The Dalitso Project
March 2019
3/21/2019
To all our supporters, Thank you once again for all your support of all we are trying to achieve in Malawi. It is with a heavy heart that I have to relay the recent events in Malawi. Over the last two weeks, heavy rains have hit Malawi and much of south eastern Africa. This has caused flash flooding and extensive damage. In Malawi, President Peter Mutarika declared a state of emergency on 08/03/19 with more than 100 people confirmed dead and in excess of 750,000 people having to be evacuated as their homes have been washed away. Last week the rains subsided for a short while but the country has been hit once again this week by cyclone Idai. There are huge fears at present for the transmission of waterborne diseases through the vast amounts of water lying across the country and with the flooding of pit latrines as well as the non-existent sanitary systems for the displaced people. Our own centres have been both hit hard with the roof of one of the buildings at Thyolo being completely blown off and a toilet block collapsing. The carnage that has been caused has also meant that many of our daycare children are now homeless and many of our community are also displaced. The local churches have been opening up their buildings to let people stay within the walls of the church and we have taken in extra children on a short term support basis at our Kambilonjo centre who are currently homeless. – Yasin Saidi, Jonathon Yosafat, Yamikani Kathumba, Henry & Stella Gangata, Nisha Nyadani and Chipiliro John. This is obviously meaning that the centre is quite crowded at present but all of our staff feel that we must do everything that we can to support the people who have been affected most by these floods. As always, it is the poorest of the community who will pay the biggest price for this damage this year. This has also sadly wiped out what was shaping up to be a nice crop of maize and marks the 6th year in a row that the harvests have been incredibly poor, with late rainfalls last year, the army worm pest in 2017, the late rains in 2016, the floods of 2015 and the drought of 2014. As year on year continues to drain the reserves of the poorest in Malawi who rely wholly upon the land, it becomes harder and harder to help people to help themselves. At Dalitso, we have always tried to provide skills and strategies to our children and community rather than just simply handouts. This has worked well by providing things like fertiliser schemes, to assist people to get the most out of the land that they have and so provide for their family in that way, but when these national disasters come year on year, what chance have subsistence farmers got of working their family out of poverty? This does however, highlight the desperate need to give our young people alternative options for providing for their families, than just simply living off of the land. It highlights the importance of our education programmes whether in school scholarship, further education or vocational training. The mechanising and industrialisation of Malawi has to be the only way forward in the increasingly unpredictable climate that Malawi is experiencing. In a small attempt to end on a slightly more positive note, the Dalitso website that I and some others have been working on for approximately 18 months (I apologise and take full blame for the snail’s pace that this has moved along at) is finally ready to be launched! The website is now live and can be accessed via the URL- https://thedalitsoproject.weebly.com . Please do share the page and use it as much as possible, firstly so that we can iron out any kinks (of which I am sure there are several) with all of you- our lovely supporters! And secondly so that we can continue to spread the word of all that we are trying to do in giving opportunities to people in Malawi who have grown up knowing much less opportunities in life than we may have had. Many thanks again for your continued support. Our Pamper weekend raised £1,360, our recent race night raised over £900 and was a fantastic night enjoyed by all. We also provided massage and physiotherapy support to the Smokies Ladies 10 mile race which raised £320. Please look out for our upcoming fundraisers to support all of the rebuild work in Malawi as well as the purchase of maize for our centres to replace the crop that has been lost. Also for anyone who would like to get ahead of the game and start watching out for sales bargains for the summer and Christmas sponsor child gifts, the deadline for summer will be Sunday 26th May and we will be looking for a shirt (smart blouse/ shirt for church etc rather than school shirt) and a pack of cards- age appropriate – playing cards/ uno/ snap etc and a small 5cm by 5 cm packet of haribos. For Christmas, the deadline for the container will be the 18th August and we will be looking for a backpack, a pencil case (and pencils/ pens), a light blanket (that can fit in the backpack) a pack of pants and a packet of sweets 15cm by 15cm type size, pack of soap, toothbrush and toothpaste. We will of course be sending reminders nearer to the time so don’t worry if you’re like me and would prefer to get the presents nearer to the time! Please keep Malawi and all of the displaced families in your prayers at this time. With love Becky
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