DAPP Malawi fighting hunger
Margaret David a mother of seven is struggling to make ends meet. She has no source of income and her only hope for her survival and that of her children is the field. She still had to depend on very unpredictable weather patterns to provide for the necessary condition for her to produce food enough for her big family. In the best season she can only have food to last her three months.
Margaret David is among the 3 942 beneficiaries of the food distribution taking place in tradition authority Kunthembwe in Blantyre rural courtesy of DAPP Malawi. Every month Margaret and her children receive 50kg of maize, 6kg of legumes and 2 litres of cooking oil. “The food donation that I receive does not last me the month due to the size of the family. The father of the seven children died in 2007 and I have no one to help me cater for the family,” said Margaret David DAPP Malawi and WFP have intensified activities in areas affected by the hunger crisis in order for families to have lasting solutions to the perennial problem of food shortages.
The households have been empowered with agriculture inputs to make vegetable gardens that may supply the households with good nutrition. “The vegetables will supplement the rations that we get from WFP because in most cases the relish finish earlier than that maize” continues David. The house holds also have sanitation and hygiene facilities to contribute to the reduction of the occurrence of sanitation related diseases. Every house hold is encouraged to have a line for drying clothes, a dish rack, a rubbish pit among others.
In order to reduce the pressure that people living in poverty and hunger situation exert on the environment the communities have been encouraged to use fuel serving technologies. “The fuel serving stoves have lessened the burden we have in looking for firewood. The stoves have also reduced the impact that people put on trees as a source of firewood,” said Margaret David.
