BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Poverty is such a major and growing threat for HIV-positive breadwinners who are unable to work due to ill-health or fear that their status will become known in their workplace.
The situation is worsened when wives are compelled to stay at home to look after sick family members. As household incomes drop, the family's ability to satisfy basic needs such as food and nutrition as well as schooling for their children is diminished.
In addition, the pursuit of health care and treatment is often sacrificed in such situations. To mitigate the effects of the diseases, people living with HIV/AIDS need to engage in income generating activities (IGA) that would enable or enhance their families’ earnings.
With funding from Intessa San Paolo through Project Malawi a pilot project has been launched whose aim is to train people infected or affected with the virus in business and financial management in Balaka.
Intessa San Paolo is an Italian bank and has granted 15m Euros (over K3billion) CISP, Drug Resource Enhancement against Aids and Malnutrition (Dream) Programme, Save the Children and Malawi Girl Guide Association (MAGGA) and Department of HIV/Aids and Nutrition in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), with which the NGOs are expected to use in implementing the project in partnership.
The focus of the project is to help individuals interested in entrepreneurship to acquire skills on how they can run and manage their businesses and finances so that they become financially independent within settings that they are comfortable in, taking into consideration their family commitments.
Beneficiaries are often encouraged to do their small-scale businesses within home settings where they can easily attend to their family needs.
McRay Mtambitsa of Traditional Authority Nsamala in Balaka attended the training and he is one of the PLHWA that have successfully managed his business and finances.
Mtambitsa has not only improved his household incomes; he has also created jobs for three people who are currently working in his carpentry shop at Balaka market.
As the HIV/AIDS epidemic is having a debilitating impact on rural households and their livelihoods in many sub-Saharan Africa , it is only prudent to empower PLWHA with skills to manage their monies so that the impact of the disease is lessened, said Dream Programme Project Manager Francisco Zuze.
Recent data on HIV/AIDS prevalence in southern Africa show HIV rates that surpass 20% in six countries in the sub-region. While HIV prevalence is higher in urban areas, as the epidemic matures it also penetrates rural areas, rendering large proportions of the most productive age groups either ill or dead.
“HIV/AIDS is therefore having a damaging impact on smallholder agriculture, which is the mainstay of economy in Southern Africa . Problems are evident in areas such as food security; depletion of labour; loss of inter-generational knowledge and skills; and loss of income, and land inheritance rights for women and youth,” said Zuze.
“We, therefore, need to empower PLWHA with business and financial management skills so that they should not be at the most disadvantage and enable them become financially independent,” he added.
The fight against HIV/AIDS needs to be multi-sectoral, involving a combination of prevention, treatment and care and mitigation.
Mitigation – reducing or offsetting the impact of the disease-is increasingly important, as illness and mortality take a greater toll.
Households, communities, government and development partners are implementing a variety of interventions to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on smallholder agricultural production.
CISP findings indicate that HIV/AIDS impacts negatively on smallholder agriculture, food security and rural livelihoods through labour and capital shortages, loss of knowledge and skills, loss of farm implements, loss of access to production assets such as land, and loss of formal and informal institutional support.
The overall effects of HIV/AIDS impacts are reduced smallholder agricultural production, reduced income, and reduction in household assets, causing reduced access of households to food, health and education.
CISP HIV/Aids expert Yusuf Kadwala said in Balaka that in rural poor and semi-urban households, AIDS causes severe labour and economic constraints that disrupt agricultural activities, aggravate food insecurity, and undermine the prospects of rural development.
Kadwala explained that under the partnership, Dream Programme provides medical and nutritional support to PLWHA while CISP provides training in financial and business management.
“Dream Programme refers anyone interested in entrepreneurship to us for training. And we do refer all the children in need of psychosocial support to Save the Children and MAGGA and the initiative has really reduced the impact of the disease and suffering on families infected and/or affected,” he said.
When visited on December 20, 2009, Mtambitsa said he had greatly benefited from the training.
“I started with a very small capital, but today my business has expanded. I have three workers who I pay without any hurdles,” he explained.
However, Mtambitsa complained that lack of mechanized equipment is the major challenge facing his business enterprise.
“Many organizations are coming with their orders, but the manual equipment that I am currently using cannot help me finish the work in scheduled time,” he explained.
END
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Chief bemoans own community's poverty
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Group Village Headman Pasani of Blantyre complained last weekend that his area is the least developed in the district.
Pasani has since made an appeal to government and its development partners to consider bringing development projects to his area.
Speaking when officials from the Italian charity organization, International Committee for the Development of People (CISP), visited Tayamba Candle Making and Thandizo One Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) in his area, the chief wondered why his area lacks development when it is close to Blantyre City.
“Of all the communities in Blantyre, it is my area that lags behind in terms of development. We don't have piped water, no access to electricity and other basic necessities,” Pasani complained.
“It is as if we're not living in town,” he added.
Apparently, CISP is facilitating the introduction of income generating activities (IGAs) and VSLAs in the districts of Balaka, Blantyre and Lilongwe with an aim of promoting the saving culture and encouraging rural masses to do small scale businesses so that they can remain economically active.
Pasani commended CISP for facilitating the introduction of IGAs and VSLAs saying they have partially addressed the socio-economic challenges among women and the vulnerable groups.
CISP IGA/VSLA expert Maclean Mtokota said his organisation is implementing various development 29 VSLAs in Blantyre alone and that Pasani is one of the villages that have benefited.
“We aim at instilling saving culture amongst the community members and encourage people to do small scale businesses so that they can remain economically active,” said Mtokota.
CISP acts as a guarantor for well-organized associations which want to access loans from money-lending institutions. So far 10 groups have been linked to Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM) for loan processes, according to the IGA/VSLA expert.
Pasani Village is in the area of Traditional Authority Kapeni in Blantyre.
END
Group Village Headman Pasani of Blantyre complained last weekend that his area is the least developed in the district.
Pasani has since made an appeal to government and its development partners to consider bringing development projects to his area.
Speaking when officials from the Italian charity organization, International Committee for the Development of People (CISP), visited Tayamba Candle Making and Thandizo One Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) in his area, the chief wondered why his area lacks development when it is close to Blantyre City.
“Of all the communities in Blantyre, it is my area that lags behind in terms of development. We don't have piped water, no access to electricity and other basic necessities,” Pasani complained.
“It is as if we're not living in town,” he added.
Apparently, CISP is facilitating the introduction of income generating activities (IGAs) and VSLAs in the districts of Balaka, Blantyre and Lilongwe with an aim of promoting the saving culture and encouraging rural masses to do small scale businesses so that they can remain economically active.
Pasani commended CISP for facilitating the introduction of IGAs and VSLAs saying they have partially addressed the socio-economic challenges among women and the vulnerable groups.
CISP IGA/VSLA expert Maclean Mtokota said his organisation is implementing various development 29 VSLAs in Blantyre alone and that Pasani is one of the villages that have benefited.
“We aim at instilling saving culture amongst the community members and encourage people to do small scale businesses so that they can remain economically active,” said Mtokota.
CISP acts as a guarantor for well-organized associations which want to access loans from money-lending institutions. So far 10 groups have been linked to Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM) for loan processes, according to the IGA/VSLA expert.
Pasani Village is in the area of Traditional Authority Kapeni in Blantyre.
END
Village Headman, people differ on looming hunger
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
People in the area of Group Village Headman Namasalima in Mulanje said last week they are likely to face a serious shortage of food this year because of the dry spell their area experienced.
They have since appealed to government and other well-wishers for relief food.
But GVH Namasalima has disputed the claim saying his villagers were lazy people who “are used to handouts”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the awareness campaign on the operations of the courts at Namasalima's headquarters last week, Focus Thomas reported that some families from the area have already started going without food as their crops wilted away due to the drought.
“As I'm talking to you now, I've no food in my house. I've to do some pieceworks for me to buy; otherwise there is nothing in my field that I'll yield,” complained Thomas.
Another villager, Jessie Francis, said although she had good crops this year, the effects of the dry spell were too devastating for the crops to stand.
Francis explained that she was expecting to have a bumber harvest this year after benefiting from the farm input subsidy programme.
“All my maize has wilted away. Currently, I'm surviving on the flour I buy from the market on daily basis (popularly known as walk-man),” she complained.
But in a separate interview, GVH Namasalima said it was not true that his area will experience food deficit resulting from dry spell.
He said there was no need to raise a false alarm because it would just end up tarnishing the image of the “good government that helped them with subsidized farm inputs”.
“Don't mind those lazy people. The problem is that in those years people here used to survive on handouts instead of working form themselves. Now they can't work to produce enough for themselves hence these calls for assistance,” said Namasalima.
When asked if their food crisis was a result of laziness as the Namasalima alleged, Thomas and Francis criticized their chief for being economical with truth while his subjects were suffering.
“Come to my field if you want to believe what I'm saying. It's unfortunate that he's taken pleasure in the suffering of his people,” said Francis.
END
People in the area of Group Village Headman Namasalima in Mulanje said last week they are likely to face a serious shortage of food this year because of the dry spell their area experienced.
They have since appealed to government and other well-wishers for relief food.
But GVH Namasalima has disputed the claim saying his villagers were lazy people who “are used to handouts”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the awareness campaign on the operations of the courts at Namasalima's headquarters last week, Focus Thomas reported that some families from the area have already started going without food as their crops wilted away due to the drought.
“As I'm talking to you now, I've no food in my house. I've to do some pieceworks for me to buy; otherwise there is nothing in my field that I'll yield,” complained Thomas.
Another villager, Jessie Francis, said although she had good crops this year, the effects of the dry spell were too devastating for the crops to stand.
Francis explained that she was expecting to have a bumber harvest this year after benefiting from the farm input subsidy programme.
“All my maize has wilted away. Currently, I'm surviving on the flour I buy from the market on daily basis (popularly known as walk-man),” she complained.
But in a separate interview, GVH Namasalima said it was not true that his area will experience food deficit resulting from dry spell.
He said there was no need to raise a false alarm because it would just end up tarnishing the image of the “good government that helped them with subsidized farm inputs”.
“Don't mind those lazy people. The problem is that in those years people here used to survive on handouts instead of working form themselves. Now they can't work to produce enough for themselves hence these calls for assistance,” said Namasalima.
When asked if their food crisis was a result of laziness as the Namasalima alleged, Thomas and Francis criticized their chief for being economical with truth while his subjects were suffering.
“Come to my field if you want to believe what I'm saying. It's unfortunate that he's taken pleasure in the suffering of his people,” said Francis.
END
Empowering Women with Literacy
by Limbani Eliya Nsapato
The motion of empowering women with literacy contained in this article is related to the 2010 theme of the UNESCO-coordinated International Literacy Day, which annually falls on 8 September. The chosen theme for commemorating the Day is “The Power of Women’s Literacy”. The theme calls on policy makers and implementers to give due attention to literacy for women as it is important for their and society’s empowerment.
I support this theme because I strongly believe that without educating our women, Malawi’s Vision 2020 cannot be fully realised. Nor can the vision of the African Union or the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
I share in the urgency of the call to action behind the theme because I do think our country is not doing enough to implement policies and strategies that will ensure that by 2020 all the women in my village and yours will have been empowered with literacy and development as a whole.
My recent home travel story can help illustrate this position.
In June this year, I had the privilege of travelling by road from Lilongwe to my home village in Phalira, T/A Nchilamwera in Thyolo. The picture of women and girls I saw as I passed through rural districts of Dedza, Ntcheu, Balaka, Zomba, Chiradzulu, Blantyre and Thyolo was not a good one. I saw that women especially were struggling.
The women were less empowered to improve their lives and that of their families. I could see very few women looking healthy, dressed in decent clothes and nursing well nourished babies. I could see even fewer women going to or coming from office or work stations, or wearing fashionable hair make up, possibly with money in their handbags.
The majority of women I saw were sitting on the veranda of their grass thatched houses, walking on the road aimlessly, carrying firewood or water buckets on their head, often with crying babies on their backs, or cooking food using charcoal or firewood.
Along trading centres, and markets like at Bembeke, Chimbiya, Lizulu, Tsangano, Machinga, and Balaka Turn off, I saw women carrying and selling less profitable goods like sweet potatoes, fried maize, vegetables, bananas or pineapples and avocado pears. Some sold second hand clothes, dry fish, or “kanyenya” especially at Lizulu, Balaka and Mangochi turn off.
In Thyolo I saw few women plucking tea leaves with woven baskets on their backs on tea estates at Bvumbwe, Thyolo, Conforzi, Satemwa, and Nchima. When I reached my home village I understood that very few women rarely took part in development activities or committees or had their own property like land or houses. I listened to stories of women who were shamelessly beaten up by their husbands, of women who often slept on empty stomachs, and of many single young women who struggled to fend for their siblings. A number of women were bedridden and could not access basic medication.
The majority of women I met or saw during this homeland visit did not have any joy written on their faces. Although their sad experiences could vary, the common denominator was the source of their anguish.
Most of them were either not literate or if literate their education was so low that they had inadequate skills to develop their potential and make life more meaningful to them, their children or their families.
These unprivileged women are the ones that constitute the national and global statistics of illiterate or unskilled women who stand to be condemned to poverty unless something is done for them.
Malawi education policy review reports show that up to 4.6 million of the country’s 13 million population are illiterate and out of these more than 60% are women and girls. Females make up more than half the current number of out of school children of 600,000. The school dropout rate is higher for girls than boys.
Global UNESCO statistics reveal that some 759 million adults lack minimum literacy skills and while one in every five adults is not literate two-thirds of them are women. Out of the global figure of 72.1 million children out-of-school over 60% are girls.
Indeed in almost every African country the literacy rates of women and girls are lower than those of men and boys. Gender disparities have become parts and parcel of our statistics, and in most cases disfavoring women and girls.
The significance of the theme for the international literacy day 2010 cannot go unnoticed. Illiteracy dis-empowers people especially women and girls. But literacy has the power to transform people’s life especially that of women, in many ways, socially, economically, and politically. Moreover, empowering women translates to empowering a whole society.
Our country has some living examples of empowered women. On the political scene examples include Vice President Hon Joyce Banda, or ever-green lady members of parliament like Hon Anna Kachikho and Hon Patricia Kaliati. On the development scene empowered women include Justice Anastazia Msosa, Chair of Electoral Commission, Ms Seodi White from Women and Law Society, and Mrs. Martha Kwataine from the Health Equity civil society network.
Examples could also be told of women bankers, business women, lawyers, doctors, educators, pastors, and those in other professionals. All these have a denominator called education in their DNA.
At this point a couple of questions cross my mind. Why is it that we have so many women who are illiterate and do not fall in the category of the empowered women above? How can the women I saw on the road from Lilongwe to Thyolo be rescued from the bondage of ignorance and poverty?
Going through diverse literature on the matter, I think of at least three key issues that need addressing.
The first issue is that there needs to be a change of attitude on education for women and girls. Deep-rooted into the hearts of many of our communities and cultures is the belief that education of girls and women is not a necessity.
There are still many people who think, after all, women and girls will always be married, so why bother educate them? Others also think that women are not important to the development of society. I believe all these are misconceptions that need to be corrected.
