Bridge night to raise funds for Malawi's Aids orphans

The people of Kilkenny and Carlow have been asked to dig deep to raise funds for the Aids orphans of Malawi as a group of volunteers prepares to make the trip to Africa.

Kilkenny woman Michelle Quinn, from Paulstown near the border with Carlow, will travel to the south-east African country with a group of volunteers in a bid to ease the plight of the children left to fend for themselves on the streets.

The group will hold a bridge night in the Springhill Hotel, Kilkenny, next Monday, September 3, to raise funds for St John of God in Mzuzu, Malawi, who run the Venture Malawi initiative.

The hotel has kindly given the fundraisers the use of their ballroom free of charge for the event and a raffle will be held on the night and the card winners will also be announced.

As well as an open section there will be a novice section so players who are just starting can play with players of their own standard and enjoy a social night out for a good cause.

Michelle is hoping with the help of the community she can start to build a bridge between her home and the stricken orphans of Malawi and help save lives.

So far she said the people and businesses of Kilkenny and Carlow have been extraordinarily generous in their response by donating prizes and money to the appeal and to turn everything into cash, cards have been printed and are for sale around the country.

The group will travel as part of the Umsuma Project, a food security programme where families are given loans to buy seeds and fertilizer to produce a crop to sell and repay the loan.

According to Venture Malawi the life expectancy in the country has dropped as low as 36.5 years, five years lower than it was 50 years ago, due to impoverishment.

The Malawi government estimates that more than 14 per cent of the population are HIV positive while unofficial estimates based on private hospital entries suggest 30 per cent HIV infection.

There are more than one million orphans in the country, a majority of these due to Aids deaths, and these children are left on the streets and risk being picked up and abused in a manner of ways.