Smile Malawi Aims

The founding spirit of Smile Malawi is Elspeth Baecke, an engineer and teacher who now devotes much of her working life to making it happen. She hopes that by 2010 Smile Malawi will be running a happy and effective home for 60 street children which will be fully integrated with the local rural community of Ndokota. Through this and other initiatives the charity will also be helping transform the quality of life of this very poor area of about 1,000 people. Smile Malawi is also planning to open a drop-in Centre in Blantyre itself to offer food, emergency overnight accommodation and education for other street children.

Specific aims are:

• Open a drop-in Centre in Blantyre
• Provide a nursery school for the community of Ndokota
• Build additional homes to accommodate up to 60 children
• Assist the local primary school with resources
• Establish a Health Centre
• Develop farming on the 24 acre site to help sustain the Centre and benefit the village
• Establish vocational training and small-scale money schemes to provide work opportunities and enhance the quality of life and viability of the community
• Develop tourism in the area and elsewhere in the community

Building a better future for children in Malawi