There needs to be an increased awareness on the rights and potentiality of women in society especially on their primary rights to education and development. Awareness campaigns organised by civil society organisations, traditional leaders and government agencies or departments can help transform the negative attitude of society towards female education.
The second issue is that our nation needs to move from rhetoric to coherent action especially with regard to implementing policies on education for girls and women. The country has adopted international and local policies and strategies that aim at empowering women but little is done.
Little is done because there is often inadequate money to finance those literacy programmes and projects that have direct impact on women.
The government departments that address literacy programmes in Ministry of Women and Children annually receive less than 1 percent of total expenditures in education against the recommended minimum of 3 percent. The ministry of education which implements formal programmes for girls and boys receives less than 6 percent of the GDP or less than 20 percent of the national budget. The ministry of youth that tackles vocational and reproductive programmes for young people is always underfunded.
Moreover, there is inadequate accountability of funds for such programmes. As a result there are inadequate facilities, teaching and learning resources, infrastructure and personnel to fully implement programmes that address the needs of women and girls.
Little is done also because the challenges above are augmented by an imperfect monitoring and evaluation framework leading to failure to systematically review progress and efficiently act on shortfalls on the literacy programmes.
The third issue is that the country’s literacy programmes do lack supportive programmes in order for women and girls to develop themselves after acquiring basic literacy skills of reading and writing.
For instance, programmes that facilitate women’s entrepreneurial activities or use of science and technology are very limited.
Above all, participatory and gender sensitive approaches and methodologies are not always applied during routine planning, budgeting or implementation and review of local or rural development projects. As a result women and girls often remain on the peripheral due to the patriarchal nature of our societies.
There is therefore need to integrate entrepreneurial, participatory and pro-gender equity methods in literacy and development projects, and ensures that more women have access to ICT, science and technology.
Women should also have increased access to entrepreneurial or investment opportunities so that they can develop their businesses from small scale to large scale levels. Decision making policies and processes should also lean towards allowing more women to participate at highest levels of our society.
In concluding, it should be re-iterated that literacy is a basic right that women should access on their road to empowerment. In addition, there should be a conductive environment in our communities to ensure that women are able to exercise and maximise their literacy skills for development of themselves, their families and society at large. This could be a very important way to planting smiles on the faces of millions of illiterate and poor women in our communities.
END
The motion of empowering women with literacy contained in this article is related to the 2010 theme of the UNESCO-coordinated International Literacy Day, which annually falls on 8 September. The chosen theme for commemorating the Day is “The Power of Women’s Literacy”. The theme calls on policy makers and implementers to give due attention to literacy for women as it is important for their and society’s empowerment.
I support this theme because I strongly believe that without educating our women, Malawi’s Vision 2020 cannot be fully realised. Nor can the vision of the African Union or the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
I share in the urgency of the call to action behind the theme because I do think our country is not doing enough to implement policies and strategies that will ensure that by 2020 all the women in my village and yours will have been empowered with literacy and development as a whole.
My recent home travel story can help illustrate this position.
In June this year, I had the privilege of travelling by road from Lilongwe to my home village in Phalira, T/A Nchilamwera in Thyolo. The picture of women and girls I saw as I passed through rural districts of Dedza, Ntcheu, Balaka, Zomba, Chiradzulu, Blantyre and Thyolo was not a good one. I saw that women especially were struggling.
The women were less empowered to improve their lives and that of their families. I could see very few women looking healthy, dressed in decent clothes and nursing well nourished babies. I could see even fewer women going to or coming from office or work stations, or wearing fashionable hair make up, possibly with money in their handbags.
The majority of women I saw were sitting on the veranda of their grass thatched houses, walking on the road aimlessly, carrying firewood or water buckets on their head, often with crying babies on their backs, or cooking food using charcoal or firewood.
Along trading centres, and markets like at Bembeke, Chimbiya, Lizulu, Tsangano, Machinga, and Balaka Turn off, I saw women carrying and selling less profitable goods like sweet potatoes, fried maize, vegetables, bananas or pineapples and avocado pears. Some sold second hand clothes, dry fish, or “kanyenya” especially at Lizulu, Balaka and Mangochi turn off.
In Thyolo I saw few women plucking tea leaves with woven baskets on their backs on tea estates at Bvumbwe, Thyolo, Conforzi, Satemwa, and Nchima. When I reached my home village I understood that very few women rarely took part in development activities or committees or had their own property like land or houses. I listened to stories of women who were shamelessly beaten up by their husbands, of women who often slept on empty stomachs, and of many single young women who struggled to fend for their siblings. A number of women were bedridden and could not access basic medication.
The majority of women I met or saw during this homeland visit did not have any joy written on their faces. Although their sad experiences could vary, the common denominator was the source of their anguish.
Most of them were either not literate or if literate their education was so low that they had inadequate skills to develop their potential and make life more meaningful to them, their children or their families.
These unprivileged women are the ones that constitute the national and global statistics of illiterate or unskilled women who stand to be condemned to poverty unless something is done for them.
Malawi education policy review reports show that up to 4.6 million of the country’s 13 million population are illiterate and out of these more than 60% are women and girls. Females make up more than half the current number of out of school children of 600,000. The school dropout rate is higher for girls than boys.
Global UNESCO statistics reveal that some 759 million adults lack minimum literacy skills and while one in every five adults is not literate two-thirds of them are women. Out of the global figure of 72.1 million children out-of-school over 60% are girls.
Indeed in almost every African country the literacy rates of women and girls are lower than those of men and boys. Gender disparities have become parts and parcel of our statistics, and in most cases disfavoring women and girls.
The significance of the theme for the international literacy day 2010 cannot go unnoticed. Illiteracy dis-empowers people especially women and girls. But literacy has the power to transform people’s life especially that of women, in many ways, socially, economically, and politically. Moreover, empowering women translates to empowering a whole society.
Our country has some living examples of empowered women. On the political scene examples include Vice President Hon Joyce Banda, or ever-green lady members of parliament like Hon Anna Kachikho and Hon Patricia Kaliati. On the development scene empowered women include Justice Anastazia Msosa, Chair of Electoral Commission, Ms Seodi White from Women and Law Society, and Mrs. Martha Kwataine from the Health Equity civil society network.
Examples could also be told of women bankers, business women, lawyers, doctors, educators, pastors, and those in other professionals. All these have a denominator called education in their DNA.
At this point a couple of questions cross my mind. Why is it that we have so many women who are illiterate and do not fall in the category of the empowered women above? How can the women I saw on the road from Lilongwe to Thyolo be rescued from the bondage of ignorance and poverty?
Going through diverse literature on the matter, I think of at least three key issues that need addressing.
The first issue is that there needs to be a change of attitude on education for women and girls. Deep-rooted into the hearts of many of our communities and cultures is the belief that education of girls and women is not a necessity.
There are still many people who think, after all, women and girls will always be married, so why bother educate them? Others also think that women are not important to the development of society. I believe all these are misconceptions that need to be corrected.
There needs to be an increased awareness on the rights and potentiality of women in society especially on their primary rights to education and development. Awareness campaigns organised by civil society organisations, traditional leaders and government agencies or departments can help transform the negative attitude of society towards female education.
The second issue is that our nation needs to move from rhetoric to coherent action especially with regard to implementing policies on education for girls and women. The country has adopted international and local policies and strategies that aim at empowering women but little is done.
Little is done because there is often inadequate money to finance those literacy programmes and projects that have direct impact on women.
The government departments that address literacy programmes in Ministry of Women and Children annually receive less than 1 percent of total expenditures in education against the recommended minimum of 3 percent. The ministry of education which implements formal programmes for girls and boys receives less than 6 percent of the GDP or less than 20 percent of the national budget. The ministry of youth that tackles vocational and reproductive programmes for young people is always underfunded.
Moreover, there is inadequate accountability of funds for such programmes. As a result there are inadequate facilities, teaching and learning resources, infrastructure and personnel to fully implement programmes that address the needs of women and girls.
Little is done also because the challenges above are augmented by an imperfect monitoring and evaluation framework leading to failure to systematically review progress and efficiently act on shortfalls on the literacy programmes.
The third issue is that the country’s literacy programmes do lack supportive programmes in order for women and girls to develop themselves after acquiring basic literacy skills of reading and writing.
For instance, programmes that facilitate women’s entrepreneurial activities or use of science and technology are very limited.
Above all, participatory and gender sensitive approaches and methodologies are not always applied during routine planning, budgeting or implementation and review of local or rural development projects. As a result women and girls often remain on the peripheral due to the patriarchal nature of our societies.
There is therefore need to integrate entrepreneurial, participatory and pro-gender equity methods in literacy and development projects, and ensures that more women have access to ICT, science and technology.
Women should also have increased access to entrepreneurial or investment opportunities so that they can develop their businesses from small scale to large scale levels. Decision making policies and processes should also lean towards allowing more women to participate at highest levels of our society.
In concluding, it should be re-iterated that literacy is a basic right that women should access on their road to empowerment. In addition, there should be a conductive environment in our communities to ensure that women are able to exercise and maximise their literacy skills for development of themselves, their families and society at large. This could be a very important way to planting smiles on the faces of millions of illiterate and poor women in our communities.
END
Waiting for the presidential promise
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR,
With the passing of the 2009/10 national budget, George Malema, 27, of Malema village, Traditional Authority Kyungu in Karonga is upbeat; looking forward to a day when government will start disbursing loans in the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.
Prior to the May 19 general elections, President Bingu wa Mutharika promised that, if given another mandate to govern for the next five, his government would provide loans to the youth so that they can set up their own small and medium scale enterprises.
Among other things, Mutharika conceived this fund to address the challenges of youth unemployment by providing the youth with knowledge, essential skills, and opportunity to engage in entrepreneurships as a self-employment mechanism.
This came against a background that youth participation in economic development initiatives continues to be impeded by a number of challenges which include limited access to post-primary and secondary vocational training, limited access to credit and inadequate employment opportunities, among others.
According to Mutharika, the focus of the fund is on building capacity, especially in artisan skills and entrepreneurship to ensure sustainability of the business ventures that would be set up by the youth through the fund.
The fund is also expected to provide youth with information on the existence of potential markets both locally and internationally and assist in accessing those markets.
“By investing in our youth, we will afford them an opportunity to focus their energies into productive activities and thereby improving their living standards,” said Ken Kandodo Banda when he presented the then proposed K3 billion Youth Enterprise Development Fund to the National Assembly.
It is against this background that since the passing of the 2009/10 national budget Malema, a school leaver currently doing nothing at home, has never missed daily newspapers and news bulletins on radios to have information on when the relevant department will call for applications for eligible beneficiaries of the Fund.
He is among many other young people across the country who solely depend on their frail and old parents for almost everything in life from a bath clothes to bath soap.
“Since I finished my secondary education, I have never been employed. I, therefore, look at this loan facility as a vehicle to take me to a promised land,” said Malema.
“I am growing up and very soon I will be getting married. I cannot keep on relying parents. Once I access this loan, I intend to venture into commercial farming though on small scale,” he added.
High unemployment rates and HIV/AIDS epidemic, young people, especially girls, are increasingly heading households. As a result, they miss out on gaining proper skills that qualify them to get a job or engage in businesses that would enable them meet basic requirements.
The two challenges have made many girls vulnerable. In some instances, girls have become victims of sexual abuse in their pursuit to provide for the families they are heading after the death of their parents.
Lucia Phiri, 23, comes from Mchinji but now resident in Lilongwe earning a living through an illegal business. Phiri is a mother to two whose fathers she cannot trace was forced into commercial sex work and bargirl at Area 36 after the death of her father.
A man who played a ‘Good Samaritan’ offered to support her with basic needs. Unfortunately, besides providing her with needs he also provided her with pregnancy, which he denied responsibility.
Phiri could not meet the needs of her twins. The only readily available solution to her predicament was commercial sex work, so she thought.
“This in not an easy job [sex work]. You need to entertain every man who comes your way even if you are tired. But you have to do it if you need money,” explained Lucia in an interview. But she revealed that some men do not honour their bills after the act.
In Karonga, however, life is different. Unlike in Lilongwe, commercial sex workers have started transacting on credit; men can now pay at the end of the month.
No wonder chiefs from the district fear there will be an increased number of orphans and vulnerable children.
Possibly, Mutharika had in his colour dream such vulnerable groups when he conceived Youth Enterprise Development Fund.
But Phiri does not believe authorities entrusted with responsibility to disburse the fund will consider her application. She is not ‘connected’.
“Ma loan a m’Malawi amayendera ma connection. Amapeza mwai ndi okhawo odziwika,” said Phiri.
“There have been loan facilities before whose target was poor people. But beneficiaries to such facilities seem to be only those with connections to the authorities or relations to the same,” she emphasized.
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director, Undule Mwakasungula, supported Phiri’s arguments, saying loan facilities in Malawi have proved to be campaign tools for the ruling parties.
Mwakasungula said unless government leaves the Fund to independent people, overzealous politicians are likely to abuse it for them to win the hearts of 2014 voters.
“I would suggest that government should come up with an independent committee comprising faith leaders, civil society organizations and development partners to administer the loan disbursement of the fund.
Otherwise it will be the same song where deserving beneficiaries are made to believe they will access the loan only to be told the programme had come to an end,” he said.
“This is a very important initiative for economically empowering the jobless youth. But there is need for government to exercise high level of transparency and accountability if the fund is to yield the desired results,” Mwakasungula added.
End
With the passing of the 2009/10 national budget, George Malema, 27, of Malema village, Traditional Authority Kyungu in Karonga is upbeat; looking forward to a day when government will start disbursing loans in the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.
Prior to the May 19 general elections, President Bingu wa Mutharika promised that, if given another mandate to govern for the next five, his government would provide loans to the youth so that they can set up their own small and medium scale enterprises.
Among other things, Mutharika conceived this fund to address the challenges of youth unemployment by providing the youth with knowledge, essential skills, and opportunity to engage in entrepreneurships as a self-employment mechanism.
This came against a background that youth participation in economic development initiatives continues to be impeded by a number of challenges which include limited access to post-primary and secondary vocational training, limited access to credit and inadequate employment opportunities, among others.
According to Mutharika, the focus of the fund is on building capacity, especially in artisan skills and entrepreneurship to ensure sustainability of the business ventures that would be set up by the youth through the fund.
The fund is also expected to provide youth with information on the existence of potential markets both locally and internationally and assist in accessing those markets.
“By investing in our youth, we will afford them an opportunity to focus their energies into productive activities and thereby improving their living standards,” said Ken Kandodo Banda when he presented the then proposed K3 billion Youth Enterprise Development Fund to the National Assembly.
It is against this background that since the passing of the 2009/10 national budget Malema, a school leaver currently doing nothing at home, has never missed daily newspapers and news bulletins on radios to have information on when the relevant department will call for applications for eligible beneficiaries of the Fund.
He is among many other young people across the country who solely depend on their frail and old parents for almost everything in life from a bath clothes to bath soap.
“Since I finished my secondary education, I have never been employed. I, therefore, look at this loan facility as a vehicle to take me to a promised land,” said Malema.
“I am growing up and very soon I will be getting married. I cannot keep on relying parents. Once I access this loan, I intend to venture into commercial farming though on small scale,” he added.
