From Glasgow to Malawi: Former Council Director tells the Story of 20 Years of Practical Help

A former Glasgow City Council director has published a memoir of the people and projects that linked Glasgow with Malawi for more than two decades.

East Kilbride resident Brian Kelly (81) launched Glaslawi: Glasgow to Malawi — A life in service, a journey in hope, at an event in Glasgow City Chambers on September 22, hosted by Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren.

Councillor McLaren said: “The relationship between Glasgow and Malawi has a long history and is built on friendship and solidarity. Brian’s memoir records some of that history and recognises the many council colleagues and others who volunteered their time and expertise over nearly two decades.”

Following his retirement from the council in 2003, Mr Kelly volunteered to lead the Lord Provost’s Malawi Fund which had been established by Councillor Liz Cameron that year. The programme was supported by successive Lord Provosts and in 2014 Lord Provost Sadie Docherty visited Malawi where she signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mayor of Lilongwe City Council. The programme ended when the Covid pandemic restrictions set in.

In his memoir Brian Kelly recounts how council staff and other volunteers worked with Malawian partners to support schools, hospitals and local services. The projects ranged from refurbishing and installing computers to sending refuse collection vehicles and wheelie bins to Lilongwe. Glasgow City Building volunteers also helped construct and equip prosthetics and orthotics clinics for the Scottish charity 500 miles which helps people with mobility issues by providing artificial limbs and other devices.

Speaking at the launch, Olivia Giles founder and executive director of 500 miles said: “Our work at 500 miles would not be nearly as successful if it had not been for Brian and the council volunteers. Brian was our fairy godfather who made our dream of a prosthetics and orthotics (P&O) clinic come true.”

As well as building two clinics for 500 miles in Malawi’s largest hospital, Kamuzu Central in Lilongwe, over the course of 16 visits Brian and his team of more than 30 volunteers built a clinic for HIV/AIDS patients at Chikwawa District Hospital and a public health clinic in part of Lilongwe’s old Town Hall.

They also delivered:
• 12,172 boxes containing medical supplies
• 6,568 items of medical equipment
• 3,480 desk top and 285 laptop computers

And they provided IT training to hundreds of medical personnel, teachers and technicians which resulted in IT training being made available to thousands of pupils and students across the country.

The memoir follows the work behind those achievements: Tuesday evenings spent preparing computers in Glasgow, containers packed for shipment, journeys across Malawi and the difficulties of getting equipment to the people waiting for it. Mr Kelly writes candidly about what succeeded, what went wrong and the volunteers and Malawian colleagues who made the work possible.

“I was ‘het’ for it,” Mr Kelly says in the book, explaining why he finally agreed to write down his recollections. And he suggests that any one considering volunteering abroad, might like to read his book. He said: “It may offer some insights you could find helpful”.

Brian Kelly began his career with Glasgow Corporation in 1964, later served as the city’s Director of Environmental Health for 18 years before retiring in 2003.

Glaslawi is available in paperback and as a Kindle edition via Amazon here.