A supporter's view of Malawi

by Frank Lawson

Frank Lawson with the Headman and his wife in Longwe village.

Credit: WaterAid / Alex Marco

I was fortunate to be nominated as Yorkshire Water's representative on WaterAid's supporters' tour to Malawi in January last year. After spending nearly two weeks in the country looking at WaterAid's work, I came back to the UK profoundly affected by what I had seen and even more determined to raise funds and spread WaterAid's message.

In addition to water supply, sanitation and hygiene education work in rural villages, WaterAid is working in large unplanned settlements of Malawi's capital city, Lilongwe, and is also mapping the location of water pumps across the country using GPS systems (as reported in the last edition of Oasis).

Mapping the location and condition of water pumps is of great value to the Malawian authorities as well as helping WaterAid to prioritise where their work can be most effective.

Following the tour I hoped for the chance to go back to Malawi one day with my wife - little knowing how soon this opportunity would come.

The old water source was unprotected and open to pollution, spreading water-related diseases.

Credit: WaterAid / Alex Marco

After 35 years working in the water industry I was offered early retirement in March, so my wife and I planned an extended summer holiday in Southern Africa including a return visit to Malawi.

When I visited with the supporters' tour Malawi was very green. Being the rainy season it was very hot and humid and on most days, it rained.

Many of the crops (maize, rice, grain and vegetables) were growing around the villages. However, by August it was very different. The countryside looked parched, dry and brown. The air was drier and cooler than before and the smell of bush fires, lit to clear land for cultivation, permeated everything.

The highlight of my return trip was revisiting Longwe village in the Salima district where we had previously spent a full day experiencing village life with a family. I had spent my day with the headman and his wife, a lovely couple with grown up children and some grandchildren. One baby grandchild spent most of the day attached to his grandmother's back wrapped in the usual cloth sling.

Despite carrying this load the headman's wife showed me how she fetched water from the open well, taught me how to select, pick and prepare pumpkin leaves and pound the husks off rice grains using a wooden pestle and mortar. We cooked the rice and ate it with the cooked pumpkin leaves in a tomato sauce and it was delicious. The headman taught me how to tether his goats and hoe his maize crop, a hot and exhausting job in the afternoon heat and humidity.

The experience of the day spent with these amazing people was unforgettable, so once I knew that I was returning to Malawi, I was very keen to revisit the village and see how WaterAid's work was progressing. The well, which was open to pollution and caused disease, was due to be capped and have a pump installed shortly after the supporters' visit, so I was particularly keen to see what differences the pump had made to the lives of the villagers.

Boyce Nyirenda, WaterAid's District Programme Co-ordinator organised the visit and we met with Shadrak Chimangansasa, a private drilling contractor who is one of WaterAid's partners in the Salima district. I wanted to take a gift to the village and Boyce had suggested sugar, soap and bread; so we bought bags full of each in Salima on our way.

When we arrived we were greeted by the headman and his wife, along with a few of their neighbours and family. With Boyce interpreting, I introduced my wife to them and explained how much I had wanted to see them again and the differences in their village, since January. They showed us their well, which was now capped with an Afridev pump installed.

The headman's wife filled a bucket with water and the improvement in water quality was amazing. They told us how much easier it was to get water and how much better the water quality was following the WaterAid improvements to the well. It has transformed their lives and they were so grateful to WaterAid for what had been done.

I asked them how their crops had fared this year. The maize and rice crops had been good and they showed me the maize stores built all around their home. The stores were full and the goats which I had learned how to tether back in January were fully grown and looked healthy. We recounted some memories of my day with them and I gave them photos that I had taken during my visit which made them laugh.

All of their friends and neighbours wanted to see them too, along with pictures of my sons, cats and those from when we met Prince Charles on our return from Malawi. Boyce explained that he was THE headman in the UK as well as being the President of WaterAid.

After taking more pictures and sharing our gifts it was time for us to leave. We had been so honoured to visit them again and it was something we would always remember. We left with fantastic memories of Malawi and the amazing transformation that WaterAid's work is making to the lives of some of the poorest people in the world.

Cost examples

£15 pays for the tools needed for construction of a hand-dug well in Malawi

£210 pays for a shallow well handpump which will be used by 90 people in a rural community in Malawi

£1790 would pay for a complete borehole using a low technology drilling rig in Malawi