Grandparents playing a crucial role in family life.

Mrs F is a grandmother who is bringing up 4 grandchildren single handed as her daughter died during childbirth. 3 of the children have learning disabilities and one also has a physical disability. Mrs F is a very hard working and cheerful woman doing an excellent job in teaching the children to be as independent as possible. The children do go to school but in a class of up to 100 pupils, despite the efforts of the teachers they are at a big disadvantage. Mrs F has a small plot of land for growing maize and a few vegetables, the children help too, but it’s insufficient to feed the family, even in a good harvest year.

Water for the vegetable plot has to be carried from the pump about 10 minutes walk away and Mrs F and the children cannot carry much at a time. You can imagine how she worries about the future for her grandchildren as, despite her hard work, and having done nothing to cause global warming she sees life becoming more precarious as the effects of climate change increase. Volunteers from N4BW have supported the family by providing a ‘listening ear’ and by giving advice on how to help the children to develop their skills. Teachers at their school have received training in Disability Awareness from N4BW volunteers.

Your donations have enabled us to give small grants to fund trips to the hospital in Zomba for physiotherapy and epilepsy treatment, to replace the leaky roof and pay for school uniforms and a malaria net.