Adziwa Orphan Ministry (Kauma Village)

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. The severe poverty leads to high infant mortality, malnutrition, lack of safe drinking water, poor sanitation, and low literacy, Poverty is widespread and prevalent both in rural and urban areas. Hardest hit is the rural population, particularly women.

In Malawi, there are an estimated 1.2 million orphans, primarily due to HIV/AIDS. The increasing number of HIV-related deaths among productive adults is draining the country’s capacity and adversely affecting development efforts. Chronic illness and death in households affected by HIV drains the few resources available to those of lower-income. This frequently leaves old women taking care of many grandchildren with little resources or ability to generate sufficient income to care for them.

In 1998, Capital City Baptist Church (CCBC) established a skilled volunteer project team to proactively deal with the problem of HIV and poverty in Malawi. Kauma village, a “squatter area” east of Lilongwe, was identified as an ideal focus area. Most people who live there work as laborers, housemaids, security guards, garden boys and low wage civil servants. Their incomes are among the lowest in Malawi. Nearly half of the population of 15,000 is children under the age of 15 years, and 300 to 500 are orphans. Through a detailed community participatory assessment, the church identified as priority areas: orphan care and support, health and sanitation, general poverty, education for children, food diversification, and child nutrition and nutrition education. Community working committees were created and the registration of all families caring for orphans was conducted as part of a comprehensive community survey. Most orphans live with immediate or extended family members, and the safety and well-being of these children depends largely on the ability of their relatives to protect and care for them. Many families face chronic food shortages as their resources are over-extended.

The Adziwa (a Chichewa word meaning ‘He knows’, positively expressing hope in God for the future of orphans) project seeks to care for the widows and orphans of Kauma using a self-sustaining, multi-pronged holistic approach. Its vision is to provide comprehensive integrated community based care for orphaned children by influencing their total environment to enhance their potential to fulfill their life’s God-ordained purpose and make their contribution to society. All activities are aimed at equipping community members with knowledge, skills and income needed to cope with the growing challenge of orphans and the general poverty situation that has confronted the nation.

Proposal

The Adziwa Ministry campus in Kauma village has a large area set aside for housing. The houses are two and three bedroom, and a minimal rental fee of 500 Malawi kwacha ($3.50) per month is charged. This equates to three days minimum wage, and is between ½ and ¼ of the average rent in the area. Charging a minimal fee also increases the sense of ownership caregivers feel for their homes as well as providing funds for maintenance of the housing, thus increasing the sustainability of the project. Tenants are identified by partner churches in the Kauma area. Pastors and other church leaders are asked to identify the most needy families in their congregations, and these families are then offered subsidized housing in the housing community. Caregivers are usually older widowed women with between four and eleven children in their care.

Total Need

$215,000 (for 15 homes)