MALAWI: Pontifical Mission Societies Rescues Mua School for the Deaf
Stella Zulu
The Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) Malawi through the diocesan office of Dedza has rescued children learning at Mua School for the Deaf in the diocese with various interventions which have improved the learning and living conditions of the children at the school.
Despite the crucial work of providing free holistic education and taking care of boys and girls with hearing impairments in the entire Central region of Malawi, the school faces a lot of challenges which make the children and those taking care of them feel abandoned and neglected by the government.
Speaking during the PMS supervision visit at the school on Tuesday, March 8, the second deputy head teacher for the school Mr. Happy Tchoka said the school struggles financially as the subsidy it receives from government is very little to meet the needs. This he said has seen workers staying months without being paid and also the welfare of the children being put at risk.
“Mua School for the Deaf has 198 pupils learning and staying at this campus. We do not receive any money from parents as primary education is free in Malawi, and so, we depend on financial grants from well-wishers. Because of that, we face a lot of challenges ranging from lack of teaching and learning materials, shortage of food stuff to feed the children and lack of boarding materials like mattresses as the school now has a lot of children beyond its capacity, said Tchoka.
After visiting the school, PMS noticed the numerous challenges and decided to source funds to help the school address some of its challenges.
The school Matron, Sr. Paulina Mpingo of Sisters of Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary convent, who are taking care of the children at the school said with funding from Missio (PMS) UK the school is implementing a renovation project in phases – the first phase involved renovation of girl’s hostels, construction of toilets, purchasing of various goods like refrigerators for the school and the Sisters convent among others
The second phase mainly involves purchasing of food items for the children as the school faces food shortage.
“ We bought various food stuff like maize, beans, rice, groundnuts, flour, sugar, salt, cooking oil, chicken, beef(a whole cow) and many others, these have helped us to provide proper meals to the children which was not the case before PMS helped us. We have a farm where we grow crops for the school but because we lack enough resources to be used, the harvests do not last long,” said Sr. Mpingo.
While appreciating the help received from PMS, the Matron called on well-wishers within and outside Malawi to help the school on a number of needs. These include the need for a security face around the school to prevent children from going out of the school, maintenance of classrooms and offices that are in dilapidated state, needs for transport to be used to carry children to the hospital when they are sick
Member of Parliament for Dedza West, Mr. Patrick Bandawe who was present at the supervision visit said there was a misunderstanding of the school as it was deemed to be a Catholic institution controlled and taken care of by the Church. But having understood that the Church established the school to help take care of the underprivileged and the poor in the country, he pledged full support to the school.
Mua School for the Deaf is a primary school for children with hearing impairment in the Diocese of Dedza, established in 1984 by the Brothers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (FIC).
