hospitals are part of the ministry of the local church, expressing God’s love for all.
Newslink January 2020
New Year Greetings everyone! Here's a start-of-the-year update on progress in Malawi.
2019 visit
Since our last Newslink in August 2019, I spent a month with our partners in September, and some great progress has been made in our objective to establish self-sustaining eye-care services.Two teams of eye care professionals – colleagues of mine – joined me during the month, and we managed to achieve just about everything we’d set out to do.
I’m very happy to report that we have now replaced or repaired almost all items of equipment which were badly damaged during delivery by container two years ago.
One new development was to send out two lens-cutting and glazing machines, along with lots of uncut glasses lenses. These were successfully installed at Embangweni mission hospital and Mzimba South government hospital.
Setting up a lens cutting machine at Embangweni Hospital.
Another new development was to to visit the School for the Deaf in Embangweni for the first time. Rather than assessing the children ourselves, we taught the teachers at the school how to test the children’s visions. We visited the school again, two weeks later, this time examining the children whom the teachers had identified as having visual problems, or needing some advice about. This was very successful and we hope that it will pave a way for teachers in other schools to be taught how to screen their pupils’s visions.
Teachers at the School for the Deaf at Ekwendeni learning how to screen children’s vision.
As always, since our first visit to the school in 2006, we went to the School for the Blind at Ekwendeni, and found quite a few children from this year’s intake who could benefit from glasses. We were also able to give all the children new long-sleeved uniform tops, visual stimulation toys and musical instruments – plus, for the children with albinism, sunhats, sun screen, and sunglasses.
After all the busyness, we were able to take a little time out at Vwasa Marsh Wildlife Reserve, and even had time to enjoy Lake Malawi. Our team members were’t entirely off duty as they took some great pics, which we used in our 2020 fund-raising calendar.
Some photo stories
1. This happy lady was able to read again for the first time in ages with her newly-prescribed glasses. 2. Here are Evance Gama and Lesley Matimba at Ekwendeni Hospital with the newly installed equipment (combi unit with slit-lamp) replacing that which was damaged in transit a couple of years ago. 3. Here’s a very happy customer at Embangweni following reglazing of glasses with new lenses, using the just-installed lens-cutting machine (see our video for the full story). 4. This lady at Livingstonia was extremely short-sighted, to the point that she could not see clearly beyond 10cm. We found the right glasses for her and asked her to check in a mirror whether she liked them. Quite stunned, she declared that she had never seen a reflection of herself before!
Student News
At Embangweni, Misheck and Phinious have now returned to college in Lilongwe to continue their three-year optometry technician course. Mirriam, the third clinician at Embangweni, has now started her 18-month course for clinical officer in ophthalmology.
At Ekwendeni, Lesley completed his general medicine clinical officer course at Easter 2019 and is working back at the hospital. He will go for specialist ophthalmology training later this year, along with another clinician, Nicholas, whom the hospital management recommended.
Some of the students whose clinical training we are sponsoring: (l-r) Misheck, Lesley, Phinious, and Mirriam.
At Livingstonia, after the untimely death of Mr Mkandawire (the clinician working there), no eye clinics have been operating. We ran some emergency clinics at the management’s request – seeing nearly 200 patients in three days. We also discussed the possibility of finding staff who would be willing (and able) to go for training, whom we could sponsor. In the meantime, sadly, there will be no eye clinics running.
Patients waiting at 7am for the clinic to open at Livingstonia.
Watch our video
Take a look at our first 'screencast', it includes video news from our 2019 visit and messages from some of the students.
UK news
Friends around the UK continue to make the work of Focus on Malawi possible! The regular giving from individuals and churches is so much appreciated, not least as it helps with budgeting. It also means that we can commit to sponsoring the clinical students without the danger of letting them down before completion of their training period (up to three years). If you’d like to commit to giving regularly (even a fiver a month!), do get in contact or visit our Donating to the Trust page at The Raven Trust website.
Goggle Works parties continue in Colchester, where we share news, sort and measure glasses and repair equipment destined for the clinics. Our intention is help our partners achieve self-sustaining eye-care services, and with the installation of lens-cutting machines at two hospitals, the need to provide second-hand glasses from the UK will lessen. Current sources of old glasses donations are welcome, but we are not looking for additional ones.
The 2020 Focus on Malawi Calendar has proved so popular that we have only a handful of the 200 printed left! It has both raised some funds and increased awareness of Focus on Malawi. It’s also shown off the beauty of "the warm heart of Africa".
We had the pleasure of visiting more supporters in Scotland in November 2019, and are grateful for the opportunities to speak at Dunoon Baptist Church, to the Guild at Killermont Parish Church (Glasgow), and to friends in the Strachur area.
Looking ahead
Our work to help develop sustainable eye care is focused on these aims:
- to continue with training and mentoring of clinical staff at partner mission hospitals
- helping partners to maintain existing services and to consider developing new ones (eg cataract surgery)
- supplying equipment to mission and nearby government hospitals in response to agreed needs
- encouraging communication and co-operation amongst these hospitals
- helping to develop screening programmes in schools and communities around the mission hospitals
- helping to find affordable and reliable supplies of basic eye-care medicines/drugs
- giving time to support special needs schools
- to support all our partners in ways that will ultimately remove their dependency on materials and funds from the UK.
2020 priorites
Working with our partners in Malawi has been transformed by Internet technology. Reliable and instant messaging with hospital management, staff and the training colleges makes good communication so much easier. And new online services for international money transfers have made the task of paying fees cheaper and more straightforward. That said, there is a continuing need to meet face-to-face with our partners to help keep the project moving forward.
Priorities this year will be the usual monitoring of progress and needs, and encouraging staff and students. The big nut we’d love to crack soon is helping to find a — so far elusive — affordable and reliable drug supply. At the same time, we are aware of how important it is to find eye problems in the population before they become acute, so we are eager to set up a pilot screening project this year, at one of the schools or through the mission hospitals’ local primary care services.
We hope to be able to help establish a pilot eyesight screening programme in one of the local communities.
Also on the agenda is a proposal to help organise and host a clinical conference in northern Malawi. The aim is to encourage communication amongst eye-care practitioners and managers, and to raise awareness of the facilities now available at the mission hospitals.
Your prayers please, as we consider here what’s possible, and for our friends in Malawi who strive to serve their communities in difficult circumstances.
We are so thankful to all you supporters — and to God for his encouragement and provision.
If anything in this letter strikes a chord with you, and you’d like to talk with us about it, or you feel you could help with — do please get in contact!
Sue Kevan, on behalf of the trustees.
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