Orphan Care Visit

I visited the orphan care centre last week. I wrote about it when I got back but didn’t post what I wrote because it was bitter and negative. The children were very pleased to see me and to receive the quilts and clothing that was donated to them. Maggie, the one I loved so much last year, was not present. She had traveled to another town to visit family. The others were all present. I was pleased to meet the new cook and to see the cook I hired last year.

I went to the centre with Azikiwe. The cooks and the kids spoke to us freely and told us many stories of Mabvuto’s poor behaviour. All said they fear him. The man has not paid the vegetable lady since I left
so she stopped supplying vegetables after November. The cooks have told me that Mabvuto occasionally gives them a small amount of money to buy vegetables but this is not done on a regular basis.

Four of the children had shoes which he bought. In December he indicated on the report that shoes had been bought for 4 of the 9 children even though I explicitly told him to buy shoes for all of them. The fourth pair was purchased the day before I arrived in Ntcheu.

There have been months when Mabvuto has held back some of the cooks’ salary without informing me. He says he has done this when they missed work. It seem he misunderstands the term “salary.”

He no longer provides them with rice or fish. He has continued to indicate these items on his reports to me. Reports stopped being sent in April. At that time he indicated there was about 100 000 kwacha in the account. Later in April he supposedly sent an email saying there was 77 000 kwacha in the account. I never received that email. Our operating budget is no more than 30 000 kwacha a month but is usually much less. I wonder, again, where did that extra money go? He has now delayed in providing us with an updated bank balance. He did pay 50000 kwacha the other day but has refused to tell me the purpose for this money. I have asked him to clarify if it is arepayment or if it is the remaining balance. Again, he will not respond.

I gave him the benefit of a few more weeks to show he is serious about redeeming himself. At our meeting I told him I had intended to go directly to the police but that Azikiwe had advised me to meet with him and discuss things. He seemed grateful and willing to make some steps to improve the situation but as of now, nothing has been done and he continues to play games with me. On Saturday when I go back, I am not meeting him. I will gather my documents and proceed to the police. This is a battle I am no longer willing to fight.

It amazes me that a person can be so heartless and soulless as this one. I will never understand his motives or his behaviour and I need to stop trying to undertand. It is eating me up inside.

Looking forward, there are many other otions for helping Malawians and I am exploring them, slowly and carefully.

Tags: itatu, itatu orphan care, jennifer douma, malawi, orphan care