Build a self-reliant community in rural Malawi!

Greetings from northern Malawi!

As loyal supporters of The Cove Collective, we wanted to take this opportunity to express our extreme gratitude for your support. Thanks to your generosity, we've been able to launch one of our biggest and most impactful projects to date! Our Chitende Community Electricity Project is well under way and nearing completion! 

In late 2023, we were notified by our local leaders and the Malawian government that our community was under consideration for the Malawi Rural Electrification Program (MREP). However, to qualify, our community needed to show their dedication to buying power by preemptively wiring their homes for electricity, in at least 40 households. With the sharply rising inflation and devaluation of the Malawian currency, this seemingly simple task is unattainable for most of the households in our rural community. 

Our newly formed project is subsidizing the cost of wiring 40 homes, starting with the most vulnerable in our community, and will expand to serve more households as funds become available. Each household in the project is required to contribute about 20% of the required inputs for their home and the hookup fee which is charged by the power company. To date, we have been able to wire 27 homes thanks to your support! Almost 8 households in the community have managed to complete the wiring themselves, leaving us with just 5 more homes to wire to guarantee the government will hold true and bring the transformer. That translates to roughly another $1,000 of funds we need to raise to get the power on the way. But our list of families is still at 40, so if we can manage to raise a total of at least $2,600 more in donations, we will be able to really meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our community!

Having just spent the last month on the ground in Malawi, I can tell you firsthand that the excitement in the community is unlike any I've ever felt before. The doors that open for families when they have access to electricity are profound. It's the predecessor for economic empowerment, academic achievement, expanded business opportunities, overall quality of life improvements, as well as many other impactful developments. 

Please take two minutes to view our video, linked below, to experience this joy and excitement in our community! Because you played a huge role in making this happen!

As always, thank you so much for your continued support and generosity. We sincerely believe in the power of community, in the many shapes and forms it comes in. And we consider you a huge part of ours, even if you may be far away.

Sending love and gratitude from our part of the world to yours,

Tamra Carlson & Zinyengo Kawonga

Links:

• Hike through Chitende village: see the homes you've helped wire!