- Celina Hananiya, 13, who aspires to become a nurse one day, wakes up very early in the morning with her eight other female schoolmates. Together they begin to walk nearly three kilometers from the Malingunde Full Primary School to the Malingunde Dam in Lilongwe to get a bath. They join their 11 male counterparts on the way. It is not that they enjoy the experience of walking such a long distance, especially at dawn. It’s just that nobody – whoever is responsible – seems to care much about the overwhelming need for providing the school with some water so that these children can begin to take a bath right from their hostels. As if that is not enough, when they return…

- Her name is Alefa, a vernacular for the Greek “Alpha” meaning “first”, as she is the first-born in a family of four children. Hailing from Nambamba Village, Traditional Authority Chakhadza, in Kasungu, she first saw the God’s gift of light when she was born 17 years ago at Madisi. Being the first born, the Tiopenji family were all smiles to receive for the first time this bubbling little precious endowment. Sadly, little did Alefa Tiopenji know that in her fifth year of her tender age, she would be struck with a disease that would leave her blind the rest of her life. A misfortune that would result in not seeing light ever again. A tragedy, as some might ca…

- One morning, a group of school children arrived at Tereza Chatsililizika’s home in Mchinji, having run all the way from school. “Come quick!” they screamed, pulling her by the arm. When the mother arrived at the school, her daughter Aida, 14, was lying on the floor. She had fallen outside her classroom when her legs had become suddenly and unexpectedly too weak to stand. Her hands were also affected. No one knows what is wrong with her body even today. Aida might never stand again. A year later, Tereza’s younger daughter Eneless was struck by the same mysterious condition as her sister. The family noticed that she was walking as if she were drunk. She kept…