What is now four housing structures in Chigamba started in 2003 as one small hut accommodating 20 children. The Little Field Home is an orphanage in Malawi, currently the haven for 67 boys and girls, plus the 14 teachers and staff. Shaibu Kaliati and the Orphanage Committee direct the nonprofit operation “Friends of Little Field Home.” Though I think it’s extremely calamitous that all of these children must live without their parents in an orphanage, from what I saw when I visited the orphanage’s site, http://littlefieldhome.org/LittleField%20HOme.html, their lives are improving. A donor can sponsor a child with a dollar a day for one year. The orphan will receive 3 meals per day, a backpack, shoes, a school uniform, and a blanket.

Even though education in Malawi is without cost, education may not always be easy to receive. At the Chigamba Village School, 5 teachers must instruct the 475 students. The school has one building, and most of the classes are outside. However, the village school doesn’t have an 8th grade, so those orphans must walk 12 kilometers, every day, to get to school. For the older children, high school isn’t free, and costs two hundred to six hundred dollars per year. If you asked a kid in America, most would probably say that they disliked school. But think about the kids at the Little Field Home who have to be taught outside, or have to travel miles to get an education. It makes me feel very fortunate to be able to take the bus in the morning, or even to have such a well-furnished school. I know that I have to get as much out of these years as possible.

I hope that by writing this that I can alert readers to these children’s needs. Hopefully I will be able to do something to help the Little Field Home. When I was looking at the pictures of each orphan, I noticed that a lot of them were around my age. What would life be like, living in such conditions? My goals are probably different than theirs, but everybody deserves to get a chance to fulfill their dreams. In the words of Maxwell Maltz: We find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve.


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