In Malawi malnutrition and under nutrition are some of the factors which are hindering development and economic progress. One of the major reasons for under nutrition is a lack of intake from all the dietary food groups, which would be required by the body to function and fight infection.
On the 22nd January 2013 we had a special visitor, the Chief Executive of Progressio Mark Lister. He came to observe the work of Arise and Shine International (ASI), the organisation we are volunteering with, in Kabudula, Malawi. During his speech he mentioned that this was the first community in Malawi he had the privilege of visiting; which made the members of the community feel very special indeed.
Monile mose, we are now in the fourth week of our placement and time is flying by.
Last week the team went to visit one of our adopted sick patients, Lucy. After chatting with Lucy and her family, we asked whether there were any household chores that we could help them with. As it happens all that needed doing was to fetch the water and so we set off up the track around the back of their house with a collection of buckets.
TA (Traditional Authority) Kabudula is a rural village on the far outskirts of Lilongwe, Malawi’s sprawling capital of around 1 million people - around half of whom are living on less than £1 per day.
Kabudula means ‘Short Trousers’, somehow a fitting name for Progressio’s ICS programme that involves young volunteers sharing skills with young Malawian farmers. Our young people are our future in every society of course, but especially in Malawi where over 60% of the population is under 25.
After landing in Lilongwe, we were instantly welcomed with warmth at the airport by our national Progressio colleagues. The drive to our accommodation for the week revealed how green suprisingly Malawi is, which was refreshing.
Monile mose!
Our trip began; the first challenge was getting one of our group leaders, Jon, through customs. During packing he decided that 4 pairs of scissors were a necessary addition to his hand luggage, the security guards seemed to disagree. About 20 hours later and after stop offs in Nairobi and Lusaka we landed in Lilongwe. We were taken to Msamba lodge where we met our team for the first time equipped with tiredness, excitement and a dash of apprehension.
Last week we spent 3 days living in Milie village in the hope of further deepening our understanding of Malawian life. Five weeks into our placement we had had many fantastic experiences working with the communities around Salima. However in order to understand and integrate with those communities even more we felt that it was necessary to go one step further than this and actually live with those communities. After proposing this to Environment Africa and the in country Progressio staff, we got the go ahead!
Hi my name is Mphatso, I’m a local ICS volunteer, and I live in Salima. Salima is a district in Malawi, were the majority of people live in villages and rely on small scale farming to support their families. The people within Salima really depend on irrigation farming to help secure them food throughout the year.
Our placement is swiftly reaching its conclusion and yet I feel as though we have so much we still need to do! With only having a couple of weeks to go it has meant looking back and evaluating our progress so far. We have had the opportunity to work on varied projects from compost manure and HIV/AIDS management to the installation of water pumps. Currently our focus is with one particular community by the name of Ekaiweni where we hope to help build eco-toilets.
Monile mose!!
We have just finished our second week here in Malawi. We have come a long way since a rather groggy group of us stepped off the plane in Lilongwe. We had a busy first week where we were gently eased into Malawian culture through a mixture of market trips, culture and language lessons and a trip to a local village.
