The Hungry Season 2020
In Malawi, the Hungry Season of 2020 has been compounded by the current Coronovirus Pandemic.
Most of the vulnerable children who are fed at the project are orphans. Being orphans, they live with families other than their parents and are usually a drain on already scarce resources. Most of the families in the Kanyenyeva area are subsistence farmers, growing only enough food for themselves and their family. It is a means of survival but does not produce income. Subsistence farmers are impacted greatly by variations in weather.
In January, 2020, UN’s World Food Program warned about food insecurity in Malawi and other southern African countries.
“An unprecedented number of people in 16 countries across southern Africa are gravely food insecure as climate change wreaks havoc on the region.”
“This hunger crisis is on a scale we’ve not seen before and the evidence shows it’s going to get worse,” the WFP’s Regional Director for Southern Africa, Lola Castro, said in a statement.
The crisis is impacting 45 million people — many of whom are women and children. The region has been hit hard by repeated droughts, widespread flooding and economic hardship.
Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe are among the hardest-hit.
Many families across the region are already skipping meals, taking children out of school and falling into debt to stave off agricultural losses, the WFP said.” (Source: https://www.dw.com/en/un-warns-hunger-crisis-in-southern-africa-on-scale-weve-not-seen-before/a-52029274)
According to USAID “Recurring droughts afflict Malawi’s agriculture sector, threatening the livelihoods of Malawi’s smallholder farmers, who constitute 80 percent of Malawi’s population. Thirty-eight percent of Malawians live below the poverty line, and 47 percent of children are stunted.”
Malawians are currently experiencing the hungriest time of the year. It is the time while they are growing and harvesting their crops for the year ahead. They have eaten their harvest from 2019 and have nothing until they can eat from their harvest of 2020.
During this time of the year, the orphan project experiences a higher than normal number of children seeking a meal. Due to the Coronavirus in North America, several fundraisers which support the feeding program have been cancelled or postponed. With less income than expected, the leadership at the orphan project have been forced to reduce the number of meals they offer to the children in their community from 6 days a week to 3 days a week. For some children the meal they receive at the orphan project is the only meal they receive that day. Decreasing the number of days the children can have a meal can be devastating.
We know that many people around the world are experiencing a decrease if their own incomes, too, however; a meal for a child costs $.50. A donation of $10 will feed 20 children! No amount is too small. Please prayerfully consider donating to help the children in Malawi be fed. Click here to learn more about how to donate.
Planting in Malawi
Planting in Malawi
December is the time to plant in Malawi for the current growing season. Kanyenyeva Ministries has hired local villagers to plant their new farm land. The new farm is about 137 acres.
The rains have started and the upcoming growing season is expected to be fruitful. We praise God for this new business which is another step toward Kanyenyeva Ministries being self-sustaining.
The money to purchase the land and start this business was provided by Immanuel Lutheran Church in Crosby, MN.
The crops grown on this farm will be used to feed the children at the orphan project. The crops will also be sold and the profit will be used for current expenses at the orphan project.
Sustainable Farming
These individuals from the Kanyenyeva area recently attended a week long training at E3 Worldwide. The purpose of the training was to help them learn about sustainable farming techniques. “Every year almost all rural households which make up 85% of the nation have to grow the bulk their own food during the 3-4 months rain season. The process of crop production is the foremost poverty trap in that it is costly in more ways than just financial for poor households.” (e3worldwide.org/food-security/)
“E3 Worldwide is working to help reduce the cost of growing food by exploring much cheaper substitutes for chemical fertilizers, offering training for alternative methods of agriculture such as permaculture to attain maximum yield per acreage that also nurtures the ecosystem to retain fertility naturally, introducing irrigation agriculture to beat seasonality, and encouraging the cultivation of ‘cash crops’ to generate income.” (e3worldwide.org/food-security/)
While at the E3 Worldwide training they also learned about eating a healthy and more sustainable diet which will decrease their dependency on maize
(which is not native to Malawi) and increase their consumption of native fruits and vegetables.
The people that attended the training will share their new knowledge with others in their community. They said that they were very excited and thankful for that week long course and are very eager to use what they have learned. They reported that the training is eye opening and life changing.
The past few years the harvest in Malawi has decreased due to flooding and mistimed rains. With the training which they received, they should become less dependent on the rains and be able to grow crops year round which will increase their food security.
We pray that what they learned during this week long training will continue to be shared in their community and beyond while it provides ways for them to have year round food security.
Thank you Lebanon Lutheran School!!!!
First Quarter Offering to benefit the feeding program at the orphan project!!!
A huge thank you to the students at Lebanon Lutheran School in Lebanon, Wisconsin. The have collected $1,159 from their offering from their weekly chapel service and have chosen to donate it to Malawi Orphan Care Project to provide food and general support for the children at the orphan project.
Malawi is entering their ‘hungry season’. The ‘hungry season’ is a time when the food from the last harvest is gone and the next harvest is still months away (in April, 2017). During the coming months the orphan project will be increasing the number of days that they feed the children to six (from four) and the number of children fed will increase, too. Currently they regularly feed over 600 children. They plan to feed over 800 children and possibly many more than that!!
Thank you Lebanon Lutheran School!!!!
