While they may be orphans and other vulnerable children; while they may living in households headed by children, grandparents, or a sick or dying parent; while they may be amongst the poorest of the poor, living in the notorious Ndirande suburb of Blantyre; don’t tell them that. These three to five year olds at the Chifundo 1 Child Care Centre are able to just be kids for a few hours each day.
The Blantyre Synod Health and Development Commission runs 33 such places across southern Malawi.
Rev. Dr. John Vissers, moderator of the 138th General Assembly of the Canadian Presbyterian Church, toured two of these centres on Sept. 10, along with his wife Lynn Vissers, who is a school teacher in Montreal working with vulnerable children.
The centres provide food and health monitoring along with play and educational actitivities. The 18 Blantyre-based child care centres are funded through Presbyterian World Service and Development, the relief and development arm of the Presbyterian Church in Canada
