Blessings Hospital
Malawi Africa
Once they have seen it very few people ever forget the praying hands logo on the front of Blessings Hospital. The hands logo and the name tell a story of mission and focus. "We´ll name it Blessings Hospital," said Napoleon Dzombe that warm July day, as he and his American visitors walked around the property and dreamed of building a new hospital. "Blessings, because this will be a blessing from God and a blessing from America", he indicated, as they stood near M-1, the main north south highway, and gazed across the road at the approaches to the international airport, just north of the capital.
"It will be a perfect place for medical teams coming in to assist us," said Suzi Stephens, the medical advisor and a board member for the Malawi Project. "Medical people can land at the airport and come right across the road and into the hospital." She then directed her next statement directly to Napoleon. "But Napoleon, it must be a hospital of western standards, or doctors will not come." He knew exactly what she was referring to since he had visited hospitals in America, and knew what was needed in order to build and maintain a hospital by western standards. Digging deep into his own pockets, Napoleon Dzombe, a small but very determined business man, single-handedly committed the necessary funds to build and staff the hospital.
One year later, the first building was sufficiently completed in order to receive Medical Council approval to begin outpatient services. During that first year in spite of the most severe famine to strike the region in over 50 years, Blessings Hospital registered over 8,000 patients through her doors. During the next twelve months the patient count increased by an additional 12,000 patients.
Future plans include at least two more, and perhaps three, buildings to complete the complex.
The second building, currently under construction, will house x-ray, surgery, and patient wards. Once this building is complete, American medical personnel will be solicited to come for short-term work beside their Malawi medical partners in order to extend and enhance the value of the facility.
The third building, currently under renovation, will be a supply center from which Blessings Hospital will extend services into the outlying villages, as well as being a supply distributor to other hospitals throughout the region. These excess supplies will be given to the hospitals free and with no strings attached, as a part of the program of the Malawi Project, Inc., to not only equip Blessings Hospital as a state-of-the-art facility, but to have it help elevate the standard of care by nearby facilities. This can only be done by first outfitting them with the needed supplies in order for them to be able to grow and service their areas better.
Nearby will be Mtendere Village, a group of homes for children who have lost their parents. The houses of Mtendere will also be an intricate part of the medical outreach of Blessings Hospital and The Malawi Project Inc.
Blessings Hospital and the praying hands are truly becoming a "city set upon a hill that cannot be hid." Those working in and around the program are convinced it is a blessing sent from God.
