| What will your contribution do for Malawi? |
Please consider supporting Bridges to Malawi this holiday season. This year has been both a challenging and successful one for us. We fought a major famine for the second year in a row, which required us to divert a significant amount of funds to address the immediate crisis. Please read our latest newsletter to learn about our 2024 accomplishments and how your contribution will support our programs in 2025.
| We had another inspiring and successful trip this year. Our on ground team included 6 high school students, 1 dairy farmer, 1 nurse anesthetist, and 1 physician’s assistant in training joining our 4 doctors for this year’s annual medical mission trip and directly engage with our other programs’ beneficiaries. |
| We saw first hand the signs of approaching famine. This picture shows the maize (corn) turned brown. There has not been enough rain this year forcing farmers to harvest early, with a crop about 40% smaller than usual. As the main staple of the Malawian diet, this has major impact on food security for people in the area. |
Our village medical outreach was incredibly successful this year. We saw an astonishing 734 patients one day, and 462 the other. Pictured here is our mobile test lab performing a wide range of tests such as blood sugar, malaria and HIV.
| Jen and Dow of The Hardy Foundation have once again donated more time and equipment to advance access to quality education for school students. They provided another continuous professional development training to 43 teachers. They also provided advanced computer technician training for 17 teachers to build the schools’ internal capabilities to maintain their equipment. Sankhula CDSS school now has access to power and lighting in 4 classrooms. Tchesa Primary School, Chilinda CDSS and Livwezi CDSS all benefitted from upgraded and repaired solar power systems. A young woman named Andularie also received the Hardy Bunch Foundation Scholarship to pay all costs associated with a Bachelors of Clinical Medicine program. Two additional young women received school fee support for the remainder of their secondary schooling. The Hardy’s visited a total of 20 schools supplying basic computer supplies and executing IT upgrade projects to improve access to these highly marketable skills. Education is the number one method to reduce poverty, and we are very lucky to have the support of the Hardy Foundation. |
| Our own Brian Lisse, Peter Minjale, and Dave Smith met with the Kusungu district minister of agriculture. Negotiations largely surrounded dairy equipment to buy with government help like tractors, a refrigerator trailer with a cab and bailer. We secured a 70% government grant. Currently only 4% of Malawian children have access to dairy, and Malawi’s government fully supports our initiative to increase access to this nutritious food family. Our pass on livestock beneficiaries and dairy facility are expected to be the main producer of dairy products in central Malawi within 10 years. |
| Dave Smith built a prototype hydroponic system for providing sufficient fodder for cattle for 3 cows with a 10 day turnover. Eventually, we expect to have a system to supply 20 dairy cows with fodder that with hay supplementation will benefit our farmers in numerous ways including lower feed costs, increased milk production, space efficiency with vertical production, and 85% reduction in water consumption. It is anticipated to cost about about $120 which is accessible via microloans. This system is pesticide and chemical free, unaffected by unpredictable weather patterns, and has the ability to generate a fresh crop for harvest each day. |
| A huge thank you to everyone who made this happen. We cannot do it without you! |
| Bridges To Malawi will turn your donation into direct action for rural Malawian families through medical, agricultural, and educational outreach. |
but the Need is still there.
Thank you to all of you who have contributed to this urgent need.
We have sent the requested $28,000 to Malawi and the food was purchased and is being distributed. Approximately 3600 people have received aid so far. In total we expect to distribute the fortified maize and ground nuts to 1430 families (over 10,000 people).
Please note that the famine is ongoing; we need to be ready to provide additional support. We ask for your continuing financial support for this project so we can move quickly to help purchase more food as needed.
In an effort to promote good Early Childhood development (ECD), K2 TASO, our Malawi partner, is supporting Community Based Child-Care Centers (CBCC) which are community platforms which are run by community members to give an opportunity for quality ECD.
By definition CBCC is a building with multiple use- as a pre-school and as a feeding station for children aged three to five years. This gives children opportunities to play, meet peers, learn and receive nutritious meals.
CBCCs are managed by community members who deploy caregivers on voluntary basis and the community members are usually parents of children enrolled at the CBCC.
To help establish effective and efficient CBCCs, K2 TASO sponsored training for the committee members managing the CBCCs and the caregivers attached to thirty-five centers in June 2024. After the completion of this training, K2 TASO conducted supervision exercise for CBCCs management during the month of July.
Currently there is a total number of 1529 children enrolled in the 35 CBCCs.
K2 TASO is pleased to support the aims of CBCCs and the opportunity to enhance the partnerships we have with the respective communities.
Help us close the remaining funding gap. We have received around $23,000 dollars to date and just need $5,000 more to purchase the fortified maize needed to fight the famine in Malawi.
Please donate today to help us save lives. Our August 15 deadline of August 15th to buy the maize is coming up fast!
Thank you very much for your support.
July 23, 2024
We need your immediate support to prevent starvation in Malawi due to the ongoing famine.
Bridges to Malawi has committed to supplying protein fortified maize to feed people in Malawi. This initiative will cost $28,000 (K 50 Million). We have already raised $10,000 but we need the remaining $18,000 before August 15th to purchase the needed amount of maize.
Please help fund this life saving effort by clicking the Donate button above. We thank you for your ongoing support of Malawi.
We need your support to help farmers save their cows.
Due to the ongoing famine, the farmers are struggling to feed their cows. Fully half of the farmers are unable to purchase fodder and face losing their cows and income due to the lack of feed.
Due to the impact of the famine on the people, we must focus our limited resources on feeding the people. We are working on getting a grant from the World Bank to buy hay baling machines and a tractor to be shared throughout the district.
Your donations to this effort will help us purchase this vital equipment.
The dairy cow herd continues to grow. In total, since January, 25 calves have been born.
Moreover, as of July, 76 of the 306 cows in the project are pregnant, 33 of the cows are pregnant for the first time. Seven of the pregnant cows are from calves born to our beneficiaries, which shows the program is beginning to become self-sustainable.
We are investing $1700.00 (K3 Million) on two motorcycles. These will be used to greatly increase the number of cows that can be inseminated on a daily basis.
In our next phase of introducing Lavender as a cash crop in Malawi, we are looking to import drought resistant strains of lavender. We are working with an agency in Zambia and with other organizations to source the seeds.
