Williams is a member of Edgewood Presbyterian Church where this year, as last, money is being raised to support a group Williams' fellow volunteers helped establish and fund. Malawi Children's Village (www.malawichildrensvillage.com) was founded in 1996. A clinical and public officer named Chakunje Sibale runs it, and co-founded the mission with American physician Dr. Kevin Denny. Denny served with Williams in the Peace Corps. "I have never gone back there but some in my group have had several reunions. When they went (in the mid-1990s) they discovered AIDS sweeping the adult population, leaving orphans," Williams said. His friends spread the word they wanted to do something. "I was very pessimistic and I didn't see how we could make a dent in it. But some of the more optimistic ones could see down the road." The Malawi Children's Village, based in Mangochi, oversees 37 villages and about 3,200 children. The MCV is supported by churches, civic groups such as Rotary International and individuals. In addition to a clinic which rehabilitates AIDS orphan babies, it operates a secondary school and vocational training program. In fact, Williams' career was vocational training for the state of Georgia. After he finished his Peace Corps stint, he went to graduate school and served in the U.S. Navy.
RPCV Walter Williams works with Malawi Children's Village
Locals help Malawian children
BY ALLISON KENNEDY - akennedy@ledger-enquirer.com --
Special to the Ledger-Enquirer
The Malawi Children's Village was founded to help the country's many orphans.
The same year Malawi received its independence from the British Commonwealth, Walter Williams -- fresh out of college at Auburn University -- landed there to help the Peace Corps fight a tuberculosis crisis.
That was 1964. Williams spent two years in the southeastern African country working on a public health project that helped people get TB treatment and education. In best-case scenarios, he said, workers caught the disease before patients wound up in hospitals -- which in some cases "averaged three patients per bed," and family members cooked for them at bedsides, Williams said.
Forty-three years later, he and some of his Peace Corps colleagues are still helping the diseased-ravaged country they once served, albeit from a distance. The disease's name they treated also has changed. Today it's HIV/AIDS and it has infected 850,000 adults and children and left 470,000 people orphaned. Malawi has a population of 12 million people, although the numbers are constantly shifting because of AIDS and other Malawian crises such as malnutrition.
Williams is a member of Edgewood Presbyterian Church where this year, as last, money is being raised to support a group Williams' fellow volunteers helped establish and fund. Malawi Children's Village (www.malawichildrensvillage.com) was founded in 1996. A clinical and public officer named Chakunje Sibale runs it, and co-founded the mission with American physician Dr. Kevin Denny. Denny served with Williams in the Peace Corps.
"I have never gone back there but some in my group have had several reunions. When they went (in the mid-1990s) they discovered AIDS sweeping the adult population, leaving orphans," Williams said. His friends spread the word they wanted to do something. "I was very pessimistic and I didn't see how we could make a dent in it. But some of the more optimistic ones could see down the road."
The Malawi Children's Village, based in Mangochi, oversees 37 villages and about 3,200 children. The MCV is supported by churches, civic groups such as Rotary International and individuals. In addition to a clinic which rehabilitates AIDS orphan babies, it operates a secondary school and vocational training program. In fact, Williams' career was vocational training for the state of Georgia. After he finished his Peace Corps stint, he went to graduate school and served in the U.S. Navy.
Like many members at Edgewood, Williams participates in a weekly home gathering called a Transitions Life Group. The group that he and his wife, Shirley, are part of adopted the MCV for the first time last Christmas. They are doing it again this year. Donations are accepted year-round, but they are emphasizing the work especially at the holidays through the church and community. Once a pessimist about the whole prospect, Williams has had a change of heart.
"It's really helped. Some kids have gone on and become school teachers and one was elected to the Malawi government," he said.
For more information about the Malawi project, see www.malawichildrensvillage.com or contact Edgewood Presbyterian Church at 706-561-5137. The church is able to send one check to the MCV after multiple donations. With little overhead, 98 percent of the funds go to direct aid, Williams said. For instance, $50 will supply anti-malaria medicine for 100 orphans and $30 will support one orphan for a year.
