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 Friends of Mulanje Orphans ( FOMO ): FOMO was
established in 2000 to aid Orphans in Mulanje, a district
of Malawi, Africa. The seeds of the idea for the formation
of FOMO stemmed from the many harrowing stories relayed back
to Mary Woodworth from her friends and relatives still living
in her home village in Mulanje. During a visit early in 2000,
Mary and Keith were able to see and hear of the desperate
plight of many of the local Children.
Determined to make the idea of FOMO a reality, Mary contacted
relatives and friends who over the years had been helping
many orphaned children. From this small beginning FOMO became
a reality and aims to provide and enhance the health, education,
food security, meet the basic human needs and develop the
potential of all the needy and orphaned children of Mulanje.
The sad reality is that there are too many children in need
of help and too few local families that can afford to help.
Though there are many high profile agencies within Malawi
they seem unable to address the immediate, local, one to one
help, that FOMO is committed to provide.
From small beginnings FOMO has grown and now looks after
over 4500 through a network of 11 centres covering about 70
villages in Mulanje district of Malawi.
FOMO is seen as a success by the children, local committees
and officers, (DC, TA's, Police, heath workers, social services
etc), FOMO works by assisting and working with the communities
using the traditional values and structures that have served
the population in what can only be describes as better time.
FOMO in the UK is run by a small board of trustees whose
main work is to raise funds and awareness of the children's
situation. Additionally the FOMO UK is responsible for controlling
these funds, identifying and facilitating the needs of FOMO
Mulanje.
FOMO Mulanje's day to day activities are run by a small number
of employees, project officer, accountant, playschool teacher,
matron plus round 200 local volunteers, that help out with
the general day to day functions, cooking, sport, gardening
club, bees, chickens, choir etc. Each of the 11 centers has
a locally elected volunteer committee who are responsible
for the day to day running of their centre and they are also
responsible for identifying and assessing children in need.
The bridge between FOMO UK and FOMO Mulanje is mainly through
our founder Mary, who is in a special position in that she
understands Malawi, speaks the language, has a clear view
of the injustices and knows how to motivate the local population,
and generally is an inspiration and example to us all.
 With
an eye on the future FOMO, run 11 playschools, a driving school,
a computer school and a tailoring school/outlet. We, when
funds are available, sponsor further education for the volunteers
and children.
Together Helping Does Make a Difference
Malawi - Friends of Mulanje Orphans
(FOMO)
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