Tigawane Donates bags of Maize

Tigawane Project for Street Kids has donated bags of maize to the families of five children who are currently living under the supervision of the project.

Peter Kaitano (right) with one of the beneficiaries of the project

Since these kids were rescued from the streets, the project has been making sure that the kids are living a better life. The donation aims to assist not only the kids themselves but also their families.

Child Monitoring Officer, Peter Kaitano handed over the donation on behalf of the project.

What have you done?

They live in shabby places, eating what they find around but with dreams that one day they will sleep in a big mansion and eat good food. They don’t know who will come to their rescue and make their dreams come true as they feel isolated.

Should we let these children in the streets?

Living in the streets imposes a great danger to them. At times, they are raped, sodomized, forced to take drugs or cigarettes and are forced to carry heavy goods and many things that put their lives at risk. Little by little their behaviour too starts to change and they become a big threat to our society.

They ask anyone they meet “tithandizeni bwana” (help us boss) so that they can buy food to eat at home. Some of these kids are under age, with brothers and sisters, and living with a single parent.

They are in the street because of family problems like marriage separation, fights between parents which instill fear in their life.. It is ironic that although some of these children’s parents have small scale businesses, the begging on the streets constitutes an important source of income to their families due to pettiness of their parents’ businesses.

“Amasiki” is what they are called meaning Street kids. As the population of these kids in our cities continues to increase, it seems there are only few people or organizations that are seriously concerned about these kids.

These kids also want to have a better life like all the children like living in nice houses, going to a good school, wearing nice clothes, sleeping on a comfortable bed, eating nice meals, and the like.

Questions remain: What do we think when we see them in the streets? How could we feel if our own children were in the streets begging?

Christmas Message by Fr. Mario Pacifici

Christmas 2011

Today, 14 December, is my birthday

and I invite you to join me in thanking the Lord

for the simple and great gift of life,

with its joy and sorrows.

Day by day it is a renewed commitment

in order to answer the call to life

to always live with joy and generosity

for donating it in its fullness.

A journalist asked Mother Teresa of Calcutta:

“What should change in the Church?”

She answered: “You and me”.

The child Jesus is coming again

and with trust we have to ask ourselves

“What can I change in my life,

for the world and the Church to be better?”

“If you accept that

the face of your neighbour is not similar to yours,

accept also that their opinion are different from yours.”

From Malawi the wish that Christmas

will gift the sobriety,

the universal brotherhood

the solidly love

and prepare our refectories

to welcome Jesus with joy

and also who is near and far from us

fr. Mario

Our bags!!

Alleluya describe this year’s trip as successful

Alleluya Band has described this year’s trip to Italy-Spain as “successful”.

Spokesperson for the group, Adam Douglas said that this year’s trip was organized with the aim of raising funds to buy a house which will be used as a home of street kids by Tigawane Project.

Alleluya Band performing in Avezzano, Italy

“We were given big support as usual in all the places we performed in Italy including in Madrid, Spain where we went to attend 2011 World Youth Day celebrations,” says Adam.

Adam also disclosed that through the two shows they had in Madrid, they realised that people in Europe love our cultural dances and songs. “We can also describe these two shows we had in Madrid as best shows we had during Italy-Spain trip,” adds Douglas.

When asked how useful was the trip, Getrude Naluso said that it has helped them to know how to welcome people from other countries, how to stay together with their fellow youths from different continents and also it has strengthened their faith as Christians.

The group spent two days in France where they had a chance of visiting a place where it is said that Virgin Mary appeared to a 17th-century shepherd girl in the French Alps before proceeding to Madrid.

Alleluya Band group has since thanked the organizers of this year’s trip to Italy Orizzonte Malawi and all stakeholders in Italy for making all the shows possible and all the support they rendered during their visit to Italy. They also thanked the donors for the support they have been giving to Andiamo Youth Cooperative Trust and people of Balaka.

Alleluya Band had 38 shows and 2 shows in Italy and Spain respectively.

The group’s visits to Italy have seen different developmental activities coming to the district of Balaka such as hospitals, schools being built in rural areas, just to mention a few.

Tigawane Project for street kids is expected to be operating within Balaka district and other areas surrounding the District.

Tigawane Kids start new academic year

Tigawane Project has provided school bags, writing materials, and a pair of shoes to each beneficiary of the project. The hope is that these items will facilitate the kid’s learning process as they have started school on 5 ^th September this year 2011.

The training for Tigawane Project Peer Educators closes

A three-day training that Tigawane Project organized for its prospective peer educators ended on Friday afternoon.

Peer educators after the training

The 11 trainees (7 men and four women) received certificates of attendance which signify their knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon of street children, the rationale behind the establishment of the project, and their defined roles and responsibilities in the reformation of the children.

The selection of the successful candidates will be made in due course.

Tigawane in a three day training for peer educators

Tigawane project for street kids has organized a three day training for peer educators. The training is being facilitated by Valeria Giassi (Project Coordinator), Eugenio Njoloma (Deputy Coordinator), Patrick Bwanali and Atanazio Chibwana.

Topics to be covered include: The definition of street kids; Street kids, our shame; Institutions and street kids; and an outline of the duties of peer educators.

The training which is expected to end on Friday 26^th August 2011 has eleven participants.

Alleluya Band arrives in Spain

After performing a total of 32 shows in Italy with the aim to raise funds  for Tigawane project for street kids, the band finally arrived in Spain for the World Youth Day (WYD) to take place in Madrid.
The group is expected to perform in Madrid till 22 August. According to the special website for the event, The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to arrive at Barajas international airport on Thursday 18^th of August, 2011.

The Band will entertain people with Malawi’s traditional dances. After the event, Alleluya Band is also expected to stage four more shows in Italy before returning back to Malawi in September. 

for more information about the world youth day click the link below
http://madrid11.com/en/schedule/cultural-program

 

Alleluya Band crew 2011 Italy – Spain trip