High unemployment rates and HIV/AIDS epidemic, young people, especially girls, are increasingly heading households. As a result, they miss out on gaining proper skills that qualify them to get a job or engage in businesses that would enable them meet basic requirements.
The two challenges have made many girls vulnerable. In some instances, girls have become victims of sexual abuse in their pursuit to provide for the families they are heading after the death of their parents.
Lucia Phiri, 23, comes from Mchinji but now resident in Lilongwe earning a living through an illegal business. Phiri is a mother to two whose fathers she cannot trace was forced into commercial sex work and bargirl at Area 36 after the death of her father.
A man who played a ‘Good Samaritan’ offered to support her with basic needs. Unfortunately, besides providing her with needs he also provided her with pregnancy, which he denied responsibility.
Phiri could not meet the needs of her twins. The only readily available solution to her predicament was commercial sex work, so she thought.
“This in not an easy job [sex work]. You need to entertain every man who comes your way even if you are tired. But you have to do it if you need money,” explained Lucia in an interview. But she revealed that some men do not honour their bills after the act.
In Karonga, however, life is different. Unlike in Lilongwe, commercial sex workers have started transacting on credit; men can now pay at the end of the month.
No wonder chiefs from the district fear there will be an increased number of orphans and vulnerable children.
Possibly, Mutharika had in his colour dream such vulnerable groups when he conceived Youth Enterprise Development Fund.
But Phiri does not believe authorities entrusted with responsibility to disburse the fund will consider her application. She is not ‘connected’.
“Ma loan a m’Malawi amayendera ma connection. Amapeza mwai ndi okhawo odziwika,” said Phiri.
“There have been loan facilities before whose target was poor people. But beneficiaries to such facilities seem to be only those with connections to the authorities or relations to the same,” she emphasized.
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director, Undule Mwakasungula, supported Phiri’s arguments, saying loan facilities in Malawi have proved to be campaign tools for the ruling parties.
Mwakasungula said unless government leaves the Fund to independent people, overzealous politicians are likely to abuse it for them to win the hearts of 2014 voters.
“I would suggest that government should come up with an independent committee comprising faith leaders, civil society organizations and development partners to administer the loan disbursement of the fund.
Otherwise it will be the same song where deserving beneficiaries are made to believe they will access the loan only to be told the programme had come to an end,” he said.
“This is a very important initiative for economically empowering the jobless youth. But there is need for government to exercise high level of transparency and accountability if the fund is to yield the desired results,” Mwakasungula added.
End
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Con ESCOM officer arrested
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Police in Limbe yesterday arrested a local electrician, Steven Nkulichi, on suspicion that he was tapping and supplying electricity to people around Makhetha Township in Blantyre without authority from Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM).
Earlier in the week, The Sunday Times got a tip from the public insinuating that Nkulichi was running parallel ESCOM structures in the township where customers in need of short-cuts would acquire quick and affordable electricity services.
After illegally connecting the desperate power consumers, the suspect was then collecting K1,000 as monthly payments from each client.
“You will not need to go and pay your bills at ESCOM if I connect you. You will only be required to pay me K1,000 every month,” Nkulichi told The Sunday Times reporters who posed as potential clients on Friday.
And during interrogation yesterday, Nkulichi told the police who were accompanied by ESCOM’s Controller of Security Services, Precious Mpekansambo, he has so far supplied power to five houses.
But our informants disputed saying “he has been doing this business for quite long. People who have benefitted from his malpractice are more than what he is revealing.”
Nkulichi is yet to be charged.
ESCOM public relations officer, Kitty Chingota, could not value the amount of money the company has lost due to the malpractice because “we will have to investigate the damage”.
She, however, warned consumers against acquiring electricity services from non-ESCOM workers saying the practice is dangerous to the individual (beneficiary), society, the company and the nation as a whole.
“Illegal connections are very dangerous. They can cause serious damage and that’s the more reason people should not solicit services from unknown people,” said Chingota.
Meanwhile ESCOM has commended The Sunday Times for assisting in tracking down the culprit and appealed to the public to tip the power provider on people involved in the malpractice.
Nkulichi, 51, hails from Anderson Jumbe Village, T/A Likoswe in Chiradzulu district.
END
Police in Limbe yesterday arrested a local electrician, Steven Nkulichi, on suspicion that he was tapping and supplying electricity to people around Makhetha Township in Blantyre without authority from Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM).
Earlier in the week, The Sunday Times got a tip from the public insinuating that Nkulichi was running parallel ESCOM structures in the township where customers in need of short-cuts would acquire quick and affordable electricity services.
After illegally connecting the desperate power consumers, the suspect was then collecting K1,000 as monthly payments from each client.
“You will not need to go and pay your bills at ESCOM if I connect you. You will only be required to pay me K1,000 every month,” Nkulichi told The Sunday Times reporters who posed as potential clients on Friday.
And during interrogation yesterday, Nkulichi told the police who were accompanied by ESCOM’s Controller of Security Services, Precious Mpekansambo, he has so far supplied power to five houses.
But our informants disputed saying “he has been doing this business for quite long. People who have benefitted from his malpractice are more than what he is revealing.”
Nkulichi is yet to be charged.
ESCOM public relations officer, Kitty Chingota, could not value the amount of money the company has lost due to the malpractice because “we will have to investigate the damage”.
She, however, warned consumers against acquiring electricity services from non-ESCOM workers saying the practice is dangerous to the individual (beneficiary), society, the company and the nation as a whole.
“Illegal connections are very dangerous. They can cause serious damage and that’s the more reason people should not solicit services from unknown people,” said Chingota.
Meanwhile ESCOM has commended The Sunday Times for assisting in tracking down the culprit and appealed to the public to tip the power provider on people involved in the malpractice.
Nkulichi, 51, hails from Anderson Jumbe Village, T/A Likoswe in Chiradzulu district.
END
Friday, September 3, 2010
Helping women claim right to safe motherhood
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
They dance, jiggle and wriggle their waists as if their bodies have no bone at all. All this joy is not for nothing. These women are only expressing their gratitude for the funding a local NGO has received for championing their right to quality healthcare, especially reproductive health issues.
Quality reproductive health services are as crucial in Malawi as they are anywhere in the world. Health experts have, however, reported of shocking revelations in the country’s health system.
Visits to six fistula repair sites suggest that obstetric fistula is a large and growing problem, exacerbated by poverty and famine, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Statistics show that another problem facing mothers is the use of drugs and alcohol, including cigarette smoking, especially among teen mothers. No amount of any of these substances is safe for use in pregnancy. In fact, their use can complicate pregnancy even further increasing the likelihood of premature birth and other complications.
Experts have said before that premature birth and low birth weight create a wealth of their own problems, including brain damage, physical disabilities and more. The potentially lengthy hospital stay and increased risk of health problems for these babies leads to more stress on the teen mother.
However, the situation is slowly, but surely improving and women can afford a sigh of relief as government-backed Safe Motherhood Programme has established village committees on safe motherhood, organized transportation plans and provided training to traditional birth attendants so that they can recognize signs of obstructed labour and act efficiently to get a woman to a facility.
Government is trying its best by installing telephones and radios in some health centres to communicate with the referral hospital and request ambulance transport for women in distress.
Because of these efforts, reports UNFPA, over 90 per cent of pregnant women in Malawi are estimated to have had some type of prenatal care.
But Centre of Health Education and Health Appropriate Technologies (CESTAS Malawi), an Italian-Malawian non-governmental organization, believes government alone is not enough to deal with the problem. The organization thinks there is need for more NGOs to join government efforts in the promotion of safe motherhood, fighting drug and alcohol abuse.
CESTAS Malawi Country Coordinator Dr. Mario Bacchiocchi states that the fight can remain a lip service if NGOs concentrate their efforts in urban areas while leaving government alone to work in villages.
“While most of the local NGOs are operating in urban areas, their services are desperately needed in the rural areas where a larger population is illiterate. Women of the child-bearing ages need information on life-saving antenatal care. Women in the villages rarely seek professional help during pregnancy,” says Bacchiocchi.
Bacchiocchi explains that people in the rural settings lack the time to visit health centers. Access to professional healthcare is a nightmare for many people in the rural areas because of lack of health centres in such places. The situation sometimes forces determined women to spend almost all the day walking to the nearby health centre to seek professional antenatal care services.
And in its quest to support government efforts, CESTAS Malawi, with funding from UNICEF, has managed to introduce and maintain in-service training courses for midwives and health workers who work at Bwaila and Kamuzu Central Hospitals in Lilongwe and Dowa District Hospitals in Dowa.
These courses have helped health workers in improving the delivery of essential maternal and neonatal care to their clients based in urban as well as rural areas.
“CESTAS Malawi attaches greater importance to the training of health personnel for them to provide quality healthcare to the patients. We ensure there is on-going in-service training for all midwives and health operators at Bwaila, Dowa and KCH through different training curricula, which have been designed by the same target group in collaboration with the Reproductive Health Unit (RHU) and the Lilongwe and Dowa’s District Health Offices (DHOs),” he says.
And with support from UNICEF, CESTAS Malawi intends to extend its outreach and training activities to Community Rural Health Centers in selected Zones of Lilongwe and Dowa districts.
The organization will has also signed an agreement with the Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa that will see KCH, Bwaila and Dowa hospitals receiving a donation of motorcycle ambulances.
CESTAS Malawi boss thinks the bottomline is that organizations should reduce unnecessary expenditures and channel extra resources to health issues. Bacchiocchi notes with sadness that other organizations have in the past failed to invest their resources in maternal health services.
“Imagine a world without useless wastes of money and with a concrete development for all the communities of developing countries. Imagine a world where expatriates earn the same salary of locals, where health services are free to everyone, where funds from donor community and international funding agencies are really destined to the final beneficiaries and they will produce finally some results. We are living in a completely different world,” concludes Bacchiochi.
END
They dance, jiggle and wriggle their waists as if their bodies have no bone at all. All this joy is not for nothing. These women are only expressing their gratitude for the funding a local NGO has received for championing their right to quality healthcare, especially reproductive health issues.
Quality reproductive health services are as crucial in Malawi as they are anywhere in the world. Health experts have, however, reported of shocking revelations in the country’s health system.
Visits to six fistula repair sites suggest that obstetric fistula is a large and growing problem, exacerbated by poverty and famine, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Statistics show that another problem facing mothers is the use of drugs and alcohol, including cigarette smoking, especially among teen mothers. No amount of any of these substances is safe for use in pregnancy. In fact, their use can complicate pregnancy even further increasing the likelihood of premature birth and other complications.
Experts have said before that premature birth and low birth weight create a wealth of their own problems, including brain damage, physical disabilities and more. The potentially lengthy hospital stay and increased risk of health problems for these babies leads to more stress on the teen mother.
However, the situation is slowly, but surely improving and women can afford a sigh of relief as government-backed Safe Motherhood Programme has established village committees on safe motherhood, organized transportation plans and provided training to traditional birth attendants so that they can recognize signs of obstructed labour and act efficiently to get a woman to a facility.
Government is trying its best by installing telephones and radios in some health centres to communicate with the referral hospital and request ambulance transport for women in distress.
Because of these efforts, reports UNFPA, over 90 per cent of pregnant women in Malawi are estimated to have had some type of prenatal care.
But Centre of Health Education and Health Appropriate Technologies (CESTAS Malawi), an Italian-Malawian non-governmental organization, believes government alone is not enough to deal with the problem. The organization thinks there is need for more NGOs to join government efforts in the promotion of safe motherhood, fighting drug and alcohol abuse.
CESTAS Malawi Country Coordinator Dr. Mario Bacchiocchi states that the fight can remain a lip service if NGOs concentrate their efforts in urban areas while leaving government alone to work in villages.
“While most of the local NGOs are operating in urban areas, their services are desperately needed in the rural areas where a larger population is illiterate. Women of the child-bearing ages need information on life-saving antenatal care. Women in the villages rarely seek professional help during pregnancy,” says Bacchiocchi.
Bacchiocchi explains that people in the rural settings lack the time to visit health centers. Access to professional healthcare is a nightmare for many people in the rural areas because of lack of health centres in such places. The situation sometimes forces determined women to spend almost all the day walking to the nearby health centre to seek professional antenatal care services.
And in its quest to support government efforts, CESTAS Malawi, with funding from UNICEF, has managed to introduce and maintain in-service training courses for midwives and health workers who work at Bwaila and Kamuzu Central Hospitals in Lilongwe and Dowa District Hospitals in Dowa.
These courses have helped health workers in improving the delivery of essential maternal and neonatal care to their clients based in urban as well as rural areas.
“CESTAS Malawi attaches greater importance to the training of health personnel for them to provide quality healthcare to the patients. We ensure there is on-going in-service training for all midwives and health operators at Bwaila, Dowa and KCH through different training curricula, which have been designed by the same target group in collaboration with the Reproductive Health Unit (RHU) and the Lilongwe and Dowa’s District Health Offices (DHOs),” he says.
And with support from UNICEF, CESTAS Malawi intends to extend its outreach and training activities to Community Rural Health Centers in selected Zones of Lilongwe and Dowa districts.
The organization will has also signed an agreement with the Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa that will see KCH, Bwaila and Dowa hospitals receiving a donation of motorcycle ambulances.
CESTAS Malawi boss thinks the bottomline is that organizations should reduce unnecessary expenditures and channel extra resources to health issues. Bacchiocchi notes with sadness that other organizations have in the past failed to invest their resources in maternal health services.
“Imagine a world without useless wastes of money and with a concrete development for all the communities of developing countries. Imagine a world where expatriates earn the same salary of locals, where health services are free to everyone, where funds from donor community and international funding agencies are really destined to the final beneficiaries and they will produce finally some results. We are living in a completely different world,” concludes Bacchiochi.
END
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Withdraw street children or face more delinquencies--CESTAS Malawi
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
 |
| Children need protection |
Centre of Health Education and Health Appropriate Technologies (CESTAS Malawi), an Italian-Malawian non-governmental organization, has warned of increased cases of delinquencies if parents and guardians of street kids do not withdraw their siblings off the streets.
CESTAS Malawi Country Coordinator, Dr. Mario Bacchiocchi was commenting on recent reports that police in Lilongwe had arrested four street children on suspicion that they set fire on Tsoka Market after picking a quarrel with businesspeople trading their wares in market.
The law enforcers had earlier nicked a teen prostitute on allegations that she stole from her client. She denied wrongdoing.
In an interview Friday, Bacchiocchi warned the situation could exacerbate if parents and guardians do not prevent their children from going onto the streets to beg.
While appreciating that many people are poverty-stricken in the country, Bacchiocchi deplored the tendency by some less privileged parents who lade their children with responsibility to fend for the family through begging.
“Begging is not a profession and cannot offer a solution to our social and economic challenges. Less privileged parents should find better means of survival than forcing children onto the streets with open arms,” he said adding that street life is dangers to children as it exposes the minors to abuse, neglect and exploitation.
“It's wrong to use innocent children as a bait to meet family needs. Children need to be given optimum protection from abuse and exploitation by providing necessary support and sending them to school,” Bacchiocchi added.
The CESTAS Malawi boss further askedto “Good Samaritans” to find better means of exercising their charity rather than giving alms on the street saying such a practice will only help in begetting "more problems than we intend to solve”.
