On Saturday, April 27, we are holding a Spring Bingo fundraiser in support of education in rural Malawi. Read today’s blog article to learn more about how your support will help in promoting education in rural Malawi.
The Orant Journal
2020 was a tough year for everyone. As the year wraps up, we reflect on Orant’s successes and challenges.
When people get sick, the most common advice is, “drink lots of water.” The second most common advice, especially during a pandemic, is “wash your hands.” But what about those who don’t have access to clean water? What do they do, especially now?
Orant strives to make clean water and sanitation services available for everyone in the Dowa District of Central Malawi.
In addition to drilling 14 new wells in 2020 and delivering water to over 5,395 people, Orant:
- Repaired 89 boreholes
- Built 1 girls’ latrine at a primary school
- Trained 14 community Water Point Committees in community based management of water points
To combat the coronavirus pandemic, Orant’s Water Program:
- installed handwashing stations in public centers
- delivered information to village chiefs, schools, and churches
- supplied 50 chiefs with buckets, cleaning chemicals, and sanitation instructions
School started late in Malawi this year due to Covid-19. To protect students and teachers, Orant supplied schools with face masks. Our corporate and individual donors gifted 97 students in Malawi tuition and school supplies. 93 sponsored students are girls.
One of our Education Program’s greatest challenges is keeping girl students in school. Household responsibilities and family expectations pull them away from the classroom. Many young girls hope that marriage or childbearing will lift them out of poverty. 4 of our sponsored students this year dropped out due to pregnancy. To avoid scenarios like this as much as possible, we regularly visit our students on site. We stay in touch with them after graduation.
Orant runs a static health clinic on campus in Kasese and a Mobile Outreach Clinic that travels daily to see patients in hard-to-reach rural areas. Due to Covid-19, we suspended operations of our Mobile Outreach Clinic from April to August. We have since resumed modified operations. Our clinicians distribute face masks to patients, spread information about Covid-19, and encourage social distancing practices.
The 2020 malaria season was bad this year. Luckily, it was mostly over by the time Covid-19 arrived. Around 70% of the 28,000 patients treated between January and April were for malaria. In total this year, Orant treated 53,533 patients. The breakdown per month was as follows:
Orant’s operations area is rural and agrarian. Most families maintain subsistence farms. Our Ag Programs aim to transform farming for survival into farming for business. We sponsor and manage 14 irrigation clubs and run one demonstration farm plot. Our FEM for Women Program provides local women entrepreneurs with microloans.
This year, we provided $30,000 in microloans to local farmers and entrepreneurs. We helped dozens of local farmers establish mobile bank accounts. All loans from BOMFA and our FEM for Women Program were paid back in full.
2020 was challenging, but Malawians are resilient. We are grateful for the generosity of our donors. We are grateful for the hard work, passion, and tenacity of our staff. Whatever happens in 2021, we will be ready to make positive changes. Together.
The Orant Journal
Commemorating World Water Day 2024
Every year on the 22nd of March, the world commemorates World Water Day as a way of raising awareness of major water-related issues and to inspire action to tackle the water and sanitation crisis. This year’s World Water Day is themed “Water for Peace.” Read our blog article to learn more about what our WASH program is doing to promote peace and foster harmony.
Women’s History Month with FEM for Women
Every year, March is designated Women’s History Month. In this month, we honour and celebrate women’s contributions to history and contemporary society. In today's blog, we talk with women from our FEM program, and they highlight the roles they play in their families and Kasese community. Read the blog article to learn more!
Urbanisation in Malawi: MW2063 Pillar #3
As we have discussed in some of our past blogs, Malawi Vision 2063 has three key pillars that guide the focus of the Vision. These three pillars are meant to build on each other to create the inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation that they envision. In this blog, we will look at the third pillar of MW2063: Urbanisation.
The Life of a Subsistence Farmer in Rural Malawi
In Malawi, there is a famous saying that goes “Chuma chili mu nthaka” meaning “there is money in farming,” or in other words, “wealth lies in farming.” This saying is true for Malawi as farming is the backbone of the economy, with 85% of the population highly dependent on it. However, as much as most Malawians are involved in agriculture, they suffer persistent food shortages. This is because many smallholder farmers depend on rainfed and low-cost subsistence farming to meet their food needs. In this week’s article, we will explore what the life of a subsistence farmer looks like in the rural part of Malawi, in Dowa district near Orant’s headquarters.
School Surveys Lead to Better Learning Outcomes
Data is one of the most important tools in all our programs as it helps us measure whether our programs are making an impact or when it’s time for change. For the past three weeks, our Education program has been surveying schools in our catchment area. Check out today’s blog to learn more about how this survey is going to contribute to our Education program.
How big is Malawi?
How big is Malawi? How does Malawi compare to US states? Learn more here!
Improving Healthcare Access in Rural Malawi
We are thrilled to announce the opening of our new Mobile Outreach Clinic this week, which is a great stride that our Healthcare program has achieved! We have started our operations with treating Chatalala Community in Kasungu district, Traditional Authority Njombwa. Read our blog post to learn more about how the new mobile outreach clinic will serve communities better.
Malaria Season in Malawi
Summer in the Southern Hemisphere brings malaria season in Malawi, a dangerous disease that can kill those who do not receive treatment in time. Orant works to ensure that those afflicted with the disease receive the proper treatment and recover.
The Challenge of Noncommunicable Diseases in Rural Malawi
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) remain a huge burden to the healthcare sector in Malawi. Read our blog post to learn more about NCDs.