Launched in September 2017, the Abel Program is an outreach initiative aimed at improving the quality of life of children with special needs in the Livingstonia community of Northern Malawi. Children with limited mobility often have no way of attending school, and there is generally no support for those with intellectual disabilities. 

The truth is that these children are very vulnerable. Confined to their homes, they often lack interaction with peers or other stimuli to motivate them. Their parents need to work their fields and are not always able to take them along, so some of them are left alone and immobile for the whole day, sometimes longer, rain or shine. There are heartbreaking cases in our community of young girls with intellectual disabilities being taken advantage of, sometimes raped by members of their own family, and ending up with babies that they are not able to care for. The need for refuge and support for children like this is imperative.  

So six ladies from the community cover dozens of kilometres on foot to go to their homes and teach them - in pairs or groups wherever possible - read, paint, count, sing, exercise and play with them. And if the parents are away, they are called to care for them. They motivate them to go outside and become part of their community, encouraging them to dream and make plans for their futures. Not only do these ladies offer a place of support to the children in their homes, but they are there as mothers, as someone to trust and confide in.

The program is constantly growing. Started with 10 students last year, we are now nearing 40. Most recently we have expanded our program to Junju, about 40 km from Livingstonia, where two ladies now reach the disabled children of their own community, one with an uncommonly high prevalence of cerebral palsy.

We are still learning how to best support these children and have been relying on advice and support from people all over the world. Resources here are very limited, so this support has been invaluable.

The Abel Program is named for Abel Msiska, a young boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who, having his lessons at home, was effectively the school's first student a year before the program was developed for the rest of the community. Rest in peace, Abel.