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Mr Storo harvests onions. He will use the profits to purchase fertilizer for his maize garden. He also plans to buy more onion seeds. His harvest brought in about $80, the seeds cost less than $2, and he used organic manure and compost to grown them.



Many other farmers are harvesting onions in the coming days. All are hopeful that the profits will help keep hunger at bay this season.

Meet The Staff

Here at AWP, we are constantly making a difference in the lives of others. Meet the people who make our vision a reality.

Chris Adare and his fiancé

Christopher Adare is currently serving as the International Director for AWP. Adare manages administrative duties, as well as designing and building water pumps, and implementing projects. 

Adare knows his calling to serve in Malawi came in 2006, when he spent the summer working at an orphanage in Kasungu, Malawi. After graduating from the University of Washington, Adare moved to Malawi where he worked with Children of the Nations, an orphan assistance organization. Adare believes his biggest challenge since moving to Malawi has been learning to be accepted. As an outsider, Adare has overcome prejudices and is now able to examine and change the way he treats other cultures. Adare says he has seen changes in the Malawian villages through his work with AWP and believes they are on the right track.

“I would love people to be praying for my upcoming wedding; for the AWP staff to be effective in the community, and for peace, stability and security in the region.”

John Fry

John Fry is a workshop assistant for AWP and helps set-up irrigation systems in local villages.

Fry grew up in Mtandire, Lilongwe, where he lived with his parents and three siblings. His father died at an early age and Fry was supported by an orphan assistance organization, Children of the Nations. COTN provided for Fry to go to school and upon completing his twelfth year, he began working for COTN. Before starting with AWP, Fry was a part-time builder. Fry considers AWP to be a blessing to Malawi and seeks to help villagers understand the importance of irrigation systems and how they work. 

Fry requests your prayers for his mother, who is unemployed, and siblings, who are still in school: “I want them to do well so they can have good educations and good jobs.”

Chaswezi Zulu Simwela is from the Katetele Village in northern Malawi. An Environmental Management Specialist & Partnership Coordinator for AWP, Simwela first begin working for AWP as a volunteer, before joining as staff full-time in November 2011. 

Growing up in a large family, Simwela understands first hand the difficulties Malawians are facing when it comes to providing for and raising a family. Simwela helped start Action for Behavior Change with Carol Maclean, an organization devoted to counseling youth, and was able to pull from his life experiences to mentor younger people. Simwela later attended school in Lilongwe, where he began working toward a degree in Sustainable Development. Simwela plans to go back to school and study for his Bachelors at the University of Livingstonia. “Working for AWP has opened my eyes to see beyond what farmers in rural communities are lacking. I believe I can become a strong and reliable bridge to help them achieve sustainable livelihoods if I ...attain higher education.” 

Under Simwela’s guidance, AWP has been able to partner with groups like Ukwe Extension Planning Area and Matindi Youth Organization, helping villages throughout southern Africa. 

Blessings Malamba and family

Blessings Malamba, one of thirty children, spent his childhood divided between his village and town. He worked at a local market during secondary school to pay for his education and later found a job as a dog handler. Malamba first became aware of AWP in 2010, when he met Chris Adare. Conscious of poverty and lack of water in Malawian villages, Malamba was eager to get involved with AWP and help his community. 

“It is always my prayer to God [that] AWP should go in[to] many districts in Malawi so that Malawi can be transformed.”

Wallace Storr and family

Wallace Storr works in the AWP demonstration gardens, irrigating and pumping to maintain the vegetation. Storr, a Malawian farmer, husband, and father of three, attended school through grade eight, before stopping because of school fees. 

Storr asks for prayers for AWP, his family and problems in the community. 

Custom Gabson and family

Custom Gabson has been working full-time for AWP since January 2012, primarily in the demonstration gardens alongside Wallace Storr. Before coming to AWP, Gabson worked for a farmer growing maize on the other side of Mziza, Chiwaza. Recently widowed, Gabson has three children, ages 10, 12 and 18.

Please keep Gabson in your prayers, that God will give him wisdom and grant his family peace.

