Driving into the location, the big truck full of clothes driving in right behind the AfP vehicle. Two weeks ago, teenagers from the Area 47 church spent the day at the AfP distribution center sorting clothes and preparing for today. Clothes were divided into smaller packages, men, women, boys and girls.
In his opening remarks Kasalika noted exact sizes would be hard to match given the large number of people being served. He encouraged the group that when they reach their respective villages, to compare items and share and exchange so everyone gets what they need. As always everyone had that little pink slip that indicated they were a candidate for assistance. In less than 2 ½ hours the distribution had gone nearly flawless, and we were turning the vehicles back toward Lilongwe. It has proven be another special day in Malawi.
Traveling north along highway M1, members of Action for Progress and the Malawi Project pass the morning traffic of the trading centers of Lumbadzi, Mponela, and Madisi. Even though it is only 9:00 to 9:30 in the morning, traffic is heavy and commerce moving at a rapid pace. The village people in Malawi are up around 4:00 to 4:30 AM, and Saturday is no exception. In the air there seems to be a changing mood in Malawi, away from one of despair and hopelessness, and to a more positive one. This feeling is not only experienced in the capital, where a building boom is underway, but it is also heard and felt in the villages and trading centers nationwide. People seem more positive than they’ve been in several years.
Approximately 23 kilometers north of the Madisi Trading Center on the West side of M1 we pulled to a stop at a large school. No children were evident, but there were literally hundreds of people sitting on the ground waiting. They had waiting for an hour to an hour and a half for us to arrive. Through a government request for AfP to give assistance to the people in this area who had experienced disastrous crop failures because of the lack of rainfall during the recent growing season, they had little food, and had collectively used up their resources in the search for food
On this Saturday morning Action for Progress is going to distribute clothing to nearly 500 widows, orphans and the elderly, in an area the government has requested that Action for Progress deliver aid. Because of the lack of rain last season these villages are suffering. They had a disastrous crop, and this left them with no money to purchase other materials. And clothing was well down the list. The government agency helping these people ask Action for Progress if they would come to the aid of the villages in this area. Action for Progress immediately answered the call. Earlier in the year a large number in this area has been assisted. These were the ones that had not been reached at that time. Now they have!