SANGWANI NGULUBE
Correspondent
A child who for years crawled to school through mud and scorching heat can now move with dignity after receiving a wheelchair from a newl-established charity Alinafe Global Outreach (AGO) in Kasungu District.
Pemphero Joshua received the wheelchair at Mdoni Trading Centre in Traditional Authority Mdunga on December 20, where the charity marked its debut with a Christmas outreach targeting the district’s most vulnerable people.
Pemphero’s mother said her son had struggled to attend classes due to severe mobility challenges, particularly during the rainy season. She explained that he moves from one place to another using his arms, making travel extremely difficult in both wet and hot weather. She said the wheelchair will now enable him to attend school more easily and with dignity.
Pemphero’s head teacher, Daniel Kabundule, commended the initiative, describing the learner as intelligent and hardworking. He said Pemphero finished last term in second position in his class.
Beyond the wheelchair donation, more than 120 elderly people received 25-kilogramme bags of maize each, while over 150 orphans were given school supplies, including exercise books and pens. The beneficiaries later shared a Christmas meal.
wheelchair I Sangwani Ngulube
Speaking at the event, Traditional Authority Mdunga welcomed the initiative and urged other leaders to support it, describing Alinafe Global Outreach as “our own baby”. He also encouraged individuals and organisations with the capacity to assist vulnerable people to do so.
According to Alinafe Global Outreach country programmes coordinator Janet Nkhalama, the initiative is inspired by the late Rex Tipoti Mbewe, a pastor remembered for supporting elderly people with foodstuffs and celebrating festive seasons with them.
She said Mbewe carried out his charity work with the support of his son, Emmanuel Mwandama, who is based in the United States of America.
