Goats are changing lives

Written by Krystle Praestiin, ADRA Malawi Intern

Emily with one of her goats

When Emily and her four children met ADRA Malawi’s WEP2 (Women Empowerment Project Phase 2) staff she had just left her abusive husband after a violent clash caused her to miscarriage.

At the time the now completed WEP2 project was implementing a goat bank program. Emily was identified by her community as a woman in need of help so she received one goat from ADRA. (Goats in Malawi are very valuable because they provide families with security and income as they continue to reproduce.)

Emily also became an active member of other programs that ADRA was introducing to her village including: joining a Village Savings and Loans (VSL) group, Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) class and an energy saving stoves making group.

Since her involvement Emily has reared several goats and currently has five. Emily plans to sell a few of her goats to help her put iron sheets on her newly built house- for which she sold 2 goats. Her involvement in the VSL group and her ability to sell goats has helped her provide her family with basic needs like: clothing, school fees, school stationary, hygiene products and food. 

Emily with her familiy outside her new home

Being part of the VSL group has also provided her with income to start a small business selling drinks which also contributes to her ability to take care of her family and aging mother. Emily hopes that as ADRA continues working in her village through its new project (Enhanced Livelihoods through Gender Empowerment) that she will be able to receive some business management training so she can develop a more viable business in the future.

Emily is a role model to her community. Through her hard work in rearing goats and actively participating in development activities she shows people the benefits that come from her involvement.

At home her family has confidence in her ability to care for them and they are proud of her achievements. They are also encouraged to work hard because they have learnt that hard work makes anything possible. Emily is no longer afraid and worried because she knows where to go to get money for help. Emily also looks at life differently because all that she has learnt has given her a hope for the future.

Emily & her goats

Learning to read, write and do basic sums for example, has increased her confidence and skill levels. Emily can now read basic sentences, keep records for her business and of her transactions in the VSL groups. Her involvement in Functional Adult Literacy Classes has taught her the value of education and she does all she can to encourage her children to continue in their studies because she wants them to have a chance at succeeding in life

Her education has also allowed her to become a trainer of trainers for other women interested in being involved in VSL groups, this will ensure that more women like her will be able to benefit from this program well after ADRA Malawi has left. It is our hope that stories like hers will become common place.

Celebrating Bicycle Ambulances

By Krystle Praestiin

Golden Village in Mulanje has a population of around 3000 people; they live between 15 to 20 kilometers from the nearest District Hospital and recently suffered the loss of three community members because they were unable to get them to the hospital in time. Imagine their excitement when an ADRA vehicle carrying two newly donated Bicycle Ambulances from ADRA Portugal, came to gift them with these potentially life-saving bicycles.

Women, men and children gathered around the Bicycle Ambulances as they were being assembled, excitement and wonder on their faces. The women’s exuberant singing filled the air as they sang songs thanking ADRA Portugal for providing funds to have these two Bicycle Ambulances donated to their village. It was an uplifting experience to be a part of. Each community member, with their broad smiles and joyful dancing now had hope that unnecessary deaths could be prevented with the extra time these Bicycle Ambulances would provide.

To express their gratitude a man with very good English wrote the following letter on behalf of the Golden Village Chief and community members, to thank ADRA Portugal for their donation.

Dear friends of Portugal,
On behalf of Golden Village Citizens I wish to thank all the friends of Portugal who have sent us these two bicycles and trolleys. We were suffering seriously and dying without reaching our nearby hospitals because we were lacking trolleys. So please send our sincere greetings to all friends of Portugal ADRA.
Sincerely Yours,
Chief of Golden Village of Mulanje District

The bicycles were handed over to a Bicycle Ambulance management and maintenance committee of 10 people. On the committee was the brother of a man who had recently died from measles because he was unable to get to the hospital in time. This brother is the Vice Chairman of the group and together with his fellow committee members is committed to maintain and manage these bicycles to the best of their abilities. The committee has already set up procedures for managing the Bicycle Ambulances, deciding to charge each community member a fee of 10 kwacha a month (less than $1 US), this money will then be used to make repairs to the bicycles. Log books of when and by whom the bicycle is used will be kept to ensure that the bicycle is used appropriately and is not damaged. The treasurer and another member of the committee will be in charge of keeping the Bicycle Ambulances while they are not being used.

