Malawi project
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}== The Malawi Project Inc. ==
The Malawi Project Inc. is a 501c3 not-for-profit charitable organization based in the United States for the purpose of supplying aid to the tiny nation of Malawi, Africa. Founded in 2000 by Richard and Suzi Stephens, the Project maintains a Board of Directors in America, while in Malawi the work maintains separate boards to oversee various portions of the work. The American side of the Project also works with other African entities, in addition to the Blessings Complex, in order to carry out its mission and purpose. The Project has nationwide distribution of assistance in Malawi because of the partnership with other humanitarian aid groups, businesses and churches who extend the funding, equipment and supplies that are needed in order for the Project to carry out its mission. The Malawi Project is committed to assisting all people of every race, religion, tribe and ethnic group in Malawi and surrounding countries.
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[edit] Agriculture Programs
Three programs have been instituted in order to help this primarily agriculturally based population sustain its base for adequate food production. The first is a program of drip irrigation where farmers use drip irrigation systems to safeguard and insure good crop harvest, regardless of the absence or overabundance of yearly rainfall. The success of this program can be seen in lush gardens that are producing two and three crop cycles a year, instead of the traditional one cycle of production. The second is an incentive program that includes over 20,000 farmers raising gardens with the use of other forms of irrigation, namely simple everyday sprinkling cans, while on a waiting list to become participants of the drip irrigation programs. These farm families are given articles of clothing or other incentives to encourage their participation in the program. The third is a major agricultural training center north of the capital where numbers of farm families come for two years of training in all forms of crop management, conservation, animal husbandry, forestry and various other methods of food and land management.
[edit] Heath Care Programs
A major portion of the aid programs is seen in the form of health care assistance. A portion of this is being carried out through Blessings Hospital, a facility in central Malawi, built with the assistance of the Project. Health care is also influenced by massive amounts of medical supplies and equipment being given to over 144 other medical facilities in the country in order to help improve the state of health care. This aid has passed the $50 million mark in the past two years.
[edit] Food Relief
Food assistance has been a major focus since the arrival of the worst famine to strike this portion of the sub-Sahara in over 50 years. Though the worst of the famine is now behind us, the nation is not expected to be fully back on its feet for another 3 to 5 years. Direct infusion of food aid continues in areas where help remains an immediate need. Portions of the population, such as the widows and orphans, are part of an ongoing program of aid that is not projected to end, even when the results of the recent famine are no longer evident. Much of the food assistance is supplied from the processing that comes from the Madalitso Food Production facility on the Blessings property. During 2006 this facility produced and distributed over 19 million meals to needy people in all three regions of the nation.
[edit] Child Care
In 2005 the first house of Mtendere Children’s Village opened on the Blessings property. Twenty-four housing shells have been completed and by the end of 2006 and over 100 children who had inadequate or no parental support now call Mtendere home. Additional houses will continue to open throughout the year. Food from the Madalitso plant continues to feed thousands of orphan children, as well as the distribution of large shipments of clothes and supplies assisting in their care.
[edit] Education Programs
Beyond medicine, education on healthcare issues is carried out through speaking appointments by visiting teams of Americans working through the Project. School textbooks are supplied through the Project and literature is prepared in the native language for distribution in the outlying village areas. This includes nearly 200,000 brochures on AIDS prevention.
[edit] Other Programs
Other programs are being evaluated that will help to raise the standard of living, and together with the people of Malawi, these programs will be successfully implemented and sustained.
