Lilongwe, Malawi … It is well past the halfway point of the rainy season in central Africa, and yet expectations for the next 30 days are rain at some point nearly every day. This is not unusual since this part of Africa has just two seasons, rainy and sunny. From November to May it rains, and from June to October the sun shines. There is little exception. You can plan your schedule on it. And that is exactly what is done when it comes to giant lorries (trucks) making deliveries outside the city. More to the point, that is what is done anytime a truck has to make a delivery that takes it off a safe, tarmac road. When the truck must move through open country, along dirt roads, or to a building that is not secured with a concrete driveway one is at the mercy of the driver, or his company, turning down the delivery. There is an alternative, the driver can stop his truck on the roadway and the consignee can have a work crew carry its contents through the dirt and mud up to its destination. That is exactly what happened during the rainy season last year before funding could be obtained for a concrete driveway up to the distribution center.
However, thanks to contributors over the past few months sufficient funding was obtained for Action for Progress, the sister organization of the Malawi Project, to complete construction on a concrete driveway to the loading dock of the warehouse. Now, no matter the weather conditions the trucks, 9 in 2020, 8 in 2021, and a projected 10 or more in 2022 will be able to back up to the dock for unloading no matter what the weather may hold.
Congratulations, and thank you, to those contributors who saw the need and stepped forward to make the financial contributions needed to get the job done.