Sustainable Community

Education and Training, Local economy and employment, Infrastructure

When Lifeline Malawi first began in 1998, there were 93 doctors for a country of 11 million people. We started out with one doctor, #94, Dr. Chris Brooks. Since then, our team has grown to over 75 Malawian trained health care professionals, including 1 doctor, 3 clinical officers, 15 nurses, 5 pharmacy staff, 3 laboratory technicians plus several other health care staff. Our clinics may be helping the local community’s health issues, but we are also benefiting their local economy through employment opportunities.

Local medical employees, many of whom have received additional training from us, are choosing to stay in Malawi and work rather than taking their skills to another country. A one-time gift of $500.00 would provide the required professional development for one these health care staff.

Not only are we helping to educate and train Malawians, we are also building and providing a better infrastructure.

We have constructed many buildings within our clinic compounds, including the actual clinic buildings, maternity units and staff housing. To ensure we are being as environmentally responsible as possible and to prevent more deforestation we purchased a hydra-form brick building machine to assist in the construction process.

Historically, bricks that have been made in Malawi need to be burnt in a kiln using a massive amount of wood - leading to unwanted deforestation. Hydraform bricks are made from soil, sand and cement and require no burning. Soil is the main component which is in abundance.. In addition, we are able to make the bricks onsite , thus keeping our transport costs down.

We have trained locals on how to use the machine. Once various construction projects are completed, we will rent the machine to others to help with this environmentally safe option and provide the training required to operate the machine.

Along with constructing these environmentally friendly buildings, we also brought electricity to clinic sites . Now, our staff that live on site are enjoying the benefits.

We have built a water tower at the Ngodzi site and have a community bore hole for everyone to use.

We are building with them, and for them, a sustainable community.