Hunger—thousands helped….

Hunger has reached dangerous levels in Malawi—with the most vulnerable at highest risk.

So just before Christmas, we released a third of our maize stored for distribution during the “hunger period”.  Sadly, this year has been even worse than others—the deadly cyclone that devastated this area earlier in the year destroyed not only houses, sanitation and infrastructure, it also took out crops almost ready to harvest, and reduced once-verdant fields, into uncultivatable mounds of rock and sand.

This maize—the staple diet—provided 500 needy families with about 80 adult meals, enabling them to celebrate the festive season, and beyond. It’s the first of 3 distributions that will take place over the next few months to help villagers survive till the next annual harvest.

Above, just a handful of the 500 families that received maize and soap in 2 locations just days before Christmas. Maize for over 40,000 meals was handed out during these distributions, helping approx 2,500 people towards the next harvest.

The next pic shows some of the crowds assembled outside our gate patiently waiting for their name to be called and maize given….

Then, volunteers in Zomba—a town about 50 miles away from our main Centre, preparing maize to distribute to vulnerable families in their area.

And finally, soap bought in to support the maize project—if you can’t afford to feed your family, you can’t afford to buy soap!  Both skin and laundry soap were given to each household to help with health and hygiene.