Support a "Smart Village" in Malawi

Dear Supporters,

Happy new year! Hope you and your family are doing well and we wish you good health, happiness and success in 2022!

The rains have started in Malawi. As you know the rainy season is a long one which runs from November to April. The heaviest rains are in December, January and February. Our priority project for 2022 is the reconstruction of the Rice Mill, which will provide livelihoods to 16 women and families in Mbando. 

We are worried the rains can impeded construction work to some extend. We therefore urgently appeal to you to contribute before February 2022 so that once the heavy rains have ended, we can restart construction of the Rice Mill. The women have been paitiently waiting since Cyclone Elpoise damaged the existing rice mill building in January 2021. Since then, we have demolished the existing building which was unsafe and started reconstruction of the rice mill building. We only had funds for building the superstructure and need funds to complete the roof, windos, doors and other finishing works. 

Lets start 2022 with compassion. Support the rice mill reconstruction and leave your legacy at Mbando village. Donors names will be painted at the Rice Mill as those who donated to this good cause. 

With warm regards,

Since 2016, Abundance has been supporting Mbando village in enhancing human wellbeing and nurturing nature, in line with Abundance's vision of a world of plenty. We are in this for the long haul! Its been five years and we hope to be here for the next five years too. Together with your support, we are able to work with Mbando community and identify areas where we can assist them. In the past we have been able to set up a solar powered e-learning center, library, provide training to youth on vocational skills, plant trees, skill adolescent girls to make their own reusable sanitary napkins and provide the community with fuel efficient stoves, blankets for elderly and bicycle ambulance for the sick. 

We were supported with a micro grant from World Connect (through US Embassy in Malawi) to build a rice mill for Mbando village women's group to generate income for them. The grant funds were exhausted, but unfortunately the rice mill building's roof got blown away due to Cyclone Eloise. Furthermore, we realised that the building was unsafe and hence we had to demolish the structure. We are now reconstructing the building to make it disaster safe. Please support us in this venture and help make the dream of the women's group come true.

In 2020, we had successfully pilotted a "waste to fuel" bioenergy cooker funded through Scottish Government Climate Justice Innovation Fund. We used waste rice husks to generate syngas and use it to cook porridge for primary school children's mid day meal. The cooker is working and has been given to Mbando community, however, they want to now use it at the community based child care center (CBCC). The CBCC's kitchen is tiny and hence for the bioenergy cooker to be utilised by them, we need to build them a larger kitchen. 

Such projects leave a lasting legacy in the village and one can visit the village to view the structures in future. Your support to help with construction of these structures will be greatly appreciated. We can't do this without your help. Every small donation helps us move a step further to help Mbanado village become a smart village!