JULY 17, 2004 - MPINGO, MALAWI

Over 1,000 Celebrate the Inauguration of the Second Sub-Epicenter in Malawi!

On Saturday, July 17th, over 1,000 our partners in the Mpingo Sub-Epicenter celebrated the inauguration of their Sub-Epicenter building with The Hunger Project-Malawi staff, members from the Global Office as well as chiefs and local and regional officials and leaders. The guest speaker was Mrs. Joyce Banda, The Hunger Project Africa Prize laureate who was recently nominated as the Minister of Gender Child Welfare and Community Services for Malawi. The Mpingo Sub-Epicenter joins The Hunger Project-Malawi family as the second Sub-Epicenter, and there are currently two full-sized Epicenters at Jali and Nchalo.

Currently, 15 villages participate in the activities of the Mpingo Sub-Epicenter, and these villages have a population of over 7,000 people. The population has been working with The Hunger Project-Malawi for over one year to mobilize the people to work together for the end of hunger and poverty. During our visit, the concrete results of their actions were already very visible. The building of the Sub-Epicenter building itself was made possible because the communities came together to mould over 120,000 bricks. In addition, a local man donated 5 acres of land for the building and the adjacent communal garden. During the inauguration, the Chairman of the Mpingo Sub-Epicenter, Mr. Henderson Cryton, correctly pointed out to the TV and radio reporters that they should be sure to report that it was the community that build the Sub-Epicenter to mobilize and work together on common development programs, and that they should not report that The Hunger Project built it for them.

Above: Joyce Banda. Right: the member of the village who contributed the land

In addition, the Sub-Epicenter Food Bank was completed just in time this year to be filled with the corn harvest from the Sub-Epicenter communal garden, as well as the in-kind repayments from the corn seed loans that farmers had received from The Hunger Project-Malawi. During our visit, the food bank was full to capacity. This source of food will be critical for next year before the next harvest when many households in the community have used up all of their supplies kept at the household level.

In addition, 10 men and women have taken advanced HIV/AIDS and Gender Inequality Workshop training to become HIV/AIDS Animators. During the Second Quarter alone, they have conducted 11 Workshops for over 600 people. In addition, these Workshops have facilitated the distribution of 2,200 condoms, of which 1,200 are female condoms. 

To ensure literacy for all in the Sub-Epicenter, 9 literacy teachers trained by The Hunger Project-Malawi started teaching their first classes in June with 240 learners: 211 women and 29 men. The number of women is much higher because, in Malawi as elsewhere in rural Africa , women’s literacy rates fall far below those of men in Malawi .

The African Woman Food Farmer Initiative (AWFFI) has also started already in Mpingo and now has over 200 women in 20 Groups that took over $8,100 for their first credit. Thirty of these women have already repaid their first loans and are now on working with their second loans of $1,640. 

During the inauguration, spirits were very high and faces were filled with hope for a new future in Mpingo. Many people expressed their amazement that they were able to achieve so much in such a short time. The celebration was truly for the hard-working and visionary communities of the Mpingo Epicenter who dared to dream and have now started making their dreams a reality!!