Ilula-Friends-2012: Amani Orphanage and Mbigili Dispensary

2-3-2012

Fantastic day! Meg, Serena and I went to the Amani (not Armani) Orphanage. We originally made contact with them at their request when they wanted to know more about Plumpy’Nut. The orphanage gets several children per year who are abandoned or whose parents simply cannot supply their needs. Two such children appeared in the past week or two. The Amani staff was directed by someone to get a protein shake supplement to help with the child’s nutritional needs. Several problems. One, it was 80,000 Tsh. This is about $45 USD. Second, although not harmful by any means, it is an adult formulation with inadequate amounts of everything for a malnourished child. It would last a couple weeks, I guess, but for $60 USD, you could buy a full six-week course of Plumpy’Nut. It takes only that long to reverse the severe malnutrition, then a child goes on a regular balanced diet. I gave them a box to start treatment immediately. We took the most recent admission, Harriet, to the Mbigili Dispensary, so that Dr. Singo could weigh and measure her

The orphanage is amazing. It is supported by a German church, Lutheran, I think. They have fifty kids. They have a large garden, 8 acres of maize and some other veggies. They have pigs, cows, rabbits, chickens and goats. They collect the manure for biogas, raise some nuts for biodiesel and use some solar energy to heat water and some solar voltaic for electricity.

They have a web site, but it is in German. Google will translate it for you. Here is their site. http://www.mbigili.de .

I hope we can work with them.