A series of practical improvements to the way he operated his farm and managed his home, has had a major positive impact on the life of Harson Chibwa and his family.
A father of seven from Mtoro village in the Kaphuka area of southern Malawi. Harson, his wife Lunis, and their teenage and young adult children have introduced a range of simple solutions to improve sanitation, hygiene, and order to their home.
In the recent past they have built a more fuel efficient home stove, constructed a pit latrine, created new shower and washing facilities, and built a sun-drying table for cups, pans and dishes.
Their modest mud dwelling is a model demonstration home used by Self Help to show others in the locality how they too can improve their living conditions with the simplest of interventions. Hundreds more in the locality followed suit.
In the fields Harson is producing groundnuts, beans, and more maize than ever before thanks to the EU-funded APIP programme administered by Self Help. He has a verdant backyard garden for fruit and vegetables, and is in the process of constructing a piggery on the ten acres holding he farms with his sons.
He is one of ten farmers in the locality to receive pigs from Self Help, and at the end of his first breeding cycle returned two piglets so that others in the community could benefit from the programme in the following year.
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Self Help Africa in Malawi |
Self Help Africa began working in Malawi in the late 1990's - the organisation's Irish arm (formerly Self Help Development International) implementing programmes in the south of the country, and it's UK operation (formerly Harvest Help) in the north.
The organisation is currently engaged in implementing a series of area based programmes, and measures to build capacity at regional level, so that communities can improve their lives and the living standards and conditions of their people. |
