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Great Progress at Community Micro-Irrigation Project
All the work is done manually by the women using hoes to slash, dig, turn and level the hard, dry soil. The total site of some 1.5h has been kindly donated by the local chiefs. A 40m x 15m plot is set aside for the micro-irrigation system which is generously being installed by a Malawian NGO, Total LandCare (www.totallandcare.org). Two boreholes have been sunk at the Resource Centre to supply a tank which trickle feeds the plants right at their roots. The fencing is to keep goats out. The project is being supervised by Tony Finch and managed on the ground by horticulturalist, Kennie Mboma, our Field Manager.
The remainder of the site will be used for other community-based food growing including fruit trees and even bee-keeping. Meanwhile the Tuesday Trust is also supporting the provision of teachers at the Resource Centre in partnership with Tiyendi Pamodzi to provide adult education for the local women.
Magumbwe Women Food Sustenance
The key plant is hybrid maize, the staple in rural Malawi, as well as some onions, tomatoes, carrots, mustard, potatoes, cabbage & beans. They've also been given some fruit tree seedlings collectively for the group (paw-paw & mango) and kasava cuttings. Later in the season, they'll be receiving rice seeds for planting in June/July.
And to help them make the most of their plots, the Trust has arranged for regular visits from a horticulturalist who'll help and advise them on maximizing yields and so on.
Plans for an adjacent borehole are proceeding and we intend to have it in place before the next dry season. This model of local village self-sufficiency is one we hope to roll out across more Malawian women's groups over the next 12 months.
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Lucy's Healing Garden, Ndi Moyo Palliative Care, Malawi
The Tuesday Trust supports the work of Ndi Moyo Palliative Care Centre in Malawi. HIV/AIDs is devastating vulnerable communities at an alarming rate in Malawi, with entire swathes of communities being wiped out. Despite its preponderance, levels of stigmatization are high and there are inadequate care and social support services for people living with the virus.
Lucy Finch’s Ndi Moyo Centre provides palliative care for some of these people. It works to alleviate the suffering of those who are terminally ill, bringing care and dignity to those who need it most. Ndi Moyo is a day care centre that is holistic and meets the needs of individual patients and families.
As well as the clinic itself, she has established a wonderful garden full of healing plants. Some help with the symptoms of the virus, others with side effects of the viral treatments.
Lucy Finch, who set up Ndi Moyo (which means The Place Giving Life), is an exceptional person. Malawian by birth and a nurse by profession, after living outside the country for 38 years she returned in 2002 to offer the skills she had gained with Hospice Uganda to her home country.
She herself had had close relatives who had died of AIDS and knew at first hand, the pain and lack of dignity they had gone through. And so she decided to establish Ndi Moyo and its amazing garden.
Here are just some of the plants she nurtures and uses:
- Frangipani: they use the milk from this plant for Herpes Zoster (shingles) which is very common in HIV/ AIDS.
- Aloe Vera (Aloe Aborecenia) used for Haemorrhoids, burns, constipation, conjunctivitis, Gingivitis and cancers
- Passiflora Incarnata (Passion Flower) used for Insomnia, spasms, vitamin deficiency
- Capsicum frutescens (Chilli) said to help with Herpes, haemorrhoids, diabetes, rheumatism
- Vinca Rosea: said to improve the blood supply to the brain, increases oxygen and glucose for the brain
- Persea Americana (Avocado): good for diarrhoea, vitamin deficiency and anaemia
Some Facts:
€5 - Buys 1000 tablets for the treatment of diarrhoea
€2 - Buys 1000 aspirin
10 cent - Buys 10 bread rolls for Lucy’s patients
0 - Doctors in Salima
10 cent - Buys dehydration salts for 1 litre
€10 - Buys 50kgs of maize for the patients
€1 - takes a patient up to 30klms on a bicycle taxi
70 cent - Buys a mat for the patient to sleep on
€4 - Buys 100 surgical gloves
€1.50 - Provides a patient with food and transport for a week
More Info:
http://www.dg-web.co.uk/ndi_moyo/
Salima Women's Network, Malawi
The Tuesday Trust is committed to supporting the inspirational work of the Salima Women’s Network in Malawi. The Salima Women’s Network (SAWEG) was formed in 2005 by a group of women in the Salima district, about an hour east of the capital, Lilongwe.
The Network envisions a life where women and girls are free from gender-based violence and is addressing education for women and girls, the rights of women & food security and, of course, HIV and AIDS.
This is a broad-based agenda encompassing social, cultural, economic, political and health issues. Yet it is this holistic approach that makes SAWEG such an impressive community organization. These committed women are brave, dedicated and visionary. Their efforts and successes ripple out right through their entire locality and beyond.
For example, a key aspect of their mission is focused on education. They have formed Girls Clubs and Mothers Clubs which provide a forum for matters affecting the education of women and actively try to bring females back into formal schooling. In addition the Network is providing training sessions to school management committees on how to address violence against girls and women.
Salima is a trading town and the incidence of HIV and AIDS is unacceptably high, particularly among poorer women who are especially vulnerable to infection. The Network has established help groups around the district where women can address and find solutions to the spread of the virus.
Despite the fact that over 80% of the farming is done by women in Malawi, they do not control the land, nor do they have a say over the distribution of crops. The Network is working with women farmers to ensure that they have food security and access to farm inputs.
The Tuesday Trust is directly supporting several worthwhile SAWEG programmes. But in effect, we are merely giving these women a little help to help themselves. And that is such a positive story in itself.