“It’s better we channel our efforts towards orphanages or NGOs that support orphans and vulnerable children than practice street charity because it will not help in curbing problems that force children into that situation,” he advised.
Family breakdown, poverty, physical and sexual abuse, disinheritance or being disowned are some of the problems that force many children opt for street life, according to World Health Organization 1993.
END
Govt asked to open markets in villages
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
 |
| Namakhwa (in hat) handing over an iron sheet |
People in Thyolo say rural markets could play a crucial role in the socioeconomic development of rural masses.
They have since asked government to open mini markets in rural areas to reduce distances people in search of market for their agricultural produce.
Speaking at Mikate Primary School on Monday, Group Village Headman Mikate, said small scale farmers are finding many challenges to find markets for their agricultural produce because there are no markets near in the rural areas.
Apparently, Member of Parliament for Thyolo Central, Kingsley Namakhwa, was handing over 48 iron sheets for the construction of Mikate Rural Market with fund from Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
“With rural markets, local farmers will kill two birds with a stone. They’ll no longer travel long distances to sell their produce thereby completely cutting costs on transportation to the markets,” said Mikate, who is under T/A Kapichi.
He added that that well-structured markets in the rural areas could also help local farmers to take farming as business.
“We are, therefore, asking government and its development partners to open more markets in the rural areas,” he said.
In his remarks, Namakhwa explained that government had deliberately introduced CDF in order to respond to the needs of the people at the grassroots.
“CDF was introduced to deal with simple development projects such as construction of mini markets in the rural areas. All you need to do is to come up with your development plans for the area and present them for consideration,” he advised.
END
Drug abuse, youth and crime
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
“On your own plea of guilty, this court finds you guilty and duly convicts you. Before I pass sentence, do you have anything in mitigation?” says First Grade Magistrate Esther Elia Phiri of Lilongwe registry as she straightens her head up to see the reaction of the convict, Anusa.
“Yes worship! I pray to this court to exercise lenience on me because this is my first time to commit a crime. I would also like to confess here that it was not my intention to commit this crime, but I was cheated by my friend who told me chamba gives academic ingenuity,” pleads an 18-year old Anusa while looking down in depression and regret.
“It was my friend, Zonizo, who handed me a cigarette of cannabis sativa to smoke while we were partying…and I did not know it was such a dangerous drug that could put me in such a difficult problem,” he adds
Anusa raises his head up to look at his parents who are sitting in the public gallery. He sees them shedding a tear or two as they try to shy away from his gaze. Though he is pleading for lenience, Anusa knows quite well that the crime he committed just last night, rape with violence, will still earn him separation from his parents and relatives through death penalty.
He is fully aware that if he is lucky enough he will be spared death, but still earn a considerable custodial sentences of not less than ten years for rape attracts a maximum of 14 years imprisonment with hard labour.
“Considering that you are young and that you have had no criminal record before as you and the state have submitted, this court will take these as your mitigating factors.
“This court is also mindful of your tender age and that you still have a future to make, and considering that maximum sentences are reserved for serious criminals, this court is compelled to exercise its lenience on you. I will also consider the factor that you showed remorse by pleading guilty to the charge and that you did not waste court’s time as your mitigating factors,” says magistrate Phiri.
She poses a bit, takes a bottle of water, drinks and puts the container down again.
“But this court feels obliged to pass a meaningful custodial sentence on the convict because cases of rape and women abuse are becoming rampant. This court does not find it necessary to exercise on the convict because he committed the crime under the influence of alcohol and drugs,” she states. She looks the public gallery to see the people’s reaction.
Phiri sees some faces expressing approval of what she is putting forward to Anusa, especially ladies who are most of the times victims of alcohol and drug abuse in families, schools and any other places of entertainment. The convicts’ parents are still tucked in shame while silently shedding tears of deep sorrow. They have to because they also know this is the beginning of a new life in their family.
They will no longer see him. They will not be able to send him to buy something at the grocery. He will be temporarily unavailable for some years. In short, this is the end of their son’s future, or do they just fear?
The magistrate takes a few minutes scribbling some notes on her file, which no one can access with naked eyes from afar. And the court remains quiet with Anusa still standing in the dock with his hands akimbo.
He is visualizing life in prison; life far from parental care at his age when he desperately needs them to pay his school fees. Anusa has heard stories before of people dying in prison due to lack of food resulting from congestion, a problem our country’s reformatories are best known for.
“I am doomed. My future is doomed. God forget the day I was born,” he curses within himself as he awaits his final destination from the magistrate.
After Phiri finishes writing whatever she was writing, she adjusts her sitting posture, drawing the chair closer to the desk. She clears her throat while facing the convict, parents sitting about five metres away the court clerk’s desk.
“This is your verdict,” she announces. “But before I do that, let me stress here that peer pressure is not an excuse for committing crimes and can never be a mitigating factor. Whether you committed a crime with or without help or influence, the court will pass the same sentence on you. It is up to you to choose who your good friend is.”
“I am, therefore, sentencing you to 12 years imprisonment with hard labour with effect from day of your arrest. This sentence shall serve as a warning to young people who think life is about abusing women after drinking or smoking unnecessarily,” concludes magistrate Phiri attracting the convicts’ loud cry.
“Nditengeni ine chonde mwana wanga msiyeni. Ndikagwire ukaidiwo ndineyo (Set him free. Take me instead, I will serve the sentence on his behalf),” says the mother in her grief-stricken tone. But on what crime can the court pass that sentence on her? Well, she can play Jesus, but courts do not believe in human saviours who can die for other people’s crimes.
Anusa was celebrating his selection to secondary school the previous day when his peers cheated him that beer offers maximum entertainment and celebration. So they went to a certain Mtonjane brewer where they guzzled more than enough that they even forgot their names and where they had come from.
“Takagwireni man kuti mtseguke m’maso. Izi zimachotsa manyazi mwene,” said his friend, Jungayunga, as he handed Anusa a locally-made cigarette of chamba.
The celebrant had no time to ask what the stuff was until the following day when he found himself standing before the magistrate answering questions from law-enforcers for forcing himself on a woman.
It was said that after taking one too much, Anusa decided to bed one or two girls as a way of bidding farewell to village girls as he was now going to secondary school that was far from his home.
One has to spend not less than K1000 to reach the destination. Unfortunately, his new destination was now Maula Prison where he would be for the coming 12 years.
This is but one example of how alcohol and drug abuse can destroy somebody’s future in a short period of time. Abuse of alcohol and drugs have put many young men the world over in serious problems they would never imagine happening to them. Some have found themselves in mental hospitals after taking in too much of pills or smoking chamba wholesale.
Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Earnest Malenga recently told journalist in Lilongwe that Malawi was one of the countries faced with serious drug production, abuse and trafficking in the SADC region.
Malenga explained that about 75 to 80 percent of mental cases in Malawi were a result of alcohol and drug abuse, especially among young people.
“The Rapid Situation Assessment report on Drug Abuse and HIV/AIDS in Malawi conducted by the Centre for Social Research of the University of Malawi undertaken in 2004 revealed that there is massive abuse of drugs in the country,” said the minister when he was signing memorandum of understanding on behalf of government of Malawi with FORUT, an international development organization that is trying to fight alcohol and drug abuse in different countries across the globe.
“There are three main drugs of abuse in Malawi , namely alcohol, cannabis sativa (locally known as chamba) and tobacco,” said Malenga. He added that excessive use of drugs and alcohol has led to many families breaking up, pupils getting expelled from schools and drivers causing unnecessary accidents and high infection rate for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and AIDS.
“The other problem with alcohol is that besides being dangerous to the individual drinker, it is also harmful to those around us such as women, children who bear the brunt of the aggression and violence caused by alcohol and drugs,” explained Malenga.
He blamed the problem on lack of active legislation on the use of alcohol and drugs citing drinking joints which remain open 24 hours because there was no law that guides bar owners on times of opening and closing. Malenga, however, reported that Malawi has now put in place a framework for combating the problem through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drug Control chaired by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security.
He warned that Malawi may risk degenerating into a society of drug addicts if use of alcohol and drugs is not properly managed.
On the MOU he signed on behalf of the government of Malawi, the minister said FORUT was committed to provide the country with technical assistance in the field of alcohol, specifically in areas of research and documentation, competence building, policy development, mobilization and awareness-raising, strengthening of law enforcement institutions and the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drug Control and Eradication of Cannabis Sativa (chamba).
In his remarks, FORUT Secretary General Morten Lonstad said the programme to combat the abuse of alcohol and drugs in Malawi came after Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation had advised the organization to involve countries in Southern Africa .
“Our aim is to build networks of national and international NGOs where ideas, experiences and knowledge on prevention strategies and policy advocacy can be exposed and further developed,” said Lonstad.
He added: “The programme in Malawi aims at linking the ADD issue to other development issues, as the spreading of HIV and AIDS, gender-based violence and children at risk.”
Lonstad promised that his organization will continuously help Malawi with the required assistance in her fight against alcohol and drug abuse.
“There are vested interests such as the alcohol industry, but if we work together, civil society, faith-based organizations, government ministries, politicians, traditional leaders and all stakeholders, I am sure we should be able to map the way forward to prevent and control alcohol and drug abuse in Malawi so that at the end of the day we should reduce cases of violence and other delinquencies resulting from too much consumption of beer or drugs,” said Home Affairs and Internal Security Principal Secretary Martin Mononga echoing the FORUT Secretary General.
“And we expect to have reduced cases of misbehaviours resulting from alcohol and drug abuse thereby reducing criminal acts also,” said Mononga.
END
“On your own plea of guilty, this court finds you guilty and duly convicts you. Before I pass sentence, do you have anything in mitigation?” says First Grade Magistrate Esther Elia Phiri of Lilongwe registry as she straightens her head up to see the reaction of the convict, Anusa.
“Yes worship! I pray to this court to exercise lenience on me because this is my first time to commit a crime. I would also like to confess here that it was not my intention to commit this crime, but I was cheated by my friend who told me chamba gives academic ingenuity,” pleads an 18-year old Anusa while looking down in depression and regret.
“It was my friend, Zonizo, who handed me a cigarette of cannabis sativa to smoke while we were partying…and I did not know it was such a dangerous drug that could put me in such a difficult problem,” he adds
Anusa raises his head up to look at his parents who are sitting in the public gallery. He sees them shedding a tear or two as they try to shy away from his gaze. Though he is pleading for lenience, Anusa knows quite well that the crime he committed just last night, rape with violence, will still earn him separation from his parents and relatives through death penalty.
He is fully aware that if he is lucky enough he will be spared death, but still earn a considerable custodial sentences of not less than ten years for rape attracts a maximum of 14 years imprisonment with hard labour.
“Considering that you are young and that you have had no criminal record before as you and the state have submitted, this court will take these as your mitigating factors.
“This court is also mindful of your tender age and that you still have a future to make, and considering that maximum sentences are reserved for serious criminals, this court is compelled to exercise its lenience on you. I will also consider the factor that you showed remorse by pleading guilty to the charge and that you did not waste court’s time as your mitigating factors,” says magistrate Phiri.
She poses a bit, takes a bottle of water, drinks and puts the container down again.
“But this court feels obliged to pass a meaningful custodial sentence on the convict because cases of rape and women abuse are becoming rampant. This court does not find it necessary to exercise on the convict because he committed the crime under the influence of alcohol and drugs,” she states. She looks the public gallery to see the people’s reaction.
Phiri sees some faces expressing approval of what she is putting forward to Anusa, especially ladies who are most of the times victims of alcohol and drug abuse in families, schools and any other places of entertainment. The convicts’ parents are still tucked in shame while silently shedding tears of deep sorrow. They have to because they also know this is the beginning of a new life in their family.
They will no longer see him. They will not be able to send him to buy something at the grocery. He will be temporarily unavailable for some years. In short, this is the end of their son’s future, or do they just fear?
The magistrate takes a few minutes scribbling some notes on her file, which no one can access with naked eyes from afar. And the court remains quiet with Anusa still standing in the dock with his hands akimbo.
He is visualizing life in prison; life far from parental care at his age when he desperately needs them to pay his school fees. Anusa has heard stories before of people dying in prison due to lack of food resulting from congestion, a problem our country’s reformatories are best known for.
“I am doomed. My future is doomed. God forget the day I was born,” he curses within himself as he awaits his final destination from the magistrate.
After Phiri finishes writing whatever she was writing, she adjusts her sitting posture, drawing the chair closer to the desk. She clears her throat while facing the convict, parents sitting about five metres away the court clerk’s desk.
“This is your verdict,” she announces. “But before I do that, let me stress here that peer pressure is not an excuse for committing crimes and can never be a mitigating factor. Whether you committed a crime with or without help or influence, the court will pass the same sentence on you. It is up to you to choose who your good friend is.”
“I am, therefore, sentencing you to 12 years imprisonment with hard labour with effect from day of your arrest. This sentence shall serve as a warning to young people who think life is about abusing women after drinking or smoking unnecessarily,” concludes magistrate Phiri attracting the convicts’ loud cry.
“Nditengeni ine chonde mwana wanga msiyeni. Ndikagwire ukaidiwo ndineyo (Set him free. Take me instead, I will serve the sentence on his behalf),” says the mother in her grief-stricken tone. But on what crime can the court pass that sentence on her? Well, she can play Jesus, but courts do not believe in human saviours who can die for other people’s crimes.
Anusa was celebrating his selection to secondary school the previous day when his peers cheated him that beer offers maximum entertainment and celebration. So they went to a certain Mtonjane brewer where they guzzled more than enough that they even forgot their names and where they had come from.
“Takagwireni man kuti mtseguke m’maso. Izi zimachotsa manyazi mwene,” said his friend, Jungayunga, as he handed Anusa a locally-made cigarette of chamba.
The celebrant had no time to ask what the stuff was until the following day when he found himself standing before the magistrate answering questions from law-enforcers for forcing himself on a woman.
It was said that after taking one too much, Anusa decided to bed one or two girls as a way of bidding farewell to village girls as he was now going to secondary school that was far from his home.
One has to spend not less than K1000 to reach the destination. Unfortunately, his new destination was now Maula Prison where he would be for the coming 12 years.
This is but one example of how alcohol and drug abuse can destroy somebody’s future in a short period of time. Abuse of alcohol and drugs have put many young men the world over in serious problems they would never imagine happening to them. Some have found themselves in mental hospitals after taking in too much of pills or smoking chamba wholesale.
Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Earnest Malenga recently told journalist in Lilongwe that Malawi was one of the countries faced with serious drug production, abuse and trafficking in the SADC region.
Malenga explained that about 75 to 80 percent of mental cases in Malawi were a result of alcohol and drug abuse, especially among young people.
“The Rapid Situation Assessment report on Drug Abuse and HIV/AIDS in Malawi conducted by the Centre for Social Research of the University of Malawi undertaken in 2004 revealed that there is massive abuse of drugs in the country,” said the minister when he was signing memorandum of understanding on behalf of government of Malawi with FORUT, an international development organization that is trying to fight alcohol and drug abuse in different countries across the globe.
