Family's eyes opened in Malawi

Goal is to return to poor African nation

A 26-day trip in Africa was an eye-opener for the Clarke family of Ajax.

The Clarkes spent three-and-a-half weeks in the impoverished African nation of Malawi, a country ravaged by HIV and AIDS.

The country has a population of 14 million, of which one million are children orphaned by the diseases.

Malawi is in southeast Africa, bordered by Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania.

The Clarkes -- Brian, Ardena, son Derek, 18, and daughter Jenna, 16 -- were there from Aug. 16 to Sept. 10.

"Missionary friends do a trip once a year. They were missionaries in Africa for 50 years," Mr. Clarke said.

The friends, Arn and Elsie Bowler, now live in Oshawa.

"I've known them for many, many years, and this opportunity came up," Mr. Clarke said.

"I did volunteer work with missionaries in Africa 30 years ago," said Mr. Clarke, adding the family members are now members of the Southside Worship Centre in Ajax.

The Bowlers' son, Stephen, and his wife Kathy have been in Malawi for 15 years, doing AIDS relief and helping orphans.

"This program feeds hundreds of orphans and abandoned children every day," Mr. Clarke said.

Malawi has a "very large percentage of orphans," Mr. Clarke said. "Grandmothers are looking after very young children because their parents are gone, having died from AIDS. It's extremely poor."

Her husband and children went out to visit villages, Ms. Clarke said.

"It blew our kids away," Ms. Clarke said. "Steve's wife has 200 clients, handicapped kids."

Some of the children have to walk 90 minutes just to get to the clinic. While there, Kathy Bowler will feed them.

"They have nothing else. She has a nutrition program and she weighs babies. If they've lost weight, she has some rice and she gives it to them," Ms. Clarke said.

Ms. Bowler also runs an orthopedic clinic, with doctors volunteering their time. "He (the doctor) sees the children one day a month. It's just amazing.

"The clinics are run by donations," Ms. Clarke said, adding a British girl is also there helping with education programs.

The children have been afflicted with cerebral malaria or meningitis, while others have cerebral palsy.

"People walk in from the villages. They don't have water and they live in mud huts. The kids would be forgotten if not for (Ms. Bowler). One dad walked five hours for medicine," Ms. Clarke said.

About 75 children come once a month for epilepsy medicine.

"It really was an eye-opener" for the children, Ms. Clarke said. "Seeing the level of kids having nothing.

"One of my husband's goals is to take us back. He said he'd like to do it again. It opened our eyes to the need," she said.

Knowing the Bowlers are there means "we know where the money is going and it's really used well. Hopefully, we'll go back one day. It's one of our goals," Ms. Clarke said.

The trip showed them "how much need there is and how much of a huge difference we are able to make," Mr. Clarke said.

The Bowlers run Children of the Blessed Trust, through Visionledd.

"In Malawi, if a child is born with a deformity, it's a plague on the family," Mr. Clarke said. "Children of Blessing changes the whole notion. The work they do is amazing, astounding."

One incident involved a boy who came in "walking like an older man with Parkinsons. He was having five seizures a night. He was living with seven people and keeping them awake," Ms. Clarke said.

Once the boy was given medicine, the seizures stopped, she said.

One man couldn't walk and, to get around, had to drag himself along the ground. He was given a wheelchair and now gets around on that.

In another case, a nine-year-old boy was being carried around by a 10-year-old friend. When asked why he carried around the boy, the older boy said they were best friends.

A wheelchair was found for the younger boy, she said.

"All the things here we take for granted are changing lives in a huge, huge ways."

Donations can be made through visionledd.com.