Briton swaps high-flying career in Dubai to help 190 orphans in Malawi

Sarah Brook received life-saving treatment in the east African country and is now giving something back to orphaned children.

Dubai PR executive Sarah Brook is returning to Malawi to help orphans after receiving life-saving treatment in the country. Courtesy of Sarah Brook

DUBAI // A luxury apartment in one of the most desirable neighbourhoods in Dubai and a high-flying career in PR might seem like every expatriate’s dream. But Sarah Brook is swapping all of that to live in a mud hut in Malawi.

The 24-year-old Briton has been raising funds to help 190 orphans, more than half of whom are living with HIV, since visiting the east African country with a friend in 2012 after finishing her studies in the UK.

She is now preparing leave her Downtown apartment to return to the God’s Will Orphanage, in the village of Skinnerer, to support the staff and children.

“I was looking at many different places to go across Africa and in the UK there are many organised tours that you can go on,” Ms Brook said, “but you have to pay a lot of money to help and I am never entirely sure where the money is going.”

Ms Brook saw first hand the desperate state of health care in the country when she fell sick with a serious bowel complication after eating food prepared in the shanty town she was staying in.

She was taken to a local hospital, which was hugely overcrowded and woefully equipped compared with western standards. The hospital’s only doctor pushed through the crowd to treat Ms Brook immediately.

“I was told that I needed an emergency operation,” she said. “I was given the option of either operating there or waiting for a villager who had a car to drive me two hours to a private hospital, but risk me dying en route.”

The decision was made to treat Ms Brook there and then, a decision she said saved her life.

“After recovering I felt that I owed something to the country and to those people who pushed to see me, sadly because of the colour of my skin. I have no idea if anyone died as a result of the doctor sparing his time to see me.”

To give something back Ms Brook, who works for Total Communications, set up the non-profit organisation Sparkle Malawi to support the orphanage.

But keeping the project up and running is not cheap, and Ms Brook has so far had to find about US$60,000 (Dh220,400) for building work and supplies through donations and sponsorship by competing in marathons, 24-hour bike rides and charity auctions, and even her 21st birthday party.

“I asked guests to donate rather than buy presents. My family and friends have all done their part [through] organising events,” she said. “The project costs about $5,000 a year to run, which includes the cost of the security guard, food for the children, toys, supplies, six members of staff and general upkeep of the building.”

She is now appealing to Dubai companies, organisations and individuals to give generously.

“Sarah continues to fund the project by sending money on a regular basis to buy food, toys, bedding and medical supplies to help the children enjoy a better quality of life,” said Tony Lewis, chief executive and founder of Total Communications. “The story of how she set up the orphanage, and the devotion she shows to the children there, is inspiring.”

Ms Brook is hoping to set up a school to teach children at the orphanage aged eight to 14.

“This will also open up the option of sending teachers and schoolchildren out to teach and get involved. I would like to have somewhere for people to stay and employ a nurse who can visit weekly and ensure the children’s health is up to scratch.”

Having lived in Dubai for a year, Ms Brook is bracing herself for the culture shock that lies ahead during her next visit. “The contrast I am about to put myself through is going to be a challenge.

“I am going to live with my local friends in a mud hut, with no running water, no toilet and no bed. From wining and dining in hotels to going to a village where there is limited mobile phone use and you have to kill chickens to get some meat is going to be tough, but this is a life that people are living day in and day out.”

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