The new Kunyanja Clinic - A partnership of the Brook Clinic with Masambiro UK

20 years ago, Jason, one of Dr Dan’s oldest childhood friends, along with his wife Mandy, while on honeymoon in Malawi, had a chance encounter with three committed Malawians who wanted to change their community. A new charity, and partnership between North London and Northern Malawi was born. For 20 years Masambiro, the UK based charity which Mandy and Jason founded on their return, has worked with the Kunyanja Trust, founded in turn by the three Malawians. Based in the town of Nkahta Bay, they have worked to give high quality secondary education to children who were not getting that opportunity. Over that time many thousands of children have received an education, and in a country where too few get a chance to go on to university, over 100 have, very few of whom would have otherwise had that chance. The school has brought other benefits to the community; jobs, income generation through small businesses connected to the school, running water and electricity which were not available to the surrounding villages until the school got those connections to the grid, and a road. In 2019, the inspirational Headteacher of Kunyanja Secondary school, Sydney Simumba, one of the founding three, was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 35. To our shock we discovered that Malawi, a country of 20 million people had only one oncologist, and no radiotherapy. Sydney was diagnosed too late and passed away last year, a huge loss to his community. Sadly in a country where life expectancy is only just above 60 years of age, early deaths ae all too common. But local access to preventable health care can make a huge difference. In communities like Nkhata Bay, accessible treatment for malaria, basic infections, women’s health and maternity care and access to vaccinations and HIV care would save many lives and long term health complications. We are excited to announce our new partnership between Masambiro UK, the Brook Surgery and the Kunyanja Trust which will address this gap. Utilising an existing site next to Kunyanja Secondary School, and with your support, we will create a clinic to offer basic primary and preventative health care to the local community. Staffed by local Malawian medical professionals we will meet the aims above – reaching out to the many thousands across the community who struggle to access healthcare. Over time we hope staff from The Brook Surgery will be able to spend time at the Kunyanja Clinic, sharing skills with local staff and supporting community members themselves. We have learnt since building one small classroom 20 years ago that a small seed providing education can grow into something life changing. We are so grateful for all your support for the beginning of this new journey, which we know will in time be life saving. Thank you for your support