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Research started in Phulanya!

Since November 9 a team of eight researchers started a research in the village Phulanya, Malawi. It is a very dedicated and well-educated team. Every day they go Phulanya to talk with the people at their homes. They visited all the surrounding schools and hospitals. It is amazing to see how welcoming the people in Phulanya are. We did not meet any resistance! The people are eagerly waiting for help and wants to do everything to prevent that we leave them. Sometimes this results in some inaccurate information during the interviews. But the research team is skilled enough to cross check the information they got. Slowly but surely all the challenges and strengths of the community are getting revealed.

These are some of the findings of the research team:

  • Most families are headed by a woman. The women see marriage as a way of getting help and food. Many husbands ran away from their wives, leaving them alone with the children.
  • The nearest hospital which is assigned by the government for the people of Phulanya is 22 kilometers away. They only treat children until five years in this hospital. Since they cannot afford transportation they go to a local uncertified doctor in the community. He has one type of injection for all diseases: a combination of antibiotics and painkillers. Many people, including some children, have died from this injection. They do not want to go to this doctor, but they say they don’t have a choice.
  • The children who are going to a nursery school in the village told the research team that they eat a mango for breakfast, a mango for lunch and a mango for dinner. It is mango season in Malawi, but we are wondering what will happen when the mango’s are finished. We fear that they won’t eat and won’t go to school anymore!