The shelves of the medical clinic in Dzaleka refugee camp were empty even as the 48,000 people in the camp often suffer from malaria, cholera, typhoid, diabetes, TB and other serious health conditions. Even so, the clinic still sees an average of 600 patients a day.

Our top challenge is inadequate medications to care for the 80,000 refugees and Malawians depending on our services. -Dzaleka Medical Clinic

On the other side of the world, Health Partners International Canada (HPIC) reached out to IAFR asking if we had any need of free medical supplies that they collect from major pharmaceutical companies. All we needed to do was cover the related shipping costs and duty and figure out the logistics of getting the pharmaceuticals to the clinic in Dzaleka.

IAFR’s East Africa Regional Leader, Jacob Tornga, put together the international network needed to get the medicine from Canada to Dzaleka. He connected HPIC with IAFR Canada, and then connected them with There is Hope, our partner agency in Malawi. There Is Hope worked with the Malawian government and United Nations in Malawi.

Meanwhile, IAFR financial partners were quick to respond to this need. The medicine arrived in Dzaleka in May – enough to care for 12,000 people. The timing of it all was providential.

“The donation came at a time when we had run out of essential medicine and we did not know when the next supply was going to come. It was such a God-ordained act of kindness and provision.” -Chief Medical Officer, Dzaleka Clinic

Not only did the project help meet the healthcare needs of 12,000 people, it also strengthened the reputation of There Is Hope with the Malawian government and the United Nations as a high capacity Christian Nonprofit Organization.

The clinic is in need of more medicine today. So we’re doing it again. There is even a chance that the medicine will ship before Christmas.

Many thanks to our generous IAFR financial partners as we already have the funding to set this in motion!

Click here to learn more about our work in Dzaleka refugee camp.