KARONGA DIOCESE ENGAGES DISTRICT COUNCIL OFFICIALS FROM CHITIPA, KARONGA AND RUMPHI
By Noel Chatepa
Karonga Diocese through the Community Transformation program engaged with District Council officials from the three districts of Chitipa, Karonga and Rumphi for a tour of the areas in which the Community Transformation projects are being implemented with funding from Cross Catholic Outreach.
The District Commissioners along with officials such as Directors of Planning and Development, District Health Officers and Directors of Agriculture from the three districts were accorded the chance to engage directly with beneficiaries from Jalawe (Rumphi), Chankholombe (Karonga) and Kopakopa (Chitipa).
In an interview with District Commissioner for Karonga District Frank Mkandawire, he said, “it has really been an impressive tour and we are very impressed with the various interventions that are being implemented by the Karonga Diocese. By the name of the program, the communities have indeed been transformed and we see that food security and Water Sanitation and Hygiene coverage has been improved also”.
“We have also seen the important aspect of spiritual evangelization which is very beneficial to all the three districts as there have been a lot of cases of witchcraft accusations which in turn lead to violence hence this intervention is very important in tackling such issues”, Mkandawire added.
During the visit, Innocent N’gambi who is the Senior Health Surveillance Assistant for Mahowe catchment area which also includes Kopakopa in Chitipa said that malnutrition among the beneficiaries of the project in 2021 was at 13 percent and it has dropped to 9 percent representing 4 percent decline. He also stated that of the 110 beneficiaries from Kopakopa, 109 had proper toilets as per CT WASH standards representing a 99 percent success rate.
Caritas Commission secretary for Karonga Diocese Mwawi Shaba said that the purpose of the engagement tour was to let the leaders appreciate the program to give guidance on areas where improvement is needed and to give commendation on areas that the program is performing well.
During the tour, Shaba also made mention of the other interventions that are going to be implemented in the 2024-2025 financial year such as the construction of a health center, school blocks and teachers houses at Kopakopa in Chitipa. “Kopakopa is one of the hard-to-reach areas and people have to cover a distance of about 40 kilometers to reach Nthalire to access proper healthcare services hence we considered it for this development,” said Shaba. The diocese is currently constructing a church in the area.
The Community Transformation program is implementing interventions such as water, sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, spiritual evangelism, agriculture, education and economic empowerment in all the three program sites of Jalawe, Chankholombe and Kopakopa.
Pictures courtesy of Trifornia Mtawali (7 & 8) and Noel Chatepa