Support a "Smart Village" in Malawi

As the year draws to an end, our reflections show that despite 2023 being a difficult year for Malawi, we remain inspired by the brave actions and resilience of Mbando village community members. 

In early 2023, Malawi was affected by Cyclone Freddy and the country has been facing economic hardship with rising inflation. "The price of maize has doubled than last year. Most families are eating ripe mangoes and sleep, even days without food", said Moses Phulusa, Abundance's Community Coordinator.

With your support, Abundance has been able to support and touch lives of many in Mbando village and here is a summary of our activities for the year 2023.

1. We received two interns from University of Glasgow who worked with us virtually between January to March 2023 and supported our Communications Officer to develop social media posts and messages to commemorate environmental days.

2. Thanks to your generous contributions, after Cyclone Freddy, in April 2023, Abundance was able to provide relief to 63 households at Mbando village. The materails we gave the households included plastic sheets to protect roofs, maize flour, salt, bonya (dry fish), soya pieces, laundry soap, cooking oil, matches, sugar. A blog on this is here: CYCLONE FREDDY RESPONSE PROJECT - ABUNDANCE WORLDWIDE

3. In May 2023, Hari Vansh Nair a student of Eton College in UK wrote a blog about the Rice Mill project of Abundance, which supports 16 women in improving their incomes. The blog was published on our website: Rice mill empowers Talandira Women's group - By Harivansh Nair - ABUNDANCE WORLDWIDE

4. In August 2023, we held a training for the e-learning center and moved the equipment from the Secondary School to the Abundance office at Mbando village for better management of assets. 

5. Abundance conducted the annual audit for 2023 and is at last stages of its completion. We will upload the audit report on our website once completed. 

6. The Rice Mill is progressing well and many people are benefitting from the services it provides.

7. We are exploring a programme for school students to visit and volunteer their time at Mbando Village and will keep you posted on how that goes. 

We had a number of team meetings and an annual Board meeting during 2023. Our daily conversations on whatsapp groups help us remain connected wherever we are and the work continues. 

As we reflect on 2023 and look ahead to 2024, We seek your support for the following:

a) continuing the trainings at e-learning center. We need $50 per day for the trainer's fees, plus logistics for arranging the training and refreshments for the trainees. We need to do at least one training each month. 

b) supporting a 12 year old entrepreneur at Mbando village. He learnt how to make cane furniture from his uncle and is making cane furniture and selling at the village. He needs support to buy tools, paint and needs money for transport for bringing bamboo and cane from Chingale and Lilongwe to Mbando village. 

c) supporting the feeding programme of the Community Based Child Care Center. Porridge is provided to pre-school children at this center and we need about $250 per month to feed all the 210 children who are enrolled. We encourage donors who can commit to monthly contributions for this, as it will be an ongoing feeding programme. Currently the feeding programme has discontinued due to lack of funds and children's attendance at the center hass dwindled. The meal was an incentive for children to attend the center. Early childhood education has several benefits for children, including; Building resilience and helping children manage challenges; Helping children settle more easily at school and get the benefits of education more quickly; Improving children's language skills and helping them to love books and reading and Developing social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills. 

Please find some pictures of the cane furtniture maker and the child care center. Your kind contributions will help make their christmas special and help Abundance continue supporting them. You can contribute at  Donate to Support a "Smart Village" in Malawi - GlobalGiving 

All donations will be recognised with social media cards, as a note of our gratitude. 

Lastly, a note of appreciation to Moses, Ruth, Stewart, Stanford, Andrew, Clifford and Grace, the core team of Abundance who make all of this possible!

With much love! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in advance!

Hope you are all well and healthy!

On 9 August 2023, Abundance facilitated a training at the e-learning center. The training was attended by 6 male and 9 female participants. Thank you to Grace Moyo who facilitated the visit. We had a professional trainer Francis from ShiftIT engaged for two days to conduct the trainings. 

A new commitee was elected for the e-learning center. Evans Waile is the Chairperson, Esinati Kathumba is Secretary and Peter. M. Phiri is treasurer. The committee will meet every 2 weeks. 

The training was held at Abundance's office in Mbando village. When we started the e-learning center in 2018, there was no electricity at Mbando village and we installed solar panels on the roof of the secondary school to power the e-learning center. A few years later, the village including our office, was connected to the grid . After having discussed with the e-Learning commitee at the village, it was agreed that the e-Learning center move from the secondary school to Abundance's office. This was due to various reasons including space constraints at the school, the head teacher not being able to accommodate our trainings during school sessions or exam days etc. 

We believe the new committee for e-Learning will be active and organize many more trainings in the future. Enjoy some pictures of the training and find attached the attendance register.

Yours Sincerely