GLOBAL CONCERNMALAWI From the desk

of Aaron Moore

Healing the sick, helping the poor, educating for a better life

It’s not uncommon to think that our success and lifestyle are the direct result of the good decisions we made, the hard work we put in and the opportunities we took advantage of in life.

But what if this wasn’t true?

Take, for instance, one of the earliest decisions made about your life, ‘Where would you be born?'

It’s a decision that severely affects the rest of your life’s opportunities.

There was a 50% chance that you would be born into a set of circumstances that would limit your earning to $2.50 a day, and an 80% chance that you would be unable to earn more than $10 a day. If you aren’t in either of these categories, then you did so against the odds, for this was a decision you had no control over at all.

If you were born in Malawi, your average earning would be around $1.39 a day for a man and 84 cents for a woman. To put that in perspective, a Coke in Malawi costs 45 cents, so after a hard day's work all you would be able to buy are 2-3 soft drinks.

These are the everyday challenges of ordinary Malawians. And these are the people with whom Global Concern Australia works, in partnership with Global Concern Malawi, to see them brought out of poverty. We do this through four main ways:

1. Water: the provision of pumps for wells and training in water and sanitation

2. Food: the provision of seed and training in agriculture to enable farmers to be able to grow enough food for their family for the rest of their lives

3. Health and Nutrition: the provision of nets for malaria and training on health issues like HIV/Aids and nutritional education on different food groups and what foods to feed children.

4. Micro-enterprise: the provision of materials and training in ways to generate an income such as soap making, knitting, chicken or goat farming and baking.

The people pictured here learn how to make new and nutritious foods such as soya milk, samousas, and different vegetable dishes. Sometimes they even use their new cooking skills to generate an income by selling their dishes.

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In each of these 4 areas Global Concern makes sure its impact is of a long term nature.

We don’t just give food hand outs, we provide people with the means to get their own food for themselves into the future.

We don’t just hand out mosquito nets, we educate families in ways to minimise health risks, and generate more income to be able to buy their own nets in the future.

We don't just talk about living a long life, we educate about HIV/AIDS and save thousands of people from dying.

We don’t just install wells, we ensure communities can repair and maintain them by themselves.

Global Concern has installed 40 wells in villages in the north of Malawi, providing fresh water to over 2,110 people.

The Chingorya well as pictured below, is located in a village in northern Malawi with a population of 480 people. Many of these people used to walk over 1km every day to collect water and carry it back on their heads. Sometimes they took water from the lake instead because it was closer but were often struck with water born disease as a result. This is the third well to be placed in this community and serves fresh water to 120 people. The villagers themselves dug the well and baked the bricks for the interior, while Global Concern provided the pump, cement and training in its use and maintenance so that fresh water will continue to be available long

It's not only where you are born, but also the abilities you are born with that can have a large impact on your standard of living...

And that is why Global Concern is helping people who are disabled.

Mary Mbeu, as pictured below, suffers from a disability that limits her speech and other mental faculties.

Global Concern provided her with maize, cassava and fertiliser and she regularly attends training sessions to improve and protect the yield of her crops.

Mary has 8 people in her household to look after, including one orphan, and she is extremely thankful for the support and inputs she receives from Global Concern.

Mary Mbeu proudly shows off her own cassava crop.

Erina Msonda, also being helped by Global Concern, shows off the large roots on her

It has been said before that, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” The world’s wealth and opportunities have not been distributed evenly throughout the world and we have been given much. We find ourselves amongst the richest 20 percent of the world who consume 80 percent of the world’s resources. But this wasn’t through any real choice of our own. Where we were born, and the abilities we were born with were decisions that were made without our consultation but now we all still have decisions to make.[ ]

Newton, pictured below, is 45 and was born with a physical disability in his left leg.

As a result, he has learned to walk by using a large pole for a crutch. He is married with 4 children and 5 grandchildren. None of his children are married, so all 9 of them live together with Newton and his wife.

Global Concern’s Food Security Program provided Newton with fertiliser, maize,

cassava, soya and banana crops for planting as well as mosquito nets for his family.

But most of all, he received training to be able to cultivate his crops in such as way as to be able to provide for his family for the rest of their lives.

Despite his disability, Newton works harder than most and has even developed ways of cultivating his land by balancing on one leg and using his hoe as a crutch.

Newton and his wife. Newtown works to plough his field using only one leg.

[ “What will we do with what we are given?” Global Concern supporters decided to use what they were given to help those who were given less. Thank you for choosing to make a difference in the lives of people like Newton and Mary. As you can see by their hard work and healthy crops, they don’t take your gifts for granted and the difference you make lasts more than a lifetime! ]

Aaron Moore