Malawi

THE HUNGER SITUATION
Malawi, just like other central and southern African countries is this year experiencing very serious food shortage which has led to hunger.

CAUSE
Maize or corn is the staple food in Malawi. It is grown between December and March each year, this being the rainy season here. Malawi’s population is 12 Million and more than 65% of these people live in rural areas, where they rely on subsistence farming for their living. Most of these live below the poverty line, they use the traditional ways of farming (manually, using a hoe) and cannot afford to buy necessary farm inputs, like, better seeds, fertilizer and pesticides etc. Consequently the rural masses do not harvest enough. It is very difficult for the rural people to sustain themselves throughout the whole year. Usually every year during the growing season and just before the harvest (January to March), people experience food shortage.
This year the rainy season was very short. The rains started very well, and the crops in the fields were really promising. But at the most critical time when the maize crop was tasseling, the rains stopped abruptly from Mid January to end of February. This dry spell destroyed most of the crops, and there was very poor harvest, people got very little food.
Now from June up to now the situation has worsened. People are already suffering from hunger related diseases. There is no food at all for many people, especially the most vulnerable groups; Grand Parents (the old), the sick and Orphans. Now with HIV/AIDS the situation is just beyond words, and yet this is just September, come December, January and February, God knows.


THE GOVERNMENT AND NON GOVERMENTAL ORGANISATIONS.
Two month ago (in July), the government declared that Malawi is a disaster country. Aid has been coming from the international community such as World Food Program and the European Union but the distribution of this aid has not been fair. With our cheap politics here the government is using this aid to lure people into its political party. In areas where the ruling party has little or no support, not much aid is given. Politicians are taking this to their advantage not considering the plight of the poor people.
Our area (Ngabu parish) is an opposition party stronghold. This has added to the gravity of food shortage and hunger.
We have Non Governmental Organizations in this area such as World Vision International, and Action Aid. These are using the program called Food For Work. This is a program in which people should work on some public infrastructure such as making earth roads, bridges, digging wells and so on and then in return they are given some food. This works to the disadvantage of the vulnerable such as the orphans, the sick and the aged. They cannot have that chance to work and earn their food.

OUR CONTRIBUTION
On parish level we started in August assisting some especially grandparents who are taking care of orphans (their grand children) whose parents passed away due to HIV/AIDS. They come every Friday to get about 2kgs of maize flour and some salt. We also think of including orphans who have no grand parents, grand parents who have no orphans and the sick. We know we can not reach all people but we just cannot watch quietly, doing nothing as our brothers and sisters are suffering and dying.
So far each small Christian community donates half a bag of maize (about 25kgs) and we are working with members of St. Francis (Third Order) and the youth who are our parishioners. We know this won’t take us far but at least we have started something. The number of beneficiaries is increasing but our resources are dwindling as time goes by. This is a sad situation because with each day the hunger is getting worse and we are expecting the next harvest end of March next year.

ITEMS
At present we are giving out some maize flour and salt. Given the assistance, we hope to give the beneficiaries some maize flour, beans, cooking oil, salt and a soap.