Chandiwo Village, Malawi … Wilson Tembo, Director of Warehouse and Distribution for the Malawi Project in his nation, comes from a small remote village in the Dowa District of central Malawi. Although he lives in housing supplied by the Namikango Mission and Maternity Clinic in Thondwe, he still owns a partially build, small house in the village.
Recently Tembo traveled to the central region to carry food to areas where the famine is seriously affecting the villages. A portion of the food was distributed around his village by the Chandiwo church, located near M-1 between Mponela and Madisi, and one of the churches sponsoring programs to assist the community.
During the course of the distribution Tembo was able to address the Community Development Group that had been created by the church in order to assist the villages to become more self-reliant. In the group were church leaders, development leaders, and village headmen who set policy and the course of action for the villages.
Tembo pointed out how villagers often do not store and save enough maize for the time of year (usually around October and November) when the food shortages become the most serious. He noted when prices go so high it is that exact time the villagers are running out of food, but it is too late to prepare. He noted they were being fed now, because preparations were not made in the areas where the crop-harvest earlier in the year was more plentiful. He said they should start now to prepare by putting grain in a common, community warehouse. Records would be kept and when the problems become serious late in the year all of the people who participate now will have grain. The villagers were pleased with this idea, but were immediately faced with where they could store the grain. The group headmen started calling Tembo for a suggestion. Tembo suggested that, “You can use my house.” for storage. He said he could save a “small corner” where he could sleep when he came to the village to visit family, but the villagers could use the rest of the house for grain storage.
It is an excellent example of someone whose ideas are marrying aid when aid is critically needed and starving is the only option, but calling for plans to look to the future to help the villages prepare so the same problems do not befall them next year. Tembo and his wife Alice are putting action to the words he speaks.