To welcome in the New Year, Leaders in Compassion in Lilongwe, Malawi, will host a community meal and celebration for the vulnerable and isolated.
Around 30 older friends, students, and people with disabilities will join us for food and to receive gifts. In this we hope to show our appreciation and love for them as well as ensure that they do not feel lonely or isolated in this Christmas season.
While everyone will receive a bag of rice, sugar, and laundry soap to take home, the students will also be given pens, pencils, and notepaper to help them in their schooling in January.
This gathering is about doing what we can. It’s about showing that we care. It’s about reinforcing the spirit of this time of year – community, family, sharing.
Our big plans for 2024 is to conduct more advocacy and outreach to the communities about compassion, sourcing mobility facilities for people with disabilities and introducing our program called ‘Back to School’ that will get much needed help to students. We’re also going to lobby our local Chiefs to support us in overcoming the segregation of our older friends and the labelling of them as witches.
We are on a long-road to a more compassionate future and we walk it together.
Godwell Nyanjagha is the convenor of Leaders in Compassion in Lilongwe, Malawi.