Five programmes, one community at a time.

Women continue to face major challenges and obstacles in Malawi. They remain at the bottom of the social hierarchy, with poor access to land, credit, health and education. While some of the agreements that African governments have endorsed protect property and inheritance rights, in most countries women are denied those very rights.

It is from this background that the Women Empowerment programme exists — to support women in the communities to be spiritually and economically empowered. This is achieved by teaching women the word of God, and by building skills that promote their economic status through sustainable small businesses such as sewing, cooking and poultry.

Most primary schools that Live Love works with in the local communities of Lilongwe district are highly affected by high dropout rates, influenced by several factors: child labour, early marriages and cultural practices. Gule Wamkulu, as a cultural dance, takes children out of school — they are expected to be initiated as young as nine years old. Traditional practices lead to early marriages, causing most girls to lose interest in school. For child labour, both boys and girls leave school to work as domestic servants because of poverty at home.

With these factors in mind, one can see that the future of these young men and women is not promising. But one of our goals as an organisation is to educate one at a time, because we believe education is a key to success. Live Love delivers this through sponsorship programmes, after-school programmes, and outdoor activities that involve teaching the word of God and creativity.

Eighty percent of secondary school graduates in Malawi return to their villages every year, unable to find jobs or employ themselves. At Live Love, the youth are the heart of our sports programme.

Sport has helped Live Love connect with a wide range of young people in the rural communities — those involved in active sport, those in administration, and spectators. It is an opportunity that gives us the platform to engage the youth with the Gospel through men’s soccer and girls netball. It is through these activities that we develop Christian athletes on three principles: hard work, endurance, and humility.

Healthcare in Malawi and its limited resources are inadequate to fully address issues of medical supplies and prevention of common diseases such as malaria, scabies and asthma. Our clinic’s aim is to provide supplementary medical help to the people in villages where the government is unable to reach, and to reach those who cannot afford private hospitals — especially in Chipampha and the surrounding villages.

One way we have been able to reach such people is through our monthly mobile clinics, which see an average of 200 people per clinic. We have also engaged the community in health education as well as WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) programmes.

We believe that without a connection to the leaders of the communities, our work would not be a success. We have made it a point to focus on leadership so that all our programmes can be run with excellence. Chiefs are well respected in Malawian communities and their influence has a great impact on the development of any community. It takes a visionary leader to affect a community for greatness.

Because chiefs are an important part of our ministry, we have introduced a programme on Leadership Development. It aims to train chiefs in leadership skills, inviting people of different calibres to speak at chiefs’ conferences. Traditional authorities, lawyers, doctors and police have all come to speak on the different issues that affect chiefs in their leadership.