August 17, 2023
Hear directly from Loveness about how our partner Eagles are putting their community in the driving seat.
Malawi: A story of resilience
In New Hola Village in Southern Malawi, we met Loveness Areas. Loveness has been involved with our Malawi partner, Eagles. You can find out more about Eagles in our 2023 campaign, ‘Communities in the Driving Seat‘.
Loveness is married with six children, and a subsistence farmer. This means that most of the crops she grows at home are to feed her household, rather than for commercial profit. She does however grow and sell some cotton to help support her household.
Supporting the vulnerable in the community
Through All We Can’s partner, Eagles, Loveness works with her local church to provide support to vulnerable people locally, and to plant trees to provide shelter and improve the natural environment in her community.
In a rural community where access to some essentials can be difficult, the mutual aid group which Loveness supports have provided soap and produced maize flower to give to the elderly and others that are in need.
Loveness has also faced her own challenges in the wake of severe weather events and cyclones. Read on to hear her story and how she is taking action both at home and in her community, with the support of Eagles:
What changes have you seen take place in yourself with the work that you have been doing?
I have changed in essence that my spiritual life is no longer the same … through the interaction at the church and community, I really understand what it means to do community development.
Was there a specific moment or teaching that helped you to realise things had changed?
This change has come in as a result of the teachings and the training that Eagles has been providing to the church, and (that) the church has been providing to the community – but also its members.
So the teaching, that’s what’s helped me to change my spiritual life, but also to know what development (is) and how I can participate.
What changes have you seen take place in your community?
We’ve been constructing houses for the elderly (because) they have no one to support them.
But also (the) community has been helping, so the fact that the community and the church are able to build houses for the elderly and vulnerable, that’s something huge that I’ve seen happening in the community.
What motivated the community and what made them realise that they needed to come together to make this change happen?
So because of the teachings and the capacity building that Eagles has been providing, that’s the one that has made us realise and come to this level.
What is one of the greatest hardships or difficulties that you have faced?
It’s especially what has happened this year because now I have no food because we haven’t harvested, because of the floods and the cyclones that have affected us badly.
This is a big problem that we faced because it’s really difficult to have food and even to feed the children.
What hopes or plans do you have to address this?
As a result of the (crop failures) due to the floods and cyclones that we have experienced, I already thought about it. What I’ve done is I’ve planted sesame, so that when I have it, I will sell it and buy the food.
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