MARIA KANYIMBO’S FAMILY RECEIVES CASH TRANSFER FOR HUNGER RELIEF
By Noel Chatepa
On 23 March 2024, His Excellency Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of Malawi, declared a state of disaster on food security across 23 out of the 28 districts in the country. This announcement was a response to the conditions caused by prolonged droughts in some areas and flash floods in others, which severely impacted agricultural output. Among some of the most affected regions was Karonga District where many families are still struggling to cope with food shortages.
Maria Kanyimbo, a 39-year-old mother of five from GVH Mwenechilanga in the area of T/A Kyungu in Karonga, is one of the people whose family was affected by the adverse weather conditions. She reflects on her experience: “We did not harvest a lot of maize from our farm in the previous season because we did not apply adequate fertilizer due to lack of funds and also that the weather pattern was not favorable to us as there were long periods without rain. We only managed to get 10 tins from our farm which is not enough for a family of seven.”
In response to the declaration by the president, Caritas Internationalis stepped forward with vital support by providing funding amounting to 724 Million Kwacha to the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi (CADECOM) through the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM). The Food Crisis project aims to deliver aid specifically targeting those most affected across the eight Catholic dioceses in Malawi.
In Karonga Diocese alone, Maria and her family are among the 340 beneficiaries of the Food Crisis project who have received social cash transfers of MK100,000 per household and this financial assistance is designed to help them access diversified food groups as part of efforts to promote food security.
Maria expresses her gratitude for this timely support: “This donation has come at the right time as we are approaching the planting season and most of the food from the previous season has finished in our households. I am very grateful that I will be able to buy food for my children.”
Maria’s story highlights how economic constraints and adverse weather conditions can converge to create significant hardships for families relying on subsistence farming.