Shine Relief Trust works in Malawi, the warm heart of Africa, to bring relief from abject poverty. We are dedicated to alleviate the extreme poverty of up to 1 million orphans and vulnerable children. We are based in the rural ward of Kuntumanje within the district of Zomba. It is here where our dream was birthed, to transform Kuntumanje through programmes of feeding, clothing and supporting the people so that they may experience a better life and the love of God. In 2011 we will be buying land which allows us to begin to establish our long term plan in the Kuntamanje community. On this land a Shine village will be built which can act as a place of refuge and hope for orphans and vulnerable children. Through the village we plan to start businesses, build housing, open a school and much more.
We currently work with 2 community groups in the villages of Nsondola and Chilambe. We provide a daily staple meal to around 310 young children and some older teenage orphans. Since we started the feeding programme in March 2010 we have seen a dramatic improvement in the children’s lives. The children who attend our feeding outreach are also clothed and given play resources to help their development. Our team visits these villages in Kuntumanje 3 days a week to oversee the feeding programme and provide assistance in caring for 5 child headed families in Nsondola. These families need extra help and food as they are completely without any relative support. Once our accommodation at Shine Village is established families such as these will be invited to come and join us. All our Malawian volunteers are treated with the same respect as we have for these children, they are trained and given financial support as necessary.
This year we have also begun to work with the secondary school in Nsondola, here we are branching out and actively supporting 10 teenage orphans. In the longer term we hope to provide further essential school fees, food, clothing and resources to these orphans, age is irrelevant. This support will always increase the chance of better employment opportunities for the children as they leave school.
The above activities would not be possible without the support that Shine Relief Trust UK offers. Shine Relief will therefore always seek to raise awareness at the plight faced by the vulnerable. We desire justice for the poor, via the spreading of God’s kingdom and of course funding for projects which have short and long term benefits at alleviating the poverty in Malawi.