August 2009
The Irish Red Cross Africa Desk Officer, Jane Dunne, has recently returned from Malawi where she visited the Malawi Red Cross. The purpose of the visit was to meet with staff from the Malawi Red Cross and visit projects supported by the Irish Red Cross. Jane found the trip to be extremely beneficial and was delighted to be able to meet with members of the communities involved in the Water and Sanitation Project, Rural Livelihoods Project and HIV/AIDS Project, implemented by the Malawi Red Cross and funded by the Irish Red Cross.
The Water and Sanitation project supported by Irish Aid was in its winding down stage as its final week coincided with Jane's visit and had successfully completed the following:
- Rehabilitation of 25 boreholes
- Drilling of 5 new boreholes
- Training of sanitation platform artisans (for latrine construction)
- Casting of 480 sanitation platforms
- Training water point committees
- Hygiene promotion training
- Construction of latrines, urinals and hand washing facilities at 3 schools
The HIV/AIDS project in Ntchisi District continues to run until December 2009 through support from the Irish Aid/IFRC partnership. During Jane's visit to the HIV/AIDS project she was able to visit a number of its components:
- Post Test Clubs These are clubs comprised of people (mostly youth) who have gone for HIV/AIDS testing who are trained to sensitize their communities on Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT). Members can be both positive and negative but their status is not disclosed, and everyone is encouraged to participate fully. Jane met with members of Post Test Club who explained what the club had been doing to date and the numbers that they had been able to reach; she was impressed with the commitment of the young people to reduce the stigma associated with the virus.
- Home Based Care (HBC) programme
Home Based Care (HBC) is a strategy that allows communities to provide basic elements of care and support to their chronically ill family members so they can remain in familiar surroundings and die with peace and dignity. Jane visited 2 HBC clients who are members of the Malawi Red Cross (MRCS) programme. One particular lady, Jennet, explained that she had been a widow since 1994 and was on Anti-Retro Virals (ARVs) drugs for a number of years. She proudly showed us the medication that she takes daily and explained that she had a better appetite and could see an improvement in her health once she began taking them. She had been quite sick for the past couple of months but fortunately was beginning to return to health. Jennet had 3 children and spoke about the difficulties she experienced feeding them.
- Community Based Childcare Centres (CBCCs)
Community Based Child Care Centres (CBCC) act as village based nursery schools where children (under the age of 5) learn, play and interact. Under the HIV/AIDS project 4 CBCCs are supported with supplementary feeding for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in their surrounding areas. The centres also grow vegetables in adjacent gardens and create orchards in order to further improve the nutrition of the children attending. Jane and members of the Malawi Red Cross visited Kamwamboni and Thengeza Childcare centres. On both occasions care givers and community members who volunteer at the centre welcomed Jane and the children sang songs and played games. At Thengeza, the visiting group were greeted by the community and given a tour of the centre, the gardens and orchards. The community members were also delighted to show the visitors that they had been given a tank to store seed by the local government. This tank had been stored in a locked shed beside the centre and the roof had to be removed to get it in! After the tour, community members provided entertainment in the form of 2 dramas. The Post Test Club members also took part and it was very interesting to see how they incorporated HIV/AIDS messages in their dramas i.e. the link between infidelity and HIV/AIDS.
Upon her return Jane said 'visits such as these are extremely important from a number of perspectives. First and foremost the Irish Red Cross has a duty to its donors and the Irish public to ensure the funds they kindly donate are used efficiently and effectively. This can only be achieved by regular monitoring visits. Secondly trips to Irish Red Cross countries of operation such as Malawi also confirm once again for me the true spirit and determination of people and communities in Africa. Just like Irish people they are equally determined to ensure good health, a solid education and a bright future for their children. Working with rural and vulnerable village communities in Africa is hugely inspirational and it's a privilege to meet such wonderful and hospitable people'.