Malawi is one of the poorest countries of the world. It's GNI per capita (average annual income per person) is $230 -- that's just 63 cents a day. It also has an HIV prevalance rate of over 13%.
And yet, along with eight other people from around the US, I was able to see the glimmerings of hope for Malawi as I visited Outreach International's program areas. I saw people taking charge of their lives, organizing in their communities to create long-lasting solutions to the myriad problems they face.
We visited several villages which, with the help of Outreach International staff, were starting small projects to improve their lives.
We saw schools which were providing education to orphans of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Villagers also showed us vegetable gardens they used to raise funds to take care of those orphans.
I met a farmer who proudly showed off his chickens, which he was raising according to new techniques he had learned through the community poultry project. Another man told me about how the Outreach-sponsored goat project was generating income that allowed him to send some of his kids to school. He had not had the chance to go to high school and was proud that some of his children would have that opportunity.
While these projects were often humble undertakings -- rather than grand schemes of social engineering -- we saw that people were proud of their small-scale efforts to make a concrete difference in their lives. While perhaps just small sparks, I have seen hope shining through in Malawi.
-Matthew Bolton
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