“There are three main drugs of abuse in Malawi , namely alcohol, cannabis sativa (locally known as chamba) and tobacco,” said Malenga. He added that excessive use of drugs and alcohol has led to many families breaking up, pupils getting expelled from schools and drivers causing unnecessary accidents and high infection rate for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and AIDS.
“The other problem with alcohol is that besides being dangerous to the individual drinker, it is also harmful to those around us such as women, children who bear the brunt of the aggression and violence caused by alcohol and drugs,” explained Malenga.
He blamed the problem on lack of active legislation on the use of alcohol and drugs citing drinking joints which remain open 24 hours because there was no law that guides bar owners on times of opening and closing. Malenga, however, reported that Malawi has now put in place a framework for combating the problem through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drug Control chaired by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security.
He warned that Malawi may risk degenerating into a society of drug addicts if use of alcohol and drugs is not properly managed.
On the MOU he signed on behalf of the government of Malawi, the minister said FORUT was committed to provide the country with technical assistance in the field of alcohol, specifically in areas of research and documentation, competence building, policy development, mobilization and awareness-raising, strengthening of law enforcement institutions and the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drug Control and Eradication of Cannabis Sativa (chamba).
In his remarks, FORUT Secretary General Morten Lonstad said the programme to combat the abuse of alcohol and drugs in Malawi came after Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation had advised the organization to involve countries in Southern Africa .
“Our aim is to build networks of national and international NGOs where ideas, experiences and knowledge on prevention strategies and policy advocacy can be exposed and further developed,” said Lonstad.
He added: “The programme in Malawi aims at linking the ADD issue to other development issues, as the spreading of HIV and AIDS, gender-based violence and children at risk.”
Lonstad promised that his organization will continuously help Malawi with the required assistance in her fight against alcohol and drug abuse.
“There are vested interests such as the alcohol industry, but if we work together, civil society, faith-based organizations, government ministries, politicians, traditional leaders and all stakeholders, I am sure we should be able to map the way forward to prevent and control alcohol and drug abuse in Malawi so that at the end of the day we should reduce cases of violence and other delinquencies resulting from too much consumption of beer or drugs,” said Home Affairs and Internal Security Principal Secretary Martin Mononga echoing the FORUT Secretary General.
“And we expect to have reduced cases of misbehaviours resulting from alcohol and drug abuse thereby reducing criminal acts also,” said Mononga.
END
When drugs, alcohol take charge
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
In the Ngoni culture, where Khumbo was born and bred, a woman is suppposed to totally submit to her husband.
So where did Muderanji learn this strange behaviour?
“It's not that I'm denying you deliberately. Please, consider my ill-health,” she tried to reason with him.
“Shut up! Tell me. It's either I do it or you pack your belongings and leave this house,” he countered angrily.
But Khumbo used to be a very loving and caring husband until two years ago when he started drinking beer and using drugs.
Since then every night he comes home drunk, he urinates and vomits in the bed, and when she tells him to go outside he beats her.
Muderanji does not like to sleep with her husband when he is drunk, because he stinks, behaves badly, and she is afraid that he has been cheating on her with other women who may be HIV positive. If she refuses to have sex with him, he forces her.
The Zomba-based Centre for Social Research survey (2008) suggests that women are loyal to their husbands and do their best to be good wives and in that way discourage their husbands from drinking or smoking and being unfaithful, irrational and violent.
However, many drunken husbands have behaved otherwise.
The study on substance use in relation to gender based violence in Malawi by SINTEF Health Research, Norway and Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi in 2008 discovered that men who use substances (most commonly alcohol) are often unable to provide their families with the basic necessities, because they spend much of their income on alcohol.
As a result women and children go hungry, with tattered clothes, and children are sometimes unable to finish their education because of a lack of money.
Some women have started businesses of their own (selling charcoal, nuts, etc.), so that they could make their own money and not be dependent on their husbands.
While this seems to be a good and effective way of empowering women and encouraging men to look after their families, some men, in their drunken state, feel they are outdone. Eventually, they stop their wives to take part in any economic activities.
Others confiscate the very financial capital that a woman had and spend it on drinking thereby depriving a woman her right to participate in economic activities.
Women feel better about themselves and more secure knowing that they can look after themselves, and men may appreciate and respect women more if the women are not completely dependent on them for their own and their children’s survival.
Physical abuse
Drug Fight Malawi Executive Director Nelson Baziwelo Zakeyu says men often get aggressive and irrational when they drink alcohol or smoke chamba, and this leads to misbehaviour.
Zakeyu says many people have complained of drunken men fighting and arguing with other people in the community, but most often they go home to their wives and end up venting their anger on them. The results show that it is not uncommon for women who are married to men who drink and/or smoke to be beaten up or yelled at. Men’s use of alcohol puts their wives at risk of physical abuse.
“We also see from our study that there is a connection between the economic abuse and the physical abuse experienced by women,” said Zakeyu.
According to Zakeyu, some drunkards do not provide their wives with money for food (because they have spent it all on alcohol or drugs), and when they come home drunk or stoned and hungry, there is no food on the table, they get angry and beat their wives for not preparing food for them.
Sexual abuse
The most common abuse is what happens between a husband and a wife is when a drunken man gets home and feels he has the right to have sex with his wife, even if she is sick.
The wife, on the other hand, does not want to have sex with her drunken or stoned husband who behaves strangely or badly and smells.
She may also be afraid that he has been having sex with other women who may be HIV positive.
When she refuses sex he forces her. In some instances, women exacerbate the situation, especially they hold to a belief or culture that it is ‘his right’ although they do not like it themselves.
Many a man admit they often cheat on their wives when they are out drinking. There is a good chance that the bargirls are HIV positive, and that they catch the virus from them, and be in a position to infect their wives with the virus as well.
This kind of sexual abuse is the most common form of abuse women experience, according to Centre for Social Research study.
What should be done?
The above studies indicate that there is a strong connection between men’s use of substances and gender-based violence.
However, in an attempt to minimize the effect on women it is important not just to look at how to reduce men’s use of substances, but also to look at how to empower women.
Several studies from Malawi indicate that Malawian women have a lack of respect for themselves and other women, and that men also share this disrespect for women. Women need to be self-sufficient and be appreciated for the important contribution that they make to the family, to the community and to Malawian society as a whole.
But this could be a reality only if we empower women through education and jobs, enable them to be self sufficient and not dependent on their husbands for survival (to increase men’s respect for women and women’s respect for themselves).
There is also a need to increase efforts on sensitizing masses on sexual abuse, cheating, prostitution in relation to substance use, and how this relates to the spread of HIV and Aids in Malawi.
The government of Malawi has in the past few years focused increased attention on alcohol and drug abuse, through the establishment of an Inter-ministerial Committee on Drug Control (IMCDC), led by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security.
Thus Muderanji can only hope that Khumbo will change one day and reduce the amount of alcohol and drug consumption.
END
 |
| Watipaso: The writer of the article |
Muderanji was so ill, but Khumbo (both not real names) could not listen. He wanted to enjoy his conjugal rights.
So where did Muderanji learn this strange behaviour?
“It's not that I'm denying you deliberately. Please, consider my ill-health,” she tried to reason with him.
“Shut up! Tell me. It's either I do it or you pack your belongings and leave this house,” he countered angrily.
But Khumbo used to be a very loving and caring husband until two years ago when he started drinking beer and using drugs.
Since then every night he comes home drunk, he urinates and vomits in the bed, and when she tells him to go outside he beats her.
Muderanji does not like to sleep with her husband when he is drunk, because he stinks, behaves badly, and she is afraid that he has been cheating on her with other women who may be HIV positive. If she refuses to have sex with him, he forces her.
The Zomba-based Centre for Social Research survey (2008) suggests that women are loyal to their husbands and do their best to be good wives and in that way discourage their husbands from drinking or smoking and being unfaithful, irrational and violent.
However, many drunken husbands have behaved otherwise.
The study on substance use in relation to gender based violence in Malawi by SINTEF Health Research, Norway and Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi in 2008 discovered that men who use substances (most commonly alcohol) are often unable to provide their families with the basic necessities, because they spend much of their income on alcohol.
As a result women and children go hungry, with tattered clothes, and children are sometimes unable to finish their education because of a lack of money.
Some women have started businesses of their own (selling charcoal, nuts, etc.), so that they could make their own money and not be dependent on their husbands.
While this seems to be a good and effective way of empowering women and encouraging men to look after their families, some men, in their drunken state, feel they are outdone. Eventually, they stop their wives to take part in any economic activities.
Others confiscate the very financial capital that a woman had and spend it on drinking thereby depriving a woman her right to participate in economic activities.
Women feel better about themselves and more secure knowing that they can look after themselves, and men may appreciate and respect women more if the women are not completely dependent on them for their own and their children’s survival.
Physical abuse
Drug Fight Malawi Executive Director Nelson Baziwelo Zakeyu says men often get aggressive and irrational when they drink alcohol or smoke chamba, and this leads to misbehaviour.
Zakeyu says many people have complained of drunken men fighting and arguing with other people in the community, but most often they go home to their wives and end up venting their anger on them. The results show that it is not uncommon for women who are married to men who drink and/or smoke to be beaten up or yelled at. Men’s use of alcohol puts their wives at risk of physical abuse.
“We also see from our study that there is a connection between the economic abuse and the physical abuse experienced by women,” said Zakeyu.
According to Zakeyu, some drunkards do not provide their wives with money for food (because they have spent it all on alcohol or drugs), and when they come home drunk or stoned and hungry, there is no food on the table, they get angry and beat their wives for not preparing food for them.
Sexual abuse
The most common abuse is what happens between a husband and a wife is when a drunken man gets home and feels he has the right to have sex with his wife, even if she is sick.
The wife, on the other hand, does not want to have sex with her drunken or stoned husband who behaves strangely or badly and smells.
She may also be afraid that he has been having sex with other women who may be HIV positive.
When she refuses sex he forces her. In some instances, women exacerbate the situation, especially they hold to a belief or culture that it is ‘his right’ although they do not like it themselves.
Many a man admit they often cheat on their wives when they are out drinking. There is a good chance that the bargirls are HIV positive, and that they catch the virus from them, and be in a position to infect their wives with the virus as well.
This kind of sexual abuse is the most common form of abuse women experience, according to Centre for Social Research study.
What should be done?
The above studies indicate that there is a strong connection between men’s use of substances and gender-based violence.
However, in an attempt to minimize the effect on women it is important not just to look at how to reduce men’s use of substances, but also to look at how to empower women.
Several studies from Malawi indicate that Malawian women have a lack of respect for themselves and other women, and that men also share this disrespect for women. Women need to be self-sufficient and be appreciated for the important contribution that they make to the family, to the community and to Malawian society as a whole.
But this could be a reality only if we empower women through education and jobs, enable them to be self sufficient and not dependent on their husbands for survival (to increase men’s respect for women and women’s respect for themselves).
There is also a need to increase efforts on sensitizing masses on sexual abuse, cheating, prostitution in relation to substance use, and how this relates to the spread of HIV and Aids in Malawi.
The government of Malawi has in the past few years focused increased attention on alcohol and drug abuse, through the establishment of an Inter-ministerial Committee on Drug Control (IMCDC), led by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security.
Thus Muderanji can only hope that Khumbo will change one day and reduce the amount of alcohol and drug consumption.
END
Agribusiness : Domesticating afforestation to fight climate change
 |
| Roes Bell talking to journalists |
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
“Kunali nkhalango zachilengedwe koma zonse zinatha kale….Amaalawi titani pokweza dziko lathu mwanzeru? Tidzale mitengo yambiri. Uko kumpoto ku Karonga, apo pakati Lilongwe, kuno kumwera ku Thyolo, tidzale mitengo yambiri….,” the song went.
These were members of Nkaombe Village Forestry Club in the area of Traditional Authority Bvumbwe in Thyolo during the Income Generating Public Works Programme (IGPWP) field day recently.
Apparently, people in the rural areas have realized the need to take a leading role in fighting the effects of climate change by planting more trees.
Every country, including Malawi, is grappling with the effects of climate change. Locally, parents do tell how weather has changed (not for better, but for worse). Change in climate has and continues to negatively affect the agricultural activities worldwide.
“We used to have rains by this time. This is not the case now. Every year, we’ve to grapple with erratic rains that result in low crop yield,” said Traditional Authority (T/A) Bvumbwe.
Human activities such as burning of coal, oil, and natural gas, as well as deforestation and various agricultural and industrial practices, are altering the composition of the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. These human activities have led to increased atmospheric concentrations of a number of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and ozone in the lower part of the atmosphere.
The result is that people in the agricultural areas have failed to yield enough both for commercial and home use because of erratic rains.
However, instead of taking responsibility for their actions such as replanting of trees where they cut, people treated afforestation programmes as government’s responsibility. This was the more reason why people could not domesticate afforestation initiatives. But there is no denying that trees play a major component in rain formation process.
With this realization in mind, Income Generating Public Works Programme (IGPWP) sought financial assistance from the European Union (EU) to facilitate the formation of 1,600 forestry clubs countrywide.
IGPWP Forestry Manager Rose Bell said the aim of the programme is to replenish the natural forests while, at the same time, empowering rural masses with necessary skills that would eventually help them champion development initiatives in their localities.
According to Bell, in the programme’s initial package, each club receives materials for raising seedlings, provision of fruit tree and neem seedlings as well as polythene tubes and tree seed.
Bonuses are paid for the first two crops during nursery establishment between November and December. The clubs get other bonuses in March, April and September of the year of planting and finally in September of the year after planting.
It is this input package provided to the club valued at MK54, 320 that propelled Nkaombe Forestry Club to plant 14,121 trees. And with the performance-based bonuses totalling MK74,000, the members bought six sows to start a piggery project.
“Our plan is to distribute the piglets amongst ourselves so that every member personally benefits from the project,” said Rhoda Nkaombe, Secretary of the club. Thus people in Nkaombe can boast that they have successfully domesticated the tree-planting initiative into their village development committees (VDCs) without much hassle.
What is unique about this club, though, is that while it is men who usually dominate in development projects, women are the ones taking a leading role in Nkaombe afforestation programme.
Of the 60 members, only seven are men.
“We, as men, never thought this would benefit us. Actually, we considered it as women’s affair while we took our time drinking beer,” confessed Henry Kasamba, one of Traditional Authority (T/A) Bvumbwe’s counselors.
But Kasamba sounded apologetic when he said: “It’s sad that while we bear much responsibility for cutting down of trees in the society, we take a backstage in tree-planting projects.”
Nkaombe Village is a home to 4,729. On average, every person has planted about three treesMaybe it is befitting for women to take a leading role in the initiative for they are the ones who pay the worst price of deforestation. They are the ones who walk long distances to fetch firewood while men are exchanging calabash-full of chikokeyani at home.
Even Bell explained that village afforestation programmes could play a critical role in empowering women in different ways.
“For those in tobacco farming, village forests provide stakes used for drying their leaf. Once this project is fully domesticated, women won’t need to travel long distances to fetch firewood.
“Thus women will have enough to do other things that can help in developing their families. Our idea is to reach every village with this initiative so that every village has a forest of its own,” she said.
Besides, performance-based bonuses, which are paid into club accounts, have offered women a window of opportunity for them to invest in other income generation activities.
Bell stated that final decision on usage of funds lies with the clubs.
