Mr
Nkhoma has a big smile on his face as we join him in front of
his impressive maize field in the village of Kajintchi, 120
km to the north of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. He is the
president of one of the 42 clubs in the irrigation project implemented
by the Malawi Red Cross with the support of the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
"We supply the villagers with seed and a pump and we give
them technical advice", explain Lerwick Zimba, the project
coordinator. The clubs have developed with the agreement and
involvement of the tribal leaders, who have allotted a piece
of land to each club. As there are many AIDS orphans in the
region, they can have their food needs met while benefiting
from part of the production if necessary.
In the case of Mr Nkhoma's club, the plot of land was assigned
by Kajintchi Jairos, the village head. He joins Mr Nkoma and
also expresses his satisfaction at the irrigation club's existence.
"The 31 families in our village include 14 orphans whose
parents died from AIDS", he explains. "So this aid
is very valuable indeed".
"The project will help us improve our food situation but
we must keep on working. Ideally, we need a dam to increase
production", adds Mr Nkhoma.
In addition to helping with harvests, the Malawi Red Cross takes
advantage of its access to these communities to pass on prevention
messages, relying on the presence of a theatre group in each
club – groups that are very popular with the village residents.
"The village heads from the region meet regularly at the
local hospital", says chief Jairos. "We make condoms
available to the public. Every funeral also gives me an opportunity
to remind people about prevention. I personally use condoms
if I cannot abstain", he tells us.
Chief Jairos also explains that these combined efforts focusing
on nutrition and prevention seem to be paying off. "Some
time ago, we were seeing three to four AIDS-related deaths a
month. Now the figure has fallen to one death a month",
he says.
The support of the Malawi Red Cross in Kajintchi region benefits
some 1000 persons in all.
Malawi is one of the ten countries in southern Africa that has
been included in the new five-year plan developed by the International
Federation and aimed at increasing both prevention and treatment
at the community level.
According to the statistics, nearly 15% of the 12.3 million
inhabitants of Malawi are living with HIV. Life expectancy is
a paltry 39 years.
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An
inhabitant of Kajintchi is overjoyed at the aid which
the Malawi Red Cross has provided to the village. (p14867)
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Better
irrigation means better harvests for Kajintchi club members.
(p14866)
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Mr
Nkohoma (on the left) and chief Jairos (on the right)
expressing their satisfaction that the Kajintchi irrigation
club exists. (p14865)
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