For a long time, Africa was spared from the pandemic. Now it seems to have arrived in Malawi too (Der Tagesspiegel on 23 April 2020). The entry ban has been in place for some time, so our plans were also rendered obsolete. The planned lockdown is now pending in court because the population has put up massive resistance. This is because there is no continued payment of wages, no unemployment insurance, and no short-time work allowance in the country.
“For you. For us. For everyone.” This is the motto under which the National Day of Recognition (Ehrentag) is being held for the first time this year. Initiated by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, we will be celebrating social cohesion and community spirit in Germany on May 23rd! What are we planning? We invite you to join…
Annie Salama, DPD Director of Planning and Development, invited us to attend the District Council meeting. Forty-three district councilors were present and asked us questions. Our planning and hygiene concept received high praise.Matias Kamanga, the CBO chair, Hilda Chonobvu, the secretary/recording secretary, Adams Milanzi, and our YOOW manager made a good impression and sparked great…
Why are we doing this? A project involving schools and so on? Begging and pleading for support and putting up with the sometimes unspeakable bureaucracy of the funding institutions? We are doing this because the local people are very clear in their message: they know that they lack education, and they want their children to…
The preparation and drilling were a major event. Not only because they marked the actual start of the project, but also because of the question of whether we would find enough water to supply the property and its buildings. And finally, there was the question of where we would find the most water, because that…
In Chiuno Village, where there is no running water or electricity, dealing with legal forms is also a new challenge. The community-based organization corresponds to a non-profit association in Germany at the municipal level. Here, as there, the members and their boards are subject to a set of rules based on legal requirements. The social…
The Tchapa School is the school closest to Chiuno Village, located 3.5 kilometers away. We visit a class with 116 students sitting close together on the floor. There are no tables or chairs. The teachers are often overwhelmed.We want to remedy these conditions, which we find unbearable but are common in Malawi, by building a…