“Other clubs have gone into bee keeping, fruit tree propagation, production of fuelwood saving stoves, among others,” she disclosed.
Since inception, IGPWP Forestry Project has realized the planting of 37,500,000 countrywide. Total expenditure for the programm estimates is MK329.5 million while budget for current programme Mk141.8 million.
Out of the total budget, MK128,556,777 was paid out as performance-based bonuses to the 1600 clubs.
T/A Bvumbwe said afforestation programmes had come at the right time when his people are grappling with the effects of climate change such as persistent droughts.
Thyolo was one of the districts that were hit by droughts that resulted in poor crop yields in the last growing season.
“My role as a traditional leader now is to allocate more land for these people to plant more trees. I’ll allocate any uncultivated land to afforestation programme,” he said.
Bvumbwe thanked IGPWP for introducing village afforestation programme in his area saying it has helped in economically empowering women.
END
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Nagging wives drive hubbies into beer
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Maupo Chisambi, 24, perched up on a tall stool in a local bar at New College Inn in Blantyre, grabbed a Chibuku Packet, pulled a long sip before recounting how he found himself enslaved to beer-drinking.
“Mine was a nagging wife that I could hardly sleep without taking a little beer,” Chisambi started although nobody asked him.
And he continued: “She’s too demanding! When our neighbours had meat, she, too, demanded that I buy meat. When I told her I didn’t have, she insulted and called me a pauper. I had no choice, but to dump her.”
Chisambi, then living at Bangwe, relocated to Chiwembe leaving behind his wife and two kids without a sure source of money. He could have been accused of violating his wife’s and children’s rights if he sent them away.
This is the more reason why Chisambi chose to relocate to another place than send the spouse to her parents.
“You know this Chewa proverb? Wakhungu akati ndikuswa ndiye waponda mwala (It’s only when the blind steps on a stone that he can threaten to throw at you),” he justified.
Chisambi’s interpretation of the situation was that the wife had found someone who offered more than what he could provide. Otherwise she couldn’t call him a pauper six years into their marriage.
Today, beer has become part of the disappointed husband’s life. He confessed that he cannot sleep without it because then he would be thinking about the family problems he had with his wife.
Chisambi could be just one in a pool of husbands whose marriages tumbled upside down because of the nagging behaviour of their wives.
Fr. Henry Saindi of the Catholic Church says his understanding of a nagging woman is “a woman who continually complains and always finds faults with her husband”.
“It is a woman who is shrewish or ill-natured,” Fr. Saindi adds.
But the priest clarifies saying this attitude cannot be attributed to wives only because there are men also who have same attitude. Like a nagging wives, some husbands, too, always seek to find a fault in whatever their wives do.
He cautions that nagging is an attitude which should not be condoned. It must be rejected by married couples.
“Nagging really can refuel marriage breakups. It’s a bad attitude towards the other be it husband or wife. Married people should always understand that they cannot find a perfect partner without any fault. Each person has his/her strengths and weaknesses. The capacity to understand and forgive the other person is the beginning of marriage happiness,” advises Fr. Saindi who is currently studying in Rome.
“Both have a role to play in order to shape the attitude of the other person. They must help each other to grow in good attitude,” he adds.
Fr. Saindi dismisses Chisambi’s thinking that excessive beer-drinking is a solution to family problems. Excessive beer drinking adds more problems and Maupo accepts this fact.
Why men bear responsibility for marriage breakups
Every person goes into marriage with the hopes of having a joyful and lasting relationship. Sadly though, many marriages have ended in divorce or incurable separations.
When such situations happen, men have, for years immemorial, earned themselves the reputation of being responsible for their marriage breakups. Women, on the other hand, are always regarded as victims and continue to enjoy sympathy from gender and human rights’ activists.
Cultural and traditional beliefs have also contributed to this line of thinking where husbands are looked at as a “beast” ready to do his spouse harm.
There are many factors that would usually lead to divorce or separation.
Money
In his contribution on askmen.com, a relationship correspondent Curt Smith says couples seem to always have endless discussions and conflicts over who should take charge of finances in the family. This coupled with miscommunication results in misunderstandings that usually end up breaking the family.
Incompatibilities
Failing to deal with and accept incompatibilities will naturally erode the marriage relationship. Couples must strive to change what they can and accept what they can’t.
Love and forgiveness, to this effect, is the key. There’s no denying that there are some people who enter into marriage unions without fully understanding what they entail. Many prospective brides and grooms are ignorant of the reality of marriage relationships.
Thus they don’t appreciate that no marriage will be free from problems and disagreements.
An American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family, Dr. James Dobson Jnr, once wrote: “There are two kinds of people in the world, the givers and the takers. A marriage between two givers can be a beautiful thing. Friction is the order of the day, however, for a giver and a take”.
Dobson Jnr observed that selfishness is, in most cases, the cause for the devastation of a marriage every time.
What to do with insubordinate, ruthlessn wives
In of his letters to the Corinthians, St. Paul said “God has established an order of authority, the principle of male headship, both in the church and the home” (1 Corinthians 11:3). This means that man is the head of the woman.
Some marriages have broken up because women refused to observe this status quo thus failing to submit themselves to husbands. Where a husband cannot compromise, the result is end of marriage.
But Fr. Saindi thinks marriage dissolution is not the best option. He advises married couples should cultivate a spirit of contact and dialogue amongst themselves as the first step before taking their problems to others.
“Not all problems can be solved by others. The couple holds the key to solving its problems. If this fails, then there are marriage counsellors who should act as pillars to building marriage relationships.
“The ladder continues up to the Church set up. At least the Catholic Church, I am not very sure about the other churches, arranges on special days to listen to pastoral problems including marriage problems,” says Fr. Saindi.
But will Maupo Chisambi go back to dialogue with his estranged wife?
“I’ll find another woman. Why should I worry much about her as if women for marriage have finished? You’ll be the same to call me stupid if I go back to her,” pondered Chisambi before picking up his Chibuku packet to take another sip.
END
Maupo Chisambi, 24, perched up on a tall stool in a local bar at New College Inn in Blantyre, grabbed a Chibuku Packet, pulled a long sip before recounting how he found himself enslaved to beer-drinking.
“Mine was a nagging wife that I could hardly sleep without taking a little beer,” Chisambi started although nobody asked him.
And he continued: “She’s too demanding! When our neighbours had meat, she, too, demanded that I buy meat. When I told her I didn’t have, she insulted and called me a pauper. I had no choice, but to dump her.”
Chisambi, then living at Bangwe, relocated to Chiwembe leaving behind his wife and two kids without a sure source of money. He could have been accused of violating his wife’s and children’s rights if he sent them away.
This is the more reason why Chisambi chose to relocate to another place than send the spouse to her parents.
“You know this Chewa proverb? Wakhungu akati ndikuswa ndiye waponda mwala (It’s only when the blind steps on a stone that he can threaten to throw at you),” he justified.
Chisambi’s interpretation of the situation was that the wife had found someone who offered more than what he could provide. Otherwise she couldn’t call him a pauper six years into their marriage.
Today, beer has become part of the disappointed husband’s life. He confessed that he cannot sleep without it because then he would be thinking about the family problems he had with his wife.
Chisambi could be just one in a pool of husbands whose marriages tumbled upside down because of the nagging behaviour of their wives.
Fr. Henry Saindi of the Catholic Church says his understanding of a nagging woman is “a woman who continually complains and always finds faults with her husband”.
“It is a woman who is shrewish or ill-natured,” Fr. Saindi adds.
But the priest clarifies saying this attitude cannot be attributed to wives only because there are men also who have same attitude. Like a nagging wives, some husbands, too, always seek to find a fault in whatever their wives do.
He cautions that nagging is an attitude which should not be condoned. It must be rejected by married couples.
“Nagging really can refuel marriage breakups. It’s a bad attitude towards the other be it husband or wife. Married people should always understand that they cannot find a perfect partner without any fault. Each person has his/her strengths and weaknesses. The capacity to understand and forgive the other person is the beginning of marriage happiness,” advises Fr. Saindi who is currently studying in Rome.
“Both have a role to play in order to shape the attitude of the other person. They must help each other to grow in good attitude,” he adds.
Fr. Saindi dismisses Chisambi’s thinking that excessive beer-drinking is a solution to family problems. Excessive beer drinking adds more problems and Maupo accepts this fact.
Why men bear responsibility for marriage breakups
Every person goes into marriage with the hopes of having a joyful and lasting relationship. Sadly though, many marriages have ended in divorce or incurable separations.
When such situations happen, men have, for years immemorial, earned themselves the reputation of being responsible for their marriage breakups. Women, on the other hand, are always regarded as victims and continue to enjoy sympathy from gender and human rights’ activists.
Cultural and traditional beliefs have also contributed to this line of thinking where husbands are looked at as a “beast” ready to do his spouse harm.
There are many factors that would usually lead to divorce or separation.
Money
In his contribution on askmen.com, a relationship correspondent Curt Smith says couples seem to always have endless discussions and conflicts over who should take charge of finances in the family. This coupled with miscommunication results in misunderstandings that usually end up breaking the family.
Incompatibilities
Failing to deal with and accept incompatibilities will naturally erode the marriage relationship. Couples must strive to change what they can and accept what they can’t.
Love and forgiveness, to this effect, is the key. There’s no denying that there are some people who enter into marriage unions without fully understanding what they entail. Many prospective brides and grooms are ignorant of the reality of marriage relationships.
Thus they don’t appreciate that no marriage will be free from problems and disagreements.
An American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family, Dr. James Dobson Jnr, once wrote: “There are two kinds of people in the world, the givers and the takers. A marriage between two givers can be a beautiful thing. Friction is the order of the day, however, for a giver and a take”.
Dobson Jnr observed that selfishness is, in most cases, the cause for the devastation of a marriage every time.
What to do with insubordinate, ruthlessn wives
In of his letters to the Corinthians, St. Paul said “God has established an order of authority, the principle of male headship, both in the church and the home” (1 Corinthians 11:3). This means that man is the head of the woman.
Some marriages have broken up because women refused to observe this status quo thus failing to submit themselves to husbands. Where a husband cannot compromise, the result is end of marriage.
But Fr. Saindi thinks marriage dissolution is not the best option. He advises married couples should cultivate a spirit of contact and dialogue amongst themselves as the first step before taking their problems to others.
“Not all problems can be solved by others. The couple holds the key to solving its problems. If this fails, then there are marriage counsellors who should act as pillars to building marriage relationships.
“The ladder continues up to the Church set up. At least the Catholic Church, I am not very sure about the other churches, arranges on special days to listen to pastoral problems including marriage problems,” says Fr. Saindi.
But will Maupo Chisambi go back to dialogue with his estranged wife?
“I’ll find another woman. Why should I worry much about her as if women for marriage have finished? You’ll be the same to call me stupid if I go back to her,” pondered Chisambi before picking up his Chibuku packet to take another sip.
END
Power all day everyday in Chitala, blackouts in Blantyre
Rural Development Feature
As investors, manufacturers and town and city residents continue to grapple with the reality of endless power failures, people in Chitala Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Khombedza in Salima and their counterparts in Makunganya Village in the area of T/A Mulumbe in Zomba have power all day every day. They are using solar energy thus the word “blackouts” does not exist in people from the two villages. Our reporter Watipaso Mzungu Jnr visited the two villages and he writes:
There can hardly be any meaningful economic development in a country where its electricity system is not reliable. Economic development has been intrinsically coupled to electricity use.
In Malawi, though, severe power shortages and rolling blackouts have become a daily occurrence around the country as the antiquated power grid is continuously stretched beyond its means.
In 2009, Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) decided to drag Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) to court over its catchphrase—power all day everyday—because, according to consumers’ watchdog, the label was a mockery to consumers as a day hardly passes without experiencing a blackout.
But while people in urban areas, industries and manufacturers struggle to come to terms with the sickening blackouts, people in Chitala Village in T/A Khombedza in Salima and Makunganya Village in T/A Mulumbe in Zomba have power all day every day generated from the sun—solar power.
People from the two villages do not even know what the words blackout and power outage stand for because that does not exist in their vocabulary.
Jane Kwazizira Banda, 45, of Chitala Village used to spend K800 per month on kerosene only to light his house and K900 to charge his mobile phone.
The village is about 20 km away from Salima, but Banda used to cycle or even board a bus to the town to charge his phone battery. A mobile phone is fast becoming a necessity and so she couldn't do without it.
But the situation is completely different today. Banda's house has light 24 hours every day generated from solar.
“It was not easy to provide for my family while at the same time maintain my cell phone. It seemed to me that the gadget was consuming more money than what I would spend on toiletries and other basic needs for my family,” Banda said in an interview.
Malawi’s electricity uptake
Despite energy being lifeblood of economic development of every nation, access to electricity in Malawi remains low.
Statistics show that only 8 percent of the total population has an access to electrical energy. Of this, only one percent is in the rural areas.
The situation presented above means that the majority of the country’s population has no access to any form of electricity.
Usually, the unserved population tends to rely on other alternative energy sources for their convenience and common among such sources include paraffin for lighting; firewood and charcoal for cooking.
Unfortunately though, these energy sources have contributed negatively to environmental degradation across the country.
Solar energy seen from this perspective of alternative sources offers a potentially attractive solution to the energy problems that Malawi is currently facing.
Currently, it is estimated that only about 0.02 percent of the population has access to solar electricity.
Speaking in Chitala Village last year when he officially launched the project that Centre for Community Organization and Development (CCODE) initiated to improve energy services delivery in the rural communities, Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Environment Grain Malunga said this is far below the SADC overall average of 20 percent.
Malunga observed that if Malawi is to achieve meaningful economic development, rural transformation, production enhancement and poverty reduction, there is urgent need to increase access to electricity by the rural populace.
“All the developed countries have reached where they are today because they, first of all, developed their energy sector,” he said adding, “For Malawi and other countries in the region, the full potential of the energy sector has remained far from being realized”.
Very unfortunate indeed to note that electricity generation and consumption in Malawi have steadily risen, placing an increased burden on a transmission system that was not designed to carry such a large load.
Growth in electricity demand and investment in new power plants has not been matched by investment in new transmission facilities.
It is a fact that very few major transmission projects have been constructed and, as a result, transmission capacity has failed to keep pace with the expansion of power demand.
People will continue enduring these blackouts because since 2000 nothing happened in terms of adding capacity.
“Malawians will have to wait for five or more years because it's not like equipment for hydropower is taken from the shelves--(not readily available),” Malunga told the media in April this year.
It is doubtful, therefore, to assume that at least a target of 10 percent access rate of electricity will be achieved through rural electrification by the year 2010 as stated in the Energy Policy Document.
But as every Malawian is looking with keen interest how government will achieve this, CCODE executive director, Siku Nkhoma, believes promoting the use of renewable energy sources such as solar electricity is one of the most convenient forms of alternative energy sources.
Solar power is quickly gaining popularity all over the globe. It is said to be growing at a rate of 2 percent per year, and if the figures continue to grow, solar energy will be the preferred source of energy worldwide, the May 7, 2008 issue of Energy Bulletin says.
Government of Malawi had last year removed taxes on importation of all solar equipment as a way of enhancing affordability and adoption of solar energy.
