Staff members at the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Malawi on June 2, 2023, went beyond their normal working schedules and disconnected themselves from computers for an entire day to engage in community service.
This occasion marked the annual celebration of CRS Community Day, which is observed on March 25th each year. The day accords CRS staff members an opportunity to reach out in service to the community in which it operates.
The day was set aside to interact with the community, build on existing relationships and create new ones.
In Malawi, the event took place at the Mlumbwira Community Based Child Care Centre (CBCC) in Lilongwe, Central Malawi.
And as part of the day’s activities, CRS Malawi members of staff dedicated their efforts to painting the CBCC, setting up playground facilities, preparing meals for the children, creating various teaching and learning materials on the CBCC’s interior wall, and interacting with members of the community.
Additionally, the CRS Malawi team donated a range of toys, groceries, and even a wheelchair for a deserving child at the center.
CRS Malawi Country Representative, Sekai Mudohni, led the activities for the day, expressing the goal of providing a much-needed facelift to the CBCC, which had been neglected and helping to improve its operations.
“The reason we came here, was that Mlumbwira CBCC is situated in the remotest part of Lilongwe and not many organizations think of visiting areas like this one, so we really wanted to do something unique y, facelift this center as one way of giving back to the deserving communities. You know we have painted the CBCC walls, prepared meals for the children, and set up playground facilities and we believe the gesture today will improve operations,” said Mudohni.
She added that the Community Day celebration accords all members of staff for CRS Malawi to come together, interact, and share ideas.
“This is very important because we work in different districts and we rarely meet together, so this is an opportunity to cement our working relationship among ourselves.”
In his remarks, Group Village Head Mlumbwira applauded CRS Malawi for taking the time to facelift the CBCC which he said will motivate parents and guardians to continue sending children to the Centre.
“I am very grateful and excited today because it is for the first time, we have an organization visiting us in this special way. We’re in the remotest part of Lilongwe and we’re neglected this is the reason am very happy because am sure the gesture by CRS Malawi will motivate lots of parents to send their under-five children to the center and in the end develop this area,” said GHV Mlumbwira.
Concurring with GHV Mlumbwira, Thokozani Kanyenda, the Head of Caregivers at Mlumbwira CBCC, commended CRS Malawi for their timely support, which significantly enhanced the CBCC’s appearance and functionality.
Mlumbwira CBCC has a total of 180 children from four surrounding villages.
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency alleviates suffering and assists people in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality.
CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.
