Jean-Luc Martinage in Kajintchi, Malawi
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.