Walk A Mile in Harry’s Shoes

On the Saturday of 24th September this year, the Malawi Healthcare Care Support UK (MAHECAS UK) successfully organized a fundraising big walk in London, one of the organisation’s annual calendar events. However, this year’s Big Walk, dubbed “Walk a Mile in Harry’s Shoes” was extra special as it was held in memory of its longest serving Secretary, the late Mr Harry Mabaso who sadly passed away on 22nd July.

The event was well attended, with people from all walks of life and various parts of the United Kingdom, Malawian and non-Malawian, a testament of how many lives Harry had touched during his stellar life. Interestingly, among the huge crowd was a large contingent of his ex-colleagues, all of whom had very exciting stories to tell about late Harry. “Harry was my boss and he encouraged me to do my course and become a Chartered Surveyor. He also made sure that I had the necessary help throughout my course”, said Tom, an ex colleague of his. “I liked the way he laughed. He had this special laugh which only Harry could exude”, said another colleague.

The participants started off at Nelson’s Column at Trafalgar Square in Central London, passing though some historical areas, land marks and numerous tourist attractions such as Buckingham Palace, St James Park, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, The London Eye, The British Museum and The London Stock Exchange just to name but a few, covering a distance of 11 miles. Since Harry was a jovial gentleman, the participants ensured that his spirit lived on by being jovial throughout the walk. The walk ended with the participants congregating at the Sir Christopher Hatton Pub in Holborn where a mini celebration of Harry’s life took place.

Many people here gave heart rending testimonies, reminiscing on the times they had with Harry either as a friend, a colleague or a relative. The gathering went on until late in the evening. Please see images from the walk in the above slideshow.

MAHECAS UK, a UK registered charity, was formed over two decades ago by a group of Malawians resident in the UK with the aim of providing relief of sickness and preservation of good health amongst patients in hospitals, health clinics and other primary health care institutions throughout Malawi. Over the years, MAHECAS UK has managed to assist in cash and in kind to a variety of requests from Malawi’s health institutions. Since 1996, the organization has raised over £500,000 in cash, medical equipment and supplies for Malawi. Currently, the Charity has raised just under £30,000 which it has earmarked for the Cancer Unit in Malawi.

Some of the notable projects completed over the years include the building of the Mulanje Hospital guardian shelter in 2015, donation of a brand new dental surgery machine to the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre in 2013, donation of £3,012 towards a building in Likoma for counselling, education, and testing of HIV AIDS, a donation of £11,000 towards various renovations at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre.

As a continuation of it’s fund raising activities, MAHECAS UK will be holding a dinner dance on the 29th October in Peterborough at the Marriot Hotel and contributions are £45 per head and can be obtained from luhana.susan@gmail.com or call the number 07868260789. Donations can also be made through the MAHECAS UK website at https://www.mahecas.org/donation/

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