Thanks to the donation of ADRA Portugal, ADRA Malawi was able to provide a very valuable resource to the people of Golden Village, a resource that will help save lives. The donations of ADRA Portugal will also see the provision of eight more Bicycle Ambulances to other villages under the Women Empowerment Project2 (WEP2) which is funded by Sida, through ADRA Sweden.

The Start of a New Decade

By Sangwani Mwafulirwa

With the support of ADRA Malawi under its Women Empowerment project, the women group of Village Headwoman Chilingulo in T/A Chikumbu in Mulanje conducted a double celebration. It was a celebration of Mother’s Day and International Rural Women’s Day which has coincided with the launch of the African Women’s Decade in Kenya. Led by T/A Chikumbu, the women outlined what they wanted to achieve in their area of environmental conservation, education, gender equality and women empowerment.

According to the Group Village Headwoman Chilingulo, some children have been facing challenges to attain secondary education let alone tertiary training because their parents or guardians were too poor to afford school fees and their upkeep.

She said this has contributed to early marriages amongst girls who find nothing to do after completion of primary school education which is free. As for boys, they go and work in tea plantations in an attempt to make ends meet.

To avert this, the village head said they have set up a special fund that will help all needy children who have been selected to government secondary school so that they do not fail to pursue their studies because of the two usual challenges; school fees, examination fees and uniform.

“Even those that will go to tertiary schools will be supported. We are very much interested in having nurses from our areas and we will make sure that by 2020 there are five nurses from this area working at the hospital,” she explained.

To achieve all this, each family will be contributing money or harvest, to be sold and the money will be administered by a committee. According to the village head, so far the households have already contributed a gallon of pigeon peas for selling.

The Chilungulo head has also taken a stern stance against early marriages by imposing a ban. Any parent who will consent to early marriage will be summoned to her court where if guilty, will be fined a goat and the child be sent back to school.

On women empowerment, they plan to engage in income generating activities whose proceeds will be saved in a village savings group.

“We want to have easy access to capital other than rely on micro-lending institutions whose conditions sometimes leave us poorer than before. We will borrow amongst ourselves at flexible conditions and low interest,” she explained during the launch.

To conserve the environment, the women will have already planted a nursery of natural tree seedlings which they will plant in uncultivated areas and also a village managed forest so that they get firewood easily.

The village head said women will also be encouraged to attend adult literacy classes so that by 2020 no one will need to use a thumb when voting or signing after receiving a subsidised fertiliser coupon.

Supporting her junior’s initiatives, T/A Chikumbu urged men in the area to support the women by providing them space to work and participate. She said she will see to it that some traditional practices that perpetuate gender inequality and hinder women participation in development work are abolished.

Under its WEP project, ADRA Malawi is working with women in the area to empower them to be economically independent through engaging them in income generating activities and by teaching them about their rights and how best to claim them.

It is through the training and support provided by ADRA Malawi in the WEP 2 project (Funded by ADRA Sweden), that women’s groups like this one have been able to mobilise themselves to initiate development initiatives within their own communities. It is inspiring to see women taking actions that will have a positive and lasting impact for women, girls, men and boys, for today and into the future.

When water means life

Story by: Sangwani Mwafulirwa

If water is life then he who gives water gives life. Since creation no form of life has existed without water, from human beings to the smallest of all living creatures, their existence depends on having access to water. Yet access to water will mean something very different for someone who gets water at the turn of a tap at home compared to someone like Chrisy Kilowe from Luwanja Village in Mulanje.

Chrisy has spent her 40-year life in Luwanja Village and the biggest challenge for her has been collecting water. Everyday she treks two kilometres to the neighbouring village where she draws water from an unprotected shallow well. A task which presents several dangers, dangers Chrisy is well aware of, having almost lost her unborn daughter of six months to diarrhoea last year.
However, Chrisy Kilowe is not alone. Her whole community faces many of the same challenges. The rainy season is particularly hard because all the mud and filth from uphill washes into the well. Households with no money to buy water treating chemicals have no option but to do their best with the dirty water, which poses severe health risks.

