SUCH A LOT HAS HAPPENED IN 2 YEARS...

The picture of the foundation stone, which features on the back cover of this book, is evidence of the new hospital maternity wing that is currently being built. The Hunter/Clinton Foundation is financing the project with the help of the Scottish people through STV and £100,000 of MUMs Recipes money. The building of this new high risk wing, which is situated beside the general hospital, a few miles from Bwaila, has the advantage of sharing facilities and expertise between both units and giving great hope and faith to doctors, midwives and patients.

Meanwhile back in Bwaila Hospital, an Irish charity, The Rose Project - Aids in Africa, whose motto is living and dying with dignity, is rebuilding the existing hospital. This will eventually deal with half the number of low risk women; the high risk ones will be treated in the new wing. Bwaila will be run by midwives and clinical officers. Using the £15,000 raised from the Music for MUMs concert in April 2007 and the proceeds from this book, MUMs Recipes - in partnership with the Rose Project - intends to make a long term commitment to Bwaila in the following ways:

by sponsoring an experienced midwife to work alongside midwives in the clinical area in Bwaila.
by contributing to the building of a Wellness Centre. In the words of the Rose Project's executive summary, "Building a Wellness Centre in Malawi will address one of the core issues in the continuing decline in health care services. By providing a caring environment for over-burdened nurses and other health care workers, more will choose to remain in Malawi and to continue working in the health care centre... The Wellness Centre Programme aims to provide a holistic compliment of services for all health workers and their immediate families. Services include testing, counselling and treatment of HIV and TB; stress management; training opportunities; post exposure prophylaxis and a resource knowledge centre for continuous professional development."
by contributing towards provision of a Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (Aids) Programme in Bwaila Hospital.

Working on MUMs Recipes has given me unimagined satisfaction over the past few years. It has been a delight to share my favourite recipes and to receive such positive feedback. The minute book one was finished, I began to gather recipes, both old and new, for a second book. I hope you enjoy reading and cooking these recipes as much as I enjoyed compiling them. But a deeper satisfaction comes from knowing how the proceeds from MUMs Recipes is used. Many people reached into their pockets, or sold the first book on our behalf, because they were assured that all money raised from MUMs Recipes would go to a specific project. You have my assurance that this is still the case with MUMs Recipes Two and that the money you have spent will make a difference to the lives of many in Malawi.