Projects - Health - Guardians Shelter

Guardians are family members who accompany patients admitted to Dedza Distrct Hospital to cook their food and wash their clothes. The Guardians Shelter is a basic hostel next to the hospital where these relatives stay.

Guardians celebrate improvements 2006 Broken washing facilities 2010

When we first visited Dedza in 2005, the Shelter was very rundown. There were no facilities for washing clothes or cooking utensils or for personal hygiene. Water had to be brought in buckets from a standpipe in the hospital grounds. Toilets were inadequate and there was a danger of infections being carried into the hospital. Cooking was done on open fires, even in the rain.

We raised money from donations and fundraising which the Dedza District Council used to provide toilets, water supply to a standpipe, showers and concrete sinks for washing clothes, covered cooking area for use when it is raining, electric lights inside and outside the buildings and repainting the sleeping rooms.

These initial works are beginning to deteriorate. Further work is now being carried out to build a permanent block of four toilets and four showers that will drain into a proper cesspit system. Funds for this have come from local fundraising activities and a donation from the ARCAID Trust. The next stage will be the enlargement and improvement of the covered cooking area and repair of the clothes washing facilities. We are hoping to receive further donations for this.