The Open Arms Infant Home in Blantyre, Malawi was established in 1995 by Margaret East and Davona Church as a response to the rising number of maternal deaths and the resulting increase in newborn orphans in Malawi.

It cares for 40 infants from birth to two years old, with the intention that when the children are two they will return to their villages where, if their parents are not alive, they will be cared for by their extended families.

The problems in Malawi is now so great that some relatives, especially grandparents, will be already caring for anything up to 12 to 14 children. Some families are at bursting point and one more child is one often considered too many, organisers say.

Some can go to other orphanages but these too have limited spaces and, occasionally, a child is adopted.

Obvious choice

There was therefore an obvious need for a new infants' home and the idea to get the ball rolling was originally mooted in October 2002 at a meeting of the Open Arms committee.

This resulted in Neville and Rosemarie Bevis, who gave up their careers as teachers to run Open Arms, taking the decision to build the new unit to care for two to five-year-old children.

Follwoing an appeal by the Harrogate Advertiser, readers helped raise £25,000 in 25 weeks.

The money helped build:

• Three dormitories with four children in each
• House Mother's accommodation, which includes enough space for up to two of her own children
• Nursery day room and veranda
• Two bathrooms
• Laundry
• Kitchen
• Storeroom
• A nursery school

Started in 2003, the Harrogate Advertiser launched an appeal to raise the £25,000 needed to get the project running. And you were quick to help the appeal, giving as much as you could spare, from pounds to thousands.

Donations

Harrogate computer company CODA handed over its £2,000 donation to the original Open Your Arms For Malawi Appeal, while Mark Young, who was actually born in Blantyre and lived in Malawi until he was five, raised more than £800 at a charity concert which featured Ripon bands Toyshelf and Harken.

Two new classrooms were paid for by Ashville College, while in 2004 Harrogate company Primeast held 'Leading with Open Arms. The training and consulting practice on Ripon Road put together a team of some of the best speakers in the country to talk for Malawi, with money given directly to the appeal.

Harrogate House, as the new infants' house soon became known, was unveiled in February 2004, with former Advertiser chief reporter Michael Molcher flying in as a guest of honour to help open the house.
In 2005 Harrogate residents achieved another success in helping orphans in Malawi.

Rose's House

The Harrogate sponsors of the Rose Jeffries Memorial Fund and Nidderdale-based Cheridan Raithby Charitable Trust raised enough money for a new foster home in the poverty-stricken country.

The new £15,000 home, named Rose's House, was built alongside the Open Arms Infant Home and Harrogate House.

Later in the year, Soroptimist International of Harrogate and District raised more than £800 at a fundraising musical soiree and dinner at Ashville College.

This was followed up with a £4,150 donation to Open Arms by Soroptimist Christabel England who chose the project in Malawi as her charity of the year during her year in office.

The gifts continued last year with puppets knitted by readers of the Knaresborough Post sent to Malawi, while an exhibition of paintings by Tony Brummell Smith in support of Open Arms in Harrogate also had readers dipping into their pockets.

The charity is one close to Tony and his partner Elaine's hearts as Elaine is a trustee on the UK board of Open Arms.

2006 was marred with sadness for volunteers involved with the project. Heartfelt tributes from around the world were paid to Rosemarie Bevis, the wife of Neville and late Director of Open Arms, who lost her 2 year battle with ovarian cancer on September 12.

These are just a selection of the generous efforts of all our readers. Whether it was a coffee morning, a school non-uniform day or scaling the three highest peaks in Britain, people have put their full weight behind the appeal and made sure it has been such a success.

Your donations, of whatever size, have been very much appreciated by everyone involved with Open Arms and Harrogate House.

Without your help and kindness, none of this would have been possible.