Kathy Bowler October 2020 Update
Children of Blessing Trust (COBT) has been operating essential services only (Epilepsy Clinics, Nutrition Program, Access to Medical Care, Provision of Food Support) for the past several months due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In September, as the number of COVID-19 patients in Malawi decreased the Government of Malawi began to slowly reopen the schools. First the students in Standard 8, Form 4 and final year of university returned to school. As the numbers of COVID-19 patients in the country remained low the students in the 3 years below were also allowed to return to school. Finally, children in the final grades were allowed to return to school.
As a result, COBT is also slowly reopening our services as well. COBT has reopened the services at the main centres in Area 25B and 2 of our 11 Outreach Clinics. We are following the Ministry of Health and Education guidelines to ensure the safety of both our staff members and the children.
Since the schools reopened COBT has helped 21 students go back to the Mua School for the Deaf, 4 students in September for Standard 8 and 17 in October for the younger grades. 6 students went off to Boarding Secondary Schools, and 76 children went to Private Primary Schools all over Lilongwe. This does not include the many other students who go to Government Primary Schools.
Kondwani, pictured to the left finished Standard 8 at Mua School for the Deaf last year and has now started Boarding Secondary School for Form 1. She is one of 5 Secondary School students who have graduated from Mua School for the Deaf. 4 more students are in Standard 8 this year at Mua following in their footsteps.
Please pray with us for wisdom and protection as we reopen the much-needed services of Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Preschool and Special Education. Please pray too for the children with disabilities returning to school, some to boarding schools and others to schools in their communities, as they try now to finally finish the 2019/2020 school year.