About Us
African Mothers’ Health Initiative (AMHI) is a Texas based non-profit founded in 2008 to improve maternal and child health in Malawi by advocacy, fundraising, and providing capacity building support to our sister non-profit in Malawi. Chimwemwe mu’bereki (Joyful Motherhood) is our Malawian sister organization founded in 2008 to support women and babies in Malawi.
Our History
Joanne Jorissen Chiwaula moved to Malawi in March of 2005 to volunteer as a midwife in the public hospital. She learned that healthy babies who lost their mothers moments after birth, too often followed their mothers in death within weeks. She also learned that when a mother is ill, her young children experience greater risk of illness and death. When her stories of the women, their babies, and Bwaila hospital reached friends, family, and strangers back home, a stream of emotional and financial support began flowing. Joanne used the money donated to buy formula for the surviving infants of women who died during childbirth and to support women who were critically ill after delivery. As the number of women and babies in need increased Joanne founded African Mothers Health Initiative and Chimwemwe mu’bereki to carry out the work.
