The First Lady was speaking in Mapanga, Blantyre at Good Samaritan Children’s Home on Friday when she visited the institution to follow up on one of the children sent there by the Ministry of Disability and Social Welfare through her initiative.

The boy, Francis Makwera now 12 years old was born with a disability that forced him to crawl for mobility.

MBC’s Reach Out and Touch covered his story and Francis was given a wheelchair and more significantly his story caught the First Lady’s attention which resulted into him being one of the kids at the Children’s Home. Now a year later since coming to the institution Francis is smiling and walking on his own.

“Following his story from Chileka, to see Francis walking today is truly a miracle and I can only thank God for Reach Out and Touch and Good Samaritan Children’s Home for the good job in making this possible,” said the First Lady.

Madame Gertrude Mutharika also appealed to parents with children with disabilities to not give up on their children but seek necessary assistance from institutions like Good Samaritan. She then called on Malawians to have a spirit of loving and uplifting each other especially children who are the future of the nation.

Director of Good Samaritan Children’s Home Thandiwe Chikufenji was overwhelmed and thanked the First Lady for visiting the Home which she said has motivated them to work even harder to help children achieve their goals regardless of their background.

Commenting on how the boy who is now in Standard 2 started walking, she said Francis has been a true testimony to them of answered prayer considering the state he was in when he came in.

“Firstly we prayed for him, then after his operation we were helping him with physiotherapy at Beit Cure. We did our best to love him and not make him feel any different and I am happy that the other kids did not neglect him but played with him even when he was crawling,” said Chikufenji.

Established in 2003, Good Samaritan Children’s Home currently has 121 children being assisted in their education and well-being. Over the years, the Home has helped a number of children graduate at the University of Malawi, some have studied Sign Language outside the country and others have been trained in multiple fields including engineering and other technical skills.  

Reach out and Touch recently received a certificate of recognition from Eye of the Child issued by the First Lady Madame Dr. Gertrude Mutharika for the role it is playing in promoting child protection in the country.

During the visit, Madame Mutharika also donated assorted food items to Good Samaritan including maize, rice, beans, soya pieces, cooking oil and kamba puffs.