The Marine Ambulance, which will serve the people around northern Lake Malawi, came off the stocks and was launched on Saturday, 25th April. There to witness the event with John Watt of Macduff Shipyards were Young Soko of Livingstonia Primary Health Care and Lovemore Mkandawire, the engineer who will be responsible for the running of the boat when it reaches Malawi. The boat will be named and commissioned at a service to be held at Macduff on Saturday, 2nd May at 3pm and who all would like to attend will be welcome. The name chosen for the boat by the Synod of Livingstonia is “Good Hope”. Thanks to Ena Macnab and Eunice for the photographs.

 The commissioning service for the new ambulance boat will be held on Saturday, 2nd May at 3pm. All are welcome to attend. Lovemore Mkandawire, the engineer who will be looking after the boat when it reaches Malawi , and Young Soko will be at the service and Lovemore will be working on familiarising himself with the boat during its sea trials.

 The new male ward toilet and shower block at the David Gordon Memorial Hospital in Livingstonia, funded by Rotary, was completed with the tiling of the floor, painting and plumbing work. The water system is now working. Hot water will be provided by a direct solar heating system.

The bench saw at the Ekwendeni Lay Training Centre got a lew lease of life lately when new drive belts and blade, provided by Ian Dickson from Irvine, were fitted to it. The bench saw came originally from Dunoon and has given good service for over two years. Thanks to the new parts, it is now working like new.

During his recent visit to Malawi John Challis took the opportunity to hand over a cheque for £520 from Lochgoilhead Church to Mrs Soko of Livingstonia Primary Health Care. The money will be used to buy mosquito nets for those too poor to buy them for themselves but who do not fall under any of the government schemes.

Iain MacPhillimy, Trustee of the Raven Trust, loads the last box into the container which was packed at Strachur on Thursday 19th February.The box was one of 1134 sent off in this consignment and included 119 boxes of bedding and household supplies,
133 of hospital equipment and supplies,
266 of educational materials,
320 of used clothing and shoes
48 of toys and sports equipment
29 of tools
90 sewing and knitting machines and craft supplies
and 12 bicycles.

Within a few minutes the container set off on the first leg of its journey to Malawi

The commissioning service for the new ambulance boat will now be held on Saturday, 2nd May at 3pm. All are welcome to attend. Tourist accommodation in Macduff is limited, so if you would like to attend but would prefer to stay overnight, we suggest that you contact the Tourist Information Centre in Banff (tel. – 01261 812 419) to book accommodation.

Lovemore, the engineer who will be looking after the boat when it reaches Malawi and is put into service, will be arriving in Scotland near the end of April to attend the sea trials and familiarise himself with the vessel.

After the commissioning service, the boat will be loaded into a container during the week commencing 4th May to begin its journey to Lake Malawi.

It may seem strange that the Raven Trust sends quantities of blankets and woollen clothes to such a hot country as Malawi. However, many of the children we work with live in the mountainous region, high above sea level where it can get very cold, especially at night.

Because of the high rate of death among infants, babies are sometimes not particularly well looked after until they are considered “viable”. Not only do these clothes and blankets keep them warm, but also, the fact that the baby has been given a special gift can increase its chance of good care.

Donation of knitted and crocheted goods for children are always needed.

The Raven Trust is providing shipping facilities for Enable Scotland to send a large number of filled school bags for children with learning disabilities in their Malawian network. The bags have arrived at the Strachur store and will be loaded on to the next container which will packed before the end of February. For more information on this project, please visit the Enable Scotland website at www.enable.org.uk

Sister Esther Lupafya, Co-ordinator of Ekwendeni Hospital Primary Health Care HIV/AIDs Programme, visited the Raven Trust office in Strachur last autumn. Read all about her work and plans in our Newslink Extra. Click on ” Newslink bulletin” at the right of the page and then on Newslink Extra.

Macduff Shipyards are nearing completion of the aluminium clinic boat/lake ambulance designed to serve remote communities on the north-western shore of Lake Malawi (see previous posts). The hull is nearly completed, and has a coat of primer paint for protection. A three-cylinder, air-cooled Lister engine has been installed and the next stage is fitting out of electrics, controls, sterngear and seating. Still needed to acquire are safety and deck equipment and a marine radio. The provisional plan is to have a ‘yard launch’ at Macduff at the end of April followed by sea-trials, then a commissioning ceremony in Macduff on 2nd May 2009. The following week, the boat will be shoe-horned into a 40-ft container at Macduff for its trip to the lakeshore in Malawi.

Press reports early in the New Year informed us that Ekwendenihad been hit by a cyclone and hail storm. Reports now received from the General Secretary of the CCAP (Church of Central Africa Presbyterian) in Mzuzu show that the damage is quite extensive. The maize store and Primary School lost their roofs, some Promary School staff house were demolished and there is damage to other buildings on the mission station. The Church of Scotland has provided some immediate funding and other funds have been made available to allow reconstruction to begin. Other houses, outwith the mission station, were extensively damaged and the recently sown maize crops have been devastated.

Ekwendeni Hospital, the Primary Health Care department and the General Secretary’s department have many items of clothing, soap, etc, sent out in various containers. These will, no doubt, be distributed where appropriate.

The new male ward toilet and shower block at the David Gordon Memorial Hospital in Livingstonia, funded by Rotary, is almost complete. John returned to the UK just before Christmas having supervised the building of the new block, with only the tiling of the floor, painting and some plumbing work still to finish. Hot water will be provided by a direct solar heatig system. A health and hygiene education programme in the local language will also be provided

One of the ways to increase food production in Malawi is to use a plough. While a few have been seen working the fields, they are still a very rare sight. We have funds for a bullock to pull a plough and a cart and are looking for a single ridger. but we have not seen any for sale. These are used before planting maize.

HIV/AIDs is a major issue in Malawi and Mrs Soko of the Primary Health Care (PHC) Department at Livingstonia Hospital is in the forefront of the battle. Every day she see the effects of HIV/AIDs as she provides practical care for families and, particularly, orphaned children. Here she is teaching a ‘Gogo’ (old person) how to make up baby milk for babies that have recently come into her care. PHC wil then give ongoing and appropriate support to this family using donated clothing, goods and financial support.