New Irrigation Sites with World Relief

World Relief, whose mission is to empower local churches to serve the most vulnerable, works with 30 church communities in Salima District, Malawi. In January we began training Ministry Team members in irrigation techniques at Siyasiya, Salima.

Later this month we will take the trainings to a new site. We are particularly excited for this phase of the project for a number of reasons. First, the new site is remote, which means the people are good farmers, excited to work with townsfolk like us, and rich in resources. The second exciting thing is just how rich in resources: we will be using spring water for the irrigation training.

As you can see in the above picture, that borehole flows without pumping! The means that many farmers don't need water pumps and other farmers can irrigate their gardens higher elevations.

We will begin later this month, working with the World Relief field coordinator to establish a resource management plan for the springs alongside irrigation and fish farming activities.

Keeping bees, diversifying income

Farmers we work with regularly live hand-to-mouth. Whatever they have, it's only enough for today, if even that. Tomorrow, they will go out to their fields to get some more food, they will go to the market to sell a handful of tomatoes to afford a bar of soap, or they will simply beg from a neighbour.

One thing that can help a farmer to get his head above water long enough to save and plan for the future is to diversify his income. A farmer who relies entirely on one small irrigated garden may produce enough food for his household, but what about school fees? Clothes? Medicine?

Africa Windmill Project is introducing bee keeping to the Mziza farming club. The club will share 5 beehives to start with, and expand later out of proceeds from selling honey. The benefits of beekeeping are threefold: first, there is the income from selling honey; second, the nutritional benefit of eating the honey; and third, the bees will help pollinate crops. Oh yes, and the farmers will be encourage to conserve their forests. And also, they may use the beeswax to make candles or soap. OK, so that was fivefold... and the benefits only get better as the farmers make more hives.

Mziza club members received their first hives on Tuesday. They had never seen the Kenyan Top Bar hive design, and thought it looked a lot better than their traditional hives, which consist of an overturned clay pot. They quickly went around hanging the hives in various strategic locations.

At the same time, AWP staff members were teaching them about how to monitor the hives for pests and overflowing honey.

The club should bring enough money to purchase one new hive for each one they harvest. 5 become 10 become 20, 40, 80... within about 18 months. The limiting factor is of course space to hang them. This is where forest conservation becomes worth doing, so to speak. Without growing their forests, the farmers cannot grow their collection of hives.

Domestic Well

Last week on Friday we installed a water pump into a domestic well. This is the second pump we have installed for domestic use, and the first that will be shared and used by a village community. (The other domestic pump is used by an individual in a village setting).

Almost 3 weeks ago, the chief at Mziza approached the AWP coordinator in his village asking if the it is possible to use the pump to draw water from their domestic well. We knew it was possible, and had plans to install one in some village at some time. What better time than now, when we have been invited to do so by the chief?

We had a crowd around as we began the installation. The usual suspects where there: club chairman, club members, village chiefs, and a whole bunch of interested kids. There was little need to do in-depth training, since some of these guys have installed their own pumps before. The club members have agreed to help the community get used to the new pump and keep an eye on any maintenance issues.
The pump will help keep the well clean. But the responsibility still falls to the community to make sure that their drinking water is safe. It doesn't matter how hard you try, if cows are drinking this close to the well, it will be contaminated.

Solar Water Purification System Testing Today!

Drinking Water – it’s a problem.

Africa Windmill Project is working on a sustainable, affordable solution for rural villages in Malawi….We TESTED bore-hole wells that are in some villages and the open wells that we find in our villages, this is what we found:
The Malawians we are working with do not have access to healthy water or sanitation so we began working in the US to develop a solar water purification system. This system needed to be similar to the windmill in that it will be able to be made out of locally available and known materials, and will be simple to construct and operate.

Adam & Derek finished setting up the system last night so today is Test 1. At 8 am the temperature was 82 degrees (aim 165) and water level was ¼ inch below the tape. If all goes according to plan water will transfer to pasteurized water bucket (orange) as soon as the water temperature heats up to proper temperatures.

Disease causing organisms such as worms, protozoa cysts, bacteria (cholera, giardia, e.coli, shigella, and salmonella) and other viruses (hepatitis A, rotavirus) are killed by exposure to heat in a process called pasteurization. Water is a critical issue facing the global population. The World Health Organization estimates that 80% of all diseases are caused by infected / contaminated water. Therefore pasteurization (destroying of disease causing organisms) is critical. Although we have begun with irrigation in these villages, the need for everyone to have healthy, clean drinking water is at the forefront of our thoughts and plans. Although it is hard to understand in the US, Malawians are not aware that their water can make them sick (diarrhea). By beginning with agriculture and working into drinking water we are finding that the villagers are readily accepting our recommendations (such as, not dipping each households bucket into the water source). We know that with nutritious food, enough of it and healthy water, systemic change will occur in Malawi.

Also, not to be remiss, I want to mention that we are in the midst of a fundraiser to purchase a field vehicle for our Malawi staff. We are so close, thanks to a donor who agreed to match the remainder of our need! Today we are at $7,615 (which is AWESOME!) but we still have $3,692.50 left to go before June 1st. Please consider sharing this post or the previous one about the vehicle with your “peeps”. We are so grateful for your support! (They are too!)

Rural areas of Malawi have very low access to healthy water (40%) and sanitation (1%). (source). Africa Windmill Project enables You to effect change in these children's lives. Please Partner with us.