Most modern nations are encouraging people to rely on this renewable resource so that they can save more and help conserve the environment.
Energy and women
Energy is a major component of the quality of life and it is becoming increasingly evident that renewable coupled with energy efficiency are important elements of a sustainable future.
As more and more women take part in matters of national development, it is imperative to equip them with skills relevant for transforming their lives.
It is with this spirit in mind that Ccode sent a ten-member team of semi-illiterate women to Barefoot College in India where they read for solar installation and maintenance for six months.
The technical expertise these women acquired from their training has started bearing fruits last year when they installed solar power in their respective areas of Dedza, Salima and Zomba districts.
Ccode director said with financial assistance from Trocaire, UNDP Global Environment Fund (GEF), Cara Malawi, and Barefoot College of India, her organization targets 135 families in Chitala and Chimonjo villages in Salima, 100 families in Kaphuka in Dedza while 81 families in Makunganya village in Zomba.
“The success of this pilot project will help us determine our next step to try to make this source of energy reach as many as households as possible. The advantage is that we use semi-illiterate women in their localities to learn how to maintain in case of faults and other problems.
“This, in a way, is to try to empower women with skills necessary for transforming their livelihoods,” said Nkhoma.
In March this year, these semi-illiterate women made Malawi proud when Ccode emerged the winner of the Best Rural Electrification Project after beating 75 other contenders from different African countries with its outstanding work in what has been dubbed as "Ccode-Barefoot College Project".
At the award presentation, which took place on Wednesday, March 17 in Johannesburg, South Africa at Sandton Hotel, Africa Energy Awards said the award recognises excellence in energy service delivery Malawi has demonstrated that it is committed to provide affordable electricity to the rural masses.
Solar power appears to be the most affordable form of energy for the rural people as hydroelectric power is not just expensive but also unreliable. And women involvement in energy issues is also a form of empowerment as they can now work as solar engineers in their respective areas.
As Industrious women in Makunganya attested, solar power has brought a difference in their socioeconomic lives.
“I’ve opened a barbershop from where I’m earning more than what some employees in town don’t receive,” said Maduka.
“People can come to have their hair cut anytime. We don’t have blackouts here and this helps our business to remain stable,” she boasts.
Thus, while barbershops are closing in Ndirande, Namiwawa residents are grumbling over the continued and sickening blackouts, there is power all day everyday in the rural areas of Salima, Dedza and Zomba. The word “blackouts” does not exist in Chitala, Chimonjo and Makunganya villages, thanks to Barefoot Women Solar Engineers Village Electrification Project.
End
As investors, manufacturers and town and city residents continue to grapple with the reality of endless power failures, people in Chitala Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Khombedza in Salima and their counterparts in Makunganya Village in the area of T/A Mulumbe in Zomba have power all day every day. They are using solar energy thus the word “blackouts” does not exist in people from the two villages. Our reporter Watipaso Mzungu Jnr visited the two villages and he writes:
There can hardly be any meaningful economic development in a country where its electricity system is not reliable. Economic development has been intrinsically coupled to electricity use.
In Malawi, though, severe power shortages and rolling blackouts have become a daily occurrence around the country as the antiquated power grid is continuously stretched beyond its means.
In 2009, Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) decided to drag Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) to court over its catchphrase—power all day everyday—because, according to consumers’ watchdog, the label was a mockery to consumers as a day hardly passes without experiencing a blackout.
But while people in urban areas, industries and manufacturers struggle to come to terms with the sickening blackouts, people in Chitala Village in T/A Khombedza in Salima and Makunganya Village in T/A Mulumbe in Zomba have power all day every day generated from the sun—solar power.
People from the two villages do not even know what the words blackout and power outage stand for because that does not exist in their vocabulary.
Jane Kwazizira Banda, 45, of Chitala Village used to spend K800 per month on kerosene only to light his house and K900 to charge his mobile phone.
The village is about 20 km away from Salima, but Banda used to cycle or even board a bus to the town to charge his phone battery. A mobile phone is fast becoming a necessity and so she couldn't do without it.
But the situation is completely different today. Banda's house has light 24 hours every day generated from solar.
“It was not easy to provide for my family while at the same time maintain my cell phone. It seemed to me that the gadget was consuming more money than what I would spend on toiletries and other basic needs for my family,” Banda said in an interview.
Malawi’s electricity uptake
Despite energy being lifeblood of economic development of every nation, access to electricity in Malawi remains low.
Statistics show that only 8 percent of the total population has an access to electrical energy. Of this, only one percent is in the rural areas.
The situation presented above means that the majority of the country’s population has no access to any form of electricity.
Usually, the unserved population tends to rely on other alternative energy sources for their convenience and common among such sources include paraffin for lighting; firewood and charcoal for cooking.
Unfortunately though, these energy sources have contributed negatively to environmental degradation across the country.
Solar energy seen from this perspective of alternative sources offers a potentially attractive solution to the energy problems that Malawi is currently facing.
Currently, it is estimated that only about 0.02 percent of the population has access to solar electricity.
Speaking in Chitala Village last year when he officially launched the project that Centre for Community Organization and Development (CCODE) initiated to improve energy services delivery in the rural communities, Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Environment Grain Malunga said this is far below the SADC overall average of 20 percent.
Malunga observed that if Malawi is to achieve meaningful economic development, rural transformation, production enhancement and poverty reduction, there is urgent need to increase access to electricity by the rural populace.
“All the developed countries have reached where they are today because they, first of all, developed their energy sector,” he said adding, “For Malawi and other countries in the region, the full potential of the energy sector has remained far from being realized”.
Very unfortunate indeed to note that electricity generation and consumption in Malawi have steadily risen, placing an increased burden on a transmission system that was not designed to carry such a large load.
Growth in electricity demand and investment in new power plants has not been matched by investment in new transmission facilities.
It is a fact that very few major transmission projects have been constructed and, as a result, transmission capacity has failed to keep pace with the expansion of power demand.
People will continue enduring these blackouts because since 2000 nothing happened in terms of adding capacity.
“Malawians will have to wait for five or more years because it's not like equipment for hydropower is taken from the shelves--(not readily available),” Malunga told the media in April this year.
It is doubtful, therefore, to assume that at least a target of 10 percent access rate of electricity will be achieved through rural electrification by the year 2010 as stated in the Energy Policy Document.
But as every Malawian is looking with keen interest how government will achieve this, CCODE executive director, Siku Nkhoma, believes promoting the use of renewable energy sources such as solar electricity is one of the most convenient forms of alternative energy sources.
Solar power is quickly gaining popularity all over the globe. It is said to be growing at a rate of 2 percent per year, and if the figures continue to grow, solar energy will be the preferred source of energy worldwide, the May 7, 2008 issue of Energy Bulletin says.
Government of Malawi had last year removed taxes on importation of all solar equipment as a way of enhancing affordability and adoption of solar energy.
Most modern nations are encouraging people to rely on this renewable resource so that they can save more and help conserve the environment.
Energy and women
Energy is a major component of the quality of life and it is becoming increasingly evident that renewable coupled with energy efficiency are important elements of a sustainable future.
As more and more women take part in matters of national development, it is imperative to equip them with skills relevant for transforming their lives.
It is with this spirit in mind that Ccode sent a ten-member team of semi-illiterate women to Barefoot College in India where they read for solar installation and maintenance for six months.
The technical expertise these women acquired from their training has started bearing fruits last year when they installed solar power in their respective areas of Dedza, Salima and Zomba districts.
Ccode director said with financial assistance from Trocaire, UNDP Global Environment Fund (GEF), Cara Malawi, and Barefoot College of India, her organization targets 135 families in Chitala and Chimonjo villages in Salima, 100 families in Kaphuka in Dedza while 81 families in Makunganya village in Zomba.
“The success of this pilot project will help us determine our next step to try to make this source of energy reach as many as households as possible. The advantage is that we use semi-illiterate women in their localities to learn how to maintain in case of faults and other problems.
“This, in a way, is to try to empower women with skills necessary for transforming their livelihoods,” said Nkhoma.
In March this year, these semi-illiterate women made Malawi proud when Ccode emerged the winner of the Best Rural Electrification Project after beating 75 other contenders from different African countries with its outstanding work in what has been dubbed as "Ccode-Barefoot College Project".
At the award presentation, which took place on Wednesday, March 17 in Johannesburg, South Africa at Sandton Hotel, Africa Energy Awards said the award recognises excellence in energy service delivery Malawi has demonstrated that it is committed to provide affordable electricity to the rural masses.
Solar power appears to be the most affordable form of energy for the rural people as hydroelectric power is not just expensive but also unreliable. And women involvement in energy issues is also a form of empowerment as they can now work as solar engineers in their respective areas.
As Industrious women in Makunganya attested, solar power has brought a difference in their socioeconomic lives.
“I’ve opened a barbershop from where I’m earning more than what some employees in town don’t receive,” said Maduka.
“People can come to have their hair cut anytime. We don’t have blackouts here and this helps our business to remain stable,” she boasts.
Thus, while barbershops are closing in Ndirande, Namiwawa residents are grumbling over the continued and sickening blackouts, there is power all day everyday in the rural areas of Salima, Dedza and Zomba. The word “blackouts” does not exist in Chitala, Chimonjo and Makunganya villages, thanks to Barefoot Women Solar Engineers Village Electrification Project.
End
Dilemma of children in parentectomy
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
A parentectomy is the cruellest infringement upon children's rights to be carried out against human children by human adults. Actually, parentectomies are psychologically lethal to both children and parents.
Dr. Frank S. Williams, M.D. Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst, defines parentectomy as the removal, erasure, or severe diminution of a caring parent in a child's life, following separation or divorce.
Williams says children whose parents have separated or divorced feel abandoned by a loved and needed parent, and unusually resent and become depressed over the abandonment.
When a parentectomy occurs, children lose the rewarding ongoing opportunity to give and receive love to and from a parent.
Usually, before parents divorce, they would fight over custody of children. In the worst scenario of parentectomy, the victim parent gives up and walks away from the surgically-minded adults and the victim children.
When this happens, the victim parent walks away from the chronic warring battlefield with intense ambivalence and confusion, faced with an insoluble dilemma.
He or she knows that the chronic war in which one parent tries to erase the other, and the other parent struggles to stave off parentectomy, is itself destructive to the children, as it causes ongoing tension and stress in them, as well as in the ongoing interaction between the children and each of their parents.
On the other hand, if a mother or father gives up and walks away from the war, the children feel abandoned by a loved and needed parent, and usually resent and become depressed over the abandonment.
Although Andrew Ntaja (not real surname) hates to see his parents fighting and prays for them to stop, he always misinterprets a parent's giving up the fight as that parent's not caring enough about them.
Andrew is frequently depressed - especially in later adolescence. At times, his depression reaches suicidal proportions.
In his clinical work, Dr. Williams discovered a very high correlation between suicidality in adolescents and a divorce in their earlier years, which virtually results in one parent being erased from their lives.
Such children would often lack self esteem, particularly if they believe the erased parent willfully abandoned them, or when the remaining parent behaves as if the erased parent never existed or never loved and cared for the children.
Children with parentectomies often go on to mistrust and fail in adult intimate relationships, this is for several reasons. First, they tend to see people as good or bad, right or wrong, loving or hateful, worthy of gratitude or worthy of punishment.
Secondly, they have usually witnessed models of adult relationships based on mutual accusations and defensiveness, as opposed to the healthier model of tolerating ambivalence about the good and bad in others and in oneself.
Some parents may continue fighting for their children, but sometimes they would give up because they are emotionally depleted, physically exhausted, worn out, depressed or financially drained; they don't want to continue to subject their children to the relentless warring; they discover that they have little chance of success against a prejudiced legal or judicial system.
In cases of parental alienation, children may leave home prematurely or turn against the "favoured' parent later in life. Their turning against the one favoured parent may come about in later adolescence, when they realize they were "brainwashed" victims caused by a malicious, angry, or disturbed parent, to unjustifiably hate the other parent.
Dr. Williams recommends that children be raised in one home as it provides stability and continuity. He contends that when parents divorce, the children cannot enjoy the benefit of both parents living with them in the same home.
“Therefore, shuttling between homes may be inevitable. In divorce, we usually do not have the option of choosing what is in the best interest of the children. Instead, we most often must choose the least detrimental of several detrimental options.
“This is especially so when a child has been psychologically bonded to two parents. Of two potential evils for children - the evil of shuttling between the homes of two loving, caring parents versus the evil of losing one such parent - certainly the lesser evil is shuttling between two homes,” observes the psychiatrist.
Williams says it is the continued parental bonding, not the number of homes or vehicular travel, which will be the crucial determinant of children's forward psychological development following divorce.
In these days, when both parents frequently work, and rely on sharing the child-rearing with each other, with other family members and with housekeepers and day care personnel, the concept of one "primary psychological caretaker" is outdated.
Frequently there are two psychological caretakers or a network of caretakers, supervised by two parents.
Stepparents
The appearance of a potential stepmother or stepfather on the scene is highly threatening to parental identity. This is especially so when that newcomer has a great need to parent. Hearing one's children refer to a step parent as "mommy" or "daddy", often triggers the search for the parental scalpel.
Recently, an influential man had to fight with his ex-lover over a child because all along the child had been in the custody of a stepfather. After coming to his senses, the influential father couldn’t let his child continue suffering under a poor stepfather.
Although this man contended that he didn’t want his child to live with a stepfather, what he might have forgotten is that his child will still suffer the pain of growing without the mother.
It will be extremely agonizing if the child finds that the stepmother is cruel that life was better in the care of the stepfather.
This is the fact many parents do not consider before they choose to separate or divorce. Unless a parent in custody of the children chooses to remain single forever, their kids will still suffer the agony of being raised by a stepparent; and lose one parent’s love and care.
END
A parentectomy is the cruellest infringement upon children's rights to be carried out against human children by human adults. Actually, parentectomies are psychologically lethal to both children and parents.
Dr. Frank S. Williams, M.D. Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst, defines parentectomy as the removal, erasure, or severe diminution of a caring parent in a child's life, following separation or divorce.
Williams says children whose parents have separated or divorced feel abandoned by a loved and needed parent, and unusually resent and become depressed over the abandonment.
When a parentectomy occurs, children lose the rewarding ongoing opportunity to give and receive love to and from a parent.
Usually, before parents divorce, they would fight over custody of children. In the worst scenario of parentectomy, the victim parent gives up and walks away from the surgically-minded adults and the victim children.
When this happens, the victim parent walks away from the chronic warring battlefield with intense ambivalence and confusion, faced with an insoluble dilemma.
He or she knows that the chronic war in which one parent tries to erase the other, and the other parent struggles to stave off parentectomy, is itself destructive to the children, as it causes ongoing tension and stress in them, as well as in the ongoing interaction between the children and each of their parents.
On the other hand, if a mother or father gives up and walks away from the war, the children feel abandoned by a loved and needed parent, and usually resent and become depressed over the abandonment.
Although Andrew Ntaja (not real surname) hates to see his parents fighting and prays for them to stop, he always misinterprets a parent's giving up the fight as that parent's not caring enough about them.
Andrew is frequently depressed - especially in later adolescence. At times, his depression reaches suicidal proportions.
