A nun who hugged Mlambe hospital

Written by Martin Mlelemba,Catholic Journalist

The Blantyre based Catholic Church owned Mlambe hospital was once a house of pain. It was engulfed in shortage of trained medical personnel and lack of funds. Patients became largely displeased with the poor services offered. That was in 1980s.But today, the health facility, situated in Lunzu Township along the Zalewa Road is a source of unending joy to the sick bodies and broken bones. The hospital’s long climb from near-distraction to the restoration cliff did not just come from the blues but rather from the angelic hands and brave brains of a Catholic nun Sister Germana Munari. Read on as our reporter digs more about two nuns whom they travelled thousands of miles away from their country to save millions of Malawians .

The 76-year-old has been the medical director of Mlambe hospital since late 1980s after the Archdiocese of Blantyre asked for her services.Germana was born On November 16, 1938 in Correggio, a small village in north Italy. Her parents died while she was still young leaving her and two siblings to face life on their own. She says her calling into God’s ministry came when she was aged 16. “A strong voice was calling me and I knew that it was the time to go and serve the Lord,’’ Germana recalls.

Only heavens knew then that this call would save thousands of lives away from her land of birth. After meditating about the calling, she decided to join the Franciscan Auxiliaries Lay Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (FALMI), a Catholicism movement founded on the cores of charity. Germana attended vocational seminars in her area and was convinced she could succeed in her calling after being impressed by the commitment women of God had shown towards comforting the suffering.

“I was attracted by the work of FALMI sisters and their faith values, based on bringing the gift of the Gospel to all people and bringing joy on the faces of the needy via charitable works,” she narrates.After taking her final vows, her congregation sponsored her to study medicine, specialized in surgery and gynecology at the public university in Italy for five years.

Upon completing her studies in 1974, Germana was deployed to Malawi to work at Namwera health centre in Mangochi. Later, the Archdiocese of Blantyre asked Germana to head Mlambe hospital. She has since been the driving force behind the hospital which now serves 70 surrounding villages.

WHAT DOES SHE SAY IS BEHIND HER SUCCESS AT THE HOSPITAL

In addition to running the hospital Germana in collaboration with Sister Anna Tommasi, 70, have been empowering local villagers through self-support initiatives that give families food security.The sisters have built 65 nursery schools, almost one each of the 70 villages surrounding the hospital. In all of them they provide essential drugs, food for the needy and run outreach programs for people living with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.

Thokozani Banda, 8, and her three siblings who are orphans live in Kunthembwe village near Mlambe hospital have been some benefactors of Germana’s charity work. “We had no-one to depend on and we never thought we would go to school one day but the FALMI sisters built a nursery school in our village so my two young sisters and me are able to attend classes,” Thokozani says.“We face so many challenges: as a result of the AIDS pandemic there are lots of orphans everywhere, including Malawi,” Tommasi remarks.

With two medical doctors, 13 clinicians and 54 nurses, the hospital offers all aspects of medical care.

“We have been able to provide maximum general health services to thousands of Christian and non-Christians for over 50 years and we have also strengthened spiritual life among patients as we follow the path of our patron, Saint Francis of Assisi, who was well known for charitable works, including caring for the poor,” says Germana.

“Our patron also once said: ‘While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.’’ The hospital also extends its services to people in Mozambique.

As Malawi’s population increases, the hospital is facing many problems; it needs new hospital equipment, medicine and money not just to pay additional hospital staff but also to finish extending the patients’ shelters.Friends of Mlambe help the hospital to raise funds through activities like sponsored walks, dinner dances and musical shows—but much more money is needed. “With the support of Friends of Mlambe we have embarked on a project to develop an eye department that needs a huge injection of funds but we believe the Holy Spirit will be on our side, considering this good job we are doing here,” Germana says.

The sisters have also embarked on a project to help over 1,000 prisoners who are either ill or on HIV/AIDS treatment.
The sisters give them free medical care and food, as well as teaching the word of God to all prisoners in the Malawi government’s five prisons, Chichiri, Zomba, Mulanje Thyolo and Mikuyu. Germana support towards the orphans, the prisoners and the sick is more or less like a hug from an Angel. It’s beyond human belief, beyond human comprehension.