Habitat Malawi - Beyond Home Construction

Day 2 - September 14

We started our day by visiting the Habitat for Humanity of Malawi national office in Lilongwe, and had the opportunity to learn a great deal about Habitat's strategies, goals, and programs in Malawi, Africa. While Habitat is most associated with alleviating poverty housing, there we learned in addition to new home construction, Habitat Malawi has many other programs, each carefully researched to identify the biggest needs, through conversation with the leaders of local communities.

In Malawi, 69% of the urban population lives in slums, in substandard housing, with poor water and sanitation. Only 38% of the urban population has access to water inside their house or surrounding yard. Once traveling beyond the city, the statistics for the rural population are even worse. This is why Habitat Malawi has their Water and Sanitation Hygiene (WaSH) program.

Drinking Water (!)

In the afternoon we visited several rural villages, traveling down very long, incredibly bumpy dirt roads that would likely be impassible during the rainy season (in Malawi they have 2 seasons - dry, and rainy).

At our first stop we were greeted by the village chief, who explained how Habitat is helping to bring a source of safe drinking water to their village. We were taken down to see their current water source, a very shallow, hand dug well, that is the only source of water for a sizable village population.

We then saw the fruits of the Water and Sanitation project, a brand new well, complete with spigots, and a water station for villagers to pay a small fee for their water, helping to pay back the cost of installing the new well. Next we traveled to another nearby village, and this water station is fully operable, with a steady line of girls and women coming to fill buckets with clean water, which they then carry on their heads back to their homes, sometimes a very long walk.


At our third and final stop for the day, we were greeted by what seemed like all of the women and children in the village. The women were singing and dancing as we stepped down from the bus, and the children crowding around to see the visitors. We were sat down on benches for a program, complete with singing, dancing, and several long speeches from village elders and chiefs telling how greatly Habitat's efforts are appreciated, in helping bring clean water and safe toilets to their village.

When the ceremony finally concluded, our tour brought us to see a brand new, composting toilet constructed by Habitat. Before this was built, villagers had to hand dig new pit toilets on a regular basis, and sanitation was a regular problem. The old pit toilets also were physically unstable.

Through the WaSH program, Habitat built a toilet that not only will not have to be moved on a regular basis, but also has 2 separate composting basins built in. Over the course of 6-9 months, the basin is opened up, and what was previously an unsanitary product leaching into the ground water is now a safe fertilizer to put on local gardens and boost food production.

One of the highlights of our day was meeting the children. It was delightful to bring smiles to their faces by something as simple as showing them their picture on our digital camera, or shaking hands or giving a high-five. It was very apparent that we were a highlight in the children's day as well. We were greeted by flocks of children running from throughout the village to greet us, and as we drove away, the children chased after the bus, running along side the windows, and several times managing to jump on the rear bumper.

One of the main objectives of our Global Village trip to Malawi is to learn about the needs of the local people, as well as to be able to share what Habitat is doing to meet these needs, and what resources are still needed to continue to improve the lives of one of the poorest countries in the world.

Again, in conclusion, I leave you with some more photos from our day. Please feel free to leave comments or questions on Blogger or our Facebook page, or you can reach me directly via email.

                                                   -- Jon Schack