Thankfully, these problems will now be the tale of the past because an organisation, Water for All, has come to the rescue of the people by sinking a borehole in the village.

Water for All is an organisation founded by Atlas Copco employees in Sweden. Their aim is to provide clean and potable water to drought-prone areas of the world by drilling and digging water boreholes.

Water for All came to know of the problems in Luwanja Village through ADRA which has been implementing a three-year Women Empowerment Project (WEP) in the area.
According to WEP manager, Andiyesa Mhango the project was teaching people in the area about entrepreneurship, Rights Based Approaches and nutrition. Access to water has become another pressing issue for the project, because most women are being affected by limited access to clean and drinkable water.

“Water is a crucial component to women empowerment. Challenges of fetching water are robbing women of their vital time, time they could spend towards development of their communities and households.

“That is why we approached Water for All through ADRA Sweden. [Thanks to their support] we will be drilling in two more villages where they are facing the same problems,” says Mrs Mhango.
For women in particular, a borehole reduces the long journeys needed to collect water, journeys that start at 3 am every morning and that must be walked six times a day. It means that now women and their families do not get sick from diahorrea and other water borne diseases. A borehole gives communities more time and improved health to work on activities that develop their households and community.

The borehole for Luwanja village was handed over on Friday October 1, 2010 at a function which was attended by the Traditional Authority Chikumbu. She expressed her gratitude to Water for All and emphasised the need for communities to make bigger efforts towards improving the hygiene and sanitation around their homes, for example through the construction of pit latrines. These steps combined with clean water will make a greater impact on people’s health.

The Senior Environmental Health Officer for Mulanje Mr. Issac Jumma, stated that “only six out of 1o households in the village had sanitary facilities, which poses a huge threat to communities, especially through the coming rainy season.”

The crowd cheered in acceptance of this message, showing their commitment to improving the health and sanitation of their community. Already, as by requirement, the village has set up a water source committee to manage and maintain the borehole. The committee is responsible for collecting monthly contributions from the community to put towards the maintenance fund. A fence has also been constructed around the borehole to keep domestic animals away and people are being urged to guard the water source, to prevent theft of vital parts from the borehole.

In conclusion, the people’s joy and happiness could not be hidden. Their songs expressed it while their dancing demonstrated it. The event was a celebration of the gift of life provided to Village Luwanja, by Water for All, Sweden.

Functional Adult Literacy Education brings joy

..... Woman promoted after attending adult education

Author: Andiyesa Mhango
Women Empowerment Project Phase 2 (WEP2), ADRA Sweden, Sida

One of the most memorable moments in life for 27 year old Elena Benala, was when she was promoted at her work place, NASFAM, (an association for small holder farmers, Mulanje Branch) from a Warehouse Grader to Instructor. Elena is one of the many girls here in Mulanje, who did not have a chance to attend school due to poverty. However, once she started attending the functional adult literacy program in her village, initiated by Women Empowerment Project in 2008, her competencies were easily noticed. Her employer in particular could see Elena’s growing interest learning how to read and write. This brought on her promotion from paprika grader to instructor.
The changes in her life became so radical when her reading and writing skills combined well with her job and thus she was recommended to the company management by her supervisor, Alex Tembani for a promotion. Mr Tembani said he was surprised one day when instead of using her thumb to sign on the payment voucher, Elena could now sign her name with a pen. He also said that the grading job does not require any formal qualifications while being an instructor requires some basics such reading, counting and writing.
Her new position means that instead of grading crops, she is now responsible for instructing others and verifying the packaging of seeds. Though her salary is confidential, Elena said she is now earning enough to help feed her twin children and send them to school.
The promotion of Elena has ignited hopes among young women to enrol with adult literacy program. Elena is now proud to mention that Women Empowerment Project has contributed to the quality of her life through the adult literacy program in her village of Sitolo.
















Above Left: Elena displaying writing skill in front of her kitchen and opposite is the NASFAM Warehouse where she works.