Links to check out

Reading up on water consumption around the world... It's really interesting to note the differences across continents.

Water Conservation Worldwide: looking this site over, one might conclude that Africa is far-and-away the water conservation leader in the world. However, if that water consumption is insufficient to guarantee a healthy body and sufficient food supply, is it really worth admiring? Evidently not, judging by the popular view of water use in Africa. Where is the balance then between African water consumption and American?

American water consumption: so just how do Americans use that much water? Oddly enough, the figures on this site match pretty close with household consumption in Lilongwe's middle/upper class, from my experience.

WW prep - solar water heater

Ok, so this weekend will be a bit busy, but I want to keep up with this, so I've decided to just finish up an item that's been halfway done for a while. For some time AWP has been trying to come up with a cheaper way to purify water.

What we've got now is a double pane of glass that is filled with water. The sun's radiation heats and purifies this water. We won't know how practical it is until we try it. So I want to get a good prototype working.


Most of the heavy lifting is complete. We'll just be putting a tank on this one and fixing up some potential leaks.

Materials:
1. 1"x3" lumber - 12' long
2. 2 panes of 6mm (1/4") glass - 3'x18"
3. 2 or 3 tubes of silicone sealant
4. A 4 or 5 gallon container about 3' tall
5. Some 1/2" flexible pipe
6. Various pipe tees and ball valve
7. Assorted screws and nails

Chiefs, chiefs, more chiefs

Our work this month -and over much of this year- culminated in yesterday's field day with the chiefs and Group Village Headman (GVH) of the Mziza area.




In the area, we have 23 chiefs (i.e. 23 distinct groups of houses, or villages, with a chief) over whom presides one GVH. The chiefs in one Group report to the GVH on development, judicial, and other civil issues. They work together to meet their goals as a group. The failure, or success, of one chief can have an impact on the whole group when government assistance is determined by collective performance.




When we conceived of the Mziza Demo Garden, we had in mind a place that would attract farmers from a radius of about 25km. There are 3 GVHs in that area, the closest being GVH Mzindo. Today Mzindo and representatives from his 23 subchiefs met us at the demo garden.




We toured the garden and described the different activities taking place. Some chiefs took the opportunity to try out two water pumps we had on display. We went over issues related to farm planning, and seeing our onions in 3 stages of growth drove home the idea of year-round production.




In the end, the chiefs said they would each bring 5 farmers to learn more about irrigation at the Demo Garden. Some chiefs were even discussing what materials they could find to start making their own water pumps.

Mr. Storo's Plan

To many, hunger seems an inevitable experience in the community. This year, rains did not fall according to the people’s expectations. Many areas received erratic rains. This situation has resulted in poor yields, bringing a threat to most of the households that have small scale agriculture lands in Malawi. According to our observations, very few households have managed to harvest crops that will carry them through the entire winter season up to the period of planting rain-fed crops. This is a major blow especially to children who will need nutritious foods, every day.



However, AWP beneficiaries look at the problem stated above as an opportunity to show the community that there is a solution to the pending hunger. For instance, Mr Storo (one of the AWP beneficiaries in irrigation farming) has a different story to tell. He requested maize seeds from AWP sometime back. Having fears with the way the rains fell in the area. AWP took this request into consideration and provided maize and beans seeds to farmers to supplement food availability to AWP beneficiaries in Mziza village. As for Mr Storo, he planted maize and beans on an irrigated garden where he uses a rope-and-washer pump developed by Africa Windmill Project.
The picture you see above, is part of his garden where Mr Storo expects to get up to 5 bags (50kg each ) of maize that he will be able to feed his family up to the next rainy season.

When hunger strikes, that is the time that people recognize the importance of irrigation farming (Winter cropping in Malawi). In Malawi, farmers who are direct beneficiaries of AWP irrigation technologies will tell successful stories due to the irrigation farming solution that AWP has made available for them. The contribution of irrigation farming in reducing hunger and poverty will be clear this year. As I’m writing, many farmers are seeking AWP irrigation systems that have proven to ease irrigation farming to potential small scale irrigation farmers in Malawi.

AWP in pictures

Picture roundup of the past week...