Visit to Nkhamenya

Last week we travelled south in our little car to Nkhamenya to bring our 2 friends Annika and Susanne back to Mzuzu for a few days. The journey by car is about 2 and a half hours, depending on the weather conditions. It was raining a little in Mzuzu, early morning but as we travelled the sun came out and it became much hotter.  We had a very good journey.  The girls are volunteering at Nkhamenya Girls school which is run by the Rosarian Sisters; all the students are residents. Sister Teresa, the principal told us there are 450 students. At the moment 2 houses are being built for teaching staff to allow them to be nearer the school because they work long hours and at weekends. Currently Sister Teresa has been keeping a close eye on the maize growing in the field, but she is very worried there will not be a big enough yield to keep feeding the girls until the end of the session because the maize has not grown high and it is already tussling.

 M1 going south to Nkhamenya

At Nkhamenya, the road going to the Zambian border which is very near

2 staff houses under construction

Food Situation

We have now entered the lean months here in Malawi.  The price of maize has increased tremendously; it is now 15000mwk per bag at the market. However, there is not enough maize to go round; a lot of the maize is being transported from Zambia.  People are queuing at the Admarc depots where maize is rationed to one pail per person costing 5000mwk. Many people wait for a very long time to receive this maize which will only do them for a short time.

SVDP give food to identified families

Youngsters carry maize bags which we could not lift.

Here in Mzuzu, people come to the Parish daily with a request for food.  The little that is available is shared in small quantities. Due to the generosity of friends in Scotland, the St. Vincent De Paul members have been able to share small quantities of maize, beans, salt and soap to the needy people they have identified and they have helped some people in cases of emergency. Now their stock of food is dwindling.  Fortunately, again, due to the kindness of Scottish friends a few bags of maize and a couple of bags of beans will be purchased now.  However, it is evident many, many people here are in need of food.

Two SVDP members(standing) with some of the beneficiaries.

20kg bucket of maize

Small packet of beans and salt