In his clinical work, Dr. Williams discovered a very high correlation between suicidality in adolescents and a divorce in their earlier years, which virtually results in one parent being erased from their lives.
Such children would often lack self esteem, particularly if they believe the erased parent willfully abandoned them, or when the remaining parent behaves as if the erased parent never existed or never loved and cared for the children.
Children with parentectomies often go on to mistrust and fail in adult intimate relationships, this is for several reasons. First, they tend to see people as good or bad, right or wrong, loving or hateful, worthy of gratitude or worthy of punishment.
Secondly, they have usually witnessed models of adult relationships based on mutual accusations and defensiveness, as opposed to the healthier model of tolerating ambivalence about the good and bad in others and in oneself.
Some parents may continue fighting for their children, but sometimes they would give up because they are emotionally depleted, physically exhausted, worn out, depressed or financially drained; they don't want to continue to subject their children to the relentless warring; they discover that they have little chance of success against a prejudiced legal or judicial system.
In cases of parental alienation, children may leave home prematurely or turn against the "favoured' parent later in life. Their turning against the one favoured parent may come about in later adolescence, when they realize they were "brainwashed" victims caused by a malicious, angry, or disturbed parent, to unjustifiably hate the other parent.
Dr. Williams recommends that children be raised in one home as it provides stability and continuity. He contends that when parents divorce, the children cannot enjoy the benefit of both parents living with them in the same home.
“Therefore, shuttling between homes may be inevitable. In divorce, we usually do not have the option of choosing what is in the best interest of the children. Instead, we most often must choose the least detrimental of several detrimental options.
“This is especially so when a child has been psychologically bonded to two parents. Of two potential evils for children - the evil of shuttling between the homes of two loving, caring parents versus the evil of losing one such parent - certainly the lesser evil is shuttling between two homes,” observes the psychiatrist.
Williams says it is the continued parental bonding, not the number of homes or vehicular travel, which will be the crucial determinant of children's forward psychological development following divorce.
In these days, when both parents frequently work, and rely on sharing the child-rearing with each other, with other family members and with housekeepers and day care personnel, the concept of one "primary psychological caretaker" is outdated.
Frequently there are two psychological caretakers or a network of caretakers, supervised by two parents.
Stepparents
The appearance of a potential stepmother or stepfather on the scene is highly threatening to parental identity. This is especially so when that newcomer has a great need to parent. Hearing one's children refer to a step parent as "mommy" or "daddy", often triggers the search for the parental scalpel.
Recently, an influential man had to fight with his ex-lover over a child because all along the child had been in the custody of a stepfather. After coming to his senses, the influential father couldn’t let his child continue suffering under a poor stepfather.
Although this man contended that he didn’t want his child to live with a stepfather, what he might have forgotten is that his child will still suffer the pain of growing without the mother.
It will be extremely agonizing if the child finds that the stepmother is cruel that life was better in the care of the stepfather.
This is the fact many parents do not consider before they choose to separate or divorce. Unless a parent in custody of the children chooses to remain single forever, their kids will still suffer the agony of being raised by a stepparent; and lose one parent’s love and care.
END
Is agriculture a profession for illiterates?
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Maupo Chisambi, 24, has just graduated from one of the country’s prestigious colleges, Chancellor, with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences.
He is now looking forward to a day when employers will offer him his long-time dream job—company manager. That’s not being naïve for a Malawian graduate. To be a boss of a company or organization is the ultimate goal young people want to achieve in life.
Ask any school-going child about what he or she wants to be when they grow up and you will be told all sorts of professions minus farming.
The importance of agriculture cannot be overemphasized although less value for the same is created. Every parent wants their kids to become a doctor, engineer, scientist, business person and any other white colour job, but no one wants their kids to become a farmer.
“When I grow up, I want to be a doctor/pilot/teacher,” school-going children would say.
Farmers are the only creators in the world; others are just processing and changing what farmers create. This shows how important agriculture and farming are across the world.
Whereas we have consultants for fields such as Information Technology (IT), Human Resource and so on; there is none of such nature to solve agri-issues.
Despite agriculture being the backbone of Malawi’s economy, very few people think of investing in the industry. We have business people, industrialists, investors who are ready to invest millions of Kwacha to set up restaurants, private schools, car dealers, movie production houses and many more which can just bring luxury to a person but not the life.
By not investing in agriculture, Malawians are, in a way, refusing to nurture the very backbone of our economy. It is unfortunate indeed that Malawians continue to regard farming as an occupation for the illiterate.
Mbasha dumps office work for a hoe
Just like any other person, Stonald Mbasha, 37, of Lupembe Village, T/A Kyungu in Karonga, had his own dream.
Mbasha’s most cherished dream was to become Company Manager or Director once he finished education.
When he got a job as a Pest Controller for Agricultural Division and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) early 90s, he considered it to be a transit to the topmost position at the institution—Chief Executive Officer, possibly.
This never came to pass as he resigned from his position in 2001 to invest in farming. But why change of mind, you would ask.
“The salary I got from there was too little to sustain my family. I thought it’s better to be a farmer with everything you need in life than a respected boss who cannot provide for his family because of poor pay,” said Mbasha.
No man can live without food and the only source of food is agriculture and farming. A farmer, therefore, plays a crucial role in producing food for the citizens while at the same time growing the economic lifeblood of the nation.
Mbasha, therefore, thought agriculture was the best way he could contribute to the economic development of his country. Thus in 2005, he rented a plot in Ntalika Village in T/A Nsamala’s area in Balaka where he ventured into irrigation farming on a small scale.
Malawi’s irrigation uptake
Irrigation farming is presently practiced on just a third of the one million hectares of land earmarked for the greenbelt programme.
Local agriculture experts explain that the two Southern districts of Chikhwawa and Nsanje could feed the entire country all year round if the Shire River, which cuts through the length of this southern plain, was utilized for intensive irrigation farming.
Yet, the two districts, often troubled by floods, are among the most desperately poor in Malawi, and their inhabitants survive on food handouts from government and donors such as Catholic Development Commission of Malawi (Cadecom).
Last season, Malawi produced 3.5 million tonnes of maize, the country’s staple crop. This is 1.1 million tonnes more than the country's total annual consumption. Of the total harvest, only 300,000 tonnes came from irrigation farming.
The Greenbelt initiative aims at attempting to diversify crops, targeting increased production of wheat, rice, millet, cotton, lentils and beans for export.
In February 2009, government invited bids from construction companies to establish, rehabilitate and manage 12 irrigation schemes as part of the programme.
Is government supporting irrigation farmers?
The national irrigation policy says that management of the schemes will be the full responsibility of the beneficiaries through their legally constituted local farmer organizations.
Through their organisations, the farmers will be encouraged to apply for a lease of the customary land. Alternatively, the farmers may apply to register the land as private land owned by a group of farmers, says the irrigation bill.
The national irrigation document states that government will bear the cost of establishing or rehabilitating the schemes prior to turnover. Thereafter, all operations, maintenance and replacement costs in the schemes are to be managed by the farmers themselves.
The schemes will be located on public land and government will then hand them over to legally recognised small holder irrigation farmers’ groups, preferably cooperatives or associations.
But government will not totally separate itself from the activities in the schemes. Apart from providing agricultural advisors, government will also explore ways of securing credit for farmers through the establishment and growth of savings and credit cooperatives and village banks.
"The overall policy for financing irrigation development is that it occurs with minimum government subsidy," reads the document in part.
During his visits to Brazil and the U.S. in September 2009, president Bingu wa Mutharika invited foreign investors to come to Malawi to participate in the implementation of the project.
Organizing markets for agricultural produce
Although the greenbelt project offers a lasting support to Malawi’s fragile economy, some civil society organizations on agriculture like Civil Society Agricultural Network (Cisanet) are worried that finding market for our agricultural produce could be a challenge.
Cisanet contends that the current situation where farmers have to find market for their produce does not really work to the best of our farmers.
“Although government has set the prices at which traders should buy farm produce, crops such as tobacco, maize and cotton have failed on the market, leading to some farmers to decide not to grow the crops this season,” the network told the media recently.
Mbasha seems to agree with Cisanet when he says he is struggling to find market for his produce.
“Market is the most difficult thing to find for my produce. It’s sad that 60 percent of my farm produce, especially vegetables, ends up rotting just because I can’t find market for them,” he complained.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Margaret Mauwa said she could not say much on irrigation farming since it is not under her jurisdiction. Mauwa, however, encouraged people to invest in irrigation if Malawi is to achieve food security.
“I will be very happy to see more people going into irrigation farming. The president has been saying Malawi has enough resources to fight hunger and irrigation farming is one of the means through which we can achieve food security,” she said.
The department of irrigation recently told the media that it will be providing farmers with training on how to effectively negotiate for better prices for agricultural commodities. This, however, seems to take time to start.
But this does not stop Mbasha from believing that there are more financial gains in agribusiness than working in an office “where I will be receiving less than K10, 000 per month, which is too little for a five-member family like mine”.
“My humble suggestion, advice and request to all educated and young friends is to give at least 50 percent concentration towards the development of agriculture and farming in Malawi by getting involved in the process of educating the farmers to make use of the technology and the modern machineries and equipments to improve the end result,” he asks.
END
Maupo Chisambi, 24, has just graduated from one of the country’s prestigious colleges, Chancellor, with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences.
He is now looking forward to a day when employers will offer him his long-time dream job—company manager. That’s not being naïve for a Malawian graduate. To be a boss of a company or organization is the ultimate goal young people want to achieve in life.
Ask any school-going child about what he or she wants to be when they grow up and you will be told all sorts of professions minus farming.
The importance of agriculture cannot be overemphasized although less value for the same is created. Every parent wants their kids to become a doctor, engineer, scientist, business person and any other white colour job, but no one wants their kids to become a farmer.
“When I grow up, I want to be a doctor/pilot/teacher,” school-going children would say.
Farmers are the only creators in the world; others are just processing and changing what farmers create. This shows how important agriculture and farming are across the world.
Whereas we have consultants for fields such as Information Technology (IT), Human Resource and so on; there is none of such nature to solve agri-issues.
Despite agriculture being the backbone of Malawi’s economy, very few people think of investing in the industry. We have business people, industrialists, investors who are ready to invest millions of Kwacha to set up restaurants, private schools, car dealers, movie production houses and many more which can just bring luxury to a person but not the life.
By not investing in agriculture, Malawians are, in a way, refusing to nurture the very backbone of our economy. It is unfortunate indeed that Malawians continue to regard farming as an occupation for the illiterate.
Mbasha dumps office work for a hoe
Just like any other person, Stonald Mbasha, 37, of Lupembe Village, T/A Kyungu in Karonga, had his own dream.
Mbasha’s most cherished dream was to become Company Manager or Director once he finished education.
When he got a job as a Pest Controller for Agricultural Division and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) early 90s, he considered it to be a transit to the topmost position at the institution—Chief Executive Officer, possibly.
This never came to pass as he resigned from his position in 2001 to invest in farming. But why change of mind, you would ask.
“The salary I got from there was too little to sustain my family. I thought it’s better to be a farmer with everything you need in life than a respected boss who cannot provide for his family because of poor pay,” said Mbasha.
No man can live without food and the only source of food is agriculture and farming. A farmer, therefore, plays a crucial role in producing food for the citizens while at the same time growing the economic lifeblood of the nation.
Mbasha, therefore, thought agriculture was the best way he could contribute to the economic development of his country. Thus in 2005, he rented a plot in Ntalika Village in T/A Nsamala’s area in Balaka where he ventured into irrigation farming on a small scale.
Malawi’s irrigation uptake
Irrigation farming is presently practiced on just a third of the one million hectares of land earmarked for the greenbelt programme.
Local agriculture experts explain that the two Southern districts of Chikhwawa and Nsanje could feed the entire country all year round if the Shire River, which cuts through the length of this southern plain, was utilized for intensive irrigation farming.
Yet, the two districts, often troubled by floods, are among the most desperately poor in Malawi, and their inhabitants survive on food handouts from government and donors such as Catholic Development Commission of Malawi (Cadecom).
Last season, Malawi produced 3.5 million tonnes of maize, the country’s staple crop. This is 1.1 million tonnes more than the country's total annual consumption. Of the total harvest, only 300,000 tonnes came from irrigation farming.
The Greenbelt initiative aims at attempting to diversify crops, targeting increased production of wheat, rice, millet, cotton, lentils and beans for export.
In February 2009, government invited bids from construction companies to establish, rehabilitate and manage 12 irrigation schemes as part of the programme.
Is government supporting irrigation farmers?
The national irrigation policy says that management of the schemes will be the full responsibility of the beneficiaries through their legally constituted local farmer organizations.
Through their organisations, the farmers will be encouraged to apply for a lease of the customary land. Alternatively, the farmers may apply to register the land as private land owned by a group of farmers, says the irrigation bill.
The national irrigation document states that government will bear the cost of establishing or rehabilitating the schemes prior to turnover. Thereafter, all operations, maintenance and replacement costs in the schemes are to be managed by the farmers themselves.
The schemes will be located on public land and government will then hand them over to legally recognised small holder irrigation farmers’ groups, preferably cooperatives or associations.
But government will not totally separate itself from the activities in the schemes. Apart from providing agricultural advisors, government will also explore ways of securing credit for farmers through the establishment and growth of savings and credit cooperatives and village banks.
"The overall policy for financing irrigation development is that it occurs with minimum government subsidy," reads the document in part.
During his visits to Brazil and the U.S. in September 2009, president Bingu wa Mutharika invited foreign investors to come to Malawi to participate in the implementation of the project.
Organizing markets for agricultural produce
Although the greenbelt project offers a lasting support to Malawi’s fragile economy, some civil society organizations on agriculture like Civil Society Agricultural Network (Cisanet) are worried that finding market for our agricultural produce could be a challenge.
Cisanet contends that the current situation where farmers have to find market for their produce does not really work to the best of our farmers.
“Although government has set the prices at which traders should buy farm produce, crops such as tobacco, maize and cotton have failed on the market, leading to some farmers to decide not to grow the crops this season,” the network told the media recently.
Mbasha seems to agree with Cisanet when he says he is struggling to find market for his produce.
“Market is the most difficult thing to find for my produce. It’s sad that 60 percent of my farm produce, especially vegetables, ends up rotting just because I can’t find market for them,” he complained.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Margaret Mauwa said she could not say much on irrigation farming since it is not under her jurisdiction. Mauwa, however, encouraged people to invest in irrigation if Malawi is to achieve food security.
“I will be very happy to see more people going into irrigation farming. The president has been saying Malawi has enough resources to fight hunger and irrigation farming is one of the means through which we can achieve food security,” she said.
The department of irrigation recently told the media that it will be providing farmers with training on how to effectively negotiate for better prices for agricultural commodities. This, however, seems to take time to start.
But this does not stop Mbasha from believing that there are more financial gains in agribusiness than working in an office “where I will be receiving less than K10, 000 per month, which is too little for a five-member family like mine”.
“My humble suggestion, advice and request to all educated and young friends is to give at least 50 percent concentration towards the development of agriculture and farming in Malawi by getting involved in the process of educating the farmers to make use of the technology and the modern machineries and equipments to improve the end result,” he asks.
END
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