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This is an exciting new project which could transform this part of Malawi providing high-grade nutritional benefits freely to hundreds in the impoverished rural areas.

Moringa is a local tree, fast growing, with leaves that contain a range of impressive nutrients, delicious served as a green vegetable or salad. Despite this it’s under-utilized mainly due to difficulties protecting it from marauding livestock which graze freely. So this project is trialling woven modular fencing panels made with traditional skills from local materials.

As part of our reforestation programme, we’re establishing 3 village moringa groves planted according to a fixed pattern, containing 100 trees each (which can be extended), and protected by “temporary” bamboo fencing. We’ll also surround each grove with glycidia seedlings to develop into a living fence so the bamboo panels can be moved to another location after a couple of years.

The project began in autumn, 2020 with community sensitisation, land selection, fencing panel construction, and compost manufacture on each site. November is the traditional time for villagers to prepare their own maize fields, so training begins in January. Each grove is managed by a voluntary committee, and after training, each site will be prepared by the villagers, trenches and pits dug, fences erected, and seedlings planted later in January, with the first main leaf harvest expected at Christmas 2021. During the project, as the trees grow, both seeds and prunings will be shared throughout the villages to multiply the nutritional effect. And of course, reforestation benefits follow - stabilisation and enriching of soil, protection from sun, wind, water evaporation, and improved environmental habitats.

Our staff will regularly encourage and monitor progress ….

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Our appreciation to:

….our Malawian staff, manning the site so effectively, despite so many challenges, and a huge thank you to all who support the work - changing vulnerable communities, one life at a time ….

Special thanks to FOMA, Heb Ffin Scott Bader, & Wilmslow Wells for Africa for all your invaluable help finding some of these projects.

Our annual Food Programme routinely begins at the end of December, ensuring the most vulnerable households have food at Christmas, and continues through till March.

However, our “routine” projects continue all year round:

We’re still providing milk for malnourished babies from our unique herd of dairy goats.
We’ve grown thousands of tree seedlings for fuel, nutrition and green manure, distributing them to schools, villages and households
Our education programme provides secondary school education to vulnerable teens in three local schools.
We’re looking forward to restoring our Elderlies’ Luncheons - held each fortnight, bringing together 30+ frail older folk for a yummy lunch and sing-song - as soon as covid restrictions are relaxed
We provide hospital treatment/transport in emergencies, and our staff still help the rural communities wherever they can….

Malawi - “the warm heart of Africa” is an amazing country, filled with generous, hard-working people, but living in the constant shadow of poverty and hunger.

The climate is erratic and often extreme, leading to failed

crops and livelihoods in the rural areas of this subsistence-

level agricultural society.

All over the world the pandemic has radically changed

circumstances and has inevitably affected our work in

the rural areas.

Usually UK Directors spend 4-6 months there each year,

checking local situations, encouraging staff and

implementing new projects - but this year it’s different!

No flights, no travel, and a drastic fall in income as our

Charity Shop closed due to Covid-19.

However the needs in Malawi haven’t diminished, and the

threat of the virus only adds to the usual day-to-day challenges.

Hunger continues to be the major concern, an ongoing battle, but during the first 6 months of 2020, we managed to help support over 800 families, providing the basis for over 50,000 meals.

However, as the year wore on, we found that 97% of our cash-for-work scheme was for funding food - a disturbing indication of the level of local hunger.

By August, many of the most vulnerable were hungry. Our main Food Programme wouldn’t begin till Christmas, but in the meantime, due to a special donation, 50 extra families benefited from “food tokens” each month, providing funds for the maize basis of about 30 meals each. This has greatly helped hundreds of those most at risk and is planned to be repeated each month until the maize harvest 2021.

Alongside, we’ve grown mustard, onions and other vegetables to help the malnourished.

Hunger

Food Programme

2020/2021

Moringa leaves contain vitamins A,B,C,E & K, calcium, protein, potassium, iron, copper, zinc,

all 9 essential amino acids and 46 antioxidants.

Moringa Groves Project (Sept 2020-Dec 2021)

Above- piles of fencing panels

ready to be issued….

Left- Spraying fencing panels with pesticide to destroy weevils…

Compost preparation in October, ready to plant out seedlings in January 2021

Education …

Following the mass closures of schools,and other educational establishments in March, schools eventually reopened in a staggered structure at the beginning of September, but initially for students who had been due to take exams during the shutdown.

Instead of abandoning the rest of the school year, Malawi chose to continue with term 3 (usually an April start) in September, and begin the new academic year in January 2021. Exams were taken after intensive revision periods and the other students returned in October. The plan is to return to a Sept start by reducing the longer holidays over the next few years.

However, there was a blip in the national programme - MSCE (similar to the UK’s GCSE’s) exam papers were allegedly leaked, so for the sake of integrity, exams were cancelled, due to be retaken in January 2021.

In July, after the maize harvest, we bought in 17 tonnes—the basis for 68,000 meals—to help feed the vulnerable later on as the hunger increases.

This year, because of the stresses of coronavirus on the world-wide economy and the risk of lockdown in Malawi, we fought to get everything in place in time, but managed to locate enough maize at a reasonable price and began the process of effective storage.

After weighing the maize, we checked its moisture content and dried it as necessary, or we’d risk it deteriorating during storage. The ladies did a great job winnowing the grain and then it was re-weighed into special bags that are double lined to destroy weevils which would otherwise threaten destruction of much of the grain.

During the year, needy families become known to us through our other projects and referrals from Village Heads and trusted community leaders.

Each family is assessed for vulnerability, and those in real need are listed and invited to collect maize, dried soya meals and soap once a month during the inevitable “hunger period” from the end of December to March 2021.

Ladies winnowing

Packing dried maize

Water -

borehole repairs…

We repaired 7 more boreholes in August —restoring safe water back to 439 households

(plus 1 school)

- approx 4,000 people.

As well as bringing local water back to the elderly and infirm, these repairs also help social distancing to be maintained at the pumps to help limit covid spread, and we distributed more soap too.

Soap

More